Antoria 335-Style Archtop

Old pearl inlay Antoria script logo with crown inlay at headstock and lovely mother of pearl block neck inlays. No serial number and lawsuit shape headstock puts this Antoria as a 69-75 product of the Fuji Gen Gakki factory in Japan. Made by Ibanez and called Antoria for UK importers. What we have here is a lovely tobbacco sunburst 335 front and back archtop with "Mickey Mouse" ears/horns. Body is lovely grained maple and bolt on neck is maple with a very dark rosewood fingerboard. Entire guitar including f holes is triple bound. I've replaced the tailpiece with a Bigsby, and the strings run over a tunomatic style bridge with metal rollers atop a wooden base. Tuners are kidney grover type and seem to work ok. Very long scale neck and headstock as big as a dreadnought acoustic. String tension is therefore quite high and I prefer 10 guage strings with a wound third for best results.Original pickups were Maxon humbuckers but they didn't cut it, so I've replaced them with a vintage set of Ibanez Super 70's. Pots, input socket, and switch are configured like a 335.

Just like a 335 should. This is a blues monster! Think Chuck Berry, think Alvin Lee. A bassy strong strident sound. Obviously prone to a bit of feedback at the highest drive settings.
Can certainly handle Jazz and fingerpicking most easily. The Bigsby give it an extra sonic dimension for that Stray Cats Gretchy sort of twang.

The guitar was in extremely good nick for being 30 years old. Straight out of the box from the ebay seller it was apparent that a degree of money and tlc had to be lavished on it. Electrics were dodgy and one pup didn't seem to work.
Neck and nut have been reshimmed and reset. Dot marked put into the edge of the binding on the upper side. Pups changed and ALL electrics replaced. There were absolutely no flaws in the finish, the frets, the binding, nothing...not even the usual belt buckle rash on the back.

Now it's had its 10,000 gig service , this will last another lifetime. Everything is solid and dependable. I may at some point change the tuners but will see how it performs at the moment. I wouldn't hesistate to use it without a backup at a gig as soom as i've spent some money on a decent hard case!!

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Information on old script Antorias and Ibanez is hard to find and only a couple of specialist collector/discussion websites have what you need. I've found info on the lovely Antoria 345 Varitone copies, and on the much later (transfer logoed) inferior 355 starmaker copy. But nothing on this, even on the MSN antoria group page.
Shame that Ibanez has pretty much turned their backs on the guitars that made them players on the world stage.

I've been playing for 20 years and have 13 other guitars. I knew this guitar despite its steal of a price, was going to require an expensive upgrade (all f hole archtop guitars are a repairmans nightmare!). So I've sold two of my collection to pay for this and it was worth every penny. I've now got a 335 copy that is certainly far more like the real thing that any of these modern day copies.

Made in the early seventies, its a natural dark wood coloured 335 replica, except for the tacky slider switches that I've not sussed out yet.......Don't know what they're for??
Two humbuckers and the standard Gibson style bridge/tailpiece.
Very cool looking machine in a retro kinda way......

Niiiicccceeee warm sound that makes you want to play the blues all day.

Got the guitar for nothing froma friend and it was in need of a new bridge/strings etc.
Overall fit looks ok though.

Its been around long enmough so I think a few more years well looked after will ensure it lasts.
Everything is solid and it seems dependable enough.

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I've got a Peavey Predator, Squier strat, Westfield steel aacoustic, Kay nylon strung acoustic and a very early Kay electric....Thin body, steel pickup, single bar bridge, sunburst etc....
I've been playing for 24 years now and it is my favourite guitar so far.....Don't know why....

I have no idea about where this guitar came from..I understand it was made by Ibanez shortly after antoria had a problem in their factory.
The guitar is a virtual replica of the gibson 345 stereo except that it sounds plays and feels even better than a 60's 335.
I cannot praise this guitar enough, it is blood red woodgrain and gold plated in absolute pristine condition
I love it.

Perfect in every way

again perfect

alas...none

I think gibson should make guitars like this again