Ibanez 2617 Artist

This is a Japanese-made LP-type double cutaway solidbody electric with twin humbuckers, two volumes, two tones, three-way pickup selector switch where you would expect it, tunomatic bridge and stoptail, and three-a-side headstock. Gold-plated hardware, no scratchplate. Much like the rest of the Ibanez Artist range from the late 1970s, in fact. The 2617 differs from the other guitars in the Artist range by having an ash body rather than the more traditional and Gibsonesque mahogany with a maple cap. Two pieces of ash for the carved top, three for the body, and a glossy natural finish. The body is a fraction wider, but also a touch shallower than the maple/mahogany versions which are themselves a tad wider than LPs. Three piece maple neck, ebony board (12? radius) with split pearl/abalone block markers. There?s also a strip of abalone in the multilayer body binding, which looks cool, with a German carve round the top edge of the body. Actually, it looks pretty luscious! Pickups are covered Ibanez Super 70s in black mounting rings, and no individual pole adjustment. The bridge is the Ibanez ?Harmonomatic? model (an early version of the Gibraltar I) which is quite wide, lacks locking nuts, but has a good travel range for the saddles. The stoptail is one piece with the fancy cloud part of the whole thing.
This particular guitar dates from 1977 and is in fine shape for its age apart from the usual corrosion of the gold plating. For comparison I also have a pair of 1982 AR300s, the more traditional maple/mahogany model, with tri-sound switches on the humbuckers - one with the original Ibanez Super 58 pickups, one with Duncans (JB at the bridge and 59 at the neck).

I?m playing rock/blues/pop mostly through a Mesa Boogie Blue Angel 1 x 12? combo set moderately clean, and running the amp output into the 4 ohm 15? Eminence speaker in a Fender Vibrosonic combo rather than the Boogie/Celestion speaker. Extra crunch comes mostly from a Matchless Dirt Box (expensive, but great) or a Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive (relatively cheap, but also great).
This is quite a different beast from my other Artists ? the different body wood and the different pickups combine to produce a more strident, lively tone, and quite a bit louder. How much of the change is due to the wood and how much is due to the pickups is impossible to resolve without resorting to the soldering iron; whichever it is, though, the end result is very different, but excellent. None of the muddiness you sometimes get with humbuckers. Pretty cutting on the bridge pickup, more mellow (but still with an edge) from the neck, and a good mix too ? I don?t normally use the middle position much, but I do on this guitar. Clean or crunchy it sounds great, and the neck pickup is a killer for bluesy solos. I don?t go much for high gain or metal tones. I use the tri-sound switches on my other Artists quite a bit, but I don?t really miss them here ? roll off the volume a tad, and the edgier overall tone gives enough of the single coil snap/vibe to get by.

The lighter weight and the slightly different setting of the neck mean it is a touch neck heavy compared to my other Artists, though a strap with a bit of friction solves that. Can?t comment on the factory set up, but when I got it the action was fine, the neck dead straight and comfortably chunky without being bulky. Frets and board are very smooth and the whole playing experience is pretty agreeable. Although the heel isn?t as sleek as on the later Artists, the double cutaway means upper fret access is still far superior to an LP.

25 years old, and still going strong. I?ve had it about a year without problems. The gold plating on the hardware on the Artist series is prone to pitting, rubbing off altogether, corrosion etc. etc. Apart from that these late 70s / early 80s Artists are rock solid, really well built guitars from a time when the big American manufacturers were getting sloppy (and IMHO Gibson still are, though modern Fenders are pretty slick). I bought a replacement NOS bridge, because the corrosion there was quite severe (the old bridge worked fine, it just looked pretty scruffy), but the new one looks just as odd being so golden and shiney ? it doesn?t match at all!

Never had any contact with Ibanez as nothing has ever gone wrong with any of their products that I?ve owned (a digital delay pedal, a cheap acoustic, and now three old Artists). I get the impression they prefer to leave customer service to the dealers, as it isn?t easy to contact them direct. The store I bought the guitar from (Tara Music Center in Georgia) were fine.

I took a bit of a risk on this one ? an e-bay purchase AND overseas (I was in the UK at the time, now Indonesia) AND not cheap. I?d missed out on one in the UK, and missed out on a previous 2617 on ebay, so I took the buy-it-now option as I was going to be out of touch during the last bidding day! Add to that the shipping and import charges..? But this model is very hard to find in the UK, so it seemed worth the risk and fortunately I?ve been delighted by the results. Excellent photos from the vendor helped a lot in making the decision. I really like my two AR300s, and this one is just as good, albeit with a slightly different flavour. It looks great, sounds great, feels great ? it IS great! And a pleasant change from the usual Gibson and Fender fare.