Product: Ibanez A-1200 6/12 Double Neck
Price Paid: US $1300 used
Submitted
01/29/2005
at
11:24pm
by
Anonymous
Features
:
10
1981 made in Japan, double neck guitar with 6 string and 12 string, one piece ash body, tri tone pickups which means two humbuckers on each neck with phase/single coil option for each pickup, antique violin finish, gibraltar bridges, beautiful binding, gold hardware, set necks....
Sound
:
10
I knew Ibanez made great guitars back in the day, but I had no idea they were this good! The sound is incredible and the tri tone pickup options do everything from standard humbucker to nice single coil type sounds. The best sustain I have ever heard, I assume to the large one piece ash body. There is a lot of detail in the sound of the pickups and the wood, I could not be happier.
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
10
Well, since it is 24 years old this is hard to rate. It shows it age in the fading and corrosion of the metal hardware, but it is obviously a high end guitar equal or better to the best stuff made today. This particular one has a number of nicks, dents and finish wear spots. When it was new, it must have been quite impressive. The fret work and action is superb, must have only been better when it was new. The 12 string needs some coaxing and settling in to stay in tune.
Reliability/Durability
:
10
Made in 1981 and going strong, what more is there to say!
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
N/A
Overall Rating
:
10
I have a feeling that this era of Ibanez is going to be the next vintage craze, I just cannot believe how great this guitar plays and sounds. I own some recent high end guitars. I hate to admit it, but this guitar might be better !!
The 12 string is obiously a specialized sound and it is very good. The 6 string seems to straddle a fine line between the traditional dula humbucker, i.e. Les Paul, type guitar and other more single coil type sounds. However, it does not sound at all like a Fender, but the coil options have incredible expressiveness like that, however,in a unique way. This would be a candidate for a single guitar to cover both roles filled by having both a Gibson and Fende style guitar, and a 12 string. My next step is to find the standard six string version of this guitar (AR 300 AND AR500) as I suspect it could replace what I am currently playing.
