Ibanez AFS75T Artcore

You know the drill by now. Specced as advertised. All good. Came wit ha free cardboard box!

This Guitar sounds great! Wonderfull tones. I play vaious rock and alternative styles and it does everything I want. Very Quiet, no hiss or buzz. I'm running it through a Laney UK built 100 watt Tube fusion and a Laney 200 watt Quad. Deep tones are amazing. It can struggle wit hthe brights attimes, but that has more to do with the amp.
I use the Laney's built in distortion channels for grunge, which is amazing through the tube. I also run a Boss Chorus, Ibanez Tube distortion for extra nasty...and have a Roland AX5G with expression pedal...nice sounds but not so practical for live work. The Ibanexz hollow can sing and scream with feedback when things get loud...but I like to make that work for me...it's nice and controllable if you are aware.

Factory setup was good. It was a little fiddly getting the foam spacer out from under the bridge without sending the whole shebang out of whack. Pickups seem fine, and respond niceley...and I do play loud at times.

Overall quality of the build is stunning. No faults, and an amazing build. Retails here in OZ for about $1200. I got mine from a friend who was able to order one direct from Ibanez, for about half that.

This guitar will easily stand up to live work, but be aware of your feedback issues, and temerature changes will send it out of tune fairly quickly if you are surfing the tremlo all night. I would happily use this at a gig....without a backup...no way...but who would go to a gig with only one guitar?

Warranty is 5 years...I think, but I can't image having to worry about it....it seems like a long term friendship, me and my Artcore.

I have been playing for 20 years...I have a bunch of acoustics, an 80's Cort strat rip-off which is amazing to play...but as heavy as a small child. I have played Strats, Les Pauls, Rickenbackers and a Tele. THe Ricky was probably the best, but you get what you pay for, and at around 4K, that's plenty.

I wish I had asked for two...when I bought this guitar on the cheap...then I could have sold one and got some more goodies.

I love the look, I love the sound, I don't like the fact I can't solo right up the neck. My favourite feature is sing sweet nothings with feedback and the tremlo.

This is a Chinese made, semi-hollow thinbody, twin humbuckers, Bigsby, two volume, two tone knobs.
Mine came in the metalflake black on body, neck and headstock with scrollwork in dark gray on the face. It looks like an over $1000 unit.
Everything else same as others describe. Another one of those units that are so good, they just keep building them year after year.
For a Chinese product, it is in the 8-9 category, and that's saying something. They just keep getting better and better.

Against my Grestch 5120, I wish I had not bought the Grestch. That was over a year ago, and I wanted a big body hollow-body, but had I heard this, I believe I would have passed on the Grestch.
It has a very rich, FULL sound, especially with both pickups on. Mostly I put it through a Fender Frontman 100 2X12, and it just shines. I don't even have a pedal on it right now.
If you go for the bridge pickup, you enter that "Down on the Corner" type sound, but the Frontman helps. If you put it on neck, you get more into classic rock, but not heavy enough for metal. Distortion makes it screech a bit. The neck is just a swell classic rock pickup, just a hint of distortion added it can handle well, anything more it screechs too much for me.
Both pickups and it's a great classic, just absolutely a full sounding classic. Something you might have heard any number of clean, heavy players use. Not a Fender sound, more of a Gibson/Les Paul sound. But full, full, full.
I choose it because of the sound produced by the two pickups together. I love that older, more traditional sound. It does that in spades. DiMarzio pickups, or maybe TV Jones I'm sure would be hotter, as would others, but that is what my Ibanez RG is for.

Action was pretty good off the rack. Had to do a little bridge movement, little height changing, no truss rod movement needed so far. Sometimes that doesn't show for a week or two, see what the humidity change does to it.
Fit is excellent. All joints are clean, buckers screw up and down easy, tuners are tight and stay put. Knobs are rock solid. Love the roller bridge, but kind of an oxymoron thing riding on that rosewood baseplate on a shiny finish. Just makes it easier to bump the bridge out of position with the rollers. Still, the rollers are a point ahead of the Grestch Electromatics when a Bigsby is involved. No worries about string windings catching on the TAM bridge and losing tune. Had to do a teeny bit of intonation work, mostly with the screws, straight blade adjustments made very easy, again due to the rollers in the bridge. Came right in, sounds good.
Came with D'Addarios, kept them on for now, probably go to Blue Steel 10's soon, see what happens. It's just so good sounding now, hate to change that.
Finish had one spot about 5MM big on the face that was touched up with a paint brush - I don't think the dealer even saw it. I had it for two days before I found it. Some touchup of the clear finish. The metalflake underneath is perfect. May try to polish it out, but really, unless your hand goes over it, you cannot see it. Bindings are perfect, as are the cross inlays on the neck. Love the abalone over pearloid inlays, very classy. Frets are just about perfect, no rough edges at all.
Just a couple points off for the finish mistake.
Overall, for a Chinese guitar at this price point. WOW.

Should not be a problem at all at a gig, save for someone mistaking it for a $2000 unit and stealing it.
Hardware is sound, Bigsby is a standard unit, bridge and all other items seem sound and standard. No out of the box stuff here, just good, sound appointments. Finish seems tough with the poly gloss on top, but it is a hollow, so dropping is not wise.
Top strap button on the top back of the body is a silly place, it makes the unit want to walk away from your body while standing. Have to keep the strap high and tight. Strap buttons are good, but the Bigsby does take up a little space on the lower one, a nice, thick leather strap has a hard time sitting home on that bottom strap. Once located, though, it also is hard to get it off, so no worries.

Bought it from a local dealer, Mainstage Music, Dayton, Tennessee. Good Ibanez dealer, will take care of me no matter what. Stands behind his stuff and fixes anything. Excellent dealer all the way around. Not even worried about Ibanez Company - local help is here should I need it.

Been playing for about 18 months now, everyday if possible. At the "Dust in the Wind" stage, learning fast chord changes with fingerpicking. At my age,(old guy), this is something I wish I had done 40 years ago.
Too much gear to list.
I went into the store hoping to score a Hagstrom Viking - very happy I got this instead.
I would buy it again, no doubt. Especially over any Electromatic Grestch.
I compared it to a number of others, including some solid bodies, this was the best sounding. One note, model is a non-Bigsby and another is a Gold plated version, and I tried them all. This one sounded best, which brings home the Chinese. There is still variation. All those pickups should have sounded the same. One I tried had kind of a flat, dead bridge pickup. Same model, no Bigsby.
Another item. I wish they would mount the bridge base. Make intonation right and pin the damn thing down.
Also, the selector switch is in the most awkward position I could possibly imagine. On the other hand, I will never accidently hit it while strumming chords, since it is well protected by the Bigsby.
As far as the high fret cutaway complaints, I don't think you want to spend much time at 17 or 18 on a unit like this. I'll probably not play anything above 12 on this unit.
Lastly, if you have slightly bigger fingers, suffer from a little "finger buzz", or maybe an older player with a little arthritis, this unit is for you with it's slightly bigger neck but close to your body construction. And with the classic rock sound, what's not to love?

red model. looks gorgeous. 2 pickups, selector, 4 knobs, that's it. big old twangy bar there which works pretty well - holds its tuning nicely.

Mine was 2nd hand, I had it set up and put heavy gauge strings on as soon as I had it. Action is slick, lovely to play. Intonation etc is bang on, as you'd expect from Ibanez.

Makes a suprisingly loud sound acoustic. I play with fingernails (never a plec) and tend to belt the strings a bit. It takes it, no rattles or buzzes.

Blues, rock, folky things ... big sound, works well for this. neck pickup can do fat warm jazzy sounding chords (great with a bit of wangy bar), bridge is twangier, more edge. Really quite versatile. Everything I need or want in an electric.

2nd hand, needed a set up. Finish is A1 though - it is an object of lust, just like me ...

seems to have lasted very well - I will gig this guitar plenty.

NA

played 30 years or so. My only electric guitar, also I have a Landola steel strung and an Avarez Artist nylon. May pick up a tele some time, but this baby suits me down to the ground right now. Exceptional bang for buck.

I'm not 100% sure when this was made, but I believe recently.(2003 I think) I also believe this guitar was made in Japan(?).
It has 22 frets with set pearl inlays on a rosewood bound finger board. The neck is mahogany and the body is maple top/back and sides.
Standard 2 tone 2 volume with a three way selector switch. Controls are set up like a standard 335 with the selector set just above the F hole.
I can't review the original pick ups due to them being removed. This guitar currently has a TV jones pick up in the neck and a seymour duncan in the rear. The electronics work very well with clean in instant response. Volume/tone pots work equally as well.
I have an awesome sea blue finish to my guitar, and actually it is what drew me to it. It looks like there has been coat after coat of paint and finish. Defiantly a highlight on the guitar.
The body style is, of course a "true" hollow body as Ibanez claims, and I can say that they aren't lying. I tried other rival guitars(epiphone, gretsch, aria etc) before purchasing this one and none came close to the quality of materials or finish of this guitar.
The bridge has a tune-O-matic bridge with a bigsby style trem arm. The trem arm does NOT de-tune the strings and in fact keeps them in tune! Cool!
I don't know about the tuners so i can't comment there. The neck is a meium neck from what i can see and the frets are medium in size as well. Very fast neck that sits comfortably in the hand.
The only thing I didn't like the look of was the tone and volume knobs. But I ordered some chrome replacements, so that wasn't a big deal
Overall, a stellar looking and solid feeling guitar for this price range.(I got mine for just under $500 cnd)

I am a beginner/intermediate guitar player who likes jazz, jazz and more jazz. I like vintage rock too(beatles ect). I wanted a jazz box, but I also wanted the versatility of a 335. This fit the bill perfectly. Due to this being a "true" hollow body, the sound just goes on for ever.
It has quite a warm, woody sound without an amp and the range of sounds I can get WITH an amp are great. I only play through small practice amps, so It would be difficult to tell what this thing can truly do, but it plays very well through the little amps and produces that mellow sound I was after.
Again, it probably sounds as good or better than some of the higher priced guitars I tried out. It would seem that you could play just about anything on this guitar form jazz to rockabily to great blues playing.
I do have the upgraded pick ups, but I can probably guess that this sounded just as good stock.

I can't say that there is anything I dislike about the sound, as I tried a lot of guitars before this one(even full jazz boxes), so once I found it and played it I was hooked.

I don't know how well the guitar was set up right out of the box, since it is a second hand guitar. But the action is low(not too low, just right) and the upgraded pick ups worked perfectly.
The finish is, like I said before, one of the highlights of this guitar. Just beautiful. :-)
great piping around the whole guitar really sets of the blue/cream finish. Even the inside of the F holes are finished in the cream piping! The neck is set in the body and looks very tight/clean.
No buzzing frets or any other noticeable inconveniences.
If I was to nit pick, the port for the patch cable was a little loose, but a few turns and it was fine.
A very solid machine.

Since I don't play live or gig yet, I can't say how this would hold up to playing like that. But if I was to guess, I would say it would be fine. The thing is built like a tank. A very sophisticated tank. :-)
The finish is so good, that I worry about it getting dinged probably more than I need too. It should hole up well if taken care of.
The strap buttons look to be very well constructed(way better than my aria strato knock off) and I wouldn't think you would need locks for it.
I have only had it for a few months, but it hasn't given out on me yet, and I can't see that it will in the future ether. And if I was to gig, I don't thing I would take this to gig with, just because it's such a beautiful guitar. but I'm sure it would do fine if your into that sorta thing.

I haven't had to deal with Ibanez, so I can't comment here.

I've been playing for about two years now and have only had(still have) one other guitar. An Aria stg(stratocaster knock off). It was ok to learn off of, but It couldn't give me the sound I wanted, which was a the mellow jazz sound of a jazz guitar.
I play through a traynor practice amp with various peddle effects and I have a danelectro honey tone that works very wel with both guitars.
I doubt I will ever need another guitar, as this is very versatile and looks just plain cool. If it was stolen, I would probably cry and be very upset, then find the bugger who stole it and feed my aria to him. :-D
I absolutly love everything about it. No, seriously. Without being gushing about it ether. It just is that good. And how many things in life are like that?
I love the bigsby-esqe arm and that it dosn't de-tune the strings. The true hollow body is a joy to play.
The only thing I didn't like first off was the ugly speed dial tone/volume knobs. But that might be just me, and they were easy enough to replace.
Compared to other guitars, this plays like a Gretsch twice to three times it's price, and blows the Epiphone 335 right out of the water in my opinion. No other hollow body in it's price range came close to the quality and sound that this beast has.
To be honest though, I was hooked in by the color of it before anything else, but once I played it, that was it.
Anything I wish it had? No nothing I can think of.

All I can say is if your looking for a truly cool looking and awesome sounding hollow body, check these out. You'll be happy you did. It beats paying solely for a name brand with nothing else to offer. It's a bargain at the price they are asking for these things too.

You know the deal, Made in China, 22 frets with, according to the Ibanez catalogue, a Fred Gretsch Licensed Whammy Bar system, 2 ACH humbuckers, two volume and two tone knobs and a three way pick-up selector switch. Mine is the transparent red model with a different fret marker inlay than all the pictures I've seen. The inlay is in the shape of a "+" sign like the Chevrolet logo with abalone in the centre and surrounded by mother of pearl - very nice it is too. All the features I wanted, so it has to be a 10.

I play in a classic rock covers band, but outside of that I play a wide range of styles and I'm old enough and fortunate enough to own a guitar for each style (now that I have this guitar too). I use it either through my practice amp, a Roland Cube 30, or my gigging amp which is a Laney VC30 212. I bought it specifically for Rockabilly and Jazzy music but I found very quickly that it can do far more. It has that natural woody, slightly nasal tone on the neck pickup which enables great Chuck Berry, BB King and Peter Green sounds. Switch to both pickups and adjust the volume and tone controls and laid back blues is so satisfying. Switch to the bridge pickup for a great Gary Moore style lead sounds. I wouldn't have believed you could get such great tone from the stock pickups and this is still using the D'Addario strings supplied with the guitar that others have moaned about. I think the medium output pickups are the closest thing to 50's PAF pickups that I've heard. I tried several of the top of the Artcore range with the Custom 58 pickups and they're good but I like these better.
I've seen people complain about the siting of the pickup selector switch and say it should be on the upper bout. I agree this would be a nice site for it but this guitar has the vibe and features of a lot of vintage guitars and borrows from all of them. The selector switch is sited in the same place on the Gibson ES range - check out the 345 and its cousins and you'll see why Ibanez put the switch where it is.

My guitar was set-up before collection. It's the cheapest guitar I own and I have spent money getting all my other guitar professionally set-up because I've found that until you've done that you're not able to fully realise the potential of the instrument. Like all new guitars this one still required some minor fettling. The nut was pinching the G string and I filed the slot until it no longer pinched the string. The trick is to keep filing until the string stays in tune after vigorous string bending and use of the whammy bar. I see a lot of owners moaning about the tuners but I suspect the problem will be incorrectly fitting slots in the nut especially as most of the reviewers say they changed to heavier guage strings. Either that, or I've been lucky with my tuners!

The finish is glorious and looks so much nicer in the flesh - the catologue pictures don't do justice to the transparent finish. You don't get flamed maple at this price point, but it still looks nice. Fret ends were all neat and tidy. The binding is stupendously good. Double bound body for a sixth of the price of a double bound Telecaster and an eighth of the price of a Gibson 335. It's going to be a 9 in this category but every guitar I've bought before has been more expensive and required MORE work than this one.

It's got a polyurethane finish so that's bound to be durable and last a lifetime. Peversely, I wish it had a nitrocellulose finish so that it could age more gracefully. I always think that a poly finish is going to seal the guitar and not allow it to breathe in the way that a thin coat of nitro does. So I think of poly finishes as being the botox of the guitar world. On the minus side, it's a hollowbody guitar so it is more prone to damage by its very nature. I would happily gig with it and I'd use it without backup but I'd like a hardshell case for it first.

I've never dealt with Ibanez, but their UK distributor also distributes Laney Amps and I know Laney are brilliant to deal with.

I've been playing for 34 years and I also own a Gibson Les Standard, a Fender American Vintage '62 Reissue Telecaster and a Fender Classic Player 60's Strat and a Tanglewood electro acoustic. I love the retro vibe of the guitar and I wish it had easier access to the higher frets. If it were lost or stolen I would buy another in a heart beat. If I fell on hard times I would sell all my other guitars and keep this one, I rate it that highly! I looked at getting a Gretsch Electromatic or a Peerless Tonemaster but this was better value for money and since I've had it I haven't been able to put it down.

I was looking around online and I found a Ibanez Artcore AFS75T on sale at Interstate music,

the guitar is not a bad guitar, a lot better than the epiphone versions, especially in this price range,

it has a mahogany neck, maple body, all of which has binding, including the F holes,

Rosewood fret board with block inlays, looks like pearloid,

The Pickups are ok, they are more or less Gibson 490 copies,

the guitar has the standard 2 humbuckers and a 3 way switch set up you see on most hollow body guitars,

the guitar has a Licensed Bigsby Tremelo on it with a roller bridge, nice touch for something in this price range,

I rated the guitar a 7, the rason, ibanez should offer better pickups in the guitar, they could have used seymour duncan designed or actual seymour duncans, or even dimarzios, Ibanez uses a lot of dimarzio pickups in their guitars, the stock pickups have a tendancy to feedback easily

the guitar sounds great unplugged, a lot of depth and tone, similar to the G6120 Gretsch import that's around $600.00

Plugged in, it's ok, I ran it through a Fender Vibrolux, a Marshall jcm 900, and a Line 6 spider II, same conclusion on all of them, the pickups feedback too easily, even when it is clean,

The pickups are in my opinion clones of the 490's by Gibson tone wise, the guitar can be improved upon sound wise, like I did, LOL :)

I swapped out the pickups and wiring and installed Dimazrio Virtual PAF's in the neck and bridge, and I used CTS 500K pots with orange drop capacitors, and switchcraft 3 way switch and jack, big difference,

the guitar plays sweet now, I can get some nice 50's tones, or I can get down and dirty and play some Nugent tones,

as I stated in this part of the review, the electronics are the typical cheap stuff from China, replace all of it and you can have a great instrument

the action was ok, so I did my own setup and it rocked, changed the strings to flatwound, it came with 10's on it, I put on some 9's,

The pickups were adjusted well,

all of the work on the guitar is ok, but there is some small minor finish flaws, you will only notice them if you are really looking for them, and for a guitar in this price range, what do you expect.

the flaws were very small finish flaws in the clearcoat, one on the headstock, I polished out, and one on the neck joint side on the body top, I will polish out next.

the tuning keys are decent for Gotoh, the funny thing is the knobs, they went out of their way to copy Grover knobs on the tuning keys, must have got them from the supplier who sells the knock off gibsons in China.

Ok, with some work this guitar will be great for live playing,

I gave it a 5 for a good reason, the tuning keys are not good with the Tremelo or vibrato as some people call the Bigsby, you will need locking tuning keys or better ones, the stock ones are ok, but you need to tighten the bushings on the knobs, they are a little loose from the factory.

The strap buttons are ok, but the one near the neck migh poke you hard in the chest if you decide to use strap locks, same location as a lot of gibsons or other hollow bodies,

the hardware on the guitar is decent, the licensed trem is in my opinion the same quality as the actual Bigsby, I have owned a few Gretsch's and it's good, the roller bridge is needed when you have a tremelo, if not the strings would mess up the regular saddles when you started to use the trem,

the finish is poly, it can last, I wish it was Nitro, but the cost would easily esculate by $300

with some minor work, this guitar can be a regular player on stage, but without any of the tweaking or work, it's a matter of time before the problems develop.

I would use it on a gig without a backup after all of the mentioned work was done, as I stated before, what do you expect for this price range,

I have not contacted them yet, but what sucks is the warranty, 1 year, they should have at least gone 3 - 5 years on the low side, there is other companies with similar guitars offering a lifetime warranty in this price range.

This is my first hollowbody guitar in 10 years, I had an urge to buy one, and for the price range I decided on Ibanez, sure there was Jay Turser, Dillion and a Few others, but everyone knows of Ibanez,

I pretty much checked everytthing out between the reviews and playing it, I made my decision, I am glad I didn't buy it from Guitar center,

if it got stolen, I might replace it with the same one, or chip in $400 more and buy an Edwards from Japan,

I like it for the woods used, and for the price range, I have checked out the epiphones, and the one closest in design to this one costs about $700 , and it is a total turd, it seems Gibson deliberately loweres the quality on them so people have to buy a Gibson,

What I dislike is the electronics, the tuning keys, and the knobs,

as far as comparisons go, I wanted something cheap for now just in case I didn't like it, I didn't want to sink a lot into a hollowbody at this point in time, I wanted a Gretsch, but $250 more for the import wasn't that appealing at this time, and the Epiphones were not worth it at all.

anything I wish it had, better electronics, I would pay a little extra if it had them already installed, it is a pain to redo a hollowbody, tuning keys would be the highly recommended one for the Artcore models with a tremelo,

overall the Ibanez AFS75T is a decent guitar, it's not bad if you want a hollow body without spending a whole lot, there are others in this price range, but how many dealers carry the off brands?, I found out the hard way with Dillion, warranty service is a pain, so sticking with a name brand is a no brainer,

as I mentioned in this review, with a little tweaking this guitar can be great playing out, I had to spend $120.00 extra installing pickups and wiring, but in the end it sounds great, the tuning keys are next, but please keep in mind that I am customizing this guitar to my taste, everyone has his or her own opinion on what a guitar should sound like, I wanted the late 50's gibson tone, and I got it nailed with all that has been done.

It's been stated many times. It's sort of a Gretch-Gibson. Fully hollow which puts it in rare company for this width and size guitar. Yes, the pickup selector switch couldn't have been put in a more awkward position, past that high bridge and under your whammy bar. The throw is somewhat strange but that can be adjusted. "Large frets" Ibanez says--well, they go from end to end if that's what they mean. But these aren't jumbos, rather narrow actually, somewhat Fenderish. I would have preferred a wider fret but there you are. The neck is wide and flat, a bit flatter than Gibson, a jazz neck to be sure. Nicely detailed with very good workmanship. A basic setup with D'Addario jazz/blues strings and I was ready to go.

It's a decent sound with stock pickups. Naturally has less natural highs than a solid body and with a prominent mid-range but that's part of the charm. It brings out the rock-a-billy with me. Sounds very retro 50s early 60s to this ear. All three positions are usable with a good amp. The neck pickup is deep and the bridge has enough treble for lead work. The middle of course straddles the two and you can roll off either volume for fine tuning just like a Gibson.

I bought this used but the set-up wasn't bad. Had to straighten the neck a bit to reduce high position fretting out. The pickups I'm still experimenting with. You will get feedback with high gain. It's part of the beast unless you stuff the F-holes.

I don't know the long term reliability. It's not rocket science, it should last a long time with care. The whammy bar works well and keeps the guitar in tune with gentle warbling. The bar is too high on my sample. That would involve cutting down the spring.

I have had no contact with Ibanez for anything but to my memory this is my first Ibanez product.

I've been playing since the Ten Commandments were written. Most styles. I like it. It's different. It looks cool with a George Harrison vibe. very light on the shoulder. It looks and plays like more money.

Royal blue finish. Big-ass tail peice. Two humbuckers and control stes (you had me at royal blue). Man I swear this sounds dumb but...The Artcore AF75 was wider in the middle and had a warmer tone, but this guitar just look so damn cool. After changing my mind five times I gave the salesman my card and said I'll take the blue one and then left the room before I changed my mind.

Passive Pickups. I was origionally going to put in diffrent ones, but why? Don't fix it if it ain't. broke.

23 frets, but only 15 are usable due to the design. I don't need to break champagne bottles so I don't care.

The case came seperately. I got it for cost. Buying a guitar like this and trusting it to a gig bag is foolish and will end up a tradegy.

I NEVER use bridge pick-ups (my other guitar is a Les Paul Junior), but this one gives a cool George Benson vibe with the right amplifier.
Pedals: Ibanez TS808, Line 6 Verbzilla, BBE Sonic Stomp. That's it. The pedal board runs into a Germino Masonette. This amp could make a Rouge guitar sound good.

It feeds back when you want it to and doesn't when you don't.

The bridge pick-up makes my horney to play louder, louder, louder. It is a real screamer.

Action is OK. I'm not a shredder so I don't care. I'm just looking for something usuable.

The finish is superb - I wasn't even looking for a new guitar until I saw this mf-er.

NA

NA

I restringed it and played theguitar the night I bought it (I brought a back-up, of course) and loved it. I play alot of power chords and I am a passable soloist. It suits my needs to a "T." Good price for a good guitar.

Quick update to my review of 12/6/06 (liked it but note clarity in chords could be better). Since then I've made a few quick tone tweaks:

1) replaced the stock bridge with a solid carved rosewood bridge ($15 at www.stewmac.com)
2) removed the pickguard
3) upgraded the strings to Thomastik-Infeld JS112
4) stuffed a rolled washcloth out of sight inside the body (in between the two parallel braces) to damp the midrange resonance peak.

Sound is much improved -- more focused, better balanced and still lots of acoustic warmth. Note separation in complex chords is now excellent, on par for example with a PRS spruce hollowbody (at 1/10 the cost).

Smooth silky feel, once you dial in the action adjustments.

A reviewer below criticized this guitar for having too high a bridge, and for the way the neck lifts away from the top at the last couple frets. Unfair -- both are widely accepted design features to increase the acoustic properties of a guitar. A higher bridge promotes a stronger acoustic sound, and neck lift-off frees more of the top to resonate. Nicely done, Ibanez.

I've bought one new (AFS75-BK, black finish no tremolo) and I'm amazed by its build quality, finish work, sound and feel. Terrific size and weight for carrying around town in a gigbag. The tone doesn't have the great clarity of note separation in complex chords like some expensive handmade archtops, but you'd only notice playing jazz chords through a seriously good amp. Upgrading the strings (e.g. D'Addario Chromes) and adjusting string/pickup heights gets you a nice fat sound, no need to change pickups. What a nice surprise!