Ibanez AFS75T Artcore

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!

Whats cool about this guitar is that you can see the wood through the transparent finish. Hollowbody for that 50s rocknroll\rockabilly look.Dual humbuckers,,22 frets makes it good for hitting those high notes, two tone knobs and two volome knobs,3-way pick-ups.awesome features

This guitar is great for blues, 50's rock n roll, jazz and rockabillyand even punk and metal with the right effects.I mainly play blues and 50's rock n roll with a VOX Pathfinder amp.The dual humbuckers makes this guitar a very versatie guitar.You can get good sounds on any of its pick-ups .The fact thas its a hollow-body makes the sound really fat, yet rich.

The action on the guitar was descent.String 1-2-3 buzzed like crazy only because the bottom side of the bridge was low but I easily fixed it and that shouldn't discourage you from buying this guitar. There wern't any flaws on this guitar what so ever.

This guitar will hold up to live playing without a problem. The harsware seems durable, the bigsby has a washer coming loose but not a biggy.The finish will last a lifetime if it is wiped down with a guitar cloth regularly.This guitar will last you as long as you want it to as long as you care for it.Remember it is a hollow-body and is more of a fagile piece than a solid-body.This guitar will hold up a gig with out the worry of needing to bring a backup.

The warranty is for a year . Haven't had to use it yet and probaby wont.

I have been playing guitar for a year and am pretty sure when I come across a good guitar.I own a Fender acoustic guitar so I know how to take care of a hollow-body instrument.If this guitar was stolen, or if it broke, I would probably get the same one only because there isnt a difference between this hollow-body and a $1000 hollow-body besides the manufacturer.I played an Epiphone hollow-body and for some reason I liked this guitar more.I definitely recommend this guitar if you are into blues, rock n roll, rockabilly and jazz.Truly a wonderful guitar for the price.

Normal specs: 2005 red version with tremolo. 2HB

Neutral and pleasant sound. It is not a Gretsch, but 80% there. With a small EQ or with Enhancement (Boss EH2 pedal, or any other), you can get the sparkle into into it. No need to upgrade the pick-ups with this EQ add-on.

Though I am sure with the right pick-ups it will match the sound of any high end Guitar in the hollow body category

Have recorded it directly into the computer with Apple Garage Band amp simulations and also acoustically with condenser mic for a "roots" 1920's new-orleans like sound.

Played on low-wattage tube amps, modelling amps and SS practice amps, it has a "classy" sound.

Also takes overdrive and distortion well in recording so that you can even go for any heavier rock sound from ZZTOP to Heavy metal. Though it would probably feedback at high volumes.

Perfect is the only word that comes to mind. Neck is a piece of cake for any style of music.

For Jazz you would want heavier strings than the originals. But for everday rock/pop use, .10 strings are fine.

No Flaws. It's just a beautiful guitar, class not glitz. Also light, can be played for hours.

You may even fool your adience into thinking you play better than you do by the aura of expertise it projects onto you...

No hesitation to play this guitar in any setting.

Just would make sure to get tight strap holders on your straps. String change is easy. But a back up is prudent in any case.

Had a input jack problem (due to guitar cables that were probably to aggressive with springed retainers. That was repaired with no issues by the dealer's tech. No problem since.

It is the kind of guitar you say you will trade for a prestigeous model, but at the end you never do: because you will work hard to find the playiblity, excellent construction, good looks, good sound and real class bundled up in any package at the same time at any price.

I have played a "standard" Gretsch Nashville in a music store some time after I bought the Ibanez. I was not really impressed by a guitar that costs nearly 7 times more. Also tried the Electromatic version of Gretsch which I did like sound wise (single coil),but found it "boxy".

The playiblity of the the Ibanez is much more impressive, though you will certainly not get any respect from guitar snobs.


I bought this guitar after 12 years of not playing any music(inspiration had disappeard after a active musical youth playing in groups). I wanted to try a hollow body as I believed this would correspond more to the "maturity" I had maybe acquired. Forget the maturity thing, this guitar can play anything from punk to ballads.

My female singing coach who is much younger than I am, was immediately attracted by the looks (the guitar's), so I suppose the younger crowd for whom the feminine attraction is an important criteria could also profit ;-)

Lacks: the pick-ups are not magical but do their job seriously with minor enhancements

Would I replace it if lost or stolen ?: probably go with the Artcore custom AF105 NT version of it (white and gold is even more beautiful)

Other gear: Revered Slingshot 2 P90s (Rate 10 in all categories), MIM Strat and Tele (solid performers), Duesenberg Double Cat 12 String (for connaisseurs, I like 12 strings in general), Ibanez SR presitge Bass.

This is the Turquoise model. With the tune-o-matic bridge (basically useless). No extra accessories, but for $299...No complaints in that area. I know for this price-point a working bigsby trem would be too much, but just be aware that on the two models I tried, both the trems wouldn't come back true. It's also extremely light, you don't even know you are wearing it.

I've been playing a while, maybe 25 years. For what it's worth I have a couple of music degrees. Wish it showed in my playing! Seriously, this is a fine guitar, and it's sound off the shelf was resonant and organic. A real player, even forgetting the price-point, I was in love. People have described it as Gretsch-like, and I would agree to a point. I put in some TV Jones pickups for that reason, and just can't get over how great that guitar is. It's cleans are open and defined, with a lot of wood tone, and when you use a little overdrive the sound just rips. It reminds me of how a good strat with just come alive, especially in the neck position, and spread out. Not a strat sound, but that feeling you get where you are being taken on a ride. Even with the stock pickups this was a very good sounding instrument, but for a couple hundred more, this guitar could keep up with a guitar costing thousands more. I play it through some Fulltone products, a Line 6 delay modeler, and into either a Guytron GT100FV, a Fender Hot-Rod Deluxe, or (usually) a pair of Tech 21 TM60's (my favorites actually).

Set up was OK. I had a problem with the truss-rod on my original and had to exchange it. I guess it's worth trying to make a small truss adjustment if the salesperson will let you. I bought mine at The Music Store on Irving Park Road in Chicago, and they were great about it. Good store BTW if you are looking for a good guitar at a good price. Some nice old amps too. The finish was flawless on both guitars. How do they do this? Better than the Gibsons I've looked over. I just love looking at this guitar, and everytime it comes out of the case I get compliments.

For the price, it seems very durable. The tuners will probably need to be changed one day, but it feels solid. Too new to tell.

I have never had any luck getting email responses or anything. But it hasn't been an issue yet.

This guitar is a steal. Even though the price has crept up another $100, it's incredible. I would replace it in a heartbeat. It's probably a tie for my main guitar right now.