Ibanez AS180 Artstar

My AS-180 is made in Japan. 22 frets, Dot Inlays, Semi Hollow Guitar. Pick up is Super 58 with tri-sounds switch with 2 volume, 2 tones. Dark Sunburst Color which I really like it. Neck is not too thin for Ibanez Guitar but it is thinner than Gibson 335 which I have owned for a couple of years ago. (I already sold it.) Compare to Gibson 335 type guitar, it is very light weight! This is what I really like about this guitar. Cosmetically, it is regular class guitar.

Like I mentioned in Features Category, the body weight is very light. This is very much affecting the entire guitar sound charactor this guitar has. I can say that it is more bluesy tone yet more high edged twinkling sounds. I used to own AS-80 which is made in Korea but this also sounded great! Sounds Knobs, Pegs, Finishes are not as good as higher number-ed model but AS series are all good sound guitars!

This is something I always do little minor work for myself. So, basically it does not really matter. Finish of the fret and body are well above average of this price level.

It has lightly been played for over 10 years. Still looks great!

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This is one of the rare guitar that you can find in used market. AS-200 and AS-80 are more commonly played and marchandized by many players. but this AS-180 seems like rarely sold in used market. For this price range, this guitar is diffenately great guitar! Gibson 335 and AS200, People ofter compare those two and Gibson 335 is great too but it is totally different in terms of sound and playabilities.

This guitar was made in Japan in 1996. This is a replica of the Gibson 335 model and is made very well. Standard 3 way selector w/ a coil-splitting switch and Ibanez Super 58 pickups.

The guitar is great for a rock/blues sound. I wouldn't consider it great for jazz...the guitar tends sounds like more of a solid body guitar than semi-hollow. The guitar is run through a Mesa Boogie Nomand 55 and sounds great. I either run direct or add on a TS-9 depending on the tone I am going for.

I bought the guitar used and it was in excellent condition. Finish is nice, no flame, but color is gorgeous. There are no flaws on this guitar at all, and seems to be made very well. It has real a solid feel when it is in my hands.

So far, this guitar has proved to be very durable. Everything on this guitar is stock and has remained solid over 8 years time.

Never Dealt with the Company.

I have been playing for roughly 10 years and I own a Les Paul and Tele. This guitar was not easy to find and I would buy another if I had to give up this one. The only other guitar I compared it to was as Heritage 535 b/c of the similar price range. I think the Heritage had a very good sound, but not as versatile. This guitar is made well, sounds good, and can be used for any studio or live application.

We're talking about a 1997 AS180 Artstar Made in Japan. Its a nice butterscotch Sunburst finish with the Super 58's and coil splitting switch which allows you to change the bridge pickup from humbucking to parallel to single coil. Theres a volume and tone for each pickup.
Its a 335 style semi-hollowbody that is supposedly the frugal brother of the AS200. Thge difference, I believe, is in the inlays, whhich are blocks on the AS200, and on the hardware, but I'm not sure which pieces.
I purchased it secondhand from an incredibly nice student with the case.

Let me preface this by saying that I bought a Epiphone Dot 2 years ago with a wonderful finish. Problem was that the pickups blew and there were definitely som quality defects. If they put halfway decent pickups in the Dots, they would not be bad guitars, but that combined with the shoddy electronics and poor workmanship brings it down. I was planning on upgrading the pickups and electronics until I stumbled upon this on Ebay in NYC, where I work. I asked the buyer if I could see it in person and he was more than happy to. I spent an hour with the guitar playing through a solid state amp (music school rehearsal room) and forked over my cash without any hesitation.
When I came home, I plugged it into My Reverend HH 40/60 combo via ZVEX SHO>SD-1/808>BiComp. Man. What can I say? Tone Tone Tone Tone Tone.
I love jam band music, jazz, alt country, rock, space rock, experimental. This thing does it for me. It kills me how good it sounds. With the coil spitter, I can get up to nine different combinations of sounds. , but I'm really leaving it in either the bridge HB or split between the Bridge nd neck with more volume on the neck HB. I have a Tokai Strat for that single coil soundd and am very pleased with it. The Dot is going away forever.
It feeds back when i kick the OD on full blast with the SHO on. I, personaly, love this. It makes the guitar for me. Others might not.
I never played a real 335, Heritage, or AS200, so I'm going to give it a 9. But this is the best guitar I've ever owned. If my loins don't provide me with a male child, I will be buried with this.
I knew I had a winner when my girlfriend came into the room where I was playing it and commented how much fuller and prettier it sounded than all of my other guitars. While she preferred the finish on the Dot, she said that this was the nices sounding guitar she had heard me play, including music store tryouts, ever.
Let me say this: It is a rock guitar that can do jazz. Factor this intop your decision making process.

Bought it used with 11's on it. The intonation was good, but can use some tweaking. I'll probably take it in for a proper setup, if I can bear to part with it for a few days.

This is hands down the best guitar I own and most likely will ever own. I'm not rich and will most likely have to sell a few more pieces of my gear up to offset the cost of this splurge for me. But for 800 bucks, I fell very very satisfied with it. I've been playing for 15 years and have been essentially a Strat guy until 2 years ago. I bought the Epi Dot, before I really new what I was doing, and have been on the hunt for a really nice semihollow.
The seller was a gentleman and revealed all of the minor flaws this beauty had (two small dings on the headstock and a tiny mark on the back of the body).
Don't steal this. You'll break my heart. And I'll have to kill you. Seriously, I'd search this out and buy another.
I can't ask for anything more out of this guitar. Really. Its perfect for me and my style. I dream at work about coming home and playing this.
If you find one for a decent price, buy it. Its a wonderful guitar.

It's made around -95 I guess, in Japan.
It has 22 frets, rosewood fretboard w. dot inlays.
There are 2 volumecontrols and 2 tonecontrols. there are also a switch who splits the humbucker into a single coil. since I don't have the urge for singlecoiltones(I play jazz god damn it), I never use it. It has 2 super '58 pickups. same as on scofield, metheny and one of george benson guitars.

the body is made of maple and the neck is a third piece maple neck.
it's sunburst finish on it.
the neck is thin and fast, I like it much more than the 335 model, who is to thick in my opinion. If I have to complain on anything, it would be that they choosed dot inlays instead of blockinlays. the dot sometimes looks a bit cheap.

I just had it in for a smaller service and it plays so damn good.

It's just perfect for my kind of music. I'm into scofield, metheny, abercrombie, ralph towner and many more. I play through an all-tube amp, using proco vintage rat distorsion, boss dd3 digital delay, ernie ball volume and sometimes a digitech whammy. It sound so great, such a fine, smooth tone. when using the rat it bites like a snake.

I bought mine used so I have no idea about the factory settings.

I just had it on service, so now the actions perfect, aswell as the intonation. I use D'addario 12-52 strings on it. works for me.

It will last. I tried to scratch it with a screwdriver, to make it look more vintage (just kidding!). It will last, atleast mine will.

I don't know. I'm sure they'll help me.

I've been playing for some years. before I bougth it, I tried a lot of other guitars.

This is Japan made.And laminated.It has 22 frets.Body is maple and neck is maple-mahogany-maple.The neck is very easy to play.Easier than Gibson,Epiphone,Yamaha...There is a three sound switch..and you are able to catch nice tones.The bridge is Gibraltor.

I thing this is exactly for Blues and Jazz(also swing and bebop) Hard-rock and metal is impossible.The sound of this guitar is unusual and wonderful.

Finish and fit is good also.

I thing this nice guitar will not last too long.It is not too much safe!!

Because of the neck and sound I really liked this guitar.I am sure that both the neck and the sound is superior than Gibson ES335...

Japan made semihollowbody (read:solidbody). 22 frets. Laminated maple top, maple center bloack. 3 way selector, tri-sound switch which split the neck humucker for a single coil tone and parallel coil tones as well as the standard humbucker tone. It has stock Super 58 pickups and I do not intend to replace them. It does not have locking tuners and may go out of tune if you are not careful about string wiring. Comes with hardshell case.

I had thought that it would be a good compromise between a jazz guitar and a rock guitar. Now I think that it's only a rock guitar and consider the concept of semihollowbody as suggestion of playing a solidbody with higher gauge strings. I had bought it via internet without trying, so I can not complain.

The guitar was completely set up wrong when came from the factory. 9" strings, incredibly high action. Nothing was adjusted in short. I have corrected the setup with the help of a friend, and now it plays fine.

It is build like a rock as they say, but be careful not to crack the top.

Never dealt with them. They dont even have an email address in their webpage. I would select "no opinion" for this section, but I selected 5 because I can not contact them if I want via email.

Good guitar - but the wrong guitar for me. Do not think that it will sound like a hollowbody, even with 13" strings. Consider it something closer to a solidbody, e.g a LesPaul. Well, yes, it sounds like a LesPaul! A good one!

I bought my AS180 Artstar off of the net about 5 months ago. It's the Japanese model which is much better quality than the cheaper priced Korean models. It is a brown sunburst, 2 humbuckers with a switch that transforms the front pickup into a single coil sound. It's made of maple, probably a veneer. The hardshell case that came with it is the finest I've ever seen. The Artstar is modeled after the Gibson 335. A local music store owner with 45 yrs. jazz experience says the AS180 is superior to the Gibson 335. I've played both and concur.

I play blues/rock/country suited to gospel, been playing for 25 yrs. I also use a Fender tele that I'm fond of and used a Gibson SG in the past. The tone is superior to any thing I've ever played. It'll sound like Creedance, The Beatles, Chet Atkins, BB, etc, It has a deep dark sound or bite, whatever you tell it to do. I play it thru a 2X12 Fender D'ville and a solidstate Fender in stereo thru a Rev100 Yamaha processor, it's heaven. The AS180 has inspired me.

I use 10 gauge strings and it plays like 9s. It came setup good but I raised the action because I play hard and don't like buzz. It is a beauty to behold, I set it in the corner and gaze upon it. It does have one flaw. Around the 15th fret it has a little uneven stain by the binding and a small crack in the finish where the neck joins to the body. I later saw a $3000 Gibson at a major music outlet with the exact same flaw, which made me feel better! I read where another guy submitted an entry where his AS180 had the same flaw. If Ibanez would make the finsher take an eye exam then the AS180 would me perfect.

This is the finest guitar I've ever owned and is made of some of the finest materials available. I researched and shopped for several months before making a decision. I think it will last a life time. You could say that I'm very happy with the purchase. I'm rating it a 10, but remember that a semi-hollow guitar is more fragile than a solid.

When leaning my strumming arm against the body the guitar, it would sound sharp (like a bigsby), I was concerned and e-mailed Ibanez who e-mailed back in a few days and said it was not normal to have it checked and get back. Well, I went to a local store and tried out a couple of Ibanez 335 styles and they did the same thing, so I concluded that the problem was me, I adjusted my habits. Nevertheless they did respond.

The guitar has all I ever wanted, I would replace it if stolen or lost. I love its playability, dark bluesy tone, its rear pickup sting when using overdrive. I love its majestic look and I feel like a celebrity even when playing it in the privacy of my home. I almost bought the Ibanez George Benson. It would have cost about the same, but all of the gold and pearl did'nt fit me, also my skills don't justify such a Mercedes. The AS180 ain't glitter, it just looks like a vintage classic from the 50's or something especially the dark ivory binding. It sounds like heaven or extremely nasty. I highly recommed it.

This is a laminated maple top, sides and back, semi-hollow body (ES-335 style) guitar made in Japan. I believe my particular instrument was made in 1998. It has two Ibanez chrome covered '58 humbucker pickups, stop tail piece, tune-O-matic style bridge, maple-mahogany neck, rosewood fingerboard with dot inlays, and a drop dead beauitful butterscotch burst finish. Electronics include seperate tone and volume knobs for each pickup, a three way switch and a coil split switch for the neck position pickup. The input jack is on the front of the guitar.

I play a variety of music from blues, classic rock, show tunes, jazz and chord melody arrangements of folk/old time tunes. This instrument is able to cover them all. The '58 pickups are hotter than the standard pickups of Gibson's ES-335. I also own a Gibson SG Standard, and the Ibanez pickups have much better definition and clarity when playing clean. They also tend to be less muddy in the middle range when you're seriously overdriving your amp. With the coil split switch you can get a whole lot of sounds out of this instrument. Using a Crate Vintage 212 as a practice amp, I've been able to recreate Zepplin's Black Dog, ZZ Top's Bang-Shang-a-Lang, Rick Derringer's Rock & Roll Hoochie Koo, and others with astonishing ease. Then with a few simple adjustments of tone/volume knobs and the coil split switch, I'm playing crystal clear jazz... what a wonderful instrument. My only regret is that I don't have two... I'd string one with 9's and put flat wound 13's on the other.

This instrument reminds me of my Taylor acoustic. I continue to marvel at how well it's made and how easy it is to play. There are no problems with the finish. The fretwork is above average, and the setup from the factory was dead on for my needs. The only negative I've noticed on the entire instrument is that there is one very minor blemish/rough spot where the binding on the fingerboard was not completely smoothed out... there is a slight ripple at the 3rd fret. This belmish is quite hard to find/see and in no way impacts on the feel or playability of the instrument.

I've only had the instrument eight months, but would predict that it will be quite solid over time. All hardware seems sturdy and well made. I'm not terribly easy on guitar finishes (some would say I'm flat out hard on instruments), but this thing still looks like it's new and right out of the box! My other guitars looked years older and well used in the same short period of time.

I've had no experience in this area, except when requesting an Ibanez hardshell case for it (it does not come with one), Ibanez got it to my dealer in 2 days.

I shop for instruments very carefully... I'm not a rich man. This thing exceeded the expectations I had for the money I saved/budgeted. I've tried instruments costing over twice as much and think this out shines all of them. The range of sounds it's capable of is incredible, it looks great, is easy to play, and I sure would look for another if it were lost or stolen... I might, however, consider moving up one model to the AS200 for the block inlays and more highly figured top... all vanity stuff. But for making music, this is the real deal. I've been playing for over 30 years