Ibanez AS193

These guitars were made for 1 year under the united artcore label, bodies manufactured in china, then sent to Japan where they make the necks and do the final finishing. The same people who make the high ibanez' make these guitars I believe. The Japan factory does a great job. I do wish they made a coil tap for the pickups like the as180 and as200, that???s why I gave them a 9.

I think for the price it does not get better than this. This guitar is in the same league as Gibson at half or a third of the price that???s why it gets a 10. I???m sure there are better guitars but not at this price. With the super 58's the tone is bright with the tone control up. But with the tone control at half way a beautiful rich tone appears, I???ve never played tone controls so responsive. The pickups lack a little bass. So if you???re looking for versatility keep the 58's. I was dissatisfied with the 58's so I replaced them with Manlius humuckers. I instantly got the tone I wanted, thick full and warm. With the new pickups emerged a real es-335 sound. I love the sound with the new pickups but realized how much more versatile the guitar was with the 58's

Ibanez out did themselves. I???m really picky about necks and frets. Ibanez did a fabulous job on the necks, it plays like a dream. And yes the strings were too close to the neck. It took me a minute to adjust the strings and bam it played great. I also had to adjust the intonation, but again these are simple things you need to do to all guitars.

Seem great and solid

never dealt

I have been playing for 16 years and Im a music teacher and performer. Guitar is my life and career. I play through professional gear keeley, mesa, etc. I own an ibanez af-200 and this thing lives up to the finest ibanez made archtops. I also own a mid 80's 50's reissue japan tele thats also amazing. The united artcore line guitars are a little secret, if you find one buy it you will love it.

Made in 2003(?) in Japan
22 med-jumbo frets
Laminated flame maple top.
2 tone, 2 volume, 3-way pick-up selector switch
Stock model come with Ibanez Super 58 pick-ups, I put in Gibson '57 Classics
3 piece maple/mahogany neck rosewood fretboard with mother of pearl and paua shel inlays
Maple top and sides, vintage suburst finish
ES-335 body style with contoured arch top. Ibanez uses a slightly different shape on the cutaways that makes upper fret access nicer than a Gibson
Bridge is a Gilbralter III bridge, a very cool redesign of a tune-o-matic, with a stop bar style tail piece which has also been nicle redesigned for easier string change.
Gotoh tuners with pearloid
The neck is a very nicely shaped jazz neck, very similar to a epiiphone sheraton neck. I feel that it has a longer scale length that 24.75", maybe 25.5"

The tone of this guitar is great. I put 11 gauge flat wound strings. With the Gibson '57s it sounds very big, fat and clean. I play it clean through a VOX amp and it gives a very classic golden warm Jazz sound. However, that being said if I crank it and run it through my VOX Wah Wah pedal, it can scream and growl like a single coil sound

The fit and finish on this guitar is the best I have seen for a guitar. That includes very expensive Gibsons and the like. The binding on the fret board and the dressing of the fret wires is immaculate. The finish on the rest of the body is par excellant. The Falme top is gorgeous.(I wish the back and sides were flamed as well). The set-up was great. Obviously the people who did the final assembly og this guitar really took their time and knew waht they were doing. Even the wiring and pots were especially wrapped in a shielding foil to reduce noise.

Very reliable. The strap buttons are nicely oversized. The folks who designed this guitar obviously thought ahead to nicely appoint this guitar instead of just throwing standard apointments on it. I gig without this guitar without back-up all the time.

I have not had to use Ibanez customer support. However, I don't even know how I would. I've looked all over their web sirte for any contact info, non-existent. There isn't much known about these guitars. They existed for one year only. Then Ibanez moved their production from Japan to China and they no longer make guitars of this quality unless you really spend the big bucks and buy a John Scofield or other Signature series guitar which are still made in Japan.

I've been playing for about 8 years now but i've been a musician all my life. I can't lose this guitar because they are irreplaceable. I would compare this guitar to any other ES-335 type guitar. And I would dare say it would come out on top. I have played and handled $3000 guitars of this same style and they really aren't as nicely built or appointed as this one which originally sold for $1300. I have not seen in person a current John Scofield model but I would imagine that it would be the same. That guitar however is a $2500 guitar. These are very special guitars that Ibanez made and then discontinued for no real reason other than they want to dominate the inexpensive guitar market. For the price I paid for this guitar you couldn't even begin to touch a guitar of this quality anywhere period. I got real lucky I guess. The one thing I do wish is that Ibanez had some information about these guitars. Even their website doesn't mention them. It's like they never existed and the booklet that came with it was a generic booklet that comes with every Ibanez. So Ibanez if you are out there, talk to me.

I like to give some more information in addition to my review (see before). i've been experimeting with string hight, and found out that lowering or hightening the string has enormous influence on the sound of this guitar. Considering the rich tone quality this makes sense: with low string action you damp the ground tone of the strings, and because of the rich overtones you still get a lot of sound. hightening the strings untill there are no buzzes even when you stroke heavily gives you a very balanced warm sound, and you can make a lot of sounds balancing between the pick ups and using the tone knobs. Using the 'deep' knob on my music man I could get a very low kind of Les Paul like sound. I think the guy who complained about the very brigh sound should try to highten the strings.This might influence the sound even more than changing pick ups.

Ok, hightening the strings make it less easy to play, but it's still easy enough. My conclusion is now that the string action was far too low from factory.

If it would get stolen... I would go out and compare guitars again, and try to find one that would sound and play as good as this one. It might very well be that I would end up with another as193.

I just bought the as193. Was looking for a es 335-like guitar. Tried sveral brands in guitar shops. ended up with this one. You can find lots of info on internet on the features; i bought it for 999 euro, but was surprised the case was included for that price... I would have paid the price without case.

Nowadays I play akind of big-city folk. Mostly rythm guitar with e-bass, accordeon, violin. It sounds very well for my style, specially in open tunings! It gives a very open, ringing tone, which lets every note audible till the end. I used to play alternative rock (kind of sonic youth-like). I can imagine Sonic Youth playing a couple of these guitars, and they would finally have the sound with which you could hear what they do with their tunings. Amp: Music Man 112RD. The guitar souds very bright, so I had to turn the treble down. I also play a Gibson Nighthawk,needs more treble. I can Imagine to have other Pick Ups in the Ibanez, on the other hand, the tone knobs work very well. I can get the sounds I want, specially on the clean channel. I think the brigtness is something you have to get used to; the advantage is that y have a very broad spectrum (more than on my Nighthawk).

Very low action. I play with a lot of power, so I had to highten the action. Now it is good, and the guitar still plays very light. Put also other strings on it (011). Otherwise no comments.

Seens very suitable for live playing. Very good finish. I break a lot of strings, so mostly i have an extra guitar ready on stage, because on my Gibson it takes quite some time to change a string. On the Ibanez I can do it very fast. Guitar is very well balanced playing standing. Only problem: it's too beautiful for rock band touring.

I go to my local guitar shop

I've been playing since I was 15, I'm now 46. I've had lots of guitars, most of them cheap and terrible. I played in a band with 5 guitars, everybody with different guitars and amps.(Band called Kleg. Album 'Zing", was produed by Lee Ranaldo from SY).Heard a lot of guitars and amps. Been searching for the ideal set up for a long time. My amp is great; maybe I found the guitar also. I will find out in a couple of months. I compared this one with a lot of guitars: Epiphone Sheraton (lacked tone definition), Gibson ES 175 (too Jazzy), and some cheaper guitars (no match). There was one model Epiphone (I think Casino?) That I liked, but that costed twice as much...

This is the expensive version of the artcore 335 copy. 22 frets, laminated maple top, tow humbuckers, etc. (Got to Ibanez web page for more details on this).

The guitar is really beautiful, very nice inlays, bindings all over. Couple of things to mention: the bridge and stop tail-piece are excellent, I can't imagine breaking more strings with this beauty. Another thing is the volume and tone knobs, they have this kind of rubber binding, I've never seen it before, it is a very usefull feature because it gives you perfect control over the knobs. Also, the stand for the pickups (I don't know the name of this things) are made of wood, really impressive.

It is a real pleasure to play with, because the neck is outstandingly crafted. The measures in this neck are well-proportioned to a point I had never experienced before.

The electronics are outstanding. Not only you can actually use the tone knobs for pleasant results (I thing I thought was impossible) but I found the pickups are 4 conductor cable, thus providing many choices for wiring and stuff (I guess, though this is not my thing).

The pickups are Ibanez super 58 pickups. Good things: they have more definition than I've ever heard, anything you do on this guitar will be heard in detail with these pickups, and they seem to be very well treated against feedback, wich is allways a concern in a semy-hollow body. Bad things: I just don't like them, they sound harsh to me, very bright. I do believe this might be my opinion, though, but don't even dream of getting anywhere near the sound of a 335 with these pickups. I just changed the pickups for a couple of SD 59', and it is fine for me right now.

You have to give this guitar a 10 on features and craftsmanship in general, I can't imagine anything better done than it is (although, as I said, I had to change the pickups).

I play a mixture of styles in a trio, covering from rock to pop to funk, and I expect my guitar to fill the harmonic spectrum as much as it possibly can, because, as said, I play in a trio, so I'vo no other guitar in the band to compete for the mid-upper mid section. The guitar suits my style perfectly.

I'm using this guitar as my main guitar now, through a Vox Tonelab SE and a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. Everything is almost brand new (got lucky in business this year!).

The sound of the guitar is, IMHO, rather bright and not as full and bassy as you might expect from a semy-hollow body. This is, however, a good thing for me, because it makes the guitar more versatile than, say, a 335. I mean: if you're used to solid body guitars, and switch to this one, the difference won't be overwhelming - if you switch to a 335 instead, you will find a greater difference with solid body guitars.

A good comparison to make at a store if at all possible consists in trying this guitar and an Epiphone Sheraton II. Of course, the Sheraton is a much cheaper guitar, but it works for many people as a very good 335 replacement (of course changing the lame stock pickups first). You will find the Sheraton to be more mellow and bassy, and the AS193 to be more trebly and bright. This is mainly due to the stock pickups in both guitars. The Sheraton's are just really bad, and the AS193's are really bright, even harsh sounding to my ears. But the guitar itself sounds a bit brighter than the Sheraton or a 335. I know this because I changed the pickups in mine.

The sound is very articulate, no question about that. All over the neck you get amazing tone.

Feedback is a concern with any semi-hollow body if you want to play loud. The body on this guitar really resonates, wich is a good thing, but it causes feedback. You should be aware of this with any semi-hollow, anyway.

I'll give it a 9, mainly because it didn't sound entirely right for me with the stock pickups, but the guitar itself sounds incredible.

As I said, the guitar is very impressive, and I couldn't find any flaws on it, and still can't. Everything was perfect from the store - again, everything but the pickups.

It seems as strong as a strong and reliable guitar could be. Again, the craftmanship on this beauty is excellent.

Warranty for a guitar? Come on, get serious... I don't know, and I don't want to know. I never had to call customer support for a guitar, and think I never will, as I believe most people do.

I have been playing for about 20 years now. I've owned several guitars, mostly solid body guitars. I currently own this one, an Epiphone Sheraton II, a Fender Tele 72' Deluxe, and a Yamaha acoustic.

If this guitar was stolen... I don't even want to think about that!

I love the finish in this guitar, the attention to details. IMHO, Gibson could very well learn... If you place a 335 side by side with this guitar, It will look as a cheap version, only it costs 1000 euros more...

That being said, and even though I really love this guitar, I would have bought the Gibson if it costed may be 500 euros less than it does! But of course, it's a Gibson! But this is a great guitar, the next best thing on the market right now, if you ask me.

Again, the thing I dislike with all my heart are the pickups. Why, Ibanez, tell me why?! It'd be so easy to put a couple of decent, less bright pickups, and the guitar would be perfect from the factory. For this, I have to give it a 9.

Overall, great value.

2004 Ibanez AS193. 22 frets, laminate maple top, rosewood fingerboard, 2 buckers, standard tone and volume pots and toggle selector, fixed bridge.

Basically a 335 clone. Very nice neck. Out of the box the relief measure under 0.006". I lowered the strings to where they feel nice [which is very low] and there's not a hint of fret buzz.

Nice inlay on the neck - an attractive guitar.

I play jazz. I have a couple of archtops but wanted something I would string lightly for playing non traditional stuff. You can dial in a very decent jazz tone without losing the top strings. Switch to the neck pup and you'll get as much spank as you like. The acoustic tone is quacky - not surprising given the body type - but certainly loud enough to practice with.

I only give it a 9 for tone because I'm spoiled by the tone I get from my D'Angelico, but for a semi hollowbody this is excellent.

Set up out of the box was low and fast. All I had to do was lower the string height. Nicely balanced, very playable

This is a soundly constructed guitar - it should stand up to giggin without any trouble.

No dealings with customer support - can't see that I'd need to. 1 year warranty.

I'ce been playing for, crikey, 40 years. I used to play professionally but no longer do [got tired of being broke :-)]

I A/B'ed this against a Gibson ES333, and this blows the Gibbie out of the water. I've owned a Washburn HB30 which is a good guitar with, compared to the AS193, weak pickups. A Tele didn't put out a decent jazz tone, although a fat Tele probaly would

I'd replace it is it went AWOL. In fact, if I were just to have one guitar this would be it. This AS193 just knocks me out as far as value for money goes. My druther would be a Hofner Verithin, but that's more than twice as much. No regrets at all.