Ibanez AS200

Mine is a 1981 AS-200, I payed only 575.00 for it, because the headstock was repaired and the logo design plastic veneer is missing because of it. When I got it I was very pleased that the headstock broke exactly where the factory seem was, so basically the repairman just did what the factory did but better.

It has all the features it needs. Everything including the secondary toggle (which I believe changes the tone in the neck pick-up?) is very usable.

This is kind of a ridiculous category. Giving something a low rating because it doesn't have active pick-up's, LED's, and a Whammy.

I play just about everything except Metal. This guitar sounds very good for just about everything, it's a hollowbody with humbuckers so it's not going to sound like a fender. This guitar have more sustain than the Gibson 335's and I believe generally sound better.

It's a very professional guitar. It wasn't made by CNC machines so the trim is obviously done by hand, like any other guitar made in this period. The top could be book matched better.

I got it and the neck was bowed in the normal way in which is fixed by adjusting the rod. 1 very easy 1/3rd turn made it perfect.

The action is amazing. Nothing on this guitar could be considered poorly done.

Just by looking at it and realizing it's 28 years old and in perfect condition other than the headstock repair I have to give it a 9. I don't know what broke the headstock It could have been slammed????

One problem is the jack placement tends to chip around the edges and might be in a weak placement.

I tried to order the plastic headstock veneer with logo and design that's used on the JSM-200 model's headstock, sending pictures to prove it's authenticity. According to Ibanez they don't carry them stating "we don't carry headstocks" I said it wasn't a headstock describing it perfectly, and condescendingly acted, as if, they had no idea what I was talking about, whaaa!

This is the only guitar company that I've ever dealt with besides Alembic and Hamer. Alembic has the best customer support in history! I lost the brass truss rod nut covering, and the Alembic hippies gave me one for the price of shipping and invited me out to the factory!!! So, I might be a little pampered.

Hamer is also awesome and will help you as much as they can.

I've been playing guitar and bass for 20+ years. I owned a bunch of guitars and this is an awesome guitar.

Just a follow up to my first admission on this guitar, which was about five months ago. I repotted the bridge pickup, no problems now. This is now my main axe, the PRS is relegated to the stand for most gigs, and I sold my tried and true strat cause I never used it anymore.

This guitar gets just about any sound I want, and I have never been one to try to get new sounds out of my rig. Still using the Boogie, a Tremoverb, although I added a couple of new effects to the chain, most notably being an old analog delay and a chorus. Switched to EL-34's in the amp, mostly for something different without buying a new amp. Love the sound I'm getting, which is something I have not been able to say before. We are all searching for that 'perfect' tone, don't know if I found it, but for now I am almost convinced...

Same as before. Bandmate just bought a new Dot 335, I told him he was crazy for blowing that much dough, but he always wanted one. He keeps comparing his to mine, so that should tell you something. I honestly think that if he could do it over, he would have bought an Ibanez AS200, but he will never admit it...

No problems since the trade. I've removed the pickguard, the wood underneath is a little lighter in color, but it has been hidden from the sun for almost twenty-five years. The wood this thing was made from is absolutely stunning. The flame is what Gibson would call AAAA. Stunning.

Same as before. Never had a problem, but if I did, don't know if I would actually contact Ibanez on a guitar as old as this. Would probably eat the repair cost and live with it.

If lost, I'd kick myself in the sack for being dumb. If stolen, I would have to replace the car first, but would definately replace the guitar. Hell, I'd even lie like a rug and say I lost three of them.. fuck the insurance companies, eh'? The only other guitar I have tried that actually comes close to this thing is a Yamaha, a semi-hollow 335 looking guitar, don't know the model. But is was killer as well. Not as nice as the Ibanez, but real close, and in my humble opinion a better guitar than the Gibson.

Just got this guitar, traded a 1993 Les Paul Standard straight across for it, it's a 1991 model. Quilted top, made in Japan (the guy I traded is Japanese, he bought it new). Super 58 pu's, sound really good. I have an issue with the bridge pu, it is starting to go stereophonic. I will have to remove it and have it dipped to cure this, but for a guitar that is almost 18 years old, no problem.

I play a mixture of music, mostly alt-country and blues-rock, but when I was younger I was hooked on progressive rock, and when practicing I cannot help but crank up the gain and relive my youth. I plug straight into a Dual Rectifier Tremoverb, sometimes use a Dunlop wah, but otherwise no effects. I have a Cube 60 for practicing around the house, great cheap practice amp. The guitar is not noisy at all, very articulate sounding, the neck pu is especially creamy. My other guitar, which was my main axe up to now, is a PRS Custom 22, with the dragon pu`s. Beautiful guitar, no complaints. It has the wide thin neck that I love, but the neck on this Ibanez is absolutely beautiful. I can honestly say that after playing it for just a couple of hours, it felt just as comfortable as my old guitar.

The guitar has the fit and finish of something that should cost alot more. This thing has been put together by luthiers that love what they do, and take pride in their work. I bought a Gibson 335 about six years ago, traded it after a few months, dissappointed with it to say the least. I know that you can buy a monday morning guitar, and that may be what I had. That being said, this Ibanez is built with more attention to detail than the `real` semi hollow that I used to own. If every other manufacturer paid as much attention to this important category, what a tough decision we would have in choosing a guitar. As such, I am extremely satisfied with the way this is put together.

It is well put together. But I probably wouldn`t thrash it like my PRS. A solidbody just feels a little tougher in your hands, if you know what I mean. I generally take great care of my instruments, so I shouldn`t have any difficulty here, but it is a semi-hollow, and should be treated with more respect than your average guitar. The strap buttons are solid, alot like the ones on my PRS. I feel I can depend on it, but have to repair the bridge pu first. I always take a backup guitar, and that will never change.

Never had any dealings with the manufacturer. It was made in 1991, so warrenty is definately up.

Been playing about 25 years, studied in university for a while, consider myself a decent player. I have owned just about anything and everything in the last 20 years, look up G.A.S. in the dictionary and my picture is there... This one is a keeper, if lost I would look for another. Love the fit and finish, feel in my hand, and the sound I am getting. It has a great lead tone both with the neck and bridge pickups, clean and articulate. Rythm sounds are great, the pickups are not as loud as some I have tried. Overall, a great guitar if looking for something to cover a wide variety of sounds.

I bought this babe 7 years ago.From the very first touch i knew it was for me. I'm a big fan of Mr. Scofield and jazz generally but also into rock. The quality of this instrument is pro. the controls give a lot of sound variety.

Best part of As200 is THE sound. I just came out of studio after several hours of searching the sound for Pink Floyds shine on you grazy diamond. With my cheap equipment it seemed impossible to find the right sound- yes, i have strato. I tried as200 and that's it. It was the reason i wrote this....
When looking smooth jazzy tones, this babe helps. As200 is my 1st choice, if I'm recording distorded classical rocksounds. it's so full well balanced sound. For blues, light distorded bridge pick up sound works always.

Easy to play, high quality.

If you need one guitar to cover up many styles, I recomment this. From jazz to rock, I have tried it in metal also with nice results.

Guitar is left handed ES335 type semi acoustic in a violin sunburst finish, checked serial number and it was made in 1979 in Japan. 22 frets with mother of pearl inlays in the usual places. 2 humbuckers each with volume and tone controls and a coil tap switch as well so it gets a 10 in my book.

This guitar sounds brilliant. You can tell it has been hand crafted using the best woods and electronics. When played unplugged it has a lovely loud and rich sound that is really resolate. When plugged in it can cover everything from clean jazz lines to the heaviest of rock easily. No feedback at high gain settings either which is amazing considering it's a semi acoustic.

I got this guitar second hand and it does have some dents/dings and a couple of cracks on it where it looks like it's been dropped by the previous owner but I have to say it plays fantastically well.
Lovely binding on fretboard and body. It really is a beautiful guitar to look at - even if it's previous owner didn't take great care of it (the swine!).
If it wasn't for the headstock inlay being a bit too fancy for my taste I'd give it a ten!

I had to have the jack plug switch changed a couple of years ago which is acceptable for a guitar over 20 years old.

No need to contact anyone.

This was the first "proper" guitar I ever got and it's still my best 15 years and 14 decent guitars later. It cost me ??180 in 1991, the shop that sold it to me has since gone bust (not surprising really!). Don't know how much they cost now (are they still being made even?) but I know they were selling for over ??1500 in 1996 so must be over ??2000 now. If I lost this guitar it would break my heart - I would definitely save and get another. I would give it a 10 if it cost me ??1000 so no guesses for how many out of 10 for ??180!!!!

Mine is a 1980. It has the same features as the other as-200's reviewed here. This guitar is an extremely well thought out machine. All controls are sittuated for easy access by your right hand. The split bone-brass nut seems to give you a sharp yet warm tone on the open strings. It doesn't have a ton of features but for me it has the right ones.

There's not much you can't do with this guitar. If you are looking for a semi-hollow 335 type guitar for the typical reasons you couldn't do better than this. I haven't had mine that long, just a couple of months, but I can safely say that for over-all sound and playability this kills ANY Gibson semi that I've ever played and I've played plenty in my 25 plus years as a guitarist. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that the Gibsons are bad guitars, I've never played a 1959 335 and that sound is a beautiful classic tone. If you want the 335 sound get a Gibson. If you want that sound and a lot more in a guitar that has the same build quality as the BEST of what Gibson can offer then this is the guitar for you. I can't speak to the quality of newer as-200's but the early eighties ones are consistantly great guitars. To start, the acoustic sound is wonderful. It really surprised me the first time I picked it up at how even and balanced the sound was and loud too. I have a 1964 strat that is the same way - just really resonant. The sound plugged in is a perfect transfer of the natural sound characteristics of the guitar to the amp. Pickups are warm and articulate, nice bite on the bridge pickup and the neck pup is to die for. I have no clue why some people change the super 58s to any other. pickups respond beautifuly to right hand attack, they almost have a slightly microphonic sound to them- very lively. It's great with effects too - just listen to a Scofield record to hear one of these guitars played with a varriety of effects.

I've played a few of these from the early eighties and have a friend who has an 82 that I've played and I must say they're all really good. Mine is no exception. Finish is flawless. For a 25 year old guitar it has stood the test of time well. GREAT neck, 1 11/16 wide at the nut, medium C shape, fantasticly playable. generaly I favour a fatter neck but for some reason this one just has that right feel. I have no idea how it was factory fresh but I can tell you that how ever you want to set it up it can be done. When I got it it had thin strings on it and it had been sitting unplayed for years, the action was high and the neck had way too much relief. I had it set up for 12-52 guage strings with the action set low and even with this drastic change there were no problems, truss worked just like it should and now it has that "just an extention of your left arm" feel.

Pretty much covered this above.

Can't say much about this. I imagine if I have a problem with the guitar I'll take it to my local tech or work it out myself.

I bought this guitar on eBay from someone that had it listed wrongly as an ar-300 and it is close to mint. I've recently gone through a number of guitars looking for a good cross over jazz guitar- the as-200 is the "keeper". It's a tonal playground and I use all its options all the time. It even sounds cool when your strings are all played out and dead. I play it through a 1964 deluxe reverb, an Acoustic image coda R and sometimes a 1959 ampeg jet for recording. It sounds great through all of them and you can always hear the guitars destinctive sound even though these amps are all different animals. I'd replace it in a heartbeat if anything ever happened to it- though they're getting harder to find and more and more expensive al the time. I think people write these reviews to rave about a product or to trash it with not a lot of in between.

I brought this guitar new in 1984. Antique Violin, same as the others.

I have played blues, rock + jazz. This guitar does it all with style.
When I first bought it in 1984, there was quite a bit of bias against Japanese guitars, anyway I took it around to a friends place who is a professional musician and guitar teacher, to get some suggestions on set-up, (I'd been playing guitar for about 6 months at this time). So he plugs it in and starts playing it, first thing he plays Claptons version of crossroads, then he plays a Django Reinhart number, then something by B.B. King. When he is finished the first thing he says is "Shit I don't belive its a Jap", this is from a guy that has arange of Gibson, Fender + Rickenbacher guitars. Three weeks later he's brought his own and playing it live. That's how good it sounds, andthat's how versatile it is and why its the only guitar I've owned in twenty years.

From above story, my friend said nothing needs to be done, and I've never touched the action or set up since, (except intonation when I've fooled around with different string guages.
My guitar is kept on a guitar stand and only cased when taking it out, it's been played on average 4 days a week for the last 20 years, it has a few minor dings where its been knocked here and there but only very minor, the gold on the pick-ups are starting to show their age, but other than that it looks the same as it did when I first took it out of the case. The machine heads are still tight. I oil it with three amigos lemon oil every couple of months, thats about it.

Has never let me down. I've played semi professional, and now occasionally jam with some friends. Fantastic guitar

N/A

Been playing twenty years. Never regretted buying this guitar, it does it all. If I lost it or it got stolen I would be heart broken and be on the lookout for another one.
When I brought this guitar I looked at most other types, the Gibson 335 at the time was a real shocker and about $1500 new.
Considering the use I have hod out of this guitar, and I'm a long way from being finished with it, I'd have to say that iti is the best thing I've ever Brought.

Do you remember Michael J.Fox as Marty McFly inventing Rock'n'Roll for Chuck Berry? This is exactly my guitar! Well, actually it isn't, cause that was a Gibson ES 345 with a Bigsby and on Ebay you have to pay at least 3000 $ to get one (By the way, the one in the movie must have been a prototype because in 1955 it was yet to come ;-).
In any case my guitar is like the original in translucent cherry red with all hardware in gold plated brass and the knobs in black. It is an Ibanez copy from 1975, i.e. the lawsuit era! The semi-hollow body (no sustain block) is made of mahogany with beautiful grain and white bindings. The only difference from the original is the bolt-on neck. It has the black rotation switch, too, though I learned now that the original Gibson switch is much more sophisticated.

I bought this guitar in 1985 used for about 350 DM (circa 200 $). It was without the tremolo and had the original trapeze string holder instead. I've never seen another Ibanez of similar features since.
When I bought this guitar (used) it was in a poor shape. I actually hat to refit the neck, reshaping the cavity in the body. This fixed the problem and for the following 18 years I had a lot of fun with my red Ibanez ?ES 345? (maybe the original name is AS 200 or something like that; as I told you I never saw another one and this is long out of production).

Reading on the net about the wonders of out-of-phase sounds, I recently decided, however, to do some work on it. I started with the 3-way rotation switch, which featured, dissimilar from the Gibson, two simple capacitors to cut the trebles (a job the tone controls do much better). I never used it in 20 years and in the end the contacts were completely rusty. I replaced it with a 3-way 4-pole rotation switch. I lost some sleep to design the circuit, but in the end I got it done to allow out-of-phase as well as serial switching. Position 1 is now for a serial circuit of both pickups, position 2 is for out-of-phase, and position 3 is the original in-phase parallel circuit.
When I first heard the new sounds I was amazed about the new possibilities. I immediately fell in love with the out-of-phase tone and started considering to change all my guitars in a similar manner (I did it with a Statocaster now and the results are even better).

Thanks to Ebay, I then found a Bigsby-style tremolo, just the thing I?d always desired. When I tried the guitar with the new tremolo, it seemed to me that the sustain had substantially improved, due to the additional iron. In fact, the guitar is now much heavier than before (though it is still a lightweight compared to a Les Paul).

With the shiny new gold tremolo the completely worn original pick-up covers seemed somehow out of place on my guitar and that?s why I finally started considering to replace them. Original Gibson pick-ups or Seymour Duncan or DiMarzio are quite expensive and most of the time they haven?t got the gold cover, but then I found a set of Mighty Mite PAF Vintage Buckers (MMHA-F/CR and MMHA-R/CR) with gold covers for 40$. First I was a bit sceptical, but I read some good reviews on Harmony Central and I finally bought them.

When I first played my guitar with the new pick-ups I was almost shocked: I first thought that the tone was just too full (though those Vintage Buckers read only about 8 k ohm). I played for maybe two minutes when my neighbour came in to praise the sound of my new guitar (she had always disliked the sound of my Ibanez with the original pick-ups, but now she was enthusiastic). In fact it seems now a completely different guitar with a very mighty tone. I play it over a little Fender Champ 12 and the full sound really blows me away.

That?s why I tell you to do yourself a favor and trash those cheap 70s pick-ups by Ibanez in order to get some better things into your guitar. Mighty Mite Vintage Buckers are a real bargain for the price and you won?t regret it.
They are even ready for coil-tapping (though not for phase reverse: I had to open the neck pick-up and cut the ground connection of the outgoing wire). Since I always used shielded wire, noise is very low, even in single coil mode. The original wiring is also very good.

Due to the various modifications I got now more than 16 pick-up combinations on my guitar: two for each pick-up alone (double and single coil), four for both pick-ups in parallel (dc-dc, dc-sc, sc-dc, sc-sc), four for both pick-ups parallel out-of-phase (idem) and four for both pick-ups in serial (idem). Moreover there are some special combinations (5 more) and a bleed capacitor for the bridge pick-up. All in all it is a bit too many possibilities for one guitar and I actually use only 13 of the combinations.

In the traditional mode the Mighty Mite Vintage Buckers give a really warm and full tone, perfect for a very equilibrated distortion. The neck pick-up is ready for voluminous riffs and full chords and the bridge pick-up can be brought to a singing lead. The sustain is now very good with an even more explosive attack.
Switching to serial gives you an even fuller sound like from a big motherbucker with 4 coils and 16 k ohm!
Coil-tapping gives you the possibilities for funky rhythm work. As you can choose the mode for each pick-up, you can, for instance, decide to have the neck pick-up as single coil for your rhythm and the bridge pick-up in humbucking mode for the lead (or vice versa).

One of the most interesting features of my guitar is the out-of-phase mode. It gives an authentic twang. Since I learned to recognize the typical sound, I found that many of my favourite songs were recorded with guitars in out-of-phase mode (Smoke on the Water, Apache, Time Waits for No One, Samba Pati?). Maybe in some cases you?ll think that the out-of-phase mode is just too thin and twangy. The Gibson style guitar with different controls for both pick-ups offers a solution even to that. If you put both controls to the same level, the out-of-phase effect is at the maximum. But just put your bridge pick-up to 10 and the neck pick-up to 8 and you will find a much fuller sound, still slightly out-of-phase, but much warmer. It is worth trying around a bit with your volume and tone controls, as you can use them as a control panel for a really astounding three-dimensional mixer (the 3rd dimension is the out-of-phase effect). I found at least 10 distinct and very interesting sounds some of which seem to be burning with mystery while others are quite relaxed (if you want to try it, you can very simply get the same effect on a Les Paul without any modification just by reversing the neck pick-up in its frame).

The action is low and the neck (in mahogany, too) is still perfectly straight. The neck is made of three layers. The profile is very thin and it plays just fantastic. Forcing the neck will bend it and when I had no tremolo I sometimes used this technique for tremolo effects. The fretboard is made of ebony with split trapeze inlays and it still looks like new.

When I bought this guitar (used) it was in an awful shape. The headstock had a lot of dongs from abuse by the former owner. Sustain seemed quite poor and the action was unbearably high, though the bridge was all turned down. Even the trapeze holder wasn?t put in the middle, but a bit on the lower side. All together it seemed as if those guys at Ibanez suffered from double-vision when they built it! The neck inclination was really a big problem, and I think it was the reason why I got this guitar so cheap. I actually had to refit the neck, reshaping the cavity in the body.
When I mounted the new Bigsby-style tremolo, I couldn?t get it straight without fixing the out-of-place trapeze-holder problem by drilling new holes in the body end, about 1 cm above the old ones. Fortunately only one of the old holes appears and I put a gold screw into it, so no one will notice.

Though hollow-body guitars always look a bit shallow, this guitar is rock solid. I once dropped it from 40 cm and it only got a small crack in the finish on the body end. Next year it has thirty years and the finish on the top shows some minor cracks as most older guitars do. The wood and the binding are still perfect and so is the neck (maybe to refret in about ten years). The lockers had to stand several serious collisions, but are still okay. I?m looking now for a roller bridge in complementation to the tremolo. The original one is a bit worn, but I think it can still do its job for some time. In 18 years I could always depend on my Ibanez, but now with all the complicated modifications of the circuits I?d be a bit cautious and carry a back-up guitar.

Never used and probably never will.

I?ve been playing for 24 years now and I think this will always be my idea of a perfect Rock?n?Roll guitar (only a Gretsch or an original Gibson ES 345 can come up to this).
I play a Stratocaster, too, and both together are a perfect pair that gives you almost all variety of tone a guitarist can ask for. I recently bought a Burns Brian May for 750$, a good guitar, but I haven?t yet decided if I really need it. Together with the new tremolo and pick-ups my Ibanez, which has similar features (out-of-phase and serial wiring) cost me less than 350 $ (together with two weeks of hard engineering, but that was fun).

It?s not only the playability and sound, but even the look that really blows you away. The new pick-ups (a bit sanded) and the gold tremolo (sanded, too) look really vintage and contrast perfectly with the red finish and the black control knobs and pickguard as well as the black fretboard with its silvery inlays. The guitar had a great look with the trapeze holder and the worn vintage pick-ups, but now with the Bigsby tremolo it looks like nothing less than Rock?n?Roll in it?s first and finest moment (Gonna get me some lesson on the duck-walk by Mr. Johnny B. Goode now!).

I only wish that I?d done those modifications and changed the pick-ups years ago!!!! Well, I just learned about it on the net. Actually in all those years I didn?t miss a thing to my guitar (except for the tremolo), but it was just because I didn?t know what I (and she) was missing (the Mighty Mite sound!). Now my Ibanez ?ES 345? is really perfect.

I have an AS-200 made in 1981. I borrowed it for a recording and couldn't give it back.

I play in an original rock band ala Tom Petty, The Replacements, so this is not my main guitar, and in fact I rarely play it live, but in the right setting it really shines. I use a Bogner Shiva (don't get me started, it's the best), and a Line 6 DL4. In front of this, the Ibanez gives a wonderful thick lead tone, with excellent sustain and even a bit of a Strat like attack. That's the main use I have for it, the Super Strat lead voice. It also does clean very well, from thin reedy bridge voicing to warm round neck pickup sounds. I wouldn't say versatility is a strength, but it does what you expect it to do beautifully.

This is the first thing that will knock you out about these guitars. They are increadibly well made. I haven't seen many of the later versions, but the early 80's models are flawless. You read over and over that the quality outshines Gibson and that's absolutely true. The attention to detail and is wonderful. And they play as good as they look. The neck on mine is medium width, and a fairly shallow--not my ideal shape--but it's so well done that shape doesn't matter. It's a great guitar to play. Bends are particularly easy and musical.

Hollow bodied guitars always seem a bit frail to me (probably because my first hollowbody was an old Gretsch, which was frail to a fault), but the AS-200 feels rock solid. It's a bit heavy, which adds to it's sense of strength. All of the electronics, including the tri-switch, have worked flawlessly for me for years. I always play with backups, but I would feel completely secure gigging with just this axe if I had to. It's been around since '81 and it's still a killer--I've got no worries.

Never had to deal with Ibanez, nor would I on an older insturment like this.

I've been playing for 16 years, and have been going through guitars since the beginning. I only have a few absolute keepers ('65 Strat, '66 Tele), but this is an essential part of my collection. It's the only hollowbody I own, and fills that role perfectly. If it were stolen or lost I would hunt down another, particularly becasue they're such great values (why pay 2K for a new Scofield model when you can get something with mojo and 20+ years of maturing for half that?) Interesting to note that my main stage guitar at the moment is another Ibanez from the same period, a 1980 Artist AR50 (a little black double cutaway thing, which constantly amazes me). If I were more of a jazz player, I'm sure that the AS-200 would be my main weapon.

I held off writing this review for almost a year, so that I could really get familiar with this Ibanez AS200. I have owned this guitar for 10 months. I had initially wanted to buy the "guitar of my dreams" & was willing to spend $1800 to $2k for it. After looking at Strats and Pauls for awhile (and dealing with the sticker shock), I decided to lower my sights to $1500 and to buy the best guitar that I could for that money. What a smart move! I was considering the Epiphone 335 types, when a fellow guitarist recommended I take a look at a used Ibanez that was for sale at the music store he worked. This guitar looked great with its ebony fretboard, pearl & abalone inlays and beautiful antique violin finish. I was still a little uncertain, but bought it anyway. With new strings and a set-up... I can definitely say I have not looked back!!

I play mostly blues, rhythm & blues and classic rock. This guitar sounds great. The neck pickup features a coil split switch that allows subtle sound changes when used by itself or in tandem with the bridge pickup. I play thru a Mesa Rocket 44, and even thru that "mesa background hiss", I can make this baby purr or growl. I can even get that unique "Robben Ford sound" with this guitar. The things that I find to be a slight bother are: a) that the bridge pickup sometimes sounds a little too clean ( backing off the tone on that pickup smoothes it out nicely) and b) at higher volumes, it will sustain like crazy (something semi-hollow bodied guitars will do. But play some Carlos and things will be fine!).

I bought this guitar used, and it had flat wounds and was set up for jazz. I had it set up with 11s. To be honest... the action is a little too low for what I like. Nonetheless, the neck is comfortable, smooth & fast. I like higher action, as I play slide... and as this guitar is, I don't use it for that (more on this later). Outside of a two minute dents in the finish, this guitar is pure eye candy. The workmanship on this is superb. My guess is that it's a few years old (maybe mid to late 90's).

This is my main guitar for playing out and for jamming, and it holds a tuning very well. I've yet to break a string, too! A little of the gold finish on the neck pickup has worn off... but that's no biggie. Another truly wonderful thing about this fiddle is how good it feels against my body when I stand and play. It is the most comfortable guitar I've held.

No customer support contact as of yet.

I have been playing for about 25 years, and I absolutely love Mildred (that's her name). If lost or stolen, though heartbroken, I would surely attempt to get another. As I've said to my colleagues... this guitar makes me play better. I am inspired when I pick her up. The only thing she can't do is give me that "Strat spank" sound, but... since I was willing to spend $1800 on a guitar, and Mildred only cost me about $900, I went and bought a used Mexican Strat for $320!!! As I alluded to earlier, I don't use Mildred for slide, so I've set this strat up for that!! Anyway... I don't know if this same model is still available in the U.S., as it doesn't appear on the Ibanez web site. It is on the British site, however.

Final opinion... if you are considering something in the ES-335 realm, do yourself a favor & try one of these first. You may find yourself like me: in love with a great guitar, a spare Strat laying around & a few hundred dollars left over to keep the wife happy!! Play on Brothers!!