| Menu Artist Instruments Google Gadget New Items Contests Online Coupons Contact |
| Guitars Electric Guitars Acoustic Guitars |
| Guitar Amps Stacks Combos Heads Cabinets |
| Guitar Effects Processors Pedals |
Show All Types |
|
|
Guitar of the Day GadgetAFS75T Artcore Semi-Hollowbody Electric Guitar
 |
| |||||||||||||||||
| Price: $399.99 at Music123 | |||||||||||||||||
User Reviews
Review by J.K.
Overall
I picked this guitar up at a Guitar Center sale about almost year ago. My wife had given me the green light to go pick up a Gretsch 5120 - the "starter" Gretsch. But the only one GC had in stock was shopworn, and unappealing. They took my number and said they'd call when a new one came in. I was on my way out, ready to wait and grumble, when I saw this guitar in a silverflake finish hanging on the wall. I took it down, played it a little (amped and unplugged), and saw that it was less than half what the Gretsch was going to cost. I took it, and never looked back.
This guitar is great - you can really hear the air when you're amped, the Bigsby trem is fun (and stylish) and the action is Ibanez-awesome. The pickups are a little cooler than the growlers on my SZ520QM, but they seem right for the vintage look. If you want more, try GFS pups - I was thinking of swapping them out until I sort of got attached to the sound.
All ratings take into account the fact that this guitar is listed at twice what I paid for it - at $199 it would get 5 stars all around!
Sound
It sounds great - good differentiation of tones between the bridge and neck, it sounds good (if a little thin) unplugged, too. I play it unplugged when I'm watching TV, etc.. The Bigsby does everything you expect from a tremelo like that - it's a more subtle effect, not a dive bomber.
Look
Got mine in a silverflake - it looks like a million bucks! If I were good enough to perform, I'll bet it would look dazzling under stage lights! The quality is typical Ibanez - the f-holes are bound, (unlike the Gretsch!), the neck is smooth (no jagged frets) and people always think it's a $1000 guitar. I just wish the pick guard were either silver flake or just not there - it's a sort of ivory color and it looks a little drab compared to the rest of it. I've thought of removing it, but haven't done so yet.
Feel
I chose it because it felt like my SZ - a great neck that fits my hand, great action, bendable, barreable...what more do you want? The tremelo seems to stay in tune when not used and if it gets a little flat after use, it always stays in tune with *itself*. It's not like one string gets flatter than another.
I only wish that the nut were smoother - sometimes when tuning, strings "pop" instead of sliding smoothly in the nut.
Reliability
Well, I've had it for almost a year and nothing's gone wrong. But I haven't taken it on the road or anything. I store my guitars on the wall where I can see them instead of in cases - and both have done just fine in my dry climate. I would give this 5 stars on a personal level - the components seem solid and nothing's gone wrong. But I don't have a real sense of what happen under heavy use.
Value
Even at $399 instead of $199, this guitar represents a spectacular value. There's nothing else like it in a hollowbody until you get to that Gretsch - which would frankly feel like a downgrade to me at this point. If you can walk into a sale like I did, this guitar is a steal.
Other Comments
I've never gone shopping for an Ibanez, but I've never bought another electric guitar. I thought maybe my SZ was a fluke - but this guitar convinced me that Ibanez was the name to look for first.