Ibanez ART100 Electric Guitar 

Comments about Ibanez ART100 Electric Guitar:

I bought this in white a year ago locally to use as a backup. I play a lot of punk and hard rock, but with a set of heavy strings it's actually done well with metal and core style music. Anyways, I had to wait for the 2012 model to come in because of when I placed my order with them, but it was worth it! It has since become my main guitar! Straight out of the box it was ready to go and played great. Smooth neck, even frets, and a nice light body. The pickups have been put through just about every major amp and I have no complaints at all. The only thing I didn't like was the second volume knob, so I moved the toggle switch in to its place and added a kill switch. I liked this guitar enough that I've put a 2011 on layaway in black so I can have a backup just in case! Great guitar and an awesome buy! :)

Comments about Ibanez ART100 Electric Guitar:

I've got this guitar a month ago, and I'm pretty pleased for what I own; this guitar has a good quality crafting, and it has a easily fretboard to play, also the style looks so awesome to play anywhere.

Comments about Ibanez ART100 Electric Guitar:

This was my first electric guitar, I've owned it for about 2 years now. Its an amazing piece and gets the job done. I've only start playing seriously in the past year. I play a lot of jazz, funk classic rock, etc. The pups in this did the job for a while, but as I'm starting to progress more and more I'm starting to want something a little more. I'm ordering a Nashville tele soon hoping it could make the tones and sounds this can't. But for a beginner's guitar this is great. I'm definitely keeping it, and if I make any change it'll just be putting some new pups in and thats still a maybe. Overall: neck feels great, pickups sound nice, its a solid piece (I've dropped it a couple times and it only has one minor scratch on the back), can't go wrong with it. Definitely worth the buy.

Comments about Ibanez ART100 Electric Guitar:

This guitar is amazing. I bought it as a 2nd guitar (which means for some reeason it didn't pass the perfection test) and it is absolutely stunning. The quality is so much better than others the same price, but what got me were the pickups. No noise unless you wanted there to be. Killer guitar. Killer price. Buy it now. Read no more, get it.

Comments about Ibanez ART100 Electric Guitar:

I got this guitar Christmas of '11. Out of the box the setup was fine. Strings needed a bit of tuning, but that's fine. I like the glossed and finished neck. Really smooth and easy on the palms. A tad bit of buzz below the 17th fret but nothing to bad. I got this in the now discontinued gold color. But as I started really playing it I noticed the input jack on the guitar was really lose. Well I began to take the cord out but the whole jack came out with it. Ended up replacing the jack. also, occasionally the neck pickup will go out for no reason. But this can fixed by flipping the pup selector a few times back and forth. Overall for the money it's a pretty nice guitar.

Comments about Ibanez ART100 Electric Guitar:

swap out the pickups, and you've got an amazing versatile guitar!
features? it has everything i need, and nothing more, just the way I want it. The frets are a perfect height for me, I can't stand jumbo frets. Tuners stay in tune perfectly, bridge is very easy to intonate. Also, this bridge is very comfortable, but I can still get my palm in there to mute stuff. it's just as functional as a tune o matic style bridge, just more comfortable. two humbuckers, mahogany body, it's great.
this guitar plays better than any i've ever picked up. the neck is very fast. the guitar looks simple, just having the inlay at the twelfth fret. it's not gaudy.
I've been playing it for four years, and it has held up quite well, neck is perfectly straight, even though i've been pretty hard on it.

basically, it's very playable. my students pick it up and can play better than they can on their own guitars. and they're 7 to 10 years old

the one problem is has is that the stock pickups are terrible. I went through several amps and pedals to find a sound i liked, and never found it. then i switched out for a gibson 496R 500t combo, and now, with the right eq, i can get whatever sound i want.

stock pickups sounded... bassy, muddy, only ok when used with heavy gain.
don't even think about playing clean, the stock pickups are harsh
well, it sounds better than guitars that cost several times as much, so yeah, what you get for the money is great. expect to swap out pickups though

if mine got broken or lost, i would buy the exact same model immediately, or maybe the art200fm in transparent black. or both

Comments about Ibanez ART100 Electric Guitar:

Flawless really....in every other way.
I'll try this review again: The pickups are really "hot", that doesn't mean they are good necissarily. That means the pots produce a lot of high frequency and the tone is really piercing. It is very difficult to get a clean sound out of the guitar; changed strings, adjusted the pickups and the bridge (sacrificed action for tone), but the result was the same.

That is actually okay with me though since I bought this guitar for the grittyness.

That being said, if you don't need clean tone, the Ibanez ART 100 is a fantastic product for shredders or people who like a muddy sound.

The finish is AWESOME and the action is incredible! The guitar is designed superbly in nearly every other way; connecting the 1/4 instrument cable is effortless and thoughtless and the tone knobs do EXACTLY what they are supposed to do (the selector switch can be frustrating because it hangs on the middle a bit between low end and treble tones).

I wouldn't compare it to a PRS, Gibson, etc. (that would be silly), but for a lower end model...it really is amazing. The craftsmenship and playabilty are perfect (except the pickups).

If you need a solid rocking guitar, but don't want to spend a fortune and don't really care about clean tones, buy this guitar...you will NOT be dissapointed. If you want clean tone however, consider an Epi or a Dean...for about the same price you can get really good tones...but, you will need to have those guitars "tinkered" with a bit to rival the action and playabilty of the Ibanez.
Better pickups.
I'll repalce the pickups someday soon.

Comments about Ibanez ART100 Electric Guitar:

First the not so good news: the pickups are too "hot" and it is nearly impossible to get a CLEAN tone from the guitar. The selector switch has a tendancy to "'hang" in the middle, which makes it hard to go from rythm to lead on the fly without a really good effects processor or DI box.

The good: Just about everything else! The tuning keys are smooth and perfect. The action is excellent once you adjust the bridge (which is really very nice). I didn't change the strings immediately because it came with XLs, which is what I use anyway.

The volume knob is precise and accurate. The 1/4 plug in is exactly where it should be. You don't need to feel around for it to plug in your cable.

The craftsmenship is as close to Americian as I have seen in a foriegn made guitar. The finish is AMAZING! (I bought the fold finish model).

Summary: the guitar is not made for jazz or anything that requires a really clean tone. You will have to use some really good preamps for that to clean up those pickups. However if you play metal, punk, blues etc. this guitar fits the bill nicely.

Overall the guitar is very impressive and I would certainly recommend it to anyone who has small hands, doesn't chord perfectly and doesn't need to play classical or jazz.
I got mine as a "used". but let me tell you I cannot find any flaws or any dings, etc. that would make someone suspect if as not fresh off the assembly line in Korea.

Comments about Ibanez ART100 Electric Guitar:

I own 35 guitars. The ART series has become my mainstay guitar.
Kudos to IBANEZ for great products...
I have purchased 5 of this series guitar over the past 2 years. 3- ART 100 and 2 ART 320 all with some minor defects. I currently design, own, and manufactur my own guitars for 30+ years. I found all of the IBANEZ ART series guitars as exceptional in value and quality. It is difficult to build a guitar for double the price paid for this instrument. Only one ofthe 320's was customized from factory specs with passive humbuckers.
Very well made with minor flaws..
Tremendous, can't build one for this cost.

Comments about Ibanez ART100 Electric Guitar:

Good value for the money re playability and sound. Only fair value considering reliability.
I was in San Anotnio without a guitar and got a call from a band who needed a guitarist for a few gigs in Mexico City, so I went to a local music store to pick something up. I usually use Teles, so played a few in the lower prices ranges, including various MIMs and a Nashville tele, through a Marshall on the floor. On a whim I also picked up an ART100. It played and sounded so much better than any of the teles in the same price range (or more expensive in the case of the Nashville), so I went ahead and bought the Ibanez.

At the time it seemed like great value for the money. But read on.
I was fine for the first couple of gigs I played in Mexico City but on the third one I couldn not insert the guitar cable into the jack all the way. It just stuck halfway. I borrowed a screwdrive and took the guitar part and found that the spring that holds the jack in place had bent to block the jack hole. I used pliers to put it back in its orgiinal position. Was able to play the gig but missed the first set, pretty frustrating.

Had the same problem the following night but forced it past the impasse. Flew back to the states after that and haven't used the guitar since. I plan to replace the jack with a better quality part. This isn't the first time I've had a problem with parts quality on a cheaper Ibanez. I have an ORM-1 too and the plastic nut broke on the first gig. I had a new one built for it and it's fine now. You get what you pay for. I realize many people never have problem with these guitars. But I've had a probloem with both lower-end Ibanez's so in the future I will either buy further up the line, or I'll replace jack hardware and nut before gigging.