Ibanez Artcore AS73 Electric Guitar  

Two humbuckers, three way switch, two tone controls knobs, and two volume control knobs. That just screams a wide variety of tones without even taking amp into consideration.

I haven't had the luxury of playing many expensive guitar models, but this guitar has never made me feel that I had to. Playing it's wonderful. Unplugged, it sounds fine and provides the ability to practice quietly. Plugged in, the features give you the ability to dial in any sound you want and you're assured it'll be pleasing. It's built well, no finish problems. Nearly a year later, I can't believe I only paid $400 guitar -- whatever Ibanez is doing with the Artcore guitars, they're doing something great. The AF series -- the full hollowbody line -- is comparable in quality.

I think I hit this in the quality section, but I don't have any problems saying that this guitar is built with quality well beyond its price. Incredible value.

This guitar served as my entry into jazz, and it's done incredbily well for that purpose. It provides the versatility to venture into other styles as I see fit, but also handles my focus wonderfully. If you're serious about what you do, you'll probably want to upgrade at some point -- I think every guitarist will want a new guitar one day. But even when I get my hands on a full hollowbody jazzbox, I'll be sure to keep this one around for years and years. It's just that nice to play.

I've had my AS73 for about about four months now and love it!  It is unbelievable that Ibanez can come out with this high quality guitar at such a great price.  I checked a number of comparable models in this price range and the AS73 was head and shoulders aboce the rest!

The tone is terrific, clean or over-driven.  I love the neck and frets.  The tuners are great, stays in tune.  I wouldn't change a thing.

I have the Ivory color and it is gorgeous!

Give this guitar a test run...I think you'll like it!!

Great job Ibanez...the AS73 is awesome!

Your basic 335 emulation - nothing to write home about.

I've seen lesser quality instruments with high end price tags on them.

Mind boggling. . .

Absolutely awesome guitar for the price. The details and finish are top notch.  I was fortunate enough to get one used, Level 4  for around $150 – the needed repair to the heel took me less than 20 minutes to do, but then I’m not afraid to do those sort of things. If you’re looking for a semi-hollow to tinker with this is a great place to start, especially if you can pick up a used or B stock unit.  A few observations for anyone looking:

The strings that came on mine ran from .054 to .009 – a very heavy bottom and light top and they sounded way too boomy for me. Replaced with a standard light set .046-.010 for a much better balance from end to end.

The stock pickups aren’t bad at all, but just for grins & giggles I threw in an old Dimarzio PAF and Dual Sound I had lying around (70’s vintage stuff). Nice, but not quite the ticket for me, so I took the nickel covers off the stockers and threw them back in. Wow! Maybe it’s because the stockers are ceramic, but taking the covers off made a very noticeable difference. Lots more air and detail. Still not the best dynamic range or sensitivity, but definitely usable. Be forewarned if you’re planning on doing this, the coil covers are stone white, which actually doesn’t look all that bad with the black rings but doesn’t match the cream bindings. I measured the DC impedance of the pups off the guitar: 8.4 neck and 15.6 bridge. I’ll be shopping for some new units for this once I’m sure what direction I want to go.

Setup out of the box was pretty good – I did tweak the action height and intonation after changing the strings, but it was entirely playable right off the bat. Frets were also a little rough along the edges, but not dangerously so.

Bottom line – for a first instrument it’d be brilliant. As an alternate axe or to expand the quiver it’s just as brilliant. I don’t much like buying from China, but buying MF’s “needs repair” stuff has become one of my favorite pastimes. This one's a keeper, and well on it's way to becoming the one that sits by my desk as the doodle mule.

Everything you actually need. I would be happy to purchase an upgraded instrument with locking tuners and fine-tuning at the bridge, however. Those without bending skills will miss a whammy bar. I don't -- that's the first thing I remove from a any guitar I own.

Perfect. It is difficult for me to imagine how an instrument of this quality can be sold at this price.

Extreme. Probably the best dollar-for-instrument ratio of any guitar I've ever owned.

Almost perfect. So what's wrong? The AS73 comes with the action set  too high, and clumsy, heavyweight strings. So the initial impression you  get when you first play it is entirely wrong.

But put a  reasonable set of strings on it, bring the action down to the point the  precision neck is designed to allow, and now you have a guitar that is  easily the equal, actually the superior if we're being totally honest, of instruments priced many times what the Artcore AS73 costs.

The  problem, such as it is, can be remedied within minutes of taking the  instrument out of the box, and at that point the AS73 is essentially  perfect. The sad thing is that less experienced players won't know how to do this -- so they won't get the results the instrument is capable of. I knocked a point off for this.

The cherry finish is to die for, smooth, clear  and strong; the sound is resonant and offers significant sustain; the  output is high, able to drive classic tube amps and modern units alike  into the danger zone; the tuners are stable and easy to use; the  instrument itself is surprisingly light (there's that hollow body  working for you) and the neck is both speedy and offers the wonderful  consistency we've been seeing lately, ever since machines took over the  difficult job of getting them straight.

I know there's a  segment of the musical crowd that worships hand-made gear, but in the  case of guitar necks, that exactly the wrong way to go. Play one of  these and see what modern technology can do for you.

This  is my third Ibanez; I presently own over seventy guitars and basses,  not to mention those I've previously owned, and the Ibanez instruments  are, hands-down, the best instruments in my collection. Keepers in every  sense of the word, and built far above their apparent class. Highly, highly recommended.