Ibanez Artcore AS73 Electric Guitar Black

Comments about Ibanez Artcore AS73 Electric Guitar:

Traded in my blue Ibanez Gretsch copy for this Gibson copy in stunning red. Other than putting on different strings and maybe tweaking the action a tad, I've done nothing to it and do not want to do anything because it sounds FLIPPIN' FANTASTIC for all my purposes. I play blues, jazz, Americana, and rock, and this friend serves up the tone just the way I like. Whether direct to a tube amp or though a POD XT or Vox ToneLab, it shimmers and rocks and jangles and makes me smile.

I'd much rather have five of these as backups than one single Gibson version.

Comments about Ibanez Artcore AS73 Electric Guitar:

I bought this guitar used at my local gear shop, so the action and the strings were different than what comes stock. I didn't even need to think about the buy, it sounded THAT good. There were other semi and full hollowbodies in that shop that sounded good, but this one has a certain...twang that really tickles my eardrums. It cleans up VERY well with the volume set low, and both pickups have great tonal qualities at any point on the tone pots. My only con is that between the 17th and the 20th fret there's a lot of work that needs to be done; the notes get choked off and there's literally no sound. Getting some fretwork done would easily fix that problem, though. Other than that minor flaw, it's a masterpiece. The dark cherry over the grain of the wood is gorgeous to look at, and just as fun to play. It's definitely going to stay with me for years to come.

Comments about Ibanez Artcore AS73 Electric Guitar:

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.
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.

Comments about Ibanez Artcore AS73 Electric Guitar:

I bought this guitar about 6 months ago as a deeply discounted level 2 used from MF. They sent me one that was new-in-box because they could not locate the used one. As usual, great customer service from MF.

I picked this guitar because I wanted a good neck and body for a good price that I could swap out all the electronics and hardware on. Instead, I got a guitar that didn't really need a lot of changes. I put some Stew-Mac pups in it because I wanted more of a dirty blues sound. However, if you like cleaner blues and jazz, the stock pups are great. I still have the stock ones to put back in if necessary. I am planning on putting a graphite nut in, and thats it. The tailpiece and bridge are fine. I am extremely happy with this guitar.
Fit and finish is excellent, almost custom shop quality. Neck feels wonderful and plays like butter. Fretwork looks nice, no sharp edges. The pickups were a little weak for my tastes so I changed them. When I pulled the stock pups out I was pleasantly surprised at how well they were soldered in. The stock pots work very well and have nice, even changes as you turn them.
I tried several different semi-hollows before I bought my AS73 in red from MF. In my experience this was the best one in its price range.

Comments about Ibanez Artcore AS73 Electric Guitar:

Great job Ibanez...the AS73 is awesome!
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!!

Comments about Ibanez Artcore AS73 Electric Guitar:

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 Im not afraid to do those sort of things. If youre 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 arent bad at all, but just for grins & giggles I threw in an old Dimarzio PAF and Dual Sound I had lying around (70s 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 its 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 youre planning on doing this, the coil covers are stone white, which actually doesnt look all that bad with the black rings but doesnt match the cream bindings. I measured the DC impedance of the pups off the guitar: 8.4 neck and 15.6 bridge. Ill be shopping for some new units for this once Im 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 itd be brilliant. As an alternate axe or to expand the quiver its just as brilliant. I dont much like buying from China, but buying MFs 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.
Your basic 335 emulation - nothing to write home about.
I've seen lesser quality instruments with high end price tags on them.
Mind boggling. . .

Comments about Ibanez Artcore AS73 Electric Guitar:

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.
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.

Comments about Ibanez Artcore AS73 Electric Guitar:

My wife found my AS73 on line used and kept at me until I went to look at it. Already owning 5 other nice guitars ( 1 Taylor and 4 Fenders) I reluctantly went to look at this foreign knockoff of a ES335. I must admit it was love at first touch, brought it home put new strings on it and haven't put it down since. I play classic rock and contemporary praise and worship, and the sound this guitar provides is amazing. I always wanted a 335 but due to lack of funds never realized that dream until now. The action is low and fast and the big semi-hollow body sound is incredible. Don't take my word for it, go play one and decide for yourself, this guitar truly is the best deal out there for the money. Go ahead, buy it, play it, you'll love it. I've had mine for about a year and seriously thinking about another one just for backup. I know my Tele misses me.

Comments about Ibanez Artcore AS73 Electric Guitar:

I bought this guitar 5 years ago. It was meant to be used mostlly as an acoustic by my wife who decided she wanted to strum some like she did when she was younger. However she didn't like it, because she felt the body was too large and heavy and the sound wasn't "acoustic" enough. And she was right. It is rather large and heavy and it's certainly not meant to be played unpluged, cause it's no louder than my solid body guitars. So the guitar was left to me. And I just love it. The neck is nice and fast, but not too thin, the body feels very comfortable both sitting and standing, the tuners hold just fine, as good as any other good quality guitar's. The tone is also fine. I've played through various amps both clean and distorted and I've never had any tone issues. I must say though, that if I was playing more live gigs I would have experimented with higher quality pickups, but for playing alone and jamming with friends I really can't justify replacing them. The looks of this guitar though, must be it's selling point. It's just out of this world. Nobody could believe that this guitar costs that little. It's simply stunning. A friend had brought his Dot once by the studio and it looked like a cheap piece of formica complared to the AS. It didn't sound any better either. The only thing that I'm not crazy about when it comes to this guitar is the bolt on the headstock. It's cheezy and it cheapens it. But on the bright side the new models have a new symbol (it resembles the Gibson one a little too much, but what can you do!) So, bottom line, if you're in the market for an inexpensive semi-hollow guitar, really, look no further. The AS73 is the one you want. You'll simply love it!

Comments about Ibanez Artcore AS73 Electric Guitar:

Thus guitar is great for any style of music you have in mind. From cool jazz to screaming hi-gain, this guitar will perform splendidly. It's not a firstie guitar, but at a nice price, it definitely has value beyond its price range. I highly reccommend it for anyone playing worship or blues style music.
Hmmm... Features. The neck is straight and the hardware is solid. Tuners hold their mettle against extreme bending and the stock pickups, although a little high on mine, deliver amazing warm full tone in any position.
The overall quality is great, but there were a few things that just irked me a little. The volume control for the neck pickup is crooked in the pot slot but still works. The other issue is that this guitar was on the display wall and had a few wear marks, but nothing horrible.
The value of this guitar is great! Ibanez did a great job with the Artcore series. I also tested the lowest priced Epiphone Dot the store had and it was nothing compared to the AS73