Ibanez Artcore AF75 recommended?
tenplay
years. Now I am curious about moving up to a more traditional jazz
guitar but don't want to spend big bucks just yet. I've been reading up
on hollow-body jazz guitars and read a lot of complimentary comments
about the Ibanez Artcore AF75's. A problem is that the local music
store doesn't have any in stock to try out. Do you think that I will be
able to make a smooth transition from a Strat to an AF75? The body is
larger and the fretboard wider with the AF75. It's tempting to take a
chance since the online price is around $350. I also read that the AF75
sounds good unplugged too. Is that true? Thanks for any advice or
suggestions.
Texas Pete
I got a mail-order AF85 a while back when I was favorably impressed
after test hopping an AF75 at guitarmart. It's very well made, all it
really needed to be a player was a minor setup which is a personal
thing and was easily accomplished without outside help.
Acoustically it's no great shakes but removing the pickguard helped
plenty and now it's marginally acceptable.
Amplified I'm pretty partial to the humbuckers, which are
full-frequency as opposed to the midrangy (to me) brand 'G' pickups.
The finish is thick, stout and dang near flawless. It's been banged
around a little and there's still not a mark on it. I suspect that
the weight of the guitar (heavyish) comes from the finish. Sorry, I
haven't weighed it.
A restring to D'Addario .012 Chrome Flats really helped the
so-called "jazz" sound.
I got electrified several years ago when I built a 25.5" (Strat)
scale Carvin Bolt. Besides the AF85 I also have a Faded LP Doublecut
with the 24.75" scale. Switching scale lengths and fingerboard widths
back and forth is no problem and I also don't feel that I've developed
a preference.
The Artcore series are very good values, imo, excellent for learning
if that's a direction you want to go.
Texas Pete
jazzgeetar
opinion. I have an AF105 and it's been great for me. I think all the
artcore hollow bodies are around 15-16" bodies, right? AF105 is like
15.75", not sure of the others. So shouldn't be a huge hurdle coming
from a a strat, but it will be a change obviously. Are you going to be
using it mainly electric or acoustic? For acoustic sound, you're better
off with a solid top. But if you're mainly using it electric, should be
good for you.
I'm hoping to find a good deal on a soild top archtop to go along with
and be friends with my AF105. The 805ce from Eastman has been calling
my name lately.
Ted Vieira
"Texas Pete" <pete...@aol.com> wrote:
I had a student that picked up an Artcore because they were in the same
situation that you are in. They wanted a jazz guitar but just didn't want to
invest big bucks at this time. The Artcore was perfect for them. In my
opinion it's a great guitar for the money and perfect for this situation.
Ted Vieira
--
http://www.TedVieira.com
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LarryV
you a taste of whether or not a full hollow body is your thing or not.
You can play jazz fine on a strat, or just about any guitar for that
matter. I've owned a few hollow bodies and I finally came to the
conclusion that they're not my cup of tea. I use a Brian Moore i2
quite often for playing jazz, and I get a great jazz tone from it.
When I spend money on a guitar these days, I would rather buy versatile
instruments that can cover more than just jazz, so I consider
hollowbodies to be one trick ponies. For the minimal coin though, the
Ibanez is certainly worth a try.
Chickenhead
that I like the sound of. Despite the fact that they all are pretty, and
the quality control is good, to my ear they all sound like garbage. I have
yet to hear one that I like the sound of. The combination of thick
non-resonant plywood, 24.75" scale, thick finish, and neck pickup too close
too the bridge, and the overall dimensions and design of the AF series, all
add up to to a sound like worn-out rubberbands.
There are plenty of guitars IMHO in the same price ballpark as the Artcore
series that sound much better. I'd at least suggest trying the AG75, rather
than the AF75 -- I've played a few (and I had to go through quite a few of
them) AG75's that sounded decent. I have yet to play an AF series Artcore
that didn't sound like Bush.
"tenplay" <ten...@mail.com> wrote in message
news:YsudnX_vYYCxAsDZ...@comcast.com...
RickH
In that $400 range I liked this one better (AK86 or last years AK85
same guitar):
http://www.ibanez.com/guitars/guitar.asp?model=AK86
The AK86 has a spruce laminated top and a warmer tone acoustically than
the maple lams.
I have the AF105 and it has a nice rich warm jazz tone and am very
happy with it, but that one costs more.
I dont think the width will be a hindrance, for many things the flatter
radius and little extra width will probably help with some jazz chords.
For under $200 I also liked the Oscar Schmidt big jazz box, but I
understand they are inconsistent quality wise, might get a nice one
might not. Also Washburn.
Jay Turser has a few in that price.
Also the Samick jazz boxes are good and have the longer scale neck like
the strat but flatter and maybe wider.
RickH
mmm just saw this on the yahoo group:
jdah...@uiuc.edu
mahogany. The AF75
is maple and sounds harsh. As another poster mentioned, do remove the
pickguard and I
would recommend that if you ever decide to change the neck pickup (I
finally did after a
year) to sub it with a Seymour Duncan 59....highly recommended by many
seasoned players on this newsgroup. I went one step further on mine and
took a black sharpie and
removed the Ibanez name and the logo thingy. It can easily be restored
with rubbing alcohol. I think the headstock looks better all black. I
currently play an AF85 with all
the above modes and a flamenco guitar.
tenplay
Thanks for all your helpful responses. It sounds like the Artcore
guitars are good for that price range but not the first choice of most
of you. And I'm not confident yet in my ability to replace parts to
improve the quality. I've been reading positive comments about the
Washburn HB30 and HB35 hollow bodies. The newer US-made models come
with the Buzz Feiten Tuning Systems, which sounds like a great aide to
keep the notes in tune. Unfortunately the local music store doesn't
have those in stock either. Has anyone played them? How do they
compare with the Artcores?
david morley
on that one, but for the money I don't see much that beats them.
In any case, the AG195 I have is a fantastic guitar in my opinion and
others who play it.
It came with flatwounds and was setup perfectly out of the box for $600
(on offer) and is comparable with any new guitar up to $1500 I'd say.
Still, I do tend to agree on the 75. Just a bit too cheap. No point.
Spend $100 more for the 85 and it's a big improvement.
Woland99
Good looking. But not sth you will want to keep if you decide
to spend more. I bought AS120 about 4 years ago. That is
Artstar series - step up from Artcore ones. I played several
Artcores then and they were awfull compared to AS120.
Now I am finally getting ES335 - and comparing the two
there is quite a difference - AS120 is much brighter and less
forgiving - you had to work harder to get nice tone. So if I had
to do it again I think I would rather save my money and get ES335.
Resale value on Artcore or Artstar guitars is negligable.
If you like 25.5" scale then consider getting Telecaster -
with humbucker in neck position. You will be able to get
jazz tone and A LOT more out of it - whereas AF75 will
be just one trick pony.
Or try finding used Washburn HB35 on eBay - I see them there
for around 400 all the time - they are well made and close enough
to ES335 that if you ever decide to buy 335 you may keep HB35
as a backup guitar.
Woland99
than any Artcores. You should be able to find used one on eBay
for under 400. If they were good enough for Gatemouth Brown
they are good enough for rest of us mortals. As I wrote in other
message - if you buy AF75 then once you decide to buy more
expensive guitar you will most likely get rid of AF75 - and resale
value is not great. But if you buy used HB35 then you may decide
later to either keep it as a decent backup guitar or sell it for same
money on eBay.
Woland99
You will never get your money back if you decide to sell it.
I bought new AS120 for 800 and dropped Classic 57s in it.
So I spent 1000 on a guitar I can barely sell for 500.
And you can get used ES335 for few hundred more.
Jeanmi
with the AF105 (I had enough money for buying either one) and while the
quality construction of the 105 is higher and the pickups of the 105
much better I actually prefered the acoustic tone of the AK86. I'm
changing the neck pickup for a Duncan 59. Great deal for the money.
One last note: I personnaly find the body of these series a tad too
little. But I couldn't find a "big" guitar that had the same quality.
The neck of the artcore series is great. The luthier who's making the
pickup change for me was amazed : "they're making this for 400 euros??
Damn!"
Jeanmi
RickH a écrit :
david morley
I disagree with your prinicple though.
I have a few guitars with pickups I've changed and I don't care what it
they are worth. They sound better. Waste of money? Only if your main
reason for having a guitar is for it not to cost anything.
btw, have you seen how many people change pups on Gibsons?
papao...@yahoo.com
You might not like the scale length - 24.75" on the Ibanez (like
Gibsons) compared to 25.5" on your Strat. Some players are immune to
scale length changes, while others find that it gives them hairballs -
only you can decide that.
I've played the AF75, AF85/86, AG85, and AK85/86 in stores. Of these I
liked the AK85/86 the best, the AG85 next (which surprised me, I don't
usually like small bodies), and didn't really like the AF85/86 much,
and I didn't like the AF75 at all.
If I needed another fully-hollow plywood archtop I would buy an AK86
without hesitation as a perfectly acceptable inexpensive guitar.
You might also think about getting a Squier Fat Tele (ie, a Tele with a
neck humbucker). That will get you most of the way there wrt tone. Of
course it won't sound exactly like a hollowbody, but it will certainly
do the job, and you won't have to worry about the scale length change.
RickH
On those HB30's, they are nice but the nut was only 1 5/8" on the ones
I tried. For my hands thats a little tight, but for the money they
play pretty good, If the nut were wider I would have probably gotten an
HB30 at one point.
Chickenhead
some pup swaps, but no matter what I did it still sounded dead and lifeless.
"Chickenhead" <kurtWITHOUTTHES...@hoNOtmSPAMailTHANKS.com>
wrote in message news:uJmdnc8jzPLuEMPZ...@comcast.com...
Chickenhead
longer in production, but man they sound awesome.
It'll most likely require a pro setup, unless you can convince the store to
do one for you before they ship it.
The tone will make an Artcore sound like a Wal-Mart reject.
"tenplay" <ten...@mail.com> wrote in message
news:x4KdnWQo6cYyRcPZ...@comcast.com...
david morley
Chickenhead wrote:
>
>The tone will make an Artcore sound like a Wal-Mart reject.
>
>http://www.bostonguitar.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=BGWI&Product_Code=EG-DEAN-STYL-STD-CH&Category_Code=EG-DEAN
>
>
>
>
Which artcore?
Chickenhead
after A/B'ing it with my Dean Stylist Standard. Perhaps your sounds better,
but mine didn't sound very good.
I don't know all the model names anymore; I've given up on the Artcore
series, but I occasionally play them in music stores just to check 'em out
or see if I might find a hidden gem.
In music stores, I've played one or two AG75's that sounded okay, but that
was out of the maybe 20-40 AG series that I've played in stores over the
years. I have yet to play an AF series that sounds really good to my ear.
Of course this all just my personal ear and opinion -- As we all know, tone
is pretty subjective. It would be great if a set of Gibson Classic 57's
installed into an Artcore gave you instant ES175 tone -- I've never tried or
heard that one, so maybe someone who's tried that and A/B'd could weigh in.
"david morley" <david....@gmx.net> wrote in message
news:4c9ek2F...@individual.net...
misterwilliamc
> It would be great if a set of Gibson Classic 57's
> installed into an Artcore gave you instant ES175 tone -- I've never tried or
> heard that one, so maybe someone who's tried that and A/B'd could weigh in.
Is it possible the ACH1, ACH2 buckers that come in the artcores are not
your cup of tea?
They aren't for a number of people.
They have *some* of the jangle chime of trons (missing that magic swirl
in the mid position), also short of the full dose of standard gibbie paf
mids, not full-on of either, are designed to cover a range of territories.
That is intentional.
For some, a jack of all trades, master of none.
Which also has been found to mean the following, for some:
1. For people who love gibbie mids paf, they don't cut it.
2. For people who love full-on filtertron jangle/chime, they don't cut
it. A number in this department have gone to the GFS Nashvilles,
Liverpools as drop-in replacements to catch on-the-mark tronsound, and
have been happy campers.
Things have changed, are changing so fast in GuitarLand... if a box
today to keep *Budget* down, strictly as a Pragmatic Tool to Play with
Zero Regard for Resale, would go with something from Team in China, sold
for under 2 bills at www.rondomusic.net , also sold as Stellar on Ebay.
Would go GFS for pickups if needed... plenty of quality animals at low
prices, focus on bringing Playability to the Max, call it a geetar.
misterwilliamc
> I've been trying to learn jazz guitar on my Strat for the past two
> years. Now I am curious about moving up to a more traditional jazz
> guitar but don't want to spend big bucks just yet.
The GG7 at www.rondomusic.net is well under 2 bills.
It has a strat scale neck.
A GG8 over there as well, 2 pickups, sold out right now.
Chickenhead
I never tried the ACH 'buckers in another box, but I think the best cure for
Ibanez Artcore tone is to swap what surrounds the pups. I'm more and more
coming to the conclusion that even the greatest pup can't save a bad
sounding box.
For a fantastic sounding cheapo box, I dumped a SD Seth Lover into my Dean
Stylist. It's great, but I got compliments on the Stylist's sound long
before I put the Seth Lover into it.
"misterwilliamc" <misterw...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:40e0a$44600598$4e6f0fb$85...@DIALUPUSA.NET...
Chickenhead
teles and basses. That $250 semi-hollow tele looks super tempting.
If anyone here gets a GG7 or GG8, I insist on a full report. Please!
"misterwilliamc" <misterw...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:5bdac$44600849$4e6f0fb$86...@DIALUPUSA.NET...
Jon G
I'm serious. I have one of these, and I love it. I also have some very
expensive solid top archtops too, and i still love the sound of this
guitar. I did swap out the bridge, pickups and pots. The thing sounds
great.
misterwilliamc
> "misterwilliamc" <misterw...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:5bdac$44600849$4e6f0fb$86...@DIALUPUSA.NET...
>> tenplay wrote:
>>
>>> I've been trying to learn jazz guitar on my Strat for the past two
>>> years. Now I am curious about moving up to a more traditional jazz
>>> guitar but don't want to spend big bucks just yet.
>> The GG7 at www.rondomusic.net is well under 2 bills.
>> It has a strat scale neck.
>> A GG8 over there as well, 2 pickups, sold out right now.
> I've been eyeballin' them GG7's over there, along with a couple of their
> teles and basses. That $250 semi-hollow tele looks super tempting.
>
> If anyone here gets a GG7 or GG8, I insist on a full report. Please!
I'll give you one on the GG1 Supreme, when it was 150 bucks (mahogany
body, mahogany neck, maple on top), just before the hike to the whopping
190 bucks it is now.
Gave it a fret level recrown to bring it to where I need it.
Needed a better bridge, Kurt sent one on the house.
Customer Service with a Capital *CS*.
Put a Les Trem on it to keep the inherent sustain, tone (bigsby skews).
I've lived with it a bit now.
I love the thing.
It is all that a choice sounding Les Paul should be in the sound department.
With work by me for me, it is Player Superb.
One of those sleeper grin grins.
If could write a thank-you letter that would be sure to get to the
people on the line who put that one together I would.
Maybe luck of the draw, I can't say.
Some say, "How can they sell for so cheap."
I say, "How can Name brands sell guitars made in China and Korea for so
much?" (The Great Been Had being the answer).
More power to Kurt to keep the models coming, the prices down.
From time to time the GG7 is offered in a very smooth natural.
RickH
What post are you replying to? What guitar is it that you have?
(there is no reply quote on your post)
thanks
Texas Pete
>Buy this guitar. Have is setup by a luthier and you have a pro guitar.
>I'm serious. I have one of these, and I love it.
I set mine(AF85) up myself but I have a clue when it comes to
intonation (to start with use frets 5 & 17 rather than 0 &12). In
most cases you won't need Luther to set it up for you.
The pickups, for traditionalized jazzbos, might seem a little shrill
but that's why there's tone knobs on the geetar. I actually prefer
the more full-range sound so for me it's no sweat to stand pat.
> I also have some very
>expensive solid top archtops too, and i still love the sound of this
>guitar. I did swap out the bridge, pickups and pots. The thing sounds
>great.
Problem is - by the time you change that stuff out you've bought
your way to a better guitar. Taking off the pickguard helped mine
(AF85) a ton and it didn't cost a dime. Neither does rolling off the
highs, which helps a half-ton..
Texas Pete