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The Ibanez Artcore series has become a very popular choice for musicians looking for a quality hollowbody guitar at a price point affordable by the hobbyist or occasionally working musician. In the past, a guitar of this quality would come in on the low side at 1300.00 dollars and go up from there. With the advent of modern day musicians using the hollowbody guitar (Brian Setzer, Dave Grohl) a resurgence in the popularity of this style of guitar is taking place in a big way. I personally was quite skeptical as to the quality of any guitar this style at a 600-800 dollar price range. Given the way a guitar like this has to be designed, I thought it unlikely that Ibanez could deliver quality at this price, however I was interested in picking up a hollowbody so I set my mind to checking it out.

I made the trip down to Performance Music Center in Woburn MA. It just so happened that they had just gotten one of these in, and I was taken immediately on how fantastic the guitar looked in the flesh so to speak. It didn’t look cheap, and had a great finish. I really appreciated the fact that they added a nice looking pickguard, and a very well designed floatinig bridge. They really go far in making this guitar a force to be reckoned with in this price range! The pickups have a surprisingly nice tone and response. I was quite pleased with the volume and tone knobs, as well as the toggle switch on this guitar. They are highly responsive, and quiet!

The Guitar sports the following…

(stock photo courtesy of www.sweetwater.com )

• A Custom Set In Maple Neck
• Flame Top Finish
• 22 Frets
• Rosewood Fingerboard
• IBZ Custom 58 PU (neck)
• IBZ Custom 58 PU (bridge)
• Custom Inlays
• Hardshell Case Included

In my hands, I was surprised that the guitar was not heavier than it actually was. This makes sense however as this guitar is a true hollowbody, which is also impressive at this price range. The playability was surprisingly comfortable, as I had expected the action to be higher and less friendly. The intonation was very good , and I could find no issue with tuning of the guitar throughout the various neck positions. The pickups have a nice tone, however if I have anything negative to say it would be that that the quality of rosewood on the neck, and inlays could have been of higher quality, but again, that’s in comparison to top notch guitars which normally run you much more money.

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If this were a guitar that did not come with a hardshell case, I’d likely rate this one an 8.5. Being that this guitar comes with a quality harshell case, this one rates a solid 9

Sally D