Ibanez Artcore AS73 Review

Overall 3.00 of 5 (by 1 user)

DUISparky
5280, CO

Not a bad jazz box, but definitely not an ES 335.

a classic rocker, sound conscious, picky about guitars, cost-conscious, a performer with a band, a frequent performer

Pros

Inexpensive

Cons

Substandard Electronics

APR

2009

Ibanez Artcore AS73 —

Yeah, I really, really needed another guitar. d;-)

That's sarcasm, by the way.

I had been looking into full sized and slimline jazz boxes for awhile, and really liked the pearl white Gibson ES 335 that was hanging on the wall at the local guitar shop.

I didn't much like the $3,500 price tag on it though.

So I looked at the Epiphone Dots, but they didn't really do much for me looks wise or playablility wise. I've never been a real big Ibanez fan, having had some not so good experiences with their products in the past, but I did like the look and feel (and price tag) of the Artcore AS73. Hell, for $320 I could even afford a nice hardshell case to go with it!

Here's the technical jargon that nobody reads:

Set mahogany neck w/rosewood fretboard
Maple top, back and sides
Ibanez ceramic humbucking p/ups
Dot inlays
24 3/4" scale
3 way p/up selector switch
2 volume, 2 tone controls

I immediately hauled it up the hill to a private party gig (along with the Les Paul, just in case something went wrong). It got a few oohs and aahs, but I just wasn't quite satisfied with the p/ups.

It didn't take long to find out that the toggle switch wasn't all that great either. The volume and tone pots are still holding in there, but I have a feeling that within the next year or so I'll be stripping all of the electronics out of the shell and replacing them with higher quality parts. I don't mind. It's a tweaking thing and .... yeah, we already discussed that didn't we?

All in all, not a bad axe for the $$ as long as you don't mind doing a little tweaking.

.... did somebody say tweaking????? d;-) *Grabs screwdriver*

Last edited on Apr 01, 2009

Ibanez Artcore AS73 is recommended by DUISparky

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Comments about DUISparky’s Review

I like the look of this one. Nice review.

In response to Jo's comment from Apr 5, 2009 at 12:33PM:

Weather never cooperates! I got all my soffits and facia ripped off the house and then it decides to snow off and on for a week and a half. Grrrrrr! Well, it's supposed to be nice most of this week, so hopefully I can have the bulk of the work completed before the next round hits! Enjoy the flowers and the ocean. I'm just hoping to get the bike out of the garage and roadtest the new seat so I can write yet another review. I only need 2 more to meet my quota for the year! heh heh heh

In response to bkovacs's comment from Apr 5, 2009 at 8:57AM:

I played on an old Roadstar back in the '80's while our band was in a bit of a transitional phase. The thing I didn't like about it was that it wouldn't hold a tune. 2 or 3 songs and I was back to the tuner. d:-(

In response to DUISparky's comment from Apr 3, 2009 at 3:18PM:

Very funny - well we had our good friends over for the weekend and as they left the sun came out and it's beautiful. The flowers are blooming and I'm looking at the ocean and why wouldn't I want to see you in awhile? lol

I have an Ibanez Tele-style electric (I think it's called a RoadStar II or something like that) and it's been pretty solid. I play it often, but seldom plug it in. It's the guitar I play while lying on the floor, watching TV.

Good review!

--Bob