Andrew - Your Ibanez Artcore

munky · #1 June 4th, 2006

I see from your post in the Guitar Tech forum that you have an Ibanez Artcore. I've been looking at them on ebay (pretty much the only place for me to buy one relatively cheap, stores around here don't stock them) and have been quite tempted.

What are your thoughts on the guitar? How's the playability? Tone? Construction? Any advice would be great.

Thanks a lot.

737blues · #2 June 4th, 2006

It's a Chinese built guitar and is nicely finished. Mine was not very well set up from the factory and I took a punt when I bought it that it would set up okay, which it did. Be prepared for a bit of fiddling though, unless you are lucky enough to find one which is properly set up. The bridge is held in place by string presure only and changing strings, setting the action and intonating was a bit of a challenge, for me at least. Time consuming unless you know what you're doing, which I don't really.

I'm still getting used to it but I think the neck is a bit too light. Gives it a nice feel but it has a slight tendency to twist with a good thumb-over grip. I suspect the nut is a little tight too and should be cut a bit deeper. It is a bit touchy to tune well and to be honest, I've not owned it long enough to really pinpoint the problem. The pick ups seem pretty good to me, but again, I had to make some adjustments to get a decent balance between the three tone positions. I've not owned a guitar with Humbuckers before either so I'm still experimenting and since I'm comparing it to a Strat and a Tele, it seems pretty mellow to me.

Probably sounds like I'm not too happy with it but actually I do like it a lot and it gets better each time I play it. I'm probably being super critical but you do get only what you pay for and it is an economy priced guitar. If you want that style of guitar (and they do take a bit of getting used to if you're used to playing a solid body) I'd say they're pretty good for the money.

slejhamer · #3 June 4th, 2006

Be careful if you're shopping for Ibanez on ebay! Read this:
http://www.ibanez.com/support/counterfeits.asp

I also have an Artcore. I was very underwhelmed by the pickups and replaced them with GFS Dream 90s. Huge improvement. I love the sound of growly P90s in semi-hollow bodies. Wouldn't do that with a big ol' jazz box though.

I compared them with Epiphones and a few others in the US$300-400 range, and the Iby's seemed best overall. I especially like the feel if the Artcore necks.

Andy S · #4 June 4th, 2006

Well, this is interesting. A few months ago, well after I got my artcore, I was looking on eBay, just nosing around, and saw several AG85 models (like mine) for sale from China for approximately $4 US dollars. ( yes!! I said $4 US.) Shipping was going to be around $200 US.

I left a email for Ibanez USA about this. About a week after that, I was looking at the Ibanez site for England. (Seems they offer a really cool little practice amp not available in the States...but I digress) Anyway, there was this warning on the counterfeits from China. BUt!!!!! No notice about them on the USA website. So I emailed Ibanez USA again and asked why the USA site did not show a warning. Well, now I see, thanks to Slejhammer, that the warning is now on the USA site. So, if buying on eBay, beware where your guitar is coming from.

Ok, now to my opinion on my Artcore.....

Got it as a present two Christmases ago. Total shock.

I was looking at the Artcore AG85trd or a Carlo Robelli RB1955, which is a gretsch copy. The wife was not aware of that one which is why she bought the Ibanez.

Anyhow, It is a floating bridge as mentioned earlier. Held down only by the string pressure. I had some minor issues keeping it in tune until I raised the bridge just a bit. Seems changing the angle changed the pressure on the bridge just enough to keep the piece of wood the bridge sits on from sliding when I did string bends. It no longer moves.

A suggestion I got from Guitarnuts2.com was to use a touch of violin bow resin on the underside of the wood for the bridge. It is supposed to keep it from shifting. Didn't need to do that.

The tuners were ok but I prefer locking tuners, so I put on some new Grover
self-locking tuners.

The pickups were pretty nice. Smooth sound. Wired sort of weird. On my old Les Paul, the Volume pots were independent of each other. These were wired so if you turned one all the way down, both pickups turned off.

I resolved that by putting in some GFS Nashville pups. (Slej, I was tempted by the P90s, but opted for the nashvilles) I was looking for a bit more of a Gretsch sound and the GFS really did the job.

I rewired the pots so they no longer turned off both when one was all the way down.

Now, the neck......mmmmmmm!

Smooth as I have ever played. Decent width (edge to edge)for me and a bit thinner (fretboard to back of neck) than I've ever had. But I love it. I sometimes play with the thumb wrapped around, but I admit it is not a predominant thing. But I have not noticed any twisting that I can detect.

The setup was really good initially. Perhaps a bit too low. As I mentioned, I had to raise the action a bit to add just a touch of pressure on the bridge. Odd, but it worked out.

The finish , as far as can tell, is perfect. Binding looks good all the way around.

I have absolutely no complaints. If it was stolen or something happened to it, I would definitely go with another one. They no longer make the AG85, but I would go for a bigger body. The AG85 is a slightly smaller body. I probably would go with another set of GFS pups (love the tone they put out)

So, if you're gonna do ebay, try to find a seller that has a store and sells on line. There are quite a few folks that do that nowadays.

If you have any more questions, feel free to PM me and I'll answer you ASAP.

737blues · #5 June 4th, 2006

Well spotted slejhamer. I got mine from an established music dealer here in Oz. Phew !!! Probably not the cheapest deal around but like I said, you only get what you pay for.

Andy, I figured munky was referring to another post but I couldn't find yours and so I went ahead with my comments anyway. Glad you replied too though 'cos your comments are very interesting for me, as well as munky. Noticed that strange thing with the pots but I don't know if I'll go to the trouble of pulling it all out and re-wiring it. As I mentioned, I'm still getting the feel of this guitar but I am starting to suspect the bridge is the biggest part of the tuning problems I'm having. Work in progress!

allthumbs · #6 June 4th, 2006

Artcores are really popular #8s. The low price makes them very upgradable and they seem pretty solid stock.

slejhamer · #7 June 4th, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andy S

I resolved that by putting in some GFS Nashville pups. (Slej, I was tempted by the P90s, but opted for the nashvilles) I was looking for a bit more of a Gretsch sound and the GFS really did the job.

LOL, if I had extra $$$s, I'd definitely buy another Artcore and drop some Nashvilles in it. Based on the sound clips, those are my favorite in the GFS Retrotron series.

For munky: The stock Ibanez pups are not terrible, just a bit too laid back for my taste. I could definitely live with them if I had too - the neck pup in particular had a warm jazzy tone. But it's curious that three people in a row responded with a comment on the stock pups not meeting their needs ...

munky · #8 June 4th, 2006

Thanks a lot for the info guys, it's way more than I had hoped to get. I could read reviews online all day long and not get the straight info I'm looking for from guys I trust.

And about the pickups, I'd more than likely swap 'em out anyway so it's not a deal breaker.