Ibanez Artcore AS73FM Semi-hollow Review

Incredible Semi Hollow for an even Better Price

This thing rocks! I have an addiction to collecting guitars, whether gibson, fender, ibanez, kiesel... And yet I find myself playing this thing way more than I'd like to admit. The neck feels amazing, I genuinely like this neck better than the Sg I recently bought, but to be fair they are drastically different so that's to be expected. The overall feel of this guitar is just outstanding.… read more I'll jam on this and next thing you know, 3-4 hrs have passed and it's nighttime. The wood is very good, and resonates beautifully. The blue is lighter in person and is absolutely gorgeous, I cannot tell you how many compliments I get when gigging. The cream binding is a great accent, and makes the finish pop. Tone knobs feel great, and overall the guitar is light for what it is. The big thing I have to complain about is the tuners. The stock tuners are Doo-Doo, I could not keep tune for the life of me. I thought maybe it was the way I was stringing the guitar, but that turned out to not be the problem. I replaced the tuners with some Gotoh sg381's which were drop in, and now this thing rocks!!! Another compliant but a small one, is the pickups. They're actually decent, but not great. I'm planning to replace them with some Seth lover pickups, and I know this thing will be even better. If you want a great semi hollow at a great price, buy this. This thing is so overlooked, and it has better qc than some USA Gibsons. Don't expect absolute magic, but it's close. Thanks to Ed as always for making the buying process so simple!

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Great guitar!

This is one of the most beautiful guitars I've ever seen. The fit and finish is flawless. The fade from blue to natural makes the flame maple pop better than a solid color does. Now to what it's built for. The neck profile is perfect. There are no rough edges on the fret ends. Frets are well polished and very smooth. Tuners seem to be very good and hold tune just fine. Pickups.… read more Hmmmm? They sound pretty good. But just a few months ago I bought an Ibanez as93 with the super58 pickups. There was a little more clarity and string to string definition with the 58s. Not that the as73 pickups are bad! They're pretty good. But still, I might upgrade. That's the cool thing about this guitar. For a few hundred dollars I can upgrade the electronics and have a unique guitar that rivals my semi-hollow Les Paul, or my 335. And do it all for about 1/4 of the Gibson price. But, even without any changes this is about the best out there at this price point. A special thanks to Derrick Kemp for making all my purchases from Sweetwater so......comfortable! It's not always easy to spend money with people you have never met. Derrick and Sweetwater make the whole thing better.

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Elegant electric for this beginner adds variety to acoustic learning

Acoustic leaning, at last beginning added this electric for pleasant variety, the spice of life. This sounds good unplugged, and through a Vox Mini3 G2 modeling amp, that also plays well with acoustic-electric. I added the Ibanez AS100c case by TKL cases with MusicNomad's Case Humitar and Humireader for protection and maintenance. Also added the black pearl pickguard and a set… read more of Dunlop Dual Design Strap Locks with longer screw threads and push button attachment. There is room to drill slowly for the deeper screws, and the Dunlop strap buttons accept straps without the lock fitting. I'll continue working and learning with the acoustics and this Ibanez, and try to explore beyond the Vox AC30 Top Boost model and a little analog delay effect, which is so cool it's hard to get beyond that. Grinning...

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