Dating back to their much-loved,
if infamous, “lawsuit” guitars,
Ibanez has had a knack for delivering
top-quality, great-playing, and affordable
interpretations of classic electric guitar
designs. And when Ibanez introduced its
Artcore series in 2002, the company gave
players access to an affordable line of hollow
and semi-hollow guitars that were
inspired by iconic Gibson and Gretsch
designs. Today, the guitars still represent
an unbeatable value.
For instance, the flagship Artcore
model—the AF105—is a Gibson L-5CES–
inspired jazz box for under a grand, and
the ES-335–style AS73 sells for less than
500 bucks. This year, several new Gretsch-inspired
Artcore models made their debut,
including the AFS80T reviewed here. This
fully hollow, single-cutaway thinline sports
twin humbucking pickups and a Bigsby-type
tailpiece, and will only set you back
about 500 bucks on the street.
Old-School Design,
Modern Details
I’m accustomed to hollowbodies in staid
sunburst and natural finishes, so it was
something of a shock to behold the
AFS80T’s classically curvaceous lines
in sparkling roadster green-metallic
finish and white racing stripes,
not unlike Fender’s Competition
Mustangs from the late ’60s. The
hot-rod look (the guitar is also available
in equally loud metallic orange)
may put off some more traditionally
minded players, but underneath the
flash paint job, the AFS80T is about as
traditional as a thinline hollowbody gets.
Its top, back, and sides are made from a
maple laminate, and the three-piece neck
incorporates solid mahogany and maple.
The 24 3/4"-scale fretboard is cut from
rosewood, as is the base for the Tune-omati-style bridge. The spectacular paint job
is accented by a three-layer crème-black-crème
body binding, and crème binding on
the f-hole.
The AFS80T does feature some
thoughtful modern details. The control
knobs are surrounded by a rubber grip to
keep sweaty fingers from slipping. And
where pickguards are traditionally black or
tortoise and sit free of the pickup mounting
rings, the AFS80T’s clear guard sits
atop the rings, which prevents it from flopping
around. The two-part truss-rod cover
can also be removed without a screwdriver
for quick adjustments.
Overall, the fit and finish on our
AFS80T is very good. Fretwork is tidy,
with just a hint of roughness at a few
edges, and the nut is cut with precision.
The finish is generally quite smooth and
devoid of orange peel, though it’s a little
irregularly applied where it meets the binding
on the body and f-holes, and seems
thick in other spots. Still, the craftsmanship
is arguably as good as that on archtops
costing many times as much.
Acoustically and
Electrically Lively
Slender and light, at just under seven
pounds, our AFS80T is super-comfortable
to hold either seated or standing. Its
C-shaped neck is thinner and slimmer
than those you’d encounter on a typical
’50s-vintage guitar, but very playable over
the length of the fretboard. And while the
43 mm nut width is slightly wider than
say, a standard Gibson neck, there’s more
space for fretting cowboy chords and rocking
flatpick moves.
Before you ever plug a lead into an
amplifier, the AFS80T is impressively
loud and lively. Chords ring out with
plenty of overtones and more sustain than
you might expect. And individual notes
have a strong presence bolstered by a light
natural reverb that’s generated by the
surprisingly resonant body. Given that it’s
such a comfortable and fun guitar to play
and that it sounds so good before you
plug it in, you’re likely to spend a lot of
time with it that way—just as you might
with a nice acoustic.
Make no mistake though, it’s a blast
to play the AFS80T electrified. Given
the clear rockabilly leanings that inform
the design, I plugged the Ibanez into my
Fender Pro Junior and worked out some
Brian Setzer-inspired runs on the bridge
pickup, which delivered plenty of spank,
sass, and definition. It seemed appropriate
to try some Chet Atkins-style picking too,
considering the many Gretsch-like aspects
of the design. So I tuned to open G and
ran through some fingerstyle patterns tracing
an arc from Merle Travis to Chet—all
of which sounded warm and balanced
with a well-defined thump in the bass and
sweet clarity in the treble. Switching to
the bridge pickup worked great for some
Keef-flavored open-G crunchy rock. And
the tone was tight and free of mud—leaving
chords to ring so I could clearly discern
the individual notes and overtones
within each grip.
Returning to standard tuning and rolling
the tone back on the neck pickup,
I tried some traditional jazz runs. The
AFS80T provided a pretty and pleasing
tone—not quite as complex as that of an
expensive solid-wood jazz box, but good
enough to communicate the nuance and
subtlety of Wes Montgomery–style octaves
and chord melodies. (Of course, I couldn’t
help thinking the hot-rod looks of this
Ibanez might incur the ire of a jazz purist.)
The VBF70 Vintage Vibrato tailpiece
worked extremely well for adding a very
dimensional vibrato to chords. It stayed in
tune remarkably well, thanks in part to the
bridge’s rolling saddles, and even when I
used the vibrato pretty aggressively, lowering
the pitch a major second on the highest
string, the Ibanez stayed close to pitch.
The Verdict
Ibanez’s AFS80T pulls off the trick of
delivering ’50s-style archtop flavor—and
remarkable quality—at a ’50s price. Purists
may not get too excited about the flash
hot-rod looks, but less dogmatic archtop
customers and the psychobilly set are
likely to dig the Le Mans-meets-Nashville
design. Aesthetics aside, the AFS80T plays
extremely well and it humbuckers, while
not super-complex in more nuanced applications,
have enough bite and definition
to work well in a variety of contexts from
country to rockabilly to jazz. Given the
rock-bottom price, it’s hard not to declare
this fast looking hot-rod a winner.
Buy if...
you’re a rockabilly player who loves
when cars and guitars collide or you
want to experiment with hollowbody
tones without breaking the bank.
Skip if...
you’re looking for a really complex-sounding
jazz box or you’re a fan
of understated looks.
Rating...
