Ibanez AFS75 Review

Ibanez has, since its inception, been right up there with the classics in innovation and technology. In recent years, they have used this fact to produce almost exclusively guitars designed for the hard rock and metal genres. Most guitarists automatically associate the Ibanez brand with these genres of music. However, they do sometimes try their hand at guitars designed for different genres. One example of this is the Ibanez AFS75. It as a hollow body instrument designed to play jazz. Let's take a closer look to see how they did in delving out of their traditional genre.

Features: The body of the AFS75 is made of fully bound maple wood. You will not see this build on just about every other Ibanez guitar on the market today. In an effort to improve its jazz playing quality, the body is completely hollow. There are two finishes available on the AFS75, including cherry red and royal blue. Both have a black Gibson Les Paul style pickguard directly under the pickups. And, not coincidentally, both are very good looking in an artful, rich way. There was obvious care taken into the aesthetics of this guitar. The neck is set into the body, as is pretty much necessary for a hollow body like this. The fretboard, meanwhile, is made of bound rosewood. It has twenty one usable frets and pearloid block inlays. The bridge, as well, is in the traditional style of jazz guitars. The strings go through a Tune-O-Matic style metal piece and anchor to a tailpiece at the back end of the body. Electronically, the Ibanez AFS75 has two Artcore humbucker pickups, two volume and two tone control knobs, and a three way selector switch.

Playability: This kind of guitar doesn't really have the same playability specifications as a normal Ibanez. The body is thick and bulky. The string action is set a little higher to allow for clearer clean tones. Also, the neck is pretty thick. And the very shallow cutaway on the body means that you won't have very good high fret access oven though the neck is set. Honestly, playing the AFS75 is much like playing an acoustic. Playability is sacrificed for sound.

Sound: Well, as you could guess from the last sentence of the previous paragraph, the sound is great. Most jazz guitars are extremely expensive because they require hand-made touches to achieve good sound. But, thanks to the very nice Artcore humbuckers, the Ibanez AFS75 has an excellent jazz sound despite the fact that it's so comparatively cheap.

Overall: The Ibanez AFS75 is excellent at what it's designed for. If you're looking for a very versatile instrument, this won't cut it. But if you need a guitar that can play jazz, blues, and even a little (emphasis on little) distortion, the AFS75 is a great choice at a surprising price. You can find the AFS75 in music stores for about $200.