Ibanez Jazz Guitars - - Artstar, George Benson, Pat Metheny

[Josh Blagg]

I have a newly found interest in the Ibanez Jazz line. *I played an artstar briefly once, but have never touched the GB or PM models. *I think the PM model looks a little huge and gothic for my tastes. *The one I really liked was the GB model with floating pickups.

Do any of you have an opinion on these? *I hate Gibson guitars, no matter how well suited they are for jazz. *I was hoping the Ibanez ones would play better, feel better, and have better frets dressing. *Maybe not necessarily sound better than a vintage Gibson, but at least a fat warm jazz sound.

Also, what can I expect to pay for these used?

[jem7vwh]

I wish I could tell you, but I have never seen one of those in person. *They must not be popular enough to stock.

[bduersch]

I have an Artstar AS120. I looked at all kinds of Gibsons, Epiphones, Washburns, Heritages, PRS's, etc. to find a decent hollowbody. The AS120 by far delivered the most bang for the buck. Although people on this forum are always knocking the quality of Korean guitars, I can't find any workmanship issues to complain about. It's a real smooth player. The Ibanez Super 58 pickups have a nice warm tone (as a matter of fact, they're the only Ibanez pickups I really like). Of all the guitars I tested out, none of them played/sounded significantly different to make it worth the extra coin.

As much as I dig the Artstar, I never play it, so I'll probably end up selling it sooner or later. If it only hand a pointy-headstock and a lo-pro...

--B

[Jimi D]

I have an '82 Ibanez FG100 - one of the predecessor's to the Artstar line. It has the exact same body shape and neck profile as the PM20 Pat Metheny and the JP20 Joe Pass signature models, but with two pickups instead of just one, and without some of the fancy cosmetic touches. I'll say it's a killer guitar. My jazz teacher has a '50s Gibson ES175 and he prefered my Ibanez for playability - and the tone is definitely up there too. These guitars and the venetian cutaway FA100 typically sell for about $1000 or less, and are a fantastic value. *I don't play mine much, and I tend to use it more for the rock'a'billy thaing than jazz comping (I have a long way to go in the jazz arena :-), but barring fiscal destitution I'll never sell it off - it's just a really well built, great sounding, really cool guitar

You can see pics of mine here:

http://www2.magma.ca/~jimid/guitars/fg100.htm