review title:
Subject
disappointment
By: wozzman
Submitted: 1/29/2024
2 people found this review helpful.
Product Rating
Product Review
I am very dissapointed with this guitar. I had recieved a Artcore 12 string as a gift and was very impressed with it,so I thought I'd order up another Ibanez and see how that was. Thee guitar itself is good,nice construction,finish is great for that kind of finsih,neck feels good,all works as far a switch an pots. The thing that dissapoints me is for one the frets had a lot of rock to them,meaning not level. This caused all kinds of grief anywhere after the 7th fret. Dead spots,notes that ring with a strrange kind of warble sound,reaal hard on the ears,,amkes it sound out of tune. I had the frets levled an this help to a point. This is a very brite sounding guitar,not sure if its pickups,maple body or what but it is extreme brite and along with the other issue that I mentiond it's almost imposible to play an enjoy,,wish it wasnt so. im going to try an go with another type of pickup an see if I can salvage this guitar
review title:
Subject
My semi-hollow dreams have come true
By: Megs
Submitted: 3/23/2023
1 person found this review helpful.
Product Review
This might sound odd from a 4-star review, but this is the guitar I've been waiting for my entire life. I gave four because there are a couple little construction quirks I think folks should be aware of when choosing the AF55, but ultimately if you are looking for this style and price point of instrument you can probably deal with them. First the pros, and there's a lot of them. The wood construction on this guitar is excellent, and the quality of the tonewoods matches it. I've seen necks on guitars at 3x the cost that were not as solid and smooth as this one, and the feel is exquisite. It was well intonated and the action was good right out of the box. While it benefits from some setup like any guitar, you can open this one up and play it just fine if you don't have the skills to do it yourself and don't want to pay someone. The sound is excellent and versatile, with enough unplugged volume for casual play and enough versatility in the pickups to manage blues, jazz, country, rock, and all the beautiful tones in between. It isn't made for shredding but if you're a technical player on any genre but metal this guitar can get your sound. It's warm and smooth with a bit of brightness but no jangle. Hardware on the tailpiece and bridge are very nice, solid and well-made. The finish is a very nice texture, leaning slightly more matte than a typical satin and more satin than a typical matte. The color on my tobacco flat is saturated and rich with reddish undertones and great figuring on the linden body is lovely while the black walnut fretboard makes a great accent point. Now, the cons. The tuners aren't great. They're not terrible, but the styles that an instrument like this wants to play require being able to put some working on the strings. Expect to either change out the tuners or be willing to tune more frequently than usual with these. I'm going to put some locking tuners on soon. My other big upgrade will be electronics aside the pickups. The switch is too loose for my liking, and while the speed knobs aren't bad the pots feel like they could be nicer. I'll likely buy a premium wiring harness to pop in at some point. I was pleased that the nut was cut well after my bad experience with Ibanez's AX120 blso that may be line-specific. All in all if you're willing and able to manage the few small things that need attending to, or if you're just learning and thus these small internal things aren't going to limit you yet, this guitar is an amazing buy at the price whether you're looking to expand your repertoire or to start your journey.
review title:
Subject
This guitar as amazing sounds for like jazz, blues and soul/r&b.
By: Keemydrick Mackey
Submitted: 11/26/2022
1 person found this review helpful.
Product Review
This guitar as amazing sounds for like jazz, blues and soul/r&b. It is lightweight and I really enjoying this guitar. I would purchase another guitar like this one.
review title:
Subject
Guitar came in perfect condition.
By: William
Submitted: 7/4/2020
5 people found this review helpful.
Product Review
The Ibanez AF55 is a high quality instrument at a GREAT price. The neck feels similar to a Gibson hollow body. The weight is not an issue. The tone is good for jazz but not a heavy in the low end as the Ibanez Super 58 pickups found on other models. This is much more than a beginner jazz guitar.
review title:
Subject
Great guitar for any player!
By: Nathan H
Submitted: 5/12/2020
3 people found this review helpful.
Product Review
Boy is this thing beautiful, it arrived a day early and played great right out of the box. I spent a good few hours playing this and the Warwick bass I also purchased at the same time and this is definitely one of the nicest guitars I own. The hollow body makes for a nice twangy sound when playing with clean tones, but it still has the power to play metal sounds with the overdrive on it. A string broke shortly after I got it but that’s not really a problem with the guitar, a quick change and it’s been as good as new. Couldn’t be happier with the sound and it looks so cool to play it. Definitely recommend for anyone who has a bunch of solid body electrics and wants something a little different!
review title:
Subject
Beautiful tone
By: Jeffrey H.
Submitted: 4/9/2020
3 people found this review helpful.
Product Review
I use to own an old Gibson hollow body from the mid 80’s. I missed playing it. So after watching YouTube reviews I pulled the trigger on this one. I ordered the burnt black. I had to do zero set up. Amazing tone. Great quality. Using it for recording and it sounds perfect!!!
review title:
Subject
Great guitar
By: eazy-e
Submitted: 3/26/2020
2 people found this review helpful.
Product Review
I bought this guitar because its look good and the tone was just what I was looking for this is my third one in this brand my friend let me try his and I fell in love with it I own other brands too and there just as good sounding as fender , jackson,epi,and most of the top brands try one and you will find out for yourself
review title:
Subject
Awesome
By: Sam
Submitted: 12/13/2019
7 people found this review helpful.
Product Review
Bright,articulate,sharp and resonate. Going from any jazz to rock or alternative or any rock is great.
review title:
Subject
Quality
By: jordanga
Submitted: 11/11/2019
3 people found this review helpful.
Product Review
I'm just learning guitar but this is very nice guitar with a great finish. It holds it tone and the electronics are good as well. For the price you can't go wrong.
review title:
Subject
The customer service is greaat
By: Russell
Submitted: 8/5/2019
Product Review
I bought my first new guitar from ams and will definitely buy my second as well the product was on time and is great customer service is even better id recommend if your in the market than look no further this is guitar heaven
review title:
Subject
Nice Jazz style guitar
By: Jimi "Post Noise Syndicate
Submitted: 2/22/2019
3 people found this review helpful.
Product Review
Great sound acoustically sounds even better plugged in. This guitar was set up wonderfully right out of the box. The machine tuners are smooth and it holds tune well. I bought this as a backup but find myself using it more often due to it great sound unplugged. The neck has a nice shape and the natural finish I got is beautiful. It fits right in with my stable of axes. Well balanced guitar with great playability. Super happy with this purchase
review title:
Subject
Absolute bargain
By: Mike S
Submitted: 9/5/2018
3 people found this review helpful.
Product Review
I just wanted a no-frills hollow-body that I could put on some flat-wound strings and pretend to be able to play jazz...this fits the bill perfectly. I love how simple it is, no shine, 2 knobs and a switch. Being a hollowbody it does tend to feedback if I'm too close to the amp at a higher volume. Otherwise for the price it is a no brainer.
review title:
Subject
So under valued
By: Wingler
Submitted: 12/18/2016
1 person found this review helpful.
Product Review
I have owned this beautiful guitar for over a year now. I must say it has become my standard go to acoustic. It honestly saves me time then my Gibsons and Taylors. Not quite the quality of those brands, but for the price it has an amazing depth and richness of sound tone. My only complaint is I would have liked to have seen a 22-24 fret neck and a non "floating" tail piece.
review title:
Subject
Beautiful Guitar
By: Tim
Submitted: 8/2/2016
2 people found this review helpful.
Product Review
This is simply a beautiful guitar, very well made with almost no imperfections in the fit or finish. Lighter than I expected but well balanced. I did not like the strings so I changed them to D'Addario XL Chrome Jazz Lights which gives it a nice light, mellow, jazzy sound. Well worth the money.
review title:
Subject
Not bad for an entry Level Jazzbox.
By: Duncan
Submitted: 9/29/2014
10 people found this review helpful.
Product Review
As a Gtr Tech & player for 40+ years, the only reason I
gave this a 3 is because it needs a SETUP, and fret-
leveling before using it-The Pkps are beautiful sounding.
The Neck is a little too slim for Larger hands like mine.
Why can't these guitar companies come out with 1 3/4 Nut
for a Jazz guitar? I had to change the weak Tuners. The look of this AF55 is reminiscent of the 40's. Buy It.
review title:
Subject
"Well worth the money"
By: Bluto
Submitted: 1/10/2014
4 people found this review helpful.
Product Review
Hard to beat for the money.
Very nice guitar.
There is a little "play" in the tuners. They will be replaced down the road. Rest of the guitar is nice.
After a "set-up" and new strings, plays very nice. Action is nice. Plays like a "jazz box" should. I put "Cleartone" 11's on it.
The pickups are a bit "thin" sounding (IMO) for Humbuckers.
I will experiment with different pickups in the future. For now the pickups are fine.
Finish is "Flat" and looks just fine.
"IMO" you can't get any better for the price. The Ibanez case is a bit pricy though.
Action "Out of the Box" was good but, went to a heavier string which required a different set-up. After putting on the heavier strings and setting it up, it's plays good.
review title:
Subject
great at this price
By: Dan
Submitted: 2/28/2013
2 people found this review helpful.
fast and full of hollow body rich sound
Very nice satin finish