Incoming!!! (For Real This Time) - Ibanez AS93FM

[OMB]

Congrats! Play it through different amps. I have made decisions to change pups and then plugged in to a different amp or tweaked the setting and voila there it is. This is not a $1-$2K guitar but the QC comes mighty close. I am just tired of changing out gear at this stage and do my best to keep stuff that works stock. But make it yours however you can!

[RiverDog]

That's puuuurty. Congrats and HNGD Ed!

Ibanez really seems to have their crap together when it comes to these Artcore guitars. My AS73G was my very first non-solid body guitar and I wasn't expecting to be as blown away by it as I am. I absolutely love it. If there was a week spot it was the pickups. They weren't horrible but they sounded a bit harsh, so I did my first ever magnet swap and threw A4 mags in. I think I also used a hair dryer to remove some of the wax, IIRC. I love the pickup tones now.

The only other thing I'll say, which is more of an observation than a complaint I guess, is that the "gold" HW on these is its own thing. It's way more muted in color than all other gold HW I've seen. This is actually the reason I did the mag swap. If I threw other gold, covered pickups in the guitar they wouldn't have matched the rest of the HW, and going with uncovered pups would have just looked wrong to me.

Welcome to the Ibby semi-hollow club.

[SamIV]

I agree with your assessment of the pickups. Bottom end is lacking, but they do sound good through my AC15. I am also a fan of low wind pickups with A2 magnets. I also replaced the mini pots in one one my Super 58 equipped guitars with CTS, and it did make a difference in quality of sound.

[jimbocaster]

Gorgeous!

[OMB]

That's puuuurty. Congrats and HNGD Ed!

Ibanez really seems to have their crap together when it comes to these Artcore guitars. My AS73G was my very first non-solid body guitar and I wasn't expecting to be as blown away by it as I am. I absolutely love it. If there was a week spot it was the pickups. They weren't horrible but they sounded a bit harsh, so I did my first ever magnet swap and threw A4 mags in. I think I also used a hair dryer to remove some of the wax, IIRC. I love the pickup tones now.

The only other thing I'll say, which is more of an observation than a complaint I guess, is that the "gold" HW on these is its own thing. It's way more muted in color than all other gold HW I've seen. This is actually the reason I did the mag swap. If I threw other gold, covered pickups in the guitar they wouldn't have matched the rest of the HW, and going with uncovered pups would have just looked wrong to me.

Welcome to the Ibby semi-hollow club.

I purchased my AS73 when they came out with an Amber (Natural) version. I purchased it to install Mean 90 pups as I had just sold my Eastman with Phat Cats. Ibanez supposedly made some changes to their ACH pup line not too much before my purchase and when I plugged them into my Vox I quickly backtracked on the decision to change out the pups. They are ceramic but I have had several guitars with ceramic pups that I liked a lot.
My AS73

[sabasgr68]

Well, finally, Ed @Mossman !! I ran out of coffee waiting for this

I love it. I love the shape of those DC Ibanez; for some unexplainable reason, I don´t seem to like guitars with f holes - or, semi hollow -, but being a DC, I love it, and the finish is beautiful.

I wouldn´t know how to tell an A2 or A3 or A5 magnets pickups.

The back of the headstock has two tones, or is it a light effect?

Well, I hope you enjoy playing it a lot!

Someday I´ll be opening a box containing a hard case inside, and inside that hard case will be an AD3200 or Ibanez AR. Oh yes! Hope never dies!


HNGD, Ed!

[SamIV]

That's puuuurty. Congrats and HNGD Ed!

Ibanez really seems to have their crap together when it comes to these Artcore guitars. My AS73G was my very first non-solid body guitar and I wasn't expecting to be as blown away by it as I am. I absolutely love it. If there was a week spot it was the pickups. They weren't horrible but they sounded a bit harsh, so I did my first ever magnet swap and threw A4 mags in. I think I also used a hair dryer to remove some of the wax, IIRC. I love the pickup tones now.

The only other thing I'll say, which is more of an observation than a complaint I guess, is that the "gold" HW on these is its own thing. It's way more muted in color than all other gold HW I've seen. This is actually the reason I did the mag swap. If I threw other gold, covered pickups in the guitar they wouldn't have matched the rest of the HW, and going with uncovered pups would have just looked wrong to me.

Welcome to the Ibby semi-hollow club.

I purchased my AS73 when they came out with an Amber (Natural) version. I purchased it to install Mean 90 pups as I had just sold my Eastman with Phat Cats. Ibanez supposedly made some changes to their ACH pup line not too much before my purchase and when I plugged them into my Vox I quickly backtracked on the decision to change out the pups. They are ceramic but I have had several guitars with ceramic pups that I liked a lot.
My AS73
Ibanez Artcore AS-73 Amber.jpg

Plain tops rule

[OMB]

That's puuuurty. Congrats and HNGD Ed!

Ibanez really seems to have their crap together when it comes to these Artcore guitars. My AS73G was my very first non-solid body guitar and I wasn't expecting to be as blown away by it as I am. I absolutely love it. If there was a week spot it was the pickups. They weren't horrible but they sounded a bit harsh, so I did my first ever magnet swap and threw A4 mags in. I think I also used a hair dryer to remove some of the wax, IIRC. I love the pickup tones now.

The only other thing I'll say, which is more of an observation than a complaint I guess, is that the "gold" HW on these is its own thing. It's way more muted in color than all other gold HW I've seen. This is actually the reason I did the mag swap. If I threw other gold, covered pickups in the guitar they wouldn't have matched the rest of the HW, and going with uncovered pups would have just looked wrong to me.

Welcome to the Ibby semi-hollow club.

I purchased my AS73 when they came out with an Amber (Natural) version. I purchased it to install Mean 90 pups as I had just sold my Eastman with Phat Cats. Ibanez supposedly made some changes to their ACH pup line not too much before my purchase and when I plugged them into my Vox I quickly backtracked on the decision to change out the pups. They are ceramic but I have had several guitars with ceramic pups that I liked a lot.
My AS73
Ibanez Artcore AS-73 Amber.jpg

Plain tops rule

I have owned plain and flamed. Like them both.

[Mossman]

Thanks for the props, everybody... I haven't had a whole lot of lot of time to spend on the forum these last few days (Hoo! so many posts to reply to! ). I was going to do this last night, but I was so nackard I passed out early (in my clothes, with all the lights on... I don't think I'd done that since my drinking days ).

The "full-spectrum" lightbulbs I ordered arrived yesterday, and I managed to snap a few (dozen) pics of the guitar with the new lights before I zonked out... Some of the better ones will be posted below.

Congrats! Play it through different amps. I have made decisions to change pups and then plugged in to a different amp or tweaked the setting and voila there it is. This is not a $1-$2K guitar but the QC comes mighty close. I am just tired of changing out gear at this stage and do my best to keep stuff that works stock. But make it yours however you can!

I don't really own multiple amps anymore. I sold my Vox, and my Mustang is out of commission. The input jack crapped out, and I'm still debating whether I want to try to fix it (it's surface mounted to the PCB), or just use it as an extension cab for the Super Champ X2 (my primary amp). The only other amp I have is the Yamaha THR10, which mostly only gets used as a light-weight amp to take with me to apartment jams (when those kinds of things used to happen), or as a keyboard amp. It sounds really good as a guitar amp (and surprisingly good as a bass amp), but I wouldn't choose it over the Super Champ.

The thing is, I've had this sound in my head ever since I bought that Sheraton II Pro a couple years ago, and while it's a giant hassle to swap pickups in a semi-hollow (and I am not looking forward to it), I've got the ProBuckers sitting right here, collecting dust, and I don't think I'll be satisfied until I put them in there.

Good report and good news Ed. Glad it finally made it and it looks good. I completely forgot about the TRC, I have 3 Ibanez's so far and I guess I take it for granted, but I like the feature.
I just put 11's on the 73 yesterday and I have found that I have to pay attention with the Quick change tailpiece and making sure that the wrap end on the string points down or I get bit by it. Probably poor playing technique.
That is a nice looking guitar and I hope you enjoy it. I'm thinking of getting another Artcore and putting in Phat Cats, make it kinda Casino like, I don't know.

I'm still not 100% sold on the aesthetic, but the convenience factor more than makes up for that. I'm getting used to it.

I'll keep that in mind about the strings... Is it just with 11s you have that problem?

I'm not phamiliar with Phat Cats. I thought they were Guitar Phetish pickups, but I couldn't phind them... Seriously, I'm surprised that Ibanez doesn't have at least one hollow, or semi-hollow guitar with P90s.

That's puuuurty. Congrats and HNGD Ed!

Ibanez really seems to have their crap together when it comes to these Artcore guitars. My AS73G was my very first non-solid body guitar and I wasn't expecting to be as blown away by it as I am. I absolutely love it. If there was a week spot it was the pickups. They weren't horrible but they sounded a bit harsh, so I did my first ever magnet swap and threw A4 mags in. I think I also used a hair dryer to remove some of the wax, IIRC. I love the pickup tones now.

The only other thing I'll say, which is more of an observation than a complaint I guess, is that the "gold" HW on these is its own thing. It's way more muted in color than all other gold HW I've seen. This is actually the reason I did the mag swap. If I threw other gold, covered pickups in the guitar they wouldn't have matched the rest of the HW, and going with uncovered pups would have just looked wrong to me.

Welcome to the Ibby semi-hollow club.

I think I might have had a negative bias towards Artcores. I bought an AG75 back in 2003 when the product line was less than a year old. It looked just like this one:

It was my first electric guitar, and while there wasn't anything particularly wrong with it (as far as my novice eyes and hands could tell), I didn't like the way it sounded. I thought the pickups sounded weak, and I didn't know anything about modding guitars at the time, so I never bonded with it. It could have been a number of other factors, too, that I didn't possess the experience or knowledge to consider. Like the fact that it was a hollow-body, and wouldn't have the same sustain as a semi, or solid-body guitar, or that I was using an old, solid-state Yamaha amp that was given to me by a friend, and may not have delivered the richest tone... or I didn't know how to EQ it properly to get a desirable tone out of it... Consequently, I ended up thinking of Artcores as mediocre guitars and forgot all about them... That's unfortunate, because now I think they edge out Epiphone in terms of quality.

The gold hardware on mine doesn't look particularly different from what I remember on other Gibson-style guitars that I've owned in the past, but I don't currently have a similar guitar with gold hardware to do a side-by-side. The only other guitar I have with gold hardware is the Mahogany Tele that I built. That's got gold-plated hardware from a few different sources (bridge plate, control plate, pickup cover, tuners, neck plate), and while I'm sure they don't all match exactly (I had to get up and take a look at the guita under some good light while I was writing this), they're close enough that you really can't tell. The biggest difference is with the pickup cover. It's a little paler gold than the rest of the hardware, but it's never been enough to bother me, or even notice until now. It may not bother me on the Ibanez, either. But yeah, uncovered pickups on a semi-hollow seems wrong to me too (even though Clapton did it).

I agree with your assessment of the pickups. Bottom end is lacking, but they do sound good through my AC15. I am also a fan of low wind pickups with A2 magnets. I also replaced the mini pots in one one my Super 58 equipped guitars with CTS, and it did make a difference in quality of sound.

Argh! I was assuming that the AS93s would have full-size Alpha pots (for some reason), but after reading your post, I stuck my finger in the f-hole, and the pots feel small.

My AS73
Ibanez Artcore AS-73 Amber.jpg

That looks real nice!

Well, finally, Ed @Mossman !! I ran out of coffee waiting for this

Really?? Even drinking out of those tiny little cups?

I love it. I love the shape of those DC Ibanez; for some unexplainable reason, I don´t seem to like guitars with f holes - or, semi hollow -, but being a DC, I love it, and the finish is beautiful.

Thanks, Corduroy... I've always been attracted to hollow/semi-hollows. I think it's because of the Beatles, and all the other '60s/'70s music I listened to growing up. I also think they're comfortable to play. Most people get put off by the bigger body size, but it makes it so the strings and neck are up higher when played sitting down. I could never get comfortable playing an LP-style guitar sitting down because the neck is so close to your lap, it made playing barre chords difficult for me, and the waist of the guitar is so far forward on the body, with most of the mass hanging off the other side of your leg, I always felt like I was fighting to keep it from falling off my lap.

But the biggest reason I like them is the tone. You just can't get that "airy" element from a solid-body guitar. Of course, I'll probably always prefer Telecasters as my go-to style of guitar, but when I don't have a semi-hollow at my disposal, I miss it. Besides that Sheraton that I sent back, the last time I had a semi-hollow was probably around 2009, or 10.

The back of the headstock has two tones, or is it a light effect?

Yeah, that's a two-tone paint-job on the neck. I'm not sure why they went with black instead of the dark, reddish brown from the burst, but I don't hate it.

I have owned plain and flamed. Like them both.

I definitely don't get as excited about figured tops as much as I used to (remember when it was a big freakin' deal to get a quilted top on a guitar that cost less than $1k? ), and it's not a selling point to me anymore, or a factor in my decision making, but it doesn't put me off at all. I can go either way.

[ID10t]

Thanks for the props, everybody... I haven't had a whole lot of lot of time to spend on the forum these last few days (Hoo! so many posts to reply to! ). I was going to do this last night, but I was so nackard I passed out early (in my clothes, with all the lights on... I don't think I'd done that since my drinking days ).

The "full-spectrum" lightbulbs I ordered arrived yesterday, and I managed to snap a few (dozen) pics of the guitar with the new lights before I zonked out... Some of the better ones will be posted below.

Congrats! Play it through different amps. I have made decisions to change pups and then plugged in to a different amp or tweaked the setting and voila there it is. This is not a $1-$2K guitar but the QC comes mighty close. I am just tired of changing out gear at this stage and do my best to keep stuff that works stock. But make it yours however you can!

I don't really own multiple amps anymore. I sold my Vox, and my Mustang is out of commission. The input jack crapped out, and I'm still debating whether I want to try to fix it (it's surface mounted to the PCB), or just use it as an extension cab for the Super Champ X2 (my primary amp). The only other amp I have is the Yamaha THR10, which mostly only gets used as a light-weight amp to take with me to apartment jams (when those kinds of things used to happen), or as a keyboard amp. It sounds really good as a guitar amp (and surprisingly good as a bass amp), but I wouldn't choose it over the Super Champ.

The thing is, I've had this sound in my head ever since I bought that Sheraton II Pro a couple years ago, and while it's a giant hassle to swap pickups in a semi-hollow (and I am not looking forward to it), I've got the ProBuckers sitting right here, collecting dust, and I don't think I'll be satisfied until I put them in there.

Good report and good news Ed. Glad it finally made it and it looks good. I completely forgot about the TRC, I have 3 Ibanez's so far and I guess I take it for granted, but I like the feature.
I just put 11's on the 73 yesterday and I have found that I have to pay attention with the Quick change tailpiece and making sure that the wrap end on the string points down or I get bit by it. Probably poor playing technique.
That is a nice looking guitar and I hope you enjoy it. I'm thinking of getting another Artcore and putting in Phat Cats, make it kinda Casino like, I don't know.

I'm still not 100% sold on the aesthetic, but the convenience factor more than makes up for that. I'm getting used to it.

I'll keep that in mind about the strings... Is it just with 11s you have that problem?

I'm not phamiliar with Phat Cats. I thought they were Guitar Phetish pickups, but I couldn't phind them... Seriously, I'm surprised that Ibanez doesn't have at least one hollow, or semi-hollow guitar with P90s.

That's puuuurty. Congrats and HNGD Ed!

Ibanez really seems to have their crap together when it comes to these Artcore guitars. My AS73G was my very first non-solid body guitar and I wasn't expecting to be as blown away by it as I am. I absolutely love it. If there was a week spot it was the pickups. They weren't horrible but they sounded a bit harsh, so I did my first ever magnet swap and threw A4 mags in. I think I also used a hair dryer to remove some of the wax, IIRC. I love the pickup tones now.

The only other thing I'll say, which is more of an observation than a complaint I guess, is that the "gold" HW on these is its own thing. It's way more muted in color than all other gold HW I've seen. This is actually the reason I did the mag swap. If I threw other gold, covered pickups in the guitar they wouldn't have matched the rest of the HW, and going with uncovered pups would have just looked wrong to me.

Welcome to the Ibby semi-hollow club.

I think I might have had a negative bias towards Artcores. I bought an AG75 back in 2003 when the product line was less than a year old. It looked just like this one:


ag75.JPG


It was my first electric guitar, and while there wasn't anything particularly wrong with it (as far as my novice eyes and hands could tell), I didn't like the way it sounded. I thought the pickups sounded weak, and I didn't know anything about modding guitars at the time, so I never bonded with it. It could have been a number of other factors, too, that I didn't possess the experience or knowledge to consider. Like the fact that it was a hollow-body, and wouldn't have the same sustain as a semi, or solid-body guitar, or that I was using an old, solid-state Yamaha amp that was given to me by a friend, and may not have delivered the richest tone... or I didn't know how to EQ it properly to get a desirable tone out of it... Consequently, I ended up thinking of Artcores as mediocre guitars and forgot all about them... That's unfortunate, because now I think they edge out Epiphone in terms of quality.

The gold hardware on mine doesn't look particularly different from what I remember on other Gibson-style guitars that I've owned in the past, but I don't currently have a similar guitar with gold hardware to do a side-by-side. The only other guitar I have with gold hardware is the Mahogany Tele that I built. That's got gold-plated hardware from a few different sources (bridge plate, control plate, pickup cover, tuners, neck plate), and while I'm sure they don't all match exactly (I had to get up and take a look at the guita under some good light while I was writing this), they're close enough that you really can't tell. The biggest difference is with the pickup cover. It's a little paler gold than the rest of the hardware, but it's never been enough to bother me, or even notice until now. It may not bother me on the Ibanez, either. But yeah, uncovered pickups on a semi-hollow seems wrong to me too (even though Clapton did it).

I agree with your assessment of the pickups. Bottom end is lacking, but they do sound good through my AC15. I am also a fan of low wind pickups with A2 magnets. I also replaced the mini pots in one one my Super 58 equipped guitars with CTS, and it did make a difference in quality of sound.

Argh! I was assuming that the AS93s would have full-size Alpha pots (for some reason), but after reading your post, I stuck my finger in the f-hole, and the pots feel small.

My AS73
Ibanez Artcore AS-73 Amber.jpg

That looks real nice!

Well, finally, Ed @Mossman !! I ran out of coffee waiting for this

Really?? Even drinking out of those tiny little cups?

I love it. I love the shape of those DC Ibanez; for some unexplainable reason, I don´t seem to like guitars with f holes - or, semi hollow -, but being a DC, I love it, and the finish is beautiful.

Thanks, Corduroy... I've always been attracted to hollow/semi-hollows. I think it's because of the Beatles, and all the other '60s/'70s music I listened to growing up. I also think they're comfortable to play. Most people get put off by the bigger body size, but it makes it so the strings and neck are up higher when played sitting down. I could never get comfortable playing an LP-style guitar sitting down because the neck is so close to your lap, it made playing barre chords difficult for me, and the waist of the guitar is so far forward on the body, with most of the mass hanging off the other side of your leg, I always felt like I was fighting to keep it from falling off my lap.

But the biggest reason I like them is the tone. You just can't get that "airy" element from a solid-body guitar. Of course, I'll probably always prefer Telecasters as my go-to style of guitar, but when I don't have a semi-hollow at my disposal, I miss it. Besides that Sheraton that I sent back, the last time I had a semi-hollow was probably around 2009, or 10.

The back of the headstock has two tones, or is it a light effect?

Yeah, that's a two-tone paint-job on the neck. I'm not sure why they went with black instead of the dark, reddish brown from the burst, but I don't hate it.

I have owned plain and flamed. Like them both.

I definitely don't get as excited about figured tops as much as I used to (remember when it was a big freakin' deal to get a quilted top on a guitar that cost less than $1k? ), and it's not a selling point to me anymore, or a factor in my decision making, but it doesn't put me off at all. I can go either way.

It was with 10's, this is my first set of 11's on the AS73, again though it is probably poor playing technique.
Phat cats are Seymour Duncan and they have good reviews from people who like them. I look at them all but really don't have the ear to appreciate tone like I should and I would rather rewire it once.
Now @adad posted a PSA for a Grote with P-90's and I look forward to a report on the guitar, it's in my 'wish list'. It has dog ears.

[Mossman]

Oh yeah... I was supposed to post some new pics. I think maybe the color accuracy is a little better with these lights, but it's still not as accurate as I was hoping for (still a little too saturated in the yellows and oranges, and not enough brown). I'm also not 100% sure that these "full spectrum" light bulbs are what they claim to be (such can be expected when ordering China-made stuff from Amazon), the light they give off looks kind of blue-ish, but these pics still look a little better than the first round of photos I took.

[fatjack]

Glad it got there safely. Shame the p'ups aren't more to your liking , but you do have the ones you'd like there. I believe the body is a maple plywood type as most semis are, the question being what the middle ply is. If the color is like mine, and I'd bet it is, like a violin got a burst finish almost a desert burst but restrained and a bit glam but without being flashy.

[Mossman]

Glad it got there safely. Shame the p'ups aren't more to your liking , but you do have the ones you'd like there. I believe the body is a maple plywood type as most semis are, the question being what the middle ply is. If the color is like mine, and I'd bet it is, like a violin got a burst finish almost a desert burst but restrained and a bit glam but without being flashy.

Well, the interior ply doesn't look like Maple...





...but they probably alternate plys of Maple and Nyatoh. Just as Gibson/Epiphone arch-tops are often Maple and Birch plys... Or Maple and something else.

[sabasgr68]

Well, finally, Ed @Mossman !! I ran out of coffee waiting for this

Really?? Even drinking out of those tiny little cups?

Hey, don't mess with my tiny, small size coffee cups

[sabasgr68]

Oh yeah... I was supposed to post some new pics. I think maybe the color accuracy is a little better with these lights, but it's still not as accurate as I was hoping for (still a little too saturated in the yellows and oranges, and not enough brown). I'm also not 100% sure that these "full spectrum" light bulbs are what they claim to be (such can be expected when ordering China-made stuff from Amazon), the light they give off looks kind of blue-ish, but these pics still look a little better than the first round of photos I took.


20210319_195919.jpg
AS93 full angle right.jpg
AS94 body left angle.jpg
AS93 flat.jpg
AS93 full left.jpg
20210319_200215.jpg
AS93 horiz.jpg

You're right, not much of a difference in color in these new pictures; except maybe more reddish in general.

Regardless, it's a beauty. Hope you keep it for a long time.

[Mossman]

Hey, don't mess with my tiny, small size coffee cups

IMG_20210320_211901.jpg

That's cute, but this is a proper coffee mug:

16 ounces of "wake the f#@k up!".


I know, I know... what you guys call "coffee" is more like espresso.

[SamIV]

I purchased my AS73 when they came out with an Amber (Natural) version. I purchased it to install Mean 90 pups as I had just sold my Eastman with Phat Cats. Ibanez supposedly made some changes to their ACH pup line not too much before my purchase and when I plugged them into my Vox I quickly backtracked on the decision to change out the pups. They are ceramic but I have had several guitars with ceramic pups that I liked a lot.
My AS73
Ibanez Artcore AS-73 Amber.jpg

Plain tops rule

I have owned plain and flamed. Like them both.

I own 12 electrics, I know, lightweight. And ask me how many are plain tops. Although my favorite, only three are plain tops. But I am pretty fond of a tobacco or violin burst flame or quilt top.

[OMB]

Sam - 12 is lightweight?

Heck I am down to 6, Five 6 strings and one 12 string. I would eventually like to get down to Five.

[Stoli]

Glad you got your guitar in good condition after all the mess that you have been through. I think it looks fantastic and probably a little lighter color than my Eastman 335 copy. Mine has a 3 piece neck in it and I think it is all maple but I do not really know. I think the Ibanez is just a cool guitar with their hollow and semi-hollow lower end line. I don't think I got to play one as higher end as yours back when I was looking around. I love to play my bro-in law's Ibanez hollow body. Based on what I saw they seem to set their guitars up better out of the box more so than a lot of others and I guess have better qc on a lot of things too.

[Mossman]

Glad you got your guitar in good condition after all the mess that you have been through. I think it looks fantastic and probably a little lighter color than my Eastman 335 copy. Mine has a 3 piece neck in it and I think it is all maple but I do not really know. I think the Ibanez is just a cool guitar with their hollow and semi-hollow lower end line. I don't think I got to play one as higher end as yours back when I was looking around. I love to play my bro-in law's Ibanez hollow body. Based on what I saw they seem to set their guitars up better out of the box more so than a lot of others and I guess have better qc on a lot of things too.

Haha... I didn't bother to mention this in my initial review, but in terms of set-up out of the box, mine was atrocious. The action was really high, so I started lowering the bridge first, but while I was doing that, I noticed the neck had a visible bow in it. I didn't even need to check it with the straight-edge, but I did anyway, and it had more relief than I've ever seen on a new guitar. It's not a big deal to me, but if somebody who didn't know how to do a set-up received this guitar, I imagine they'd be pretty unhappy with it. I gotta say, though, this truss rod has the smoothest action I've ever felt on an import guitar. I had to turn it quite a bit before I started feeling resistance, but even then it was still smooth as silk, and pretty effortless to set the relief (which is almost dead flat now).

I don't really take off points for needing a set-up, though. This thing came from Indonesia, and who knows how many different climates it's been in before it got to me? Overall, the quality is excellent. Though I still get a little irked about the inlays not being perfectly straight (I admit I may be being a little OCD about it), but everything else about this guitar is frickin' fantastic. I regret writing Ibanez off all these years after one "meh" experience.

[OMB]

I am not able nor interested in doing a set up but EVERY guitar I buy gets one. Makes a big difference in playability.