Ibanez "Artist" re-issued (one heck of a guitar)!!

[Jerry Hayes R.I.P.]

Ibanez has reissued the classic "Artist" solid body guitar in it's original form. I'd seen one in a flyer from Guitar Center but not in the flesh (so to speak)..... I went to GC the other day to pick up a repair and there sitting on a music stand in the shop area was a brand new Ibanez Artist which had been damaged in shipping. It had a large dent on the back edge of the body but it had been repaired so you could hardly notice the flaw. The list price on these is somewhere around $900 but I got this one for $474 including tax. The regular price at GC and Musician's Friend will be $599 and well worth it. I took the guitar, along with my 1982 Artist to my regular Saturday night gig and hooked 'em both to my A/B switch and went back and forth all night and I began to favor the "new" one after awhile. If you're looking for a quality instrument at a good price these can't be beat. I have two of the originals, a black 1979 and my pearl white 1982 model.... This one is a sunburst with gold hardware and I'm in love with the thing. I have a gig this afternoon and I'm taking it out by itself and leaving the other(s) at home.... I haven't taken a picture of it yet but here's a shot I saved from the MF website plus a shot of my white '82 and an old action shot of the black one from about 20 years ago!........JH in Va.

[Jerry Hayes R.I.P.]

I forgot to add..... The guitar has two mini-toggle switches also. They're three position (one switch per pickup) the down position is standard humbucker, the middle position is a coil tap for some great single coil sounds and the up position has the pickup wired in series which gives you both coils with a little more clarity of sound......JH in Va.

[Josh Rossow]

Hi Jerry, didn't know they reissued the Artist with the toggles thats very cool. Thats a good looking guitar. I'll would like to try a new one to see how it plays. My first guitar was an 1980 and still got it, have had it for about 20 years now. Now I'm thinking about takin her out for my next gig, haven't had it out in a long while. The early Artists were excellent guitars right up there with the Gibson Les Pauls of the same time. I like the pics of your old artists. I just dug mine out, here are a couple pics.

[Ron Pruter]

Jerry,
Not quite right on the mini switches. Series is the big, fat, loud humbucker sound. The other is actually a coil split, where only one coil is on and the other is grounded out, Hence the nice clean single coil sound. The third position is parralel, which is very similar to the single coil in sound but keeps the coils in a humbucking mode so there's no hum. A little redundant but very cool. Ron

[Chuck Thompson]

thats great news! these are killer guitars - hope the reissue is faithful to the original - this model is a favorite guitar of Jim Seales of Shenandoah

[Jerry Hayes R.I.P.]

Hey Josh, that's one beautiful guitar dude, I wish I had it in my collection!

Hey Chuck, not to mention the Rocker Steve Miller who played the Artist for a long time. I saw a recent Zack Brown show where his main lead guitarist switched back and forth all night between a Fender Stratocaster and an Ibanez Artist. These Artists are made in China at the same plant that makes the Ibanez Artcore series and the quality seems to be there, I hope it holds up like the old ones do.....JH in Va.

[Joe Casey]

But Jerry wearing a Yankees Shirt???? please let me send you a Tampa Bay Rays shirt..

[Mark van Allen]

I had one of the original Japanese Artists I got for $50 in a yard sale, one of the best guitars I've owned. Ibanez has made some really wonderful guitars. Their QC is great, so I bet these new ones are awesome.[/b]

[Jerry Hayes R.I.P.]

Hey Joe, I got the Yankees shirt because they were in style and I couldn't find a Dodgers one that would fit me at the time as I was on my way to being "portly"... still can't find one....

Back to the new Artists. One thing missing on the new ones is the truss rod adjustment cover which had the name "Artist" engraved on it. I'm going to try to find one for this guitar as I like the way it looks..........JH in Va.

[Gerry Brown]

I've had three of these and loved them all. Wondering now why I let them get away. By the way.... a true Dodger fan would sooner walk naked through ice than wear a Yankee shirt for any reason.

[Micky Byrne]

Hi Jerry, in the late 70's i had a blonde Ibanez Artist...it had a single cutaway like a Les Paul. All the ebony fingerboard had the tree of life inlaid. The guitar was blonde with a chamfered body, and all metal was gold plated.The pickups were unbelievable and blew away a Gibson Les Paul. I was working in a guitar shop at the time, so I could A/B test them, Like a foolish musician as most of us are at times, I later sold that guitar.

Ibanez make incredable axes

Micky Byrne U.K.

[b0b]

Announcements about any NEW steel related products are welcome here, by the member producing or marketing the product.

Moved from New Product Announcements section.

[David Mason]

From seeing & in many cases tweaking the rigs of teenage guitar students, I developed the opinion that Ibanez & Schecter were winning the guitar wars for very obvious Q.C. reasons. And these kids don't even want some fogey's Fender or Gibson, many of them - they want the better Ibanez & Schecter... the "Happy Meals" marketing plan. Or they want a Paul Reed Smith or especially a nice guitar from the hundreds of interesting small luthiers out there. I have two Schecters and two Ibeni, and besides my own USACG and Warmoth builds (Fender-ish) that's what I play. Like it or not, us old people die and Fender and Gibson are really going to have to rethink their top-heavy organizations to survive. They're tried.

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