Great video, Allen. I couldn't agree more that these guitars offer AMAZING value. Small nit, but the guitar in the video is an AR305. Identical to the AR300 except with that burl mahogany top rather than the AR300's flame maple. The pickups in both models after mid-1980 are Super 58s, which are really decent PAF-esque pickups.
You're absolutely right, Keith. I have the 1982 AR300CS. It took about two decades before I found one that I liked at an affordable price, and after that the prices went up again. The fact that they started selling a brand new AR300RE for €3500.- a couple of years ago, means that: 1) the value of a minty USED AR300RE is at least 50% of €3500.-; 2) the value of the REAL DEAL from let's say 1982 is at least EQUAL to €1750.- That is still less than what you pay for an average used Gibson Les Paul Standard.
One thing about all '80s Ibanez guitars (including semis) that keeps them affordable is that the bindings are starting to rot as the plastics age (another theory applied to the semis kept in cases is that the outgassing pickguards caused the problem). You can see the start of the rot in the darkened areas on the binding on the one in this video. Could last a long time like that, or could start to disintegrate and require repair. Inquire about binding discoloration, cracking, etc., when considering a purchase. Also, the one in this video appears to be missing the cool "Artist" truss rod cover, which hopefully could be replaced to complete the look.
Yep ... mine has the binding thing. It hasn't affected tone, but does seem to affect string corrosion and fret oxidisation ... both of those happen much more quickly. It's my assumption that that is related to the binding aging
I've had a 1980 AR300 for 16 years. I heard about the outgassing theory when I bought it, so it's been kept on a stand ever since and the binding is fine, as is the rest of the guitar. My little piece of rainforest.
I had an '82 AR300 for about 25 years, and only sold it when I needed big money, and they'd gone sky high in price. It's easily one of the best guitars I ever owned, and I chose it over a rack of current LPs at the time. It was no contest, sound and quality-wise.
I have one of these guitars, the AR300 Prestige made in Japan at the biginning of 2000. It is one of the best guitars I had in my life and I own/ owned a lot of super guitars custom shop like Gibson, Fender, Schecter. If I had to chose only a guitar to take with me, this is the one. High quality materials and super sounds.
I also owe an Ibanez AR300. What wonders me is that there are sometimes slight issues around these guitars regarding the fret ends. It more than often occurred to me that the higher E string sometimes kept sticking behind one of the fret ends. Strange that there are hardly any remarks around this (solvable) issue. The brass unit embedded into the wooden top gives the guitar that nice extra high end edge to the sound a Gibson Les Paul has not or to a lesser degree. Very nice playing though! Compliments and thanks for placing all this information.
I bought one of these around 1976 or 78 in the natural blond finish and minus the 2 mini switches. It was a beast, a great player. I Kept it for 35 years and I wish I still had it.
It didn't exist then. What you bought was probably a model 2617. Most of them were blond and they all had a German carve. They had Super 80 pickups (Flying Fingers).
great guitars (abercrombie & scofield used to play them), i found a 12 string (wine red) one in a london shop a few years back for less than a $1000 and to this day regret not buying it. i have a fairly similar guitar, a bob weir (tree of life) model which is set up for slide playing only. i love this series of videos, mr. hinds, please don't stop.
Love this! I still have my first good guitar from way back ... an Ibanez Artist (AR100NT) from 1980. It doesn't have the switching options, and regardless, I put a pair of Seymour Duncan Phat Cat P90s in it ... which works well for cleanish to bluesy overdrive tones. I would absolutely love to see a video covering the rest of your signal chain, settings etc. your tone is gob-smackingly good, on every recording I've heard (I am in Sydney so never had the chance to see you live). I know a lot of it is in your fingers and technique ... but would still be a great insight. 🙂
I'd imagine it's about gain staging and micing for the actual tone, the melody and lyricism comes from the fingers. A usual chain for something like this will be. 1. EQ to balance the tone coming out of your guitar (add/remove/balance highs mids and bass) 2. Tube screamer with 0 gain but 100% volume, then adjust tone to taste. 3. Tube amp pushed just to the point of breaking up before the screamer input boost hits it. That'll give you a full, resonant screaming tone. You can add in another screamer, or an OD pedal for a bit extra lead umph, but soundwise, that's really all there is to it. Mic the cab to taste and enjoy man. Good luck with your playing, hope to hear you one day!
@@skobywankenobi Thanks for the tips. There's more going on than gain though ... not sure if there is compression being added too, and Allen's tone often has a kind of syrupy thing going on with the reverb/delay swirling around... it's that aspect too that I love and would like to know the recipe for 🙂
I hope that you kept the original V-2 pickups with the guitar. The pickup change killed the value of your vintage guitar. As long as it's a reversible mod, the harm can be undone. A set of V-2 humbuckers is worth ±€250.- The devaluation of your guitar was more than that: maybe €400-500, so NOT selling off the original pickups is the wisest thing to do, if you don't need the money.
@@gingerbeer914 Yep ... kept the original pickups and tuners (I put locking tuners on it too). Pots are original, and guitar has been re-fretted. I'd much rather have the guitar as a great player and producer of tone than a collectable that I don't enjoy playing ... and I'm pretty sure nobody would be prepared to pay the price it would take for me to part with it, given its sentimental value to me. Thanks for the tip though ... good advice ... I always keep a guitar's original pickups if I swap them out, whether its old or relatively new. Cheers 🙏
I can attest to the quality of Japanese Artist with my AR2000 prestige made in 2001. Great sound, super easy to play, weighted at 3,6Kg. Tier one materials.
I had one of these (lefty AR 300) and put it up for sale in a shop. Went back the next day because I'd changed my mind, but it had already sold. For peanuts.
Hi Allen , did Santana use to play an Ibanez similar to the model that you got, when he did all his best stuff ?.Or was it a Yamaha. Ibanez are beautiful instruments there's no Question. Best regards . John.
I have both and they are very different levels. The mid 80s are high end wood quality and craftsmanship. The burl mahogany on mine you cannot find nowadays
There’s one on reverb I just checked it’s nearly 2000 dollars ,,for a guitar of that quality it’s not expensive , when you consider a standard LP Gibson is way over that ,,in France🇫🇷 anyway
Why buy an overpriced re-issue? They asked €3600.- for the AR300RE! I'd try to find a real vintage one for 50% or less. It's always a better investment. At least they don't write off!
I don't understand why you're so negative about the quality of Ibanez cases in the 1980s. As a matter of fact, they were really good back then and NOT cheap (250-295 guilders when you could buy a cheaper Japanese case for 70-100 guilders means that you bought a quality case, such as the AM50C). The cases of my 1982 AR300CS and my 1983 AM-50AV are still like new.
Hmm I’ve owned 5 or 6 and all the cases fell apart. Were thin cardboard cases. Didn’t mean to offend Maybe they offered better quality cases I do t k ow about. My apologies
Some guitars need a "guitar whisperer"... who gives them some sort of resonance therapy. My ex-brother-in-law does these kinds of things... The explanation may not be scientifically correct, but I can testify that he gets RESULTS. Any scientific discussion about it is likely to end in an argument, but every time I leave a stubborn guitar with him for a week or two, I get it back better than it was.
@@gingerbeer914 that’s awesome…if you told me this years ago, I would have said, No Way….but I believe you…there is something about how guitars are made or set up…almost magical…that we can’t explain…someone might know, but won’t give away secrets…lol!
Great video, Allen. I couldn't agree more that these guitars offer AMAZING value.
Small nit, but the guitar in the video is an AR305. Identical to the AR300 except with that burl mahogany top rather than the AR300's flame maple. The pickups in both models after mid-1980 are Super 58s, which are really decent PAF-esque pickups.
You're absolutely right, Keith. I have the 1982 AR300CS. It took about two decades before I found one that I liked at an affordable price, and after that the prices went up again. The fact that they started selling a brand new AR300RE for €3500.- a couple of years ago, means that:
1) the value of a minty USED AR300RE is at least 50% of €3500.-;
2) the value of the REAL DEAL from let's say 1982 is at least EQUAL to €1750.-
That is still less than what you pay for an average used Gibson Les Paul Standard.
One thing about all '80s Ibanez guitars (including semis) that keeps them affordable is that the bindings are starting to rot as the plastics age (another theory applied to the semis kept in cases is that the outgassing pickguards caused the problem). You can see the start of the rot in the darkened areas on the binding on the one in this video. Could last a long time like that, or could start to disintegrate and require repair. Inquire about binding discoloration, cracking, etc., when considering a purchase. Also, the one in this video appears to be missing the cool "Artist" truss rod cover, which hopefully could be replaced to complete the look.
Yep ... mine has the binding thing. It hasn't affected tone, but does seem to affect string corrosion and fret oxidisation ... both of those happen much more quickly. It's my assumption that that is related to the binding aging
I've had a 1980 AR300 for 16 years. I heard about the outgassing theory when I bought it, so it's been kept on a stand ever since and the binding is fine, as is the rest of the guitar. My little piece of rainforest.
I have a 77 Yammy SG-2000 weighs a ton but I plucked a string once it's still ringing
Enjoying watching these videos, good idea Allen.
I had an '82 AR300 for about 25 years, and only sold it when I needed big money, and they'd gone sky high in price. It's easily one of the best guitars I ever owned, and I chose it over a rack of current LPs at the time. It was no contest, sound and quality-wise.
Mine had the Super 58s which are my favorite humbuckers ever.
I've just picked up a 1976 Ibanez 2618 Artist.... long time fan of your playing, and subscriber
I have one of these guitars, the AR300 Prestige made in Japan at the biginning of 2000. It is one of the best guitars I had in my life and I own/ owned a lot of super guitars custom shop like Gibson, Fender, Schecter. If I had to chose only a guitar to take with me, this is the one. High quality materials and super sounds.
Exactly
I also owe an Ibanez AR300. What wonders me is that there are sometimes slight issues around these guitars
regarding the fret ends. It more than often occurred to me that the higher E string sometimes kept sticking
behind one of the fret ends. Strange that there are hardly any remarks around this (solvable) issue. The brass
unit embedded into the wooden top gives the guitar that nice extra high end edge to the sound a Gibson Les
Paul has not or to a lesser degree. Very nice playing though! Compliments and thanks for placing all this
information.
My '82 model has 'Super 58' pickups. I wanted that finish but the Cherry Sunburst was on special at the time with an almost 3D flame maple top!
So true Allen, had a 1981 one still regret the day I sold it..... Damn.....
Had the chance to buy one back in the day!! Norlin Era Gibson’s and CBS Fenders were all that was available !! The dark ages
Love this ! 🔥🔥🔥
I bought one of these around 1976 or 78 in the natural blond finish and minus the 2 mini switches. It was a beast, a great player. I Kept it for 35 years and I wish I still had it.
It didn't exist then. What you bought was probably a model 2617. Most of them were blond and they all had a German carve. They had Super 80 pickups (Flying Fingers).
@@gingerbeer914 That's what it was. Mine had exceptional body grain. Built like a tank too.
great guitars (abercrombie & scofield used to play them), i found a 12 string (wine red) one in a london shop a few years back for less than a $1000 and to this day regret not buying it. i have a fairly similar guitar, a bob weir (tree of life) model which is set up for slide playing only. i love this series of videos, mr. hinds, please don't stop.
This along with the Yamaha SG from the same era were Les Paul killers at that time.
Love this! I still have my first good guitar from way back ... an Ibanez Artist (AR100NT) from 1980. It doesn't have the switching options, and regardless, I put a pair of Seymour Duncan Phat Cat P90s in it ... which works well for cleanish to bluesy overdrive tones. I would absolutely love to see a video covering the rest of your signal chain, settings etc. your tone is gob-smackingly good, on every recording I've heard (I am in Sydney so never had the chance to see you live). I know a lot of it is in your fingers and technique ... but would still be a great insight. 🙂
I'd imagine it's about gain staging and micing for the actual tone, the melody and lyricism comes from the fingers.
A usual chain for something like this will be.
1. EQ to balance the tone coming out of your guitar (add/remove/balance highs mids and bass)
2. Tube screamer with 0 gain but 100% volume, then adjust tone to taste.
3. Tube amp pushed just to the point of breaking up before the screamer input boost hits it.
That'll give you a full, resonant screaming tone. You can add in another screamer, or an OD pedal for a bit extra lead umph, but soundwise, that's really all there is to it.
Mic the cab to taste and enjoy man. Good luck with your playing, hope to hear you one day!
@@skobywankenobi Thanks for the tips. There's more going on than gain though ... not sure if there is compression being added too, and Allen's tone often has a kind of syrupy thing going on with the reverb/delay swirling around... it's that aspect too that I love and would like to know the recipe for 🙂
I hope that you kept the original V-2 pickups with the guitar. The pickup change killed the value of your vintage guitar. As long as it's a reversible mod, the harm can be undone. A set of V-2 humbuckers is worth ±€250.-
The devaluation of your guitar was more than that: maybe €400-500,
so NOT selling off the original pickups is the wisest thing to do, if you don't need the money.
@@gingerbeer914 Yep ... kept the original pickups and tuners (I put locking tuners on it too). Pots are original, and guitar has been re-fretted. I'd much rather have the guitar as a great player and producer of tone than a collectable that I don't enjoy playing ... and I'm pretty sure nobody would be prepared to pay the price it would take for me to part with it, given its sentimental value to me. Thanks for the tip though ... good advice ... I always keep a guitar's original pickups if I swap them out, whether its old or relatively new. Cheers 🙏
This is a great series of guitars, I have the double neck model and sounds incredible
Just saw a doubleneck at the Music Go Round in Roseville MN that was in mint condition. Gorgeous guitar.
I can attest to the quality of Japanese Artist with my AR2000 prestige made in 2001. Great sound, super easy to play, weighted at 3,6Kg. Tier one materials.
I had one of these (lefty AR 300) and put it up for sale in a shop. Went back the next day because I'd changed my mind, but it had already sold. For peanuts.
Bummer...
O man I want a Japanese One like yours !
Hi Allen , did Santana use to play an Ibanez similar to the model that you got, when he did all his best stuff ?.Or was it a Yamaha. Ibanez are beautiful instruments there's no Question. Best regards . John.
hey, I think he used Yamaha SG guitars... kinda the same...not as sleek as teh Ibanez to me...but maybe good for another episode..thanks again
Always wanted an EQ.
Ibanez recently re-issued a similar range for around 600 bucks. Had my eye on one for a while now...
Yeah but they are no where near the quality of the old ones
I have both and they are very different levels. The mid 80s are high end wood quality and craftsmanship. The burl mahogany on mine you cannot find nowadays
those are made in china.
My first Electric was the small Artist hollowbody. Man I regeret selling it.
Probably an AM-50AV from 1983. They were great and affordable, but their asking prices went up a LOT lately.
Can't go wrong with ibanez. 👍 Is it the stock pickups? Sounds great
What song is at the beginning, sounds awesome
Thank you that is from a CD of mine called Monkeys and slides title cut
💚
Ed Wynne's guitar for a long time
There’s one on reverb I just checked it’s nearly 2000 dollars ,,for a guitar of that quality it’s not expensive , when you consider a standard LP Gibson is way over that ,,in France🇫🇷 anyway
I had a blue burst one with a trem bridge. Regret selling it forever.
I think Ibanez has a re-issue. Would be nice to have a side-by-side comparison
Why buy an overpriced re-issue? They asked €3600.- for the AR300RE!
I'd try to find a real vintage one for 50% or less.
It's always a better investment.
At least they don't write off!
I don't understand why you're so negative about the quality of Ibanez cases in the 1980s.
As a matter of fact, they were really good back then and NOT cheap (250-295 guilders when you could buy a cheaper Japanese case for 70-100 guilders means that you bought a quality case, such as the AM50C).
The cases of my 1982 AR300CS and my 1983 AM-50AV are still like new.
Hmm I’ve owned 5 or 6 and all the cases fell apart. Were thin cardboard cases. Didn’t mean to offend Maybe they offered better quality cases I do t k ow about. My apologies
Yes, Ibanez made and still makes killer guitars! This one is beautiful for sure. I had an old gold les paul that was super wish I still had it.
I had an Artist from 1981…really heavy and no resonance, and felt hard to play…loved the look, OK sound, but sadly not for me…
Yes that was true with many. But if you find a good one it’s great. Beautiful, available and affordable
Regardless, love your analyses and love your guitar playing!
Great videos!
Some guitars need a "guitar whisperer"... who gives them some sort of resonance therapy. My ex-brother-in-law does these kinds of things...
The explanation may not be scientifically correct, but I can testify that he gets RESULTS.
Any scientific discussion about it is likely to end in an argument, but every time I leave a stubborn guitar with him for a week or two, I get it back better than it was.
@@gingerbeer914 that’s awesome…if you told me this years ago, I would have said, No Way….but I believe you…there is something about how guitars are made or set up…almost magical…that we can’t explain…someone might know, but won’t give away secrets…lol!
And Andy Partridge's main guitar. th-cam.com/video/KD2sfQA5bHc/w-d-xo.html
Haha really?
@@allenhindsguitar Yes, it's all over XTC records.