Ibanez ASV100FMD Artstar Vintage Yellow Sunburst Low Gloss

General

Guitarists that have ever held a true vintage guitar will know that they give you a feeling that a brand-new model just can't compete with. Ibanez has tried to disprove that theory, however. They say the Artstar Vintage series guitars are like putting on an old favourite leather jacket, and finding it still fits perfectly after all these years. They've designed the ASV100FMD in Yellow Sunburst Low Gloss to give you that very same feeling. It may look like it's seen a hard life on the road, but this hollow-body guitar has been aged artificially (they've even worked on the sticker on the inside of the body). You might say it's a young soul in an old body.

Sounds from the past

It should be obvious that the ASV100FMD has a classic sound to match its vintage-inspired body. That's in large part due to the Super 58 humbuckers. With individual volume and tone knobs for each pickup and a 3-way pickup switch, you'll conjure up beautifully rich jazz tones and aggressive blues leads in no-time. However, the Artstar also has a few modern additions, such as the Tri-Sounds switch. This switch allows you to alter the neck pickup's character from a regular dual-coil humbucker model, to a single-coil, and on to a parallel connected sound, reminiscent of classic Gretsch guitars, for instance

Weathered leather jacket

The people at Ibanez have done whatever they could to ensure this new leather jacket is just as comfortable as an old one. They've carefully added some wear-and-tear, and made sure the bindings and hardware look properly aged. However, they've also made sure everything is up to their highest quality stanards: the body is made entirely of flamed maple, and it has a 3-piece maple set-in neck with an ebony fretboard. The latter features acrylic and abalone block inlays and 22 medium frets, with a bone string nut at the top. Finally, the ART-1 Tune-o-matic bridge and Quick Change II wraparound tailpiece keep everything in check.

• This model differs from the AMV100FMD by its Tri-Sound switch and larger body.