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Ibanez AF55 Review Affordable Hollow-Body Electric Guitar

Hello there, back again with another real review, this time we will be looking at Ibanez AF55 review electric guitar.
Before we begin, I highly suggest you have a look at my “Why Should You Trust My Reviews Article?“.

I’m sure you will understand why my website is way different from other musical instrument review websites that only list items they come across online!

As many of you know, Ibanez is well known for its modern, edgy guitar styles such as the RG series.

However, Ibanez also produces excellent hollow-body guitars for the masses!

I have had the chance to play some of the hollow bodies by Ibanez like Pat Metheny’s model.

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You might say this is a signature model and it has to be a top-quality guitar, and you are right. But what about entry-level hollow bodies?

I remember we sold one of Ibanez AF55 back in the day and I played a short jazzy (full version) solo on it. Let’s hear the guitar in action first, below. There have been some negative comments on how we set it up and played for the video.

Some people told us that we needed to remove the foam protector placed under the wooden bridge, so it would resonate much better. But we had to just test the guitar both in terms of functionality and cosmetics and were not able to alter any parts, even the foam protector.

We used a Shure SM57 microphone and a Fender Pro Junior valve amp to record. No reverb, no EQ, no nothing!

Ibanez AF55 Review & Sound Demo (no talking)

Old information: According to Ibanez’s website, it features a maple body (top + back and sides), Artcore AF Mahogany set-in neck, and bound rosewood fretboard with dot inlays. It also has 20 medium frets with an ART-ST model bridge and a VT06 tailpiece.

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Update: As these are considered entry-level guitars, their tech specs may change frequently. When I rechecked it again, I noticed these changed a bit. So please take this tech specs table below as the most recent one.

Ibanez AF55 Artcore Tech Specs

Ibanez AF55Tech Specs
NeckAF Artcore, Nyatoh, Set-in
Top/Back/SidesLinden
FretboardBound Walnut with dot inlays
Scale628mm
Nut Width43mm
Radius305mm
Frets20 Medium Frets
BridgeGibraltar Performer
TailpieceVT06 tailpiece
PickupsInfinity R (H) neck and bridge
Factory Strings10-13-17-30-42-52
HardwareChrome

The guitar comes with a pair of humbuckers called the Infinity R models which are described as passive, ceramic pickups and they are uncovered.

Check out the best guitar pickup company, Seymour Duncan here!

Check out the best guitar pickup company, Seymour Duncan here!

And finally, the factory string gauge is 10-46 but not sure about the brand!

I must say, I fell in love with the guitar due to its warm tones, easy playability and beautiful satin finish. It felt like it was just wood resonating and producing warm, fat sounds.

Also, out-of-the-box intonation and set-up were really top-notch which is surprising with entry-level guitars. Also, as hollow bodies tend to have full, thick bodies just like acoustic guitars it’s always more difficult to control the instrument, but with Ibanez Artcore AF55 the body is not that thick, so very very easy to control.

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I would definitely recommend Ibanez Artcore AF55 to anyone who is after a very affordable hollow-body guitar. It was so much fun to play and it played very well both unplugged and plugged in!

Hope you have enjoyed this short article on one of the best value-for-money hollow-body guitars around! Thanks for visiting my blog and supporting me so far! I will hopefully see you in the next review here!

Osman Cenan Çiğil – cigilovic.com


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