Ibanez: AF105

One of my favourite Ibanez in my collection is a hollowbody; the AF105. I don't own any acoustic guitars because they are difficult to play namely due to the action & body depth which induce lots of mistakes on my part. Ibanez has a brilliant line of hollow/ semi-hollow guitars in the Artcore series which got me hooked when I first tried them some time back. The AF105 here is a representative from their Custom range (Custom by name, not by make).

Since there are times when I yearn to hear a simple acoustic tone, the AF105 was my answer to owning an acoustic guitar. It's not really one but it renewed my intention of not owning any acoustics on the ground of playability as mentioned above. The AF105 is a joy to play because the neck's profile has more inclinations towards the electric guitar rather than the average acoustic. The resplendent unplugged tones made me play this guitar unamplified most of the time. I do plug it in sometimes but into my bass amp (surprise!!) which would yield a fusion of unique bottom end accentuation & the crystalline acoustics.

However, the real gem in this guitar is the under-rated pair of Ibanez Super 58 humbuckers which are equally superb clean & overdriven. In fact, one of the most commanding distorted tones from the lower frequencies, comes from this guitar.

Owning the AF105 has renewed my belief in the following matters:

• You need not be a jazz elietist to own an instrument conceived for the genre
• Guitars made in China aren't the pariahs they were portrayed to be, in fact, this Chinese AF105 would put some western craftsmanship to shame