Ibanez AG95

Technically, the other reviewer said it all, yet I will add: I play guitar (lately mainly blues-jazz) since 1959. and have some 30+ guitars ... my favourites are Gibson CS-335s for studio and the smaller CS-339s for live gigs or custom shop Les Pauls, and generally (American designs) made in Japan (or some custom guitars from Germany). This inexpensive AG-95 jazz-blues-classicrock guitar is somewhat like (more expensive with small, floating humbuckers) signature Ibanez George Benson jazz model, and is more suited for blues-rock, hence I bought her. Actually, initially I had a more recent model, boubinga AG-95, yet I hastility sold her (mainly as she sounded insufficiently bluesy to me), yet it was a mistake, so I bought her again: this time the older (the initial? model), a transparent red finish, again used, and she was well played in, yet impeccable. I rarely play 'pure' jazz, so this guitar suits my blues-jazz approach even with rather light gauge strings. She can play nicely any jazz standard, or a blues classic as well as some singing Santana ... although for any of these styles you can get a better result with dedicated guitar (L5 for jazz, Strat or Tele for blues, LP or PRS for classic rock). Well, I recommendAG95 as a versatile blues-jazz guitar to all, except to shred metal or extreme rock guitarists.

Japanese brand electric guitar made in China in 2007.
Hollowbody (70 mm) with figured bubinga top, back and sides.
Spruce parallel bracing.
3 piece Artcore Deluxe mahogany and maple neck.
Trussrod accessible through headstock.
Rosewood fingerboard with Artcore Deluxe abalone markers, 12" radius.
22 frets Medium Jumbo (width : 2.7 mm, height : 1.1 mm).
Ceramic humbucker pickups ACH1 and ACH2 (Artec).
Tune-O-Matic type ART-1 bridge (Sung Il Hitech).
VT100 Tailpiece.
Bubinga pickguard.
3 way switch and knobs (Alpha) for volume control (500kohm linear) and tone (500kohm logarithmic + .022uf capacitor) for each pickup.
Grover type machine heads (Jin-Ho Instrument).
10-46 roundwound strings.
Scale lenght of 628 mm (24.75").
Gold hardware.
Transparent red finish.
Polyurethan lacquer.
Weight : 2.9 kg.
I have the original gigbag that fit perfectly the guitar.


UTILIZATION

Very pleasant neck. Access to highs correct. Good ergonomics, is the smallest of the Artcore series with the same dimensions as the GB10. The tuners are nice.
Well adjust nut. No frets problem.
The bridge base fit perfectly the top.
Pots and switch work fine and without any noise. Well made wiring (invisible through the f-holes)

SOUNDS

I replaced the original pickups, whatsoever, by Seymour Duncan Seth Lover.
Replaced the TOM bridge by an ebony one. Replaced strings by Thomastik-Infeld flatwounds Jazz Swing 13-53 and set the truss-rod. The sounds are very good, well defined and very round, very warm with the neck pickup.
Used on a Fender Eighty-Five no effect on the clean channel.

OVERALL OPINION

Bought used, I use it for 1 year. The finish is above suspicion except the golden finish on tailpiece which is not very strong. Some parasitic vibrations of the pickguard set by a few strokes of a screwdriver and a piece of foam.
What I like least: Flash Gordon logo on the head.
What I like most: everything else and essantialy the neck.
Excellent price / quality ratio.