miguel_angelo's Music Gear Setup

This guitar has various versions, the first gen were made in China with maple body, then production passed to Indonesia and the second gen (the one I have) features a Linden body. Third generation onward they changed the bridge (possibly due to many patina and buzz complaints), the body was maple again and the mini tri-switch was replaced by a sturdier one. What I can say from my experience is that the maple guitar is considerably heavier and brighter sounding. I'm glad I got the linden version, since it's light and very well balanced.

It's rare to see this type of wood (Linden or Tilia, AKA Basswood) in a semi hollow guitar. All my previous guitar were basswood and I loved it for its neutral and clear tone, and specially their light weight. The guitar sounds great acoustically, very balanced tone, it kinda lends itself to a more midrangy sound since the softness of the basswood seems to absorve high treble frequencies, combined with it's lightweight this basswood semi hollow guitar has more acoustic beef than other Semi Hollow's I've tried with conventional maple bodies.

Neck and scale are my favourite things on this guitar, they feel absolutely great, so easy to play and comfortable, satin neck finishes are definitely my favourites. Fretwork is top notch with Ibanez's artstar fret edge treatment, they are on the jumbo side (I hate thin frets as I hate fret nibs), ebony scale and abalone/mother of pearl inlays look stunning, and the bone nut is a very nice premium touch not typically found on guitars at this price point.

Finish is just gorgeous, definitely the sexiest guitar I ever owned, black satin finish (not full on matte, you kinda see texture of the wood, specially on the neck and back of headstock) and gold hardware are really dope. Pickups sound very good, chinese made super 58's, according to online sources they are Alnico III and I bet they are unwaxed as they sound very open and dynamic, bridge is a bit hotter output, neck is super sweet and mellow, and has a nice round punch for jazz. The neck pickup Measured 7K (3.6k splitted) and the bridge 7.5K, so they are really on the low output side of pickups. The Tri-Switching is pretty cool also, the difference from Split Coil to Parallel is quite subtle, basically single is a tad more bright and beefy, parallel gives you single coil feel with hum cancelling and overall rounder/softer sound, but not as full range and twangy as in single position. Note that single and parallel have the same volume drop compared to full serial humbucking.

Things to be aware of: I went to a local guitar shop and asked to test the guitar, it had just arrived and was unopened. The guy from the shop opened it up and the guitar was in a not so great condition, pickup rings were misaligned (making the pickups not sitting perfectly parallel to the strings), body binding had three little flaws/scratches, freatboard had oil residue all over, and the guitar made a horrible buzz sound when played acoustically. I was shocked to see such a poorly finish and setup on that guitar, Ibanez Quality Control in Indonesia clearly revealing some inconsistencies. Luckily they had a second one also unopened and it was way better, still some tiny bits of oil residue on fretboard, but pickups were aligned, finish and binding was way better (still a tiny flaw on the binding of the f holes but I see it in every picture online) and the buzz sound was gone. The factory setup and intonation was surprising on this one, although I had to mess around with the bridge to get rid of a small buzz. Comes with a hard case with very nice locking mechanisms.

Overall I'm in love with this guitar, the headstock is the same as the original early AS100 and AS200 which you can only find on Scofield's signature now, it's smaller, maintains correct string angle all the way to the tuners, and has a classic look that I prefer compared to newer headstocks on semi-hollow lineup. Overall 5 star instrument, full sounding and comfortable, great sustain, great tone (both plugged and unplugged), awesome neck and frets, super easy to play. Just make sure you get a good unit.

I recommend replacing: The pickup selector and tri selector switches as they feel very cheap; The bridge quickly began to tarnish and sometimes makes a buzz sound because the screws get loose over time, just lighly push them and its gone; The tuners are also not the best. I tried the cheaper AS73, to me the JSM feels and sounds substantially better, so I think it's worth it. I also tried some D'Angelico in the same price range, really underwhelmed with those, terrible factory setup and not so great neck and way to hot pickups.