Few guitar makers have mastered the art of building excellent low-cost instruments as well as Ibanez. This excellence is reflected in the Ibanez AS73, where the price of the guitar doesn’t correspond to its quality. Made in China, the AS73 is a great hollowbody guitar at a competitive price. Let’s see what makes this guitar work.
The AS73 has a maple top, back, and sides. The mahogany neck sports a bound rosewood fingerboard with attractive pearl dot inlays.
A double-cutaway permits effortless access to all 22 of the guitar’s large frets. The guitar sports two humbucking pickups, an ACH1 pickup in the neck and an ACH2 pickup in the bridge.
We opted for the Transparent Cherry finish, though Ivory and Sunburst are also options. When you first pick up an AS73, the first thing you will notice is the build quality and how well balanced the guitar is on the whole.
We were particularly interested in the acoustic sounds. After all, it is a hollowbody instrument, so if doesn’t sound good acoustically, there’s not much point in purchasing it. Suffice it to say, we were very happy with what we heard. In fact, you’d be hard-pressed to find a hollowbody guitar this good for even twice the price.
We also gave the guitar a workout using several different amplifiers (from a Mesa Boogie Mark V to a Fender Blues Junior), just to see what kind of sounds we could get from it. We were able to coax a variety of sounds from the guitar, and could see it being used in a variety of different circumstances.
We did have some very minor issues. The plastic nut is pretty cheap, and could stand to be replaced, but that’s a relatively minor repair for a good repairman. While the finish wasn’t 100% perfect, it was still excellent for a guitar at this price.
We’re always on the lookout for a great guitar at a solid price, and we hit a homerun with with Ibanez AS73. Who cares if it was made in China? If you want a solid, budget-priced hollowbody guitar, it’s not a bad choice.
If you are searching for the absolute best price on a used or new Ibanez AS73, then you need to visit Ray’s Guitar Shop, which offers the most competitive prices on all new and used guitars (both electric and acoustic). Whether you want to buy a Fender, an Ibanez, or a Washburn, Ray’s Guitar Shop has what you’re looking for!
