OK, so we're on our trip out west traveling from South Carolina to Colorado and we're passing through Kansas. My wife suggests we stop in Lawrence, Kansas to get a hotel room for the night. Lawrence, Kansas happens to be the home of Mass Street Music, the store I bought my AR305AV from (via the Internet) in 2007. Never having visited the actual store I decide to drop by just to look.

So I'm looking around the store and suddenly I see an AM guitar in an AM hardshell case sitting on the floor and calling my name. At first I thought it was one of the customs because the finish looked pretty nice with an interesting grain pattern. It was priced at $260 with the AM100C hardshell case included. It turned out to be merely a second hand 2005 AM73TBR (the transparent brown color that is somewhat affectionately (not!) known on the forum as DP (or dog poo) brown.) But the more I looked at it the more I liked it, and the interesting grain pattern on the maple was showing through the transparent brown finish nicely. My wife and daughter also approved of the guitar and thought it looked pretty (yes I know Rusty, hard to believe!).

I picked it up from the case and looked it over carefully. It needed some cleaning up, but I couldn't see any signs of damage, just some really faint pick scratches that could be rubbed out with Meguiars Swirl and Haze Remover. It even still had the plastic skin on the truss rod cover! I played it and checked out the pickups, tone and volume controls. The action was already nice, and with the .010's on it I found it to be a very smooth player.

Struggling a little with what to do, since I had only planned on looking (and had just ordered a Carvin BK5A bass kit yesterday!), with a little encouragement from my wife I took the plunge and bought it. I'm glad I did, as I've always been a fan of the AM guitar series. I also think I got a decent price for a good (and somewhat hard to find) guitar, in excellent condition, with a hardshell case. We're still on our trip out west, so I've only been able to clean it up with a polishing cloth (no polish, however), but it already looks really nice. After a fret polishing, fretboard conditioning, and a little Meguiars Swirl and Haze Remover it's going to look brand new.

I'll post some pics when I have a chance, but it might take awhile since we don't return home until about August 13th.

And...... if you happen to be passing through Lawrence, Kansas I recommend a stop at Mass Street Music, you'll be glad you did!

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Nice mods ibnzdad! You really "suped" it up! How well does the LR Baggs piezo bridge work? Can you get a decent acoustic guitar sound from it? (I assume that the extra mini-switch and control knob on your AM73 is for the piezo pickup.)

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That's definitely a sweet conversion, ibnzdad!!! Great job!!!

Mea culpa. The AM73T at Daddy's Junky Music is a fixed price, there are also other AM77T's for sale at the moment at various places (instrumentpro.com, underbid.com), also fixed price. I found mine at Musicgoround, it is actually shipping from Lincoln NE.

akustik, congratulations on the find! Enjoy it!

Rusty-- my "wow factor" was pretty high up there, too . . . my brother owns a Heritage semi-hollow and I thought the Artcores looked just as good as his guitar when I first saw them (granted, with the eyes of someone who hadn't learned to play yet). I for just a moment or two, I seriously thought the price tags were missing a "1" in front of the 300-600 prices.

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Henceforth I ask not good-fortune, I myself am good-fortune.

--Walt Whitman, "Song of the Open Road"

Hi akustikgitar, not only are you a member of the Artcore club you are a member of the more exclusive AM73TBR club. Welcome aboard. Congratulations, Your new baby is beautiful.

When I posted my first pictures of my AM73, I said just about the same thing. The color shade is fine. If there was less pigment in the color recipe, making the color more transparent, it would beautiful.

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I'm a two AM'er with an AS93

Hey akustikgitar,

Your new AM73 looks sharp, the wood grain really pops through as she rests on the white leather background. Congrats on the find. I'm looking to get a green jacket with the Artcore Owner's Club, getting quotes for a new Semi-Hollow Custom AS103 with the VT (Vintage Sunburst) finish.

Hoping Ibanez won't reject the special quote request, seen these pretty regular on the European market.

NoLongerTheDoubtingThomas

Yeah, I think it must be the angle. My AM73 is very brown! It would look really nice in the transparent cherry red though!


Thanks for the compliment on the AR305AV. It is a beautiful guitar with its burl mahogany top and MOP with Abalone block inlays and gold hardware. It's not a prestige like the AR300RE. I paid $650 for mine, and the store I bought it from (Mass Street Music, Lawrence, KS -- a great music store, IMO) threw in the hardshell case for free. I got it in 2007, and that year Ibanez also offered both the AR300BS and the AR305AV. Prior to 2007 Ibanez offered the AR300BS, flamed maple top with chrome hardware, but this model has currently been discontinued. They may bring it back one of these days though.

AR300BS (2004-2006 version)


The AR300/305 series are nice players. They are slightly smaller than the AM's (as you can see from my pictures in the previous post) and are fairly heavy since they are solid mahogany (AR300 -- flame maple top, AR305 -- burl mahogany top). The AR neck (maple) is a little different from the AM neck (mahogany). I don't have the exact measurements, but the AR neck is just a little narrower at the nut and at the 22nd fret than is the AM. The AR300/305's have Super 58 pickups compared to the ACH pickups of the AM73. IMO the Super 58's are a little cleaner than the ACH pickups. I think the AR's are great guitars for rock, blues and even jazz. They remind me of double-cut Les Paul's (only better and much less expensive!)

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New to the forum, hope I'm doing this right.



Hey akustikgitar,

Found it on Ebay being sold through 'richtonemusic' in the UK, the Ebay site is;

http://cgi.ebay.com/Ibanez-AS103-Artcore-Electric-Guitar-VB-Inc-Case_W0QQitemZ330348217023QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV?hash=item4cea49c2bf&_trksid=p3286.m63.l1177

Everytime I see it, it looks better and better. The pickguard has some minor scratches - probably from being on display and the locals strumming it. I imagine the price is elevated cause of shipping costs to the UK. Instead of a VT finish, the axe at richtonemusic is listed as a VB (Vintage Brown Sunburst). Since Ibanez doesn't list a VB finish option, they must mean either a BS (Brown Sunburst) or the VT (Vintage Sunburst). Given the color changes depending on the angle of light, I'd have to say it's probably a VT. In any case, she still looks like a sweet, smooth ride.

And if anyone snatches this up before I get my quote requests answered, and I end up un-able to get it - I'll be severely bummed out cause I gave it up. Oh well, here it is anyways. Take a peeky, peeky, but no touchy, touchy - yet.

NoLongerTheDoubtingThomas

Another wow! My Roland Cube 100 Bass amp arrived this evening! Wow! The Fender Bassman COSM model sounds so excellent with my AM73. Rock, Blues, Jazz. I'm stoked. (Now I'm waiting for my Carvin BK5A bass kit to arrive on Thursday! Unfortunately I had to leave my Ibanez BTB300FM bass in Istanbul while I'm back in the US this year. But I'm gonna enjoy building and playing the Carvin. And the Roland Cube 100 Bass amp is perfect for use with both bass and guitar. Yes!)

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