Ibanez AW10

[Glacies]

Just played this at the local pawn shop and I really like it. Looked cool, felt great and I really felt comfortable with it. I spent quite a bit of time with it as I was playing everything they had (in my price range) and going back to it to compare. Only problem with it is the B and E string at about the 12th fret go dead and then pick up at about the 15. Is this an action problem or are the frets actually low there? I'm not really keen on guitar setup fundamentals. Thoughts? List price is 199 btw.

 

[Spudman]

A lot of times there is a hump in the neck around that area. You can sight down the neck from the nut end and see if the fret tops stay level all the way down of if there is a wave in that region. If a hump exists it might require some costly work to get it out so that it plays well. Those lower end Artwoods have been pretty good sounding to me and have good playability as well. But not all of them are gems. All the AW100 and AW200s I've played have been good. If they'll discount the $60-$75 dollars a luthier will charge for the fix then it might be worth the price in my opinion.

 

[Glacies]

Pawn shop had a full service luthier working when I went back today. He took a look at it, tried changing the strings, adjusting the truss rod and then shimming the bridge, all to no avail. He could see the hump in the neck but couldn't do anything about it. Said they'd sell it to me at a discount or I could get a new V series Ibanez for $100, so I went with that. I think the AW was a bit more comfortable but $100 for a brand new guitar that is extremely playable is pretty nice even if it is somewhat of an entry level. I just wanted something to screw around with and the sound off of this solid top is actually really nice.