Ibanez's affordable hollow-bodies

If you’ve always wanted a hollow-body electric guitar but have never been able to afford one, I have the answer for you. I was at MegaMall in Manila over the past weekend and stumbled upon a store at the fifth floor that sells, among others, great guitars at unbelievably low prices.

It’s really easy to miss AudioStudio if you’re a guitar player because all you can see from the outside are speakers and other audio equipment. I myself only went in because I was interested in a speaker system for MP3 players displayed at the window. Once inside I saw that the store has a stall for guitar gear like pickups, tuning keys, bridges, and other stuff, but what really got my attention was a collection of guitars practically hidden behind a stack of speakers and amplifiers.

As it turned out, AudioStudio is a distributor of Ibanez guitars, and it has in stock China-made ones that offer the same quality as Japan-made Ibanezes without the high price tag.

I picked up an AS73 (pictured above right) because it looked the closest to the Hofner Verithin that I am rebuilding (and, by extension, the Gibson ES-335 it is itself emulating) and started strumming. It felt excellent, very smooth, very playable. And because its body is hollow, I could hear what I was playing.

But perhaps sensing that I wanted to hear more, banch manager Jojo Sanglay offered to plug the guitar into a Peavey amp. With no effects save for the amp’s reverb, the AS73 sounded full, sweet, and bell-like, and while I have little experience playing such guitars, I was willing to bet it sounded the way a good jazz guitar ought to. Each note was distinct when playing leads, and strummed it had an acoustic quality that made me think it could replace my Ibanez AW100CE acoustic guitar.

I switched the amp to “distort” and began to play some leads, and the AS73 did not disappoint. It behaved like a rock instrument, giving a fat, heavy tone that’s both complex and distinct.

When I stopped playing I looked at the price tag and almost fell off the amp I was sitting on. It was only a little over 17,000 pesos, or about 330 US dollars. “It’s more expensive than my acoustic guitar!” I exclaimed. I then went through the other hollow-body electric guitars there (mostly AWDs pictured at right) and saw that they were even cheaper. The solid-bodies were similarly priced, and in fact the only one I saw that went above 20,000 pesos was an acoustic guitar that had a solid top (the model of which I unfortunately didn’t pay attention to).

What gives? Why the low prices?

Jojo explained that the guitars are made in China, adding that while many China-made products are of poor quality, Ibanez has not cut corners and insisted on producing the same quality in its guitars. Based on what I heard and handled that afternoon, I’d say he was telling the truth.

Back home I checked out some reviews of the AS73 (including this one from Harmony Central) and found that on the whole the guitar has been received well by many guitarists. For us third world guitar players, these Ibanezes are great buys, and I’m now actually thinking of ditching my acoustic guitar in favor of an AS73. It offers a good mix of acoustic and electric tones, making it a viable option for our gigs.