So after a bunch of pointy and/or black guitars with scorching hot pickups, I finally got something very different and completely uncharted territory for me .
I was watching a bunch of beautiful Korean Sheraton II’s on reverb, but my local currency took a flop and it just became overpriced. ( 1200-1500 euros is not much for an Epihone by Gibson Sheraton w/hsc - when you make your salary in Euros. But due to the conversion rates , those 1200-1500 became almost more than 2 months of salary for me… Ouch…)
So anyways I decided to look for something dirt cheap second hand stuff from a bigger brand in hopes of some traces of quality assurance.
Lo and behold, an ad popped up 3 corners away from our flat. The guy was selling an Ibanez AS53 for around 150 EUR worth of local currency (at about the half of it’s new price). On a longer night out I might spend more money on assorted poisons…
The guitar is basically unplayed, the guy is a lefty and he to took a chance on this right handed guitar, but couldn’t play it so decided to sell. Still has a few months of guarantee left…
Let me tell you something guys… This thing is awesome. Sure it’s not a vintage 335, but for 150 EUR it is as perfect as it gets. Fret ends on the downward facing side could be a bit smoother but nothing atrocious. Sets up with barely any relief and around an average of 1,5 mm action @12th fret give or take a little depending on bass or treble side and no buzz or dead spots. Unplugged it’s a bit trebly, haven’t played it much through an actual amp, but if you watch the short clip I posted, it does have a rather nice sound, which actually surprised given that it has run of the OEM pickups with ceramic magnets.
There are two things that says “cheap” on it for me: awful tuners (easy fix, but only if I stick to playing it and it’s not just a fad for me) and that “thing” on the headstock below the logo. I understand they tried to imitate some classy graphic, but this reminds of the tramp stamps from the 90s… Oh well.
And the color is worth mentioning too. Officially it is transparent blue flat… Well, the only blue is some badly finished edges on the F holes… And to be honest with you, I absolutely don’t mind it. lol
I gotta say that I am REALLY happy with this one. Great for dabbling, dirt cheap and it doesn’t put me off with bad playablity or atrocious QC.
Looks great and I bet it plays and sounds sweet!
