My new AR305 - Best sounding guitar I...

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Author Message   B5erik Username: B5erik Registered: 02-2006 Posted on Sunday, March 12, 2006 - 1:13 pm:    While this guitar does need some work (chips in the finish, bent tuner, etc), it plays and sounds great! I've had it for a week and a half and I am convinced that it is the best sounding guitar I've ever had - and it sounds more like a classic Les Paul than either of the Les Pauls I had (I had a Custom and a 1960 Reissue). It sounds big, fat, and (as my brother noted) punchy. It can also sound smooth as silk on a clean channel using the neck pickup. The lead pickup was replaced - looks like a DiMarzio, but I'm not sure which model (I'll find out when my brother and I get down to repairing the flaws on this thing). Fortunately my brother is a luthier, and he even had his own company that manufacured bass guitars (www.grbasses.com) - so he will be a great help to me in getting this thing fixed up as much as possible. Here's what it looks like now: What's interesting about it is that the color is darker than just about any other AR300/305 that I've seen. At first I was a little disappointed, but now I really like it! Now my want list includes (in order) a 1976-78 2619, a 1976-1981 set neck Iceman (antique violin finish with binding), and a mid to late 70's CN200. (And an Aria Pro II PE R-80, but that's another topic for a different board...) So out of your Ibanez collection (or your entire guitar collection), what is your favorite guitar - either sound wise or playability/feel (or both)?   Guitartim Username: Guitartim Registered: 04-2001 Posted on Sunday, March 12, 2006 - 2:45 pm:    B5erik~Man, you did GOOD! That is one gorgeous AM305...warts and all. I'm sure with your brother's help she will be an even more enjoyable guitar. My (current) favorite Ibz in my humble collection is a JSM100 semi-hollow. Maybe the honeymoon is still going on, but I just can't put that baby down. Please give us a follow up once you have finished with your AM's refurbishing...and welcome to the forum. Tim   B5erik Username: B5erik Registered: 02-2006 Posted on Sunday, March 12, 2006 - 10:12 pm:    OK, here are some photos to show the "before" look of the guitar. Here's an overall view: Here's the body - you can see a chip between the pickup and the binding. Here's a closeup of the chip: Here's the back and the side. There are the usual nicks and scratches on the back, and if you look closely on the side of the guitar (at the top of the pic) the lacquer is chipped away where the binding meets the body (about a half inch wide and 2 inches long): So there's a bit of work to be done, but it's already a nice looking guitar overall, and it plays and sounds fantastic (as I noted on at length above).   Bluesmeister Username: Bluesmeister Registered: 05-2004 Posted on Sunday, March 12, 2006 - 10:25 pm:    B5erik, those chips are repairable. I had a deep, saw-tooth scratch in the top of mine, plus a chip that went down to the bare wood on the top/back edge just to the right of the contour. Both were fixed by a competent luthier, and you'd be really hard pressed to detect the repairs. My strap button is on the top horn, not on the neck heel like yours is. Has yours been moved at some stage?   B5erik Username: B5erik Registered: 02-2006 Posted on Sunday, March 12, 2006 - 11:03 pm:    Oh, yeah. Nice hole in the top horn where the strap button once was - and will be again. Of course, that will be one more hole on the back to be filled in - but it's all doable. Cosmetically, it needs a little work to become what I want it to be (and it will get that work done in the next couple of months) - but as far as tone and playability it's already there!   B5erik Username: B5erik Registered: 02-2006 Posted on Sunday, April 09, 2006 - 12:30 pm:    Well, the repairs have begun. My brother and I started working on it yesterday (no more chip on the front - looks a heck of a lot better now). I finally took the strings off the thing to begin the work (I hated to give up playing this guitar, even for a while - so I procrastinated in taking the strings off), and the bridge pickup is a Dimarzio Evolution (Steve Vai) model, and the neck pickup is the stock Super 58. I'll tell you, that Evolution (DP159) is one heck of a good pickup for a Les Paul/AR300 type guitar. It is loud, punchy, and has tons of presence. The Super 58 pickup in the neck will NEVER be replaced in this guitar as long as I own it (which should be for quite a while). The tone is sweet and smooth when playing clean, and the lead tone when playing distorted through this pickup is outstanding as well. It's going to take a little more time and effort, but this guitar will be everything I hoped it would be by the time I'm done. It was already almost there when I bought it - it just hadn't been kept up. (It was a guitar used on tour by its previous owner, so it got banged up a bit and wasn't cleaned as much as it should have been.) I will post pics when we're done. (OK, I say "we," but my brother is doing most of the work - and he is really good at this, so I should give credit where credit is due. Of course, as the owner, luthier, and just about everything else of GR Basses he should be good. He may start working on guitars doing repairs like this for other people as well.)   Overdriver Username: Overdriver Registered: 12-2005 Posted on Sunday, April 09, 2006 - 2:25 pm:    I look forward to seeing the final result, B5erik. At least it has all the original hardware, which none of mine do. I'm just hoping Ibanez will reissue hardware parts for the '77-'79 Artists someday soon.

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