2004 AR3000 vs 1981 AR3000

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Author Message   Johns (Johns) Posted on Saturday, January 17, 2004 - 12:26 pm:    Jim777: In the classifieds section you asked: "I was wondering if anyone might have an old 80's AR-3000 they'd be willing to part with. Not the New AR-3000 (AR-2000 replacement) debuting at Winter NAMM. I'll get a new one if I can't find ne, but I'd rather have an old one. Duh!" The new AR3000 is really not an equivalent to the original AR3000. In fact, there is no real equivalent to the 2004 AR3000 from the past. The closest model would be a Tiger striped AR300 from the early 80's, but without the Tri-sounds. Perhaps the 2004 AR3000, being a Prestige, will have a higher grade maple top, different neck and that "hand finished" touch compared to the '80s AR300. But how could they miss the Tri-sounds? Well, I guess they are not calling it a reissue. My guess is that you'll have a much harder time finding an original AR3000 than a new one (when they hit the retail chain.) At this point in time, I'd rather have the older one, too. For pictures and story on the "old" AR3000 check out this message thread: Vintage & Custom Electrics: Entire 1979-80 Artist Series - PICS Also, doing a keyword search on "ar3000" will glean a few more AR3000 tidbits scattered around the Discussion Board.   Orval (Orval) Posted on Saturday, January 17, 2004 - 3:28 pm:    in a discussion with jim donahue a couple of years ago, i told him that i would buy an artist prestige because i liked the weight and the neck profile on the prestige, but i thought that expensive of a guitar must have block inlays. evidently someone else did too!!   Jim777 (Jim777) Posted on Saturday, January 17, 2004 - 4:39 pm:    I'm actually well aware of the differences, in both appearance, the lack of an ebony board, and electronics between the two different models. I bought my first AR300 in 1980 and have half a dozen Ibanezes now, though I'm not a collector like a lot of the posters here. It was my thought that the $1500 the new one would cost me might just buy an older one if someone had a spare ;-) I like the older models, I just don't feel the need to overpay for them beyond reason. I got my first AR300 in Sam Ash for about 400 way back when. (I remember the AR500 was 519 at the time, and was 100 more than I had.) I see 300's go these days for 750 to 850. Maybe $1500 doesn't buy an old 3000, or an old 500 for that matter. Anyway, I thought if I was going to spend that amount anyway, I'd see if I could get an older one. I wouldn't expect an AR5000 for 1500 bucks, so I just aimed slightly lower. jim (whites2 at optonline dot net)   Jim777 (Jim777) Posted on Saturday, January 17, 2004 - 6:49 pm:    What I just said, but without it sounding so stuffy and arrogant ;-)   Johns (Johns) Posted on Saturday, January 17, 2004 - 7:56 pm:    Jim: I didn't mean to make it sound that you were uneducated. Sometimes I get more verbose than necessary just for the sake of anyone else who may end reading the thread. IMHO, $1500 really should buy a WHOLE lot of Artist, regardless of it's age. Sure, the AR5000 is premo! But hey, the '81 AR3000 doesn't have that much on the AR500 (or 2622). Getting back to the current AR3000, if you don't care about the little extras that the Prestige treatment gets you, a mid '80s AR300 is a real economical value. But the new AR3000 is certainly closer to the "golden era" of Artists than the AR2000.   Jim777 (Jim777) Posted on Saturday, January 17, 2004 - 10:35 pm:    I had no problem with your post; I was just surprised how less than gracious my own response seemed when I read it later. Anyway I'm disappointed they decided to fiddle with the 2000 by giving it the old base, and the blocks in the fretboard, but not the ebony board itself. It's like a tease! I'm sure it's a nice piece of wood, but I was hoping for ebony once I heard they were upgrading the 2000. I'd bet it doesn't have the sustain block, either. Like I said I had a 300, but got rid of it around 94 becasue I couldn't keep the neck straight. It was twisting, and no matter who I took it to, whatever "fix" was applied would only last a few months. It was literally like watching it die. It wasn't until a year or so afterwards that I heard you could get some sort of steam treatment that would straighten it permanently, and I've had getting another Artist in the back of my mind since. I've heard the 2000 is an amazing instrument, but it never really did it for me. Then last week when the news of the 3000 came out, the GAS started flowing ;-) Do 300's come up here very often? thanks again, jim   Jim777 (Jim777) Posted on Saturday, January 17, 2004 - 10:43 pm:    Hmmm.... the 3000 looks pretty good! http://www.ibanezrules.com/namm/2004/ar_ax_gax_grx.htm jim   Fox (Fox) Posted on Sunday, January 18, 2004 - 7:10 am:    Well Jim, the all-new models seem to be quite accurate "reissues", judging by the pictures, however those few details seems to be "missing" - no ebony fingerboards and no tri-sounds either. I can´t say anything on pricing of those models, however the list price for the AR 3000 seems to be a little on the "high" side, regardless of the Prestige-treatment it´s still "equivalent" of the 80´s AR300 sans tri-sound but with wooden pup rings..IMHO. /image{ar5000}   Fox (Fox) Posted on Sunday, January 18, 2004 - 7:15 am:    Sorry typo..   Maniac (Maniac) Posted on Thursday, April 01, 2004 - 9:27 pm:    Picture of AR3000 Prestige...SURE LOOKS GOOD! http://namm.harmony-central.com/WNAMM04/Content/Ibanez/PR/AR3000VV-lg.jpg Maniac   Johns (Johns) Posted on Friday, April 02, 2004 - 7:06 pm:    Mike: Ibanez ALMOST has it finished! Just put those tri-sounds on it and it's done.   Captainibanez (Captainibanez) Posted on Sunday, April 04, 2004 - 7:59 am:    Johns, tend to agree with you on this one....but hey at least after discussions with the guy's from Japan we managed to agree on putting some colour on the headstocks of the Jetking model for this year. Increase in salary may include tri-sounds for the AR3000 for 2005 Captain Ibanez   Johns (Johns) Posted on Sunday, April 04, 2004 - 8:53 am:    Captain: OK, but I just gave Steve a raise. Oh well, here take his!

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