Ibanez AS53-TF

This is a beautiful instrument. I find that the bridge pickup is lacking clarity in higher frequencies and that the neck pickup could be a bit warmer. I am comparing this to my 30 year old Columbus 335 knockoff.

The neck is strange, it starts getting thicker close to the body as expected but the weird thing is how early it starts, around fret 14 or thereabout. This limits playability on fret 16 when playing solos on high A. Any higher than that and I am struggling. This is different from my other guitars where high A position is well accessible.

Another thing I observed is that the neck comes in very high relative to the body so the distance from the strings to the body top is unusually high, possibly interfering with finger style picking where one finger on the body would stabilize the hand.
Lowering the action helped the situation slightly.

I would prefer to swap the position of the pickup selector and the volume button to have it similar to the ES-335 setup.

Very well built guitar but strange how the neck joins the body, possibly interfering with playability on higher notes. Stay low!

Absolutely gorgeous looking guitar and plays brilliant we after a set up.
Slightly disappointing out of the box as the action was too high and internation well off however once I had given the guitar a good set up and put a set of Pyramid gold strings wow what a difference.
Tail and bridge look a little cheap And not up to the same quality standard as the body and neck, however they perform very very well.
Overall this guitar is a joy to play and sounds beautiful and mellow and has gained many admirers. For the price unbelievable value for money I would highly recommend this guitar but bear in mind you may have to do some set up work yourself or Pay a luthier, but he will end up with a guitar that plays way above its price

Great guitar for the price. A little setup needed on guitar I ordered. Filed the nut-slots a little lower and lubed the slots. Tiny tweek on the truss rod and new strings. Fret ends was a little sharp (common on many guitars - new and old). Frets needed a little polish, too. Pickups could be better, but neck position with clean sound sounds decent. Glad the neck profile was a little beefy. Too many guitar are made with unplayable skinny back profiles. Tuners are decent, but benefit from tightning the screws. In the future, new pickups will be installed and maybe tuners, too. Love the thin satin finish. Overall, a good guitar with great potential.