The majority of my early days of playing guitar consisted of a Strat copy from an unknown company (The guitar was named a Mustang?!) that came cheap with an amp followed by a Mexican Telecaster, my first real Fender. The Telecaster was a brilliant guitar, it had excellent twang and some cutting tones. It’s versatility was epic. As this was the case I never investigated a guitar with humbuckers.
I acquired an Epiphone Firebird at one stage, though it had strange “mini” humbuckers that didn’t seem particularly good at holding distortion and although the guitar sounded awesome clean, it just didn’t cut the mustard. At this stage I opted for the safe bet of an Epiphone Les Paul. The guitar was second hand but in mint condition. It was a nice axe, but then, one fateful day, whilst browsing guitar magazines in my local news agent, everything changed. Amongst the luscious pictures of Fenders, Gibsons and the latest Tanglewood acoustics was a small image of an Ibanez. Dark, red and seductively curvaceous the body of the beast was instantly appealing, partly because it resembled, in some fashion, the Ovation GP as played by Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age.
The next day I was seriously considering a new guitar… again… I’d had friends who’d played Ibanez, but I’d never owned one myself. The fact that the company was Japanese (correct me if I’m wrong) using a Spanish sounding name seemed odd. Steve Vai may like them, but I don’t have the money for his model.
So I did a little home work on the ARX300.
The Ibanez ARX300 is an updated model of the same or similar model from the Ibanez Artist series, originally released in the 1970’s. The 1970’s models themselves confirmed Ibanez’ place as a producer of quality instruments. This fact was quite comforting from my point of view. Having not thought very highly of Ibanez, to finding they were actually a very respected company made me feel even more intrigued towards the ARX300. And so, preferring the double cut to the single, I asked my local guitar shop if they could order one in.
Whilst not having the Tri-Sound functions of the 70’s originals, allowing players to change the pick-ups to act as single coils rather than humbuckers, the guitar itself looked awesome. So I headed down to the shop some weeks later to find the stock had arrived. I didn’t have time to try the Arx300 out in store and so handed over my Les Paul in a straight exchange and headed for home. First of all, let me say that the finish and craftsmanship on this item is great. The top is a hot, ruby red with with a flamed appearance that gives it a cool wavey look over the grain of the body. The maple set neck is about 22mm thick, which I believe is thin compared to Fender necks, though I’m no expert! It’s slick and easy to play and feels comfortable in the hand, though fans of thicker necks may not be as inclined to enjoy it.
Clean the guitar has a nice tone, I particularly like it on the neck pick-up, as the bass that can be heard is pretty phenomenal. The middle and bridge settings also provide a nice variety and I often find myself experimenting with these two to add to the mix. The humbuckers (AHC’s??) hold distortion well and the fuzzed out riff’s I try to copy from the likes of Kyuss and Fu Manchu sound pretty cool when the amp and guitar are cranked. The controllers are easily accessible and easy to get hold of when you need them.
The only real downside I’ve experienced with this guitar is probably due to it never having a set-up. It’s unlikely I’ll be learning to do it soon, and with it being Christmas I certainly can’t afford to pay for one! I tend to find an amount of fret buzz is present on the guitar. To be fair I tend to play with high-gauge strings, though I don’t thrash at the strings, I pluck them gently (like a cherub picking roses! – well OK [b]*sometimes*[/b] I thrash at them..) but even with lower gauge strings (9’s for instance) the buzz is still present.
The guitar is also quite light, which whilst in itself isn’t a bad thing, I feel takes away from the instruments presence when being played. I like to feel the wood and metal, surging with electricity, in my hands, not have to assume it’s there. Oh and it could use a pick guard… perhaps a project for another day.
All in all I have really enjoyed the Arx300. It’s tone, feel and general look are all excellent. Craftsmanship is top notch but it does sometimes feel like a “cheaper” guitar.
Cosmic Meltdown says: Supernova – 4 out of 5
