Setup for Ibanez AF 55

[ES175please!]

Hi,

Looking for advice. I have a nice tele I play for jazz and have a Ibanez Artcore 55 I bought last year but don't really play.

I don't love the Ibanez, but I think that is mostly due to the strings and setup. Anyone have advice for getting it to sound more like a jazz guitar and less like a steel string stumming box? The action is very high so it isn't enjoyable to play the way my telecaster or Gibson 175 are.

What would be a good setup cost for a $350 instrument? Is it even worth it? And what strings would work best. I currently have 10's on it.

Thanks in advance!

LKP

[Cunamara]

A proper set up will take a $350 instrument from being a worthless waste of space to being playable. Every new guitar, unless you are buying it from a luthier, needs to be set up. That should be done as part of the price of the sale, but it almost never is. Especially if you're buying it from a big box store.

How much it would cost depends on what needs to be done. If they only have to make sure that the nut is cut properly, that the truss rod is adjusted correctly and that the bridge is at the proper height to give the action you want, that should be pretty inexpensive. If they have to dress and level frets, which would not be a surprise at all, the price would go up.

I recently bought a Gibson ES-175 from a private party. He had previously had it setup by the same guitar tech that I use, who does excellent work; the setup for the guitar was $350 because of all the work that needed to be done to get it into good playing shape. Gibson's QC is not exactly famous and it needed a fair amount of fretwork. It plays like butter now, so it was money well spent (especially since I didn't have to spend it ).

[Palehorseo]

Hi,

Looking for advice. I have a nice tele I play for jazz and have a Ibanez Artcore 55 I bought last year but don't really play.

I don't love the Ibanez, but I think that is mostly due to the strings and setup. Anyone have advice for getting it to sound more like a jazz guitar and less like a steel string stumming box? The action is very high so it isn't enjoyable to play the way my telecaster or Gibson 175 are.

What would be a good setup cost for a $350 instrument? Is it even worth it? And what strings would work best. I currently have 10's on it.

Thanks in advance!

LKP

Mine sounds nice with 10s but it did need a setup and some fret levelling (I managed to do that bit myself, if was good practice).
See the AF55 thread in this subforum - it’s a guitar that can sound great and can be a platform for mods etc if you get a good one. How does yours sound unplugged? Mine is super resonant and sounds quite nice acoustically

[chris32895]

You say you have 10's on it - are those rounds or flats? I would think any guitar with round 10's would sound brighter than flats of any gauge. Although I will say in my experience, laminate factory guitars have thicker tops and need heavier strings to really drive the top. I also have an Ibanez as my main jazz guitar and it needs at least 12's to sound the way I want it.

[mike_k]

A set up is definitely worth it. In the past, I have paid around $75 for basic setups. However, of late, I have decided to do it myself. I bought some basic setup tools off Amazon and watched some Youtube videos. The first one took some time, but now I work on all my guitars and I am much more efficient and confident.

If you do it yourself, your worst case scenario is that your $350 guitar that you don't like will still need a setup after your attempt. Best case, your guitar plays nicely and you learned a skill that can save you some cash over the long-term.

[garybaldy]

This thread prompted me to get my 55 from the back of the cupboard. I barely use it! It has Chrome 12s which feel about right. I noticed the neck had quite a bit of relief so dug out a 4mm allen wrench. Realising I'd never adjusted the rod before, I wondered if it actually worked.
Anyway, having slightly loosened the strings I first checked if the nut would loosen, which it did. Then I tightened it an extra 1/8 to 1/4 turn from its original position and all was good. I've got about 1mm at 12th fret high E and a tad more low E and no buzzing. It feels great now. The neck is a bit smaller than what I mostly use so getting used to it. Oddly enough it's pretty quiet playing individual strings agressively but when struming it's like a cannon. Definitlely not subtle - it reminds me of an old budget Hofner!
I shall be plugging it in and messing with the pickup height later.

[jackalGreen]

The AF55 is the one hollowbody I own ATM....there's been some wild temperature changes lately around here, so she's been in her hard case in my hermetically-sealed bedroom for quite a while.

I suppose it's luck of the draw...mine didn't need any fret-end dressing out of the box.

To my surprise, the nut took the TI GB 14s fine, from what I can see. I can't remember if I turned the truss rod a smidge or not, but the intonation is spot on, and there's still just a tiny bit of relief in the neck, which I like.

Only thing I did other than that was put a rosewood saddle with an ebony bridge (somewhat a compensated bridge) on her, replacing the stock TOM.

It's a similar question to "WTH do I do to this Squier Custom Vibe '70s Tele" that I bought a while ago...it was in the original Squier/Fender box, so I assume from factory....but that thing was a beast to even get playable with just some home remedies...It was cheap (on sale, actually), so I'm not inclined any money in that one, but over the past few years I've picked up enough here and there to be able to set up a guitar (fretwork, beyond sanding the edges, is a bit much for my abilities....but I can diagnose the problem).