Ibanez PM120 holds its own with expensive archtops...

[jzucker]

you guys with multiple archtops? Which is your favorite? I have a number of archtops including an L4CES, Gibson 175, vintage Barney Kessel but you know which one is my favorite of all?
my '00 Ibanez Pat Metheny. Sounds particularly sweet and mellow.


It's interesting because a while back, a luthier on this facebook was saying that the ibanez archtops are not real archtops.
I can tell you that they are and they hold their own against anything else on the market...

[Gitfiddler]

Jack, you sound great on any archtop you play. I'm not surprised that you love the tone and feel of your PM120. What I am surprised at is that you dig a medium depth archtop over other deeper instruments you've owned like your Tal, 175, etc.

My favorite archtop is also an Ibanez. I love my GB200 for its full bodied, rich jazz tones. And it is so easy to play! Those traits encourage me to practice more...which is much needed in my case. :-)

[jzucker]

Jack, you sound great on any archtop you play. I'm not surprised that you love the tone and feel of your PM120. What I am surprised at is that you dig a medium depth archtop over other deeper instruments you've owned like your Tal, 175, etc.

My favorite archtop is also an Ibanez. I love my GB200 for its full bodied, rich jazz tones. And it is so easy to play! Those traits encourage me to practice more...which is much needed in my case. :-)

I was surprised too that the 120 holds its own with the 175. They have a lot of similarities tonally but the playability on the ibanez is head and shoulders better and that's not denigrating the 175 which plays really great. The ibanez just feels like an instrument that was plek'd or had a sadowsky setup on it. Neck is just a dream. It's only a bit thicker than a 335 but sounds really fat.

[dconeill]

I hope you keep this one

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

They hold their own against anything else on the market…..It's interesting because a while back, a luthier on this facebook was saying that the ibanez archtops are not real archtops.

I agree completely, Jack - I love my AF207 and still gig with it even though I have 2 “better” carved archtops. With heavy TI Benson flats, it sounds amazing amplified and surprisingly alive on its own. It still plays like a dream more than 25 years after I bought it. But TBH, it (like all of the Ibby archtops other than the very top line models), it doesn’t have much of an arch.

[yebdox]

Glad you kept that one, Jack, I remember you thinking about selling it a while back (recognize the cool fingerboard).

I love my GB10, just wish it was the size of a 175. ( I'm 6'4".) Might have to look at a PM200 sometime, but I bet it sounds a bit different. How would you compare the PM120 to a GB10 soundwise?

And for the record, I would rank my archtops top to bottom for tone: Wesmo; 175 vos; GB10; Sadowsky Jim Hall.

Neck wise: GB10; Wesmo; Jim Hall; 175.

Overall playing ease, Jim Hall; Wesmo; 175; GB10 ( because of the body size). I will probably change my mind next week, if you ask me then.

[Archie]

You can't beat a good Ibanez neck.
You cannot beat the playability of a good Ibanez.

Only Westerley Guilds can compete.

Jack get a maple Westerly SF2 and throw some flats on it.