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Ibanez AF 105 NT Semi Acoustic Guitar

 

Review of the Ibanez AF 105 by The Man in the Jar

Features of the Ibanez AF 105

Tuners - Unbranded gold mini-tuners with large pearloid kidney knobs. The guitar came out of the case tuned sharp. I decided to test the tuners by tuning back to concert (rather than the best practise of tuning slightly flat and climbing back to concert pitch). The heads took the guitar smoothly into tune and held it there with no clicks or jumps.

Headstock - Large gabled Ibanez headstock with a rosewood veneer face. The Ibanez logo is inlaid in subtle abalone and the truss rod cover has the word "Custom" engraved into it. The edge is bound in white binding which is finished off with a black pin-stripe.   

Nut - The white plastic nut is the type that abuts the fretboard, but the backward rake of the headstock means it is also recessed slightly into the neck. The whole nut area is really well finished. 

Neck - The neck is a three-piece maple construction, the central piece is separated from the other two by a pinstripe of a darker wood which turns out to be called bubinga. Now bubinga might sound like a redhead with the plague, but it is in fact an extremely hard exotic wood. The use of such thin sections in a purely cosmetic role is probably due to Ibanez making a whole guitar from bubinga elsewhere in the same factory. As you would expect from Ibanez the neck is beautifully slim and playable with adequate fretboard width to please the Jazzers amongst you. The head to heel profile is parallel, which I always think adds a touch of class. The heel is quite square and drops sharply away just under the 12th, but the edges are well-rounded and comfortable under the hand.    

Fretboard - The rosewood fretboard has a lovely close grain and is bound in antiqued white with black pinstripe. The fretboard binding is visible from the front of the guitar and adds an excellent touch of definition to the already striking visual impact of the guitar. The fret-markers are things of sublime beauty; oblong pearloid markers are inlaid with two wedges of the most ecstatic rainbow abalone, three wedges at the 12th fret. Some will call it Bling, I call it Class. Normal dot markers are present and correct on the player's side of the binding.

Frets - Thin-ish medium frets are well polished. They have a satisfying height to them which makes for a positive fretting and bending experience. 

Action - Decent action out of the box that looks like it could be squeaked a fair bit lower. Admittedly the kind of player who will buy this guitar is likely to use a medium action as standard.

Body - More luscious blond maple with a discreet flame finish makes up the top, back and sides. Both top and back have a subtle arch and both have the antiqued white and pinstripe binding to add definition. The f-holes are also bound giving a better finish than many un-bound semi-acoustics I've come across. Peering in at one of the f-holes reveals that this guitar has a full hollow body - there's no central block under the pickups. There's a single cutaway but players used to solid-bodied guitars will find the access to the upper frets is a bit awkward. 

Bridge - A tune-o-matic style bridge-piece sits on top of the carved rosewood bridge-saddle. This rosewood element floats, meaning it is not attached to the body but sits on it and is held there by string tension alone. When you first receive this guitar it will have a piece of gauze packing under the rosewood bridge to prevent the assembly moving in transit and marking the finish of the top. You will need to de-tension the strings to remove this protection and then you'll have to set up the guitar from scratch. Where you place the floating bridge assembly will affect two things; the path of the strings as they travel up the neck and the intonation of the instrument. The path of the strings can be monitored by looking at the visible pole-pieces on both of the pickups. The string should pass over these as evenly as possible, so move the bridge saddle gently across the body until that is achieved. 
The intonation of each string is individually adjustable on the tune-o-matic bridge-piece. So long as the entire bridge assembly sits within the adjustment scope of the tune-o-matic then you're sorted. This may take a little trial and error initially. If you ever need to remove all the strings in future simply mark the correct position of the bridge with low-tack masking tape prior to de-tuning.
The rosewood part of the bridge is adorned with two small abalone rectangles that tie in nicely with the fretboard decorations. 
Once the string path and intonation are sorted, the action can be adjusted by screws at each end of the tune-o-matic. The strings break over their individual saddles at quite a low angle to be anchored in the large rosewood tailpiece. The housing in the tailpiece that holds the ball-end of the string is reinforced with metal plate to prevent the tension of the strings wearing or splitting the wood. This metal is not visible unless you squint about under the tailpiece and it's a testament to Ibanez production standards that this all-but-invisible feature is finished in gold to match the rest of the hardware.     

Pickups - Two gold Custom '58's from Ibanez stock sit in antiqued white surrounds. 

Controls - One Volume and one Tone for each pickup and a standard three-way pickup selector, all grouped around the bottom of the lower f-hole. The knobs are actually made of rosewood to match the tailpiece. You'll either like them or you won't, if you don't then simply replace them with Gibson-style gold speed knobs.

Pickguard - The floating pickguard has a laminate of matching flame maple edged with the same binding as the body. The overall visual effect of this is stunning but I'm unsure about the durability over time. So if you intend to gig this guitar hard it might be an idea to get a white or black scratchplate cut and save the flamed guard for special occasions!  

Strap-buttons - The one on the bottom is an integral part of the tailpiece, the other is on the back of the body at the heel, both are large and both have large felt washers to prevent them damaging the guitar's lovely finish.

Output Jack -Situated on the lower edge without a mounting plate.

Finish - This is an extraordinarily beautiful guitar, extraordinarily well-finished.

Accessories - Deluxe shaped hard-case in silver-grey.

 

Sound of the Ibanez AF105 

The maple construction of the full hollow-body lends this guitar a bright and clear tone. The vintage-voiced humbuckers take the edge off any brashness delivered by the maple and the resultant amplified sound is generally smooth, mellow and jazz-bound.
That maple brightness is available when the bridge pickup is engaged alone. A lovely toppiness emerges to enhance the essentially airy voice of the guitar. This combines well with the neck pickup when running two-up. But I'm guessing you'll spend most of your time with the neck pickup working alone. This tone feels like a warm fudge sundae being poured onto your naked belly. The depth is subtle and gentle but still rings with paternal authority as this gorgeous instrument guides you from jazz chording to blues soloing and back again.  

 

Overall Impressions of the Ibanez AF105 

There are a few idiosyncratic quirks about this instrument that make it a unique prospect to own. It's not a guitar for a beginner, as you'll need to be confident enough to set it up and maintain the setting. But once you've tailored this guitar to your personal fit, you'll have a remarkable instrument that you'll treasure forever. If you play Jazz or Blues, you will fall in love with this beauty.

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