Ibanez AS53 quick video test 

Dear viewers, you have probably seen that this video is 5 Years old and that nothing really happened on my channel since then. I am now considering bringing it to life again in a Month or two - If you LIKE that, like this comment! :) If enough people do, there will be 1 Video a week with guitar/gear reviews and sometimes tutorials and demos. Stay safe and thanks for watching!

This is one of the more credible reviews I've watched of any guitar. The man knows his craft.

I bought one of these a couple of years ago. I was blown away by the build quality, compares very well with my 2008 Gibson Les Paul at a fraction of the cost. It has mostly been replaced by my recently acquired Gretsch. I would strongly recommend this for anyone starting up.

Berne - I really enjoyed those simple riffs and rhythm runs you laid down. Thank you for sharing with the rest of us.

This is exactly the review I was looking for . Thanks

Thank you! I've been considering buying this guitar as my first and only electric to play alongside my acoustic. You really helped me confirm my choice.

Great review man, just what I needed to hear. Thank you

Thank you very much Sir for this excellent demo. You gave me all the information I was looking for in a very clear concise way. Also, excellent diverse playing of style samples. Well done! Amazing little guitar for the money. I have a Les Paul, Strat & an Ibanez acoustic (old faithful) I am pretty certain that I will be adding one of these to cover the 4th base. Thanks again, David Douglas Adirondack Mountains, US

Really enjoyed this review - lovely playing and great information - thanks x

Awesome review!! Really informative and long enough and concise. Great recording sound too man!! Congratulations

I have had my eye on these for a while now. just might be my next purchase. Thanks for the vid.

Awesome review, think i'll be buying one next week. Thank you very much :)

The way you set the tone sounds awesome for jazz, blues, ballads. I really like its clean sound, with the first blues distortion you put sounds like the first Santana. You got a good bargain.

Thanks for the review! Very informative.

Excellent demo and playing...lovely touch Bernd!

Ooh I love the look of this!

Great review. Yeah, I was going to ask what rock sounded like on it. Glad you covered that. Beautiful look, good price. I want one.

4 years later and they're on sale for 299. Sounds good. Another decent guitar which is similar is the Squier Affinity Starcaster.

Just got one, so happy! It's really a good weight and nice satin finish.

Thank you, you are the only one I've seen that plays the guitar "dry" and demonstrates blues and jazz.

Thanks for recommendations and explanation details

I bought an as53 from a German student, here in Glasgow ( Scotland ) He had come home after a few beers and stood on the body while stumbling around in the dark. The lower f hole was caved in. He sold it to me for 60 euros. I spent around two hours doing some plastic surgery on her and she was beautiful once more. I really enjoy playing the guitar and the scars from the accident just increase her mojo. I don't know why. Great review, many thanks.

Thanks for the great content.

I can't believe how good that guitar sounds for as cheap as it is.

Love that Jazz tune you played

Great video! Thanks!

Very nice playing. You make that guitar sound really sweet. I'm thinking about getting one...

great review! thanks

Very Nice review! Thanks

Thanks. Really helpful!

Good, review sir and a good sounding instrument. I think I found my next guitar.

Five years later, I'm thinking of buying one of these guitars. I love my Ibanez Acoustic and looking for more of a Jazz guitar. Thank you for your review!

Thanks, Bernd! Convinced me, just ordered one. Am a beginner, so when I deserve it I''ll replace the pickups.

Great review. Nice to know the range of music this guitar is capable of playing.

Great video. The guitar sounds really good. Your command of English is phenomenal.

Thanks for the review. Just ordered one of these on trans black

Many thanks for this helpful review. I bought one this morning and can’t put it down.

Very helpful, Thankyou.

I just bought one and I can't wait to shred on it

Herr Germanguitarguy, excellent review!

Excellent.....Thank you !

perfect review, by far the best guitar review I've seen, keep it up man, love your videos

Great playing, Awsome sound. I have an Ibanez as 93. Beautiful hollow bodies.

Nice video. I love your style. No guitar wanking theatrics. Just sweet clean style. Good job.

I love my ibanez, a very well made instrument

Just ordered mine. Thanks Bernd 🙂

thanx for the review

Your review is the best! I bought this guitar used, and it had a neck repair, so I had to have a luthier intonate it; that was quite the task. At any rate, my dumb ass sold it after I bought a Grote jazz guitar (which is killer), but I get upset that I didn't keep it. It is such an easy guitar to play.

Danke.Gut gemacht.

I'd love to hear you reviewing more cheap jazz boxes from Thomann :D

Super, Vielen Dank!

thank god a real musician, many thanks!!!!!

Danke schön. I've seen one of these for sale (used) for a reasonable price, and this video helps me decide - I'm going to call the guy.

I'm a blues guitarist I'm loving my tone and my sound with my AS53

I think a lot of it is in his hands, man. What an amazing player.

Excellent Review! You are a fantastic guitarist! Solid info provided in your video. Great! I own the Ibanez AMV10A - which offers better pickups and a few other enhancements (costs $100 more that this model). I played the AS53 when I was at Guitar Center and was very, very impressed. I own a Gibson Les Paul and many other guitars from Fender, Ibanez, Charvel, etc. Ibanez is leading the pack in terms of "value" for the $$. You simply can't find better made guitars for less money....

Very thorough and straight to the point - an excellent demonstration. I noticed that you said "massiv" and not laminated, meaning it is solid wood. I can't seem to find that stated anywhere, and I would be surprised at that price and on the base model in the range.

Yep I played one of these 6 years ago and they sound great. Very close to buying it but bought my Tokai instead.

Wow! great guitar playing & great review! i will purchase one soon. i mainly play Hammond organ and looks like it stayed in tune for you. very important for me on my recording tracks...Marcel ,..the Mad Swede

Danke sehr!

Thanks Bernd !

I was very interested in this guitar. Your review is simply the best i saw in youtube. Thank you.

Sharp looking budget guitar!

I bought the smaller version am53 same guitar for 299usd very happy ok very good demo review

Ibanez artcores are serious guitars, they play well, hold up mechanically and sound good. Ive owned em. They are quality instruments imo.

I just bought one for €253.. It's great!

Bernd, Thanks for the review. I was on the fence about spending more on an AS73 or AS93 but ended up buying the AS53 which arrived yesterday - I am very happy with the AS53. After a slight tweak to the bridge (details below), the action is awesome - it plays and sounds great. I get what you mean about the pickups which I think is because they are ceramics but they are still humbucking. At $300 shipped this was a steal; FedEx messed up the delivery (it arrived 48 hrs after their tracking claimed it was delivered) but now it's here, it's undamaged, it's beautiful, and nice to play. I may try the pot change suggested below but the pickups are OK for now. Details on my (wannabe Luthier) adjustments. Using the bridge screws, I adjusted the string height at the last fret to 1.5mm (low E) and 1.25mm (high E) and the action at the first fret was then around 0.3mm plus there was 0.35mm relief (slightly concave) on the fret board at the 7th fret. So all I did was tweak the bridge screws half a turn and it was near perfect for my tastes.

Yeah . i want one

🙏 thanks

I have a similar looking guitar but it is an Ibanez AF55 guitar, it has a thicker body and only a single cutaway and has a tail piece but it is in Tobacco like yours and has no covers on the humbuckers. I put flatwound jazz strings on her and she plays good unplugged acoustic and also through an amplifier. It's a good guitar.

Great demo. Excellent guitar playing of all styles. What’s not to like ? Just bought one.

I love my as53. Stuff some gain on it and the infinity pickups sound great, I can’t play jazz so I use it as a rhythm machine. The bridge is great for muting.

ThANKS COMRADE

Es bellísima esa guitarra 7w7

Hey ich dieses Teil auch zu Hause, als meine Blues Gitarre. Ich liebe sie. Und weil sie so geil trocken klingt, habe ich ihr das LR Buggs Lyrik Microfon eingebaut, und nun hab ich obendrein noch einen richtig schön dreckig klingenden Natursound. Wie Du sagst, sie liegt super in der Hand, und ist für den Preis echt sauber verarbeitet. Ich stehe auch auf Naturnahe Lackierungen, und das war auch ein Grund warum ich mir sie erwählt hab. Meine ist made in Indonesia. Ich würde für diese Gitarre auch gerne ein paar Hunderter drauf legen, damit die Arbeiter dort auch vernünftig leben können. Vergleichen mit meiner PRS Hollowody SE 2 Piezo macht klanglich keinen Sinn. Ein Einzylinder Motor ist anders als ein Vierzylinder. Aber für alle die etwas mit Charakter suchen, ist die Ibanez ein Versuch wert. Dein English ist super. Du verwendest glücklicherweise nur Worte, die ich auch verstehe :-) Alles Gute ;-)

Hi Bernd, i have one of them in my mini collection of guitars, is very nice ,simple but elegant, good acoustic and soft body.. I have to keep it in the garage along many other beautiful masterpieces due to lack of space, But all of them are well carefully wrapped and in their respectives cases protected from dust,humidity and dirt. I can't wait to move to a bigger house and have a special room for all of them ,also i want to design some metal stands or rack to show them all together.. Thanks for sharing your views.

I recently built a strat,,,,plywood body, old cheapy neck which I refinished and stained,,,,pickups etc....I am stunned at how good it sounds,,,and the initial guitar cost me just over a $100....yes nice pickups in it..but plywood body, old Vester neck...looks and feels great, has that woody Strat tones I love, and is as good as any other strat (I have bought and sold about 20)!! You don't have to spend a lot to get a decent guitar!! Also in this video though he is using a great amp though, but still....

You can find AS73 brand new for $400 US so that's really what I would love to see you review. The pickups and some other specs are better.

Thanks for the awesome review! Can you please do a review on the AS 153?

This video shows clearly if you know how to play you can make a cheap guitar sound fantastic, and it does. Similarly if you have a very expensive guitar and cannot play then the noise will not sound like BB King. Its that simple. Practice makes perfect. Also guitars made anywhere in the world ALL use the same CNC manufacturing equipment and software programs, China. USA, Japan. Indonesia etc. Its just that labour costs are lower and so the final price is lower than Gibson. Also quality control is much better in the east than the west. Practice is the key. Ibanez and Epiphone make great es335s👍

..nice...to me...its sounds a really good...

I think that just as a good golfer can hit great shots with mediocre clubs, a good guitarist such as yourself can make an even midstream guitar sound good. Love the look and perhaps the setup and new pickups could make it awesome.

Hello from Savannah Georgia home of Benedetto Guitars a very fine Jazz guitar maker . I was looking at this guitar because I wanted a semi-hollow sound , but not spending a fortune . I'm not a Jazz player , but I love Jazz .

Danke Bernd

Great review 💯 Dont know if you tried to put some fuzz those hollow ibanez work insane in that combo..

thanks man I never had watched a review of this model, my dream of course is a real Gibson 335, but I am not rich man lol... so I love ibanez, I have a blazer custom made, and a rg 270 from Korea, and one of my heroes, play into a ibanez, but like you said it is cheaper and I was looking for a used as 153 or As93 but I never thought about as 53. Now I am thinking about buy one and change the pickups

Right about the PU's !!

I have been looking at the Epiphone semi-hollow guitars but they are all ply wood! so ok they put a fancy spin on it but they are not solid-wood built.. well done Ibanez!

Been eyeballing this one lately

I added some Gibson delux tuning keys and Gibson knobs it just gives the guitar a cooler look

Great review. Just found you. Your English is excellent. Dankeschoen meine freund. Ich lernen Deutsche langsome

GGG is awesome.

Hi Bernd, super Tutorial, vielen Dank! Mir ist noch aufgefallen, dass die GItarre kopflastig ist und (mir) ständig rechts vom (rechten) Oberschenkel rutschen will. Das ist sicherlich auch der matten Oberfläche geschuldet. Heißt, ich muss sie festhalten (blockiere mir damit die linke Hand). Oder ich gurte mich an. Oder ich drücke den Hals soweit nach unten, dass der Kopf seinen Schwerpunkt positiv verlagert. Allerdings wird es dann ungemütlich für die linke Hand. Ich hatte mir nochmal die baugleiche AS73 kommen lassen. Die istHochglanz lackiert und "klebt" besser. Jedoch bleibt das Ungleichgewicht (Kopflastigkeit) und die Tendenz, nach rechts wegrutschen zu wollen. Am besten waren die bauähnlichen Gretsch-Gitarren; die sind perfekt austariert.

I just bought one, the spec is actually improved. More... Towards Freddie King, Dennis Greaves sounds though... Maybe it's got better hardware now, but the pickups are further away from jazz, I feel, really. Wonderful review!🍀

Are that ceramic pickups?? Really great sound and playing 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

Coil split would be a nice mod.

The play ability is better than Epi Sheraton. For Rock the pickups are OK compare to Epi, but for blues or jazz I would recommend changing them.

it's not fair, even a kranky guitar would sound beautiful if you play it, sir,...awesome..both guitar and your guitarplaying,,,

SAME AS MINE!! LOVE IT☺👍🎸TOBACCO FLAT??

It's a great low cost guitar I just picked one up myself and added pickup covers better tuning keys