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1986 Ibanez Artist AR300 Super Edition Vintage Guitar Antique Violin Sunburst w/ Super 58 Humbuckers

$2,099.99

+ shipping

Up for sale, a 1986 Ibanez Artist AR300 Artist Series Super Edition in excellent, 100% original condition and in perfect working order, finished in Antique Violin sunburst. The successor to the 2619 model Artist, the AR300 features a thicker mahogany body and neck inset slightly further into the body to help eliminate neck dive.

A classic example of the finely crafted guitars pioneered by Ibanez in the early ‘80s, the AR300 pairs a carved two-piece quilted maple top and solid mahogany body with a maple neck neck capped by an ebony fretboard and a pair of medium-output Super 58 PAF-style humbuckers. The Super 58 pickups are versatile and dynamic, perfect for everything from glassy cleans to singing overdriven leads. And with the original pair of Tri-Sound three-way mini toggles (offering coils in series, parallel, or tapped for single coil operation), the sonic range of this model is astounding. The solid ebony fretboard pairs well with the maple carved top for great note attack and plenty of top end detail. This guitar weighs 9lbs 9oz, professionally setup here at Mike & Mike’s Guitar Bar with fresh 10-46 strings, low action, and spot-on intonation.

The three-piece maple neck has a slender C-shaped profile carve at the nut with more roundness and shoulder further up the fretboard, measuring .815” deep at the 1st fret and .955” at the 12th. The bound ebony fretboard features pearloid block inlays bisected by abalone parallelograms, with a “Super Edition” inlay at the 21st fret. The fretboard has a 12” radius and retains the stock medium jumbo fretwire. The frets are practically perfect, with plenty of meat and well-rounded crowns, showing only a hint of wear beneath the plain strings on frets 4-7. This guitar plays cleanly up the 24 3/4” scale with a straight neck and a responsive, optimally-adjusted truss rod. The stock graphite nut measures 1 11/16” in width. The bound headstock has a rosewood veneer and “Artist”-engraved truss rod cover. The gold Ibanez Smooth Tuner II tuning machines live up to their name, and the D86-prefix serial number dates this guitar to April, 1986.

The electronics function as intended, and the humbuckers feature "Super 58"-embossed baseplates. The stock pots date to May of '85, and solder joints are untouched. The Tri-Sound three-way mini toggles work as follows: 1. Coils in series 2. Single coil operation 3. Coils in parallel. Each humbucker has its own dedicated Tri-Sound toggle in addition to the primary three-way pickup selector switch, offering a truly staggering array of sounds.

Hardware includes the Gibraltar II Tune-o-Matic-style bridge and Quick Change II tailpiece, which is anchored to a solid brass block in the maple top, further contributing to the articulation and sustain of the guitar. The gold plating on all of the hardware sports a light dusting of patina, as do the pickup covers. The original quartet of ambered Sure Grip II knobs are present, retaining their grippy rubber gaskets.

The Antique Violin gloss finish is framed by multi-ply ambered binding (which shows some checking in the cutaways), highlighting the quilt figuring which extends across the top. Cosmetic wear includes a few faint finish scratches and small dings on the body as a whole, light wear central to the back that falls short of full-on “buckle rash,” and a handful of dings on the back on the treble-side lower bout edge. The gloss finish on the neck profile is practically perfect.

A padded gigbag is included.