❌SOLD❌ Ibanez AS80 Artist Thinline Electric Cherry, 1983

Produced in the early 1980’s in Japan and not as common as the much fancier AS100 and AS200 models, the Ibanez AS80 was the equivalent of an ES-335. This guitar is from the period when Ibanez fully established themselves as a builder of high quality guitars that were not simply straight copies of US models.

Built using maple laminates for the body, and solid maple for the center block and rosewood-fingerboard neck, the AS80 is a straight ahead thinline archtop electric lacking the ‘bling’ of the higher-numbered models.  

This example was built for Ibanez at the Fuji-Gen plant during July of 1983. With the exception of one volume pot and the pickup selector, which replace failed components, it is in very good, original condition with the original case, also in very good condition.

The Ibanez AS-80 was part of the Artist Semi-Acoustic line (hence the AS designation).  The core construction of this line uses maple laminates for the body with a solid maple center block. The neck is maple with a bound fingerboard, on the AS80 this is Rosewood with Mother of Pearl dot position markers.   The neck profile is reminiscent of an early 1960’s Gibson ES model. 

The headstock bears the Ibanez logo and stylized floral inlay. The hardware is chrome plated, and includes Ibanez branded tuners, a pair of Super 58 pickups and the Quick-Change II stop tailpiece. The bridge is a very solid tune-o-matic type that is locked down into its posts. There is plenty of clarity and sustain, and the three-point pickup mounts allow for accurate adjustment without allowing rattling.

The finish is a cherry gloss poly, in very clean condition and only very light wear. The AS-80 was also available in Sunburst.   The only finish flaws are along the bass edge of the fingerboard, where minor chipping occurred while frets were re-seated, and was then touched up. The frets are solidly seated and have been recently dressed, recrowned and polished, and the guitar set up.  It plays very cleanly, and has a full, rich sound with the tonal flavour characteristic of the thinline design.  

The case is original and very clean with no damage to the covering or latches. The exterior is brown, and the interior a perhaps lime green.  The neck pocket contains the original hang tag and truss rod adjuster.