LICHFIELD BLUES HOUNDS

[mrfrisky330]

I bagged a cool 1979 Ibanez Artist style guitar, why? because being a bit of a tone freak I like lots of tone options (which is why I prefer the USA strat to the mexico that TBX is invaluable!) and this has them in abundance

Features
Ash/Mahogany layered body
1 tone 1 volume
gold hardware
"natural" finish
mahogany top on headstock
brass truss rod cover with "musician" stamped into it
Ibanez "velve tune" machineheads (with kidney tuners)
3 way selector switch
Thru neck with walnut and maple construction
Rosewood fingerboard with green abalone inlays and rolled edges
2 humbuckers (super 88's)
Gibraltar 1 bridge and tail piece
Aluminium sustain block under bridge (as per Artist 300-5000 series)
Tri sound switches (2) these work the same way as the Artist switches in that the select from the humbucker (neck or bridge one switch for each humbucker)
position 1: the singlecoil closest the neck
position 2: the humbucker singlecoils in parallel
position 3: full humbucker
The major different over the later Artist models is the pickups are designed (think PRS 513) so in the first position the tri sound switch selects a PURE singlecoil rather than the usual watered down humbucker coils in series as with the standard coil tap this gives a genuine singlecoil sound which means you have 15 different sound options
24.75 gibson scale length
24 frets (with Limited Edition in written in the 24th fret)
Varitone switch - exactly the same circuit as in the Gibson 333 (or the B.B. King 335) has nice markers so you can which setting you have it on
Preamp - this with the Varitone is what makes it Limited Edition uses a "spare" tone knob as the level knob has heavy duty switch to turn it on and guitar has built in raised red LED to indicate preamps on which is visible no matter how strangely you hold the guitar!

Sounds
As you would expect the full humbuckers are warm slightly jazzy and there is bag loads of sustain (thin Les Paul without the back breaking weight)
With the tri sound is position 1 there is a pure singlecoil sound quite stratty with plenty of bite but without that thin nasely whine you can get from cheaper strat pickups
In position 2 the sounds are more jazz fusion mellow but with less bottom end and a crispness that begs for a nice clean acoustic piece or a bit of overdrive and straight into Santana territory
With the preamp on the sounds reaches a nice "valve amp" style breakup which is reactive to picking strength but does not mush even on full and there is no nasty audible "pop" when the preamp is switched on/off
It offers to me all the tonality of a 333 with the sustain of a Les Paul and that awesome "twang" and "quack" of the strat with a ton of tone options to boot

Only 150 of these guitars were ever made and mine came with the original hardcase (near mint), purchase receipt and owners manual!

Apart from some wear to the laqcuer through 20+ years of play everything else is near mint so what next? I have my eye on an AR350CS!!
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