Ibanez Altstar: Blending Electric Feel with Acoustic Sound
Ibanez is a guitar-making giant. If you want to thrash, if you want to break sound barriers, if you want to dig trenches with chug, then Ibanez has you covered. Their legacy leans more on the electric side of the guitar and bass world, but now they have released a new line of acoustic guitars, the Altstar line. These guitars pack all the features of any great, big-name, electro-acoustic guitar into a package that is distinctly Ibanez, in a few little ways. Those small variations from the norm, paired with their accessible price point, are what make these Altstar guitars so compelling.
The Altstar’s have a slimline dreadnaught shape; all the size and look, less of the girth. This makes the guitar feel much closer to an electric guitar than it sounds. And herein lies the line of thought that Ibanez followed to produce these instruments. The maple necks are narrower, with slighter string variation than regular acoustics. The feel is electric from bridge to nut. Where the neck joins the body there is more room. A cutout allows access to the highest frets, and the neck itself meets the body around fret sixteen, a whole three to four frets later than most acoustic guitars. Add all these things together and you have an acoustic guitar that feels unlike anything else.
Ibanez have made the Altstar line with electric players in mind. If you’re an electric player through and through and have been thinking about dipping into the world of acoustics, then the Altstar is a great place to start. You compromise nothing when it comes to feel and playability and can focus on the subtle art of acoustic pressure, speed and texture. From £299.00 to £379.00 on Andertons, the Altstar guitars are up there with some of the most competitively priced acoustics on the market. With Ibanez acoustic pickups to push the sound out when you need some beef, you’re getting a world-class sound and feel from headstock to amp. A tremendous execution of a wholly realised idea.