I bought this guitar used, not expecting a lot, let me tell you this guitar delivers more than you would ever expect. Looks wise and durability are great on this guitar but lets get to the important stuff, playability and sound.

To give some reference I have been playing for about 11 years, I play mostly metal, I have a BE Rich Beast, an Epi Les Paul Custom with EMG 81/60 pickups, a Jackson Dx10D Dinky, and a Jackson USA Rhodes V, and of course this guitar.

This guitar play as well if not better than all my other guitars, including the Jackson USA, its fast smooth and just plain amazing if set up properly. And people have different opinions about the pickups but I love them, I think they sound thick and full and I can get better pinch harmonics off of them then I can on the EMGs!!

I played the model up from this guitar and it was crap, at least the one I played. This guitar beat it hands down. So I am not sure what makes this guitar so much better than the ibanez models above it, but it felt better and sounded better. This guitar is a steal for the money. You will be hard pressed to find a better playing/sounding guitar for any amount. Buy this while you still can, because according to the Ibanez website they aren't making this model anymore.

I got this guitar about 5 months ago, and I have yet to play a better feeling or sounding guitar. Great quality building, nicely set in neck, excellently set inlays, beautiful paint job. (I own the black and cream version). I am a total metalhead, and the rounded horn on the cutaway doesnt exactly appeal to my personal tastes as far as looks, but other than that, this is my favorite guitar out of the 12 that I own. It has a good solid feel and sound, and although the pickups are not the most powerful in the world, you can choke friggin awesome tones out of them easily. Good for good, solid, heavy riffing, or jazz or blues style, clean or distorted. Of course, its not great for thrash, but can cut the line if you need it to. Ive been playing forever, and like i said, this guitar cannot be beaten for its price, and most guitars costing 5 times this much cannot touch it. (yes, that includes gibson). All I got to say is go ahead, try to find a better guitar. I challenge you.

I'm so very impressed with this guitar. I just received it today and it puts every other guitar I've owned to shame (many costing 2-4x this price). I was a little nervous about picking up this guitar specifically BECAUSE of the price. Well, let me tell you --the 'you get what you pay for' principle either a) just doesn't apply here, or b) means guitarists are being heinously RIPPED off by other manufacturers. In either case, you can't lose with this guitar.

The first thing that struck me was the WEIGHT. This guitar is HEAVY. Not so much that it's uncomfortable but it feels good and solid. A lot of readers are probably comparing this to the Epiphone Les Paul. You'll probably notice the Epi LP has an ALDER/mahogany body. That's OBVIOUSLY not the case here. It's mahogany, period. It's not going to give you back problems, but I'd still suggest a nice, broad strap so your cheap nylon isn't digging into your shoulder. Because, believe me... you're NOT going to want to put this guitar down.

The next most obvious impression was how gorgeous this guitar is. Another big reason I was worried about this guitar: brown sunburst. Let me tell you, the picture above does this guitar NO JUSTICE. I thought I was buying a budget guitar with a budget finish. Again, my expectations were blown away. The finish is incredible. The sunburst is perfect, the lacquer is smooth and even. Even the binding is SPOT ON. You won't find that in an Epiphone Les Paul. Take it from a former owner.

Next: playability. It's fantastic. The frets and fretboard are smooth and even. No buzzing and that's even taking into consideration that the action was set LOW. The neck is rather thin, which I actually PREFER. Seems to lessen my hand fatigue. I'm not a huge fan of the gloss lacquer on the neck, but that's a small inconvenience. Playability is easily on par with a PRS. I'm not kidding. If you can't play this guitar, it doesn't matter how much you spend on craftsmanship, you just can't play.

The last and most important piece of the puzzle: sound. I'm impressed. A lot of people are down on these pickups. Now, I'll admit: they're NOT perfect. The sound is not bad, just a little uninspiring. Nonetheless, they're solid and I am not in a huge rush to replace them. When I do, I'm sure i'll go the '57 PAF direction. Until then, this lady SINGS through my Epiphone Valve Junior. Funny that this guitar seems a match made in heaven for the VJr and the Epiphone Les Paul doesn't even come close.

The only other gripe I have is ONE TONE KNOB?! Maybe I'm the only one out there, but I actually like/want/maybe even need two. I know that may seem nitpicky, but those of you who have your tone set 'just right' for your bridge and neck pickups WILL get irritated about this...fair warning.

I can't say enough good things about this guitar. What I CAN say is that Ibanez is on my short list going forward for ALL guitar purchases. I'll probably pick up an Artcore next and maybe a strat copy or an ARX thereafter. They've blown me completely away with the ARC100, so let's hope they keep producing!

I bought this Ibanez ARC100 for my daughter two months ago. She really likes it. Unfortunately, one the tuning keys snapped off last night. She has used it very gently, so I think it must have been defective. Other than that it's a nice guitar.

this guitar is great. at first i wasnt to happy,but then when i got used to it, it rocked. i slapped some slinkys on it and the playing was smooth.great for metal to that jack white sound. definitly worth the bucks