A 2002 Ibanez Artstar AS80 carries the same Super 58 humbuckers that Ibanez fits to its Pat Metheny and John Scofield signature archtops (Jazzfuel). That single fact is the reason this discontinued Korean semi-hollow still sells for $400 to $550 used in 2026, and it is also the fact most online listings get wrong. Plenty of them, including an earlier version of this review, called the AS80’s pickups cheap ceramic units. They are not. On the 1997 and later guitars they are alnico Super 58s, and the correction changes everything about who should be hunting for one.
I have owned and gigged an AS80 on and off for years, and I have gone back to the research to fix the record. Here is what Ibanez actually built, what the pickups mean for the tone, what a clean example costs today, and whether the used AS80 or a brand-new Artcore is the smarter buy.
The pickups are the whole story, and the year stamp tells you which ones you have
Ibanez did not use one pickup across the AS80’s run. The 1994 to 1996 guitars shipped with Ibanez Super 50 humbuckers. For 1997, Ibanez switched the AS80 to the Super 58 and kept it there through the model’s discontinuation in 2002 (Ibanez Wiki). So the first thing to check on any listing is the year, because it tells you which pickup you are buying before you ever plug in.
That Super 58 matters far more than its appearance in a mid-priced guitar suggests. It is the same pickup, in original and later Custom forms, that Ibanez puts in the signature instruments of Pat Metheny, John Scofield and George Benson, who have all built their recorded tone around it (Jazzfuel). The original Super 58 uses an Alnico 3 magnet and the later Super 58 Custom moved to Alnico 5, so there is some spread in the family, but the core voice is consistent: clean, mellow, articulate, and not so hot that a hollow box squeals the moment you add gain. That is exactly the character you want in a semi-hollow, and it is why Ibanez trusted the same pickup in guitars costing three and four times as much.
The Super 50 in the earlier guitars is a perfectly good pickup, warmer and a touch less refined, but it does not carry the signature-model pedigree. If you are shopping on the AS80’s reputation, you want a 1997 or later example. If pickups are new territory for you, our breakdown of single coils versus humbuckers explains why a lower-output alnico humbucker behaves so differently from a hot ceramic one in a hollow body.
What Ibanez actually built: the corrected spec sheet
The old review got two more things wrong that are worth nailing down, because they shape the tone as much as the pickups do. The top is not spruce. It is an arched, laminated maple top with f-holes and ivory multi-binding, over laminated maple back and sides with a solid maple center block running through the middle (Ibanez Wiki). That maple-on-maple construction, not spruce, is what gives the AS80 its tight, focused attack and its resistance to feedback. The center block is the detail that separates a true semi-hollow like this from a fully hollow archtop, and it is the same design principle behind the Gibson ES-335 the AS80 was built to chase.
Here is the accurate rundown for the 1994 to 2002 Artstar AS80:
- Body: Semi-hollow, double cutaway, laminated maple top with f-holes, ivory multi-binding, laminated maple back and sides, solid maple center block
- Body depth: About 43mm (1.69 inches) at the tail
- Neck: Set-in maple
- Fingerboard: Bound rosewood, 22 frets, abalone dot inlays
- Scale length: 628mm (24.75 inches)
- Nut: Plastic, 43mm wide
- Pickups: Super 50 (1994 to 1996), Super 58 (1997 to 2002), bridge and neck
- Controls: Two volume, two tone, three-way toggle
- Bridge and tailpiece: Full Tune bridge with stop tailpiece, chrome hardware
- Country of origin: South Korea, built first by Samick and then by Cort from roughly 1995
That last line matters for anyone judging the guitar on its Korean origin. Cort built some of the most respected import instruments of the era, and the AS80’s binding work, fret ends and finish quality reflect it. This was never a bottom-shelf guitar. It sat in the Artstar line, Ibanez’s higher-tier hollow and semi-hollow range, above the budget Artcore series that launched in 2002 and that most people now associate with affordable Ibanez semi-hollows.
How it sounds, and where it bites
Through a clean amp, the AS80 does the thing good semi-hollows do: single notes ring with a woody, piano-like clarity, and chords bloom without turning to mush. The maple construction keeps the low end tight rather than boomy, so it stays defined even when you dig in. The Super 58 neck pickup is the star here. Roll the tone back a hair and you are in straight-ahead jazz territory that genuinely flatters the kind of chord voicings the pickup was designed for.
Push into moderate overdrive and the center block earns its keep. You can stand in front of a cranked combo and play rhythm without the uncontrolled howl a fully hollow guitar gives you, which is what makes the AS80 viable for blues, indie, alternative and roots rock, not just jazz.
The honest limit is the bridge pickup under high gain. Like most alnico semi-hollow bridge units, it can sound thin and a little brittle when you stack a lot of distortion on it, and feedback becomes a real factor at metal volumes. This is not a metal guitar and never pretended to be. If you want the AS80’s clarity with a hotter, tighter bridge voice, a Seymour Duncan Seth Lover or ’59 swap is a common and reversible upgrade, and more than a few used examples already wear one.
Playing it: the 24.75 neck and the realities of a 25-year-old guitar
The 24.75-inch scale puts the AS80 in Gibson territory rather than Fender, so strings feel slightly slinkier than a Strat scale and bends come easy. The set maple neck with its bound rosewood board is a medium C that most players find immediately comfortable, neither a baseball bat nor a modern flat shred profile. The fretwork on clean Cort-built examples holds up remarkably well for guitars that are now two decades old.
What you are really buying into is a used instrument, so condition drives the experience. The stock tuners are the weakest hardware on the guitar and the first thing many owners replace, so do not be alarmed by a set of aftermarket Grovers or Gotohs. Check the neck for relief and the frets for wear, because a refret on a bound board is not cheap. The plastic nut is period-correct and fine, though a bone replacement is a cheap improvement if you want it. For a full pre-purchase walk-through that applies to any brand, our used-guitar buying guide covers the checks that separate a keeper from a project.
What a clean AS80 costs in 2026
The AS80 has quietly become a used-market value. Listings on Reverb currently run from roughly $399 for honest, player-grade guitars up to about $550 for clean examples in desirable finishes like Vintage Sunburst, Butterscotch or Cherry (Reverb). A 2002 model with the Super 58 pickups, original hardware and no fret wear sits at the top of that range and is worth the premium over an earlier Super 50 guitar.
Put that next to what the pickups alone would cost you. A set of genuine Ibanez Super 58s, bought separately, eats a serious chunk of a $400 guitar’s price. You are effectively getting a Cort-built semi-hollow body, neck and hardware wrapped around signature-grade pickups for the cost of the pickups and a bit more. That is the real argument for the AS80, and it is a far stronger one than the vague “punches above its price” claim the old review leaned on.
Used AS80 or a new Artcore? The comparison that actually matters
The earlier version of this review compared the AS80 to a run of metal superstrats, which made no sense for a jazz-leaning semi-hollow. Here is the comparison a real buyer faces in 2026: the used AS80 against Ibanez’s current Artcore semi-hollows and the obvious Epiphone cross-shop.
| Guitar | 2026 price | New or used | Pickups | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ibanez AS80 (1997 to 2002) | ~$400 to $550 used | Used only | Super 58 (alnico) | Signature-grade pickups, Cort build |
| Ibanez AS73 Artcore | ~$450 new | New | Classic Elite (ceramic) | Indonesia-built, entry Artcore |
| Ibanez AS73FM Artcore | ~$550 new | New | Classic Elite (ceramic) | Flamed maple top, linden body |
| Ibanez AS93FM Artcore Expressionist | ~$800 new | New | Super 58 Custom | The modern guitar that matches the AS80’s pickup |
| Epiphone ES-335 | ~$650 new | New | ProBucker-2 / -3 | The default 335 alternative |
Prices from Equipboard, Sweetwater and Reverb.
The table makes the decision clean. The current AS73 at around $450 is the budget champion, but it carries ceramic Classic Elite pickups, not the alnico Super 58s that give the AS80 its voice. To get a factory Super 58 Custom in a new Ibanez semi-hollow, you have to step up to the AS93FM Artcore Expressionist at about $800, roughly double a clean used AS80. In other words, a $450 used AS80 from 1997 or later gives you the pickup that otherwise costs you $800 new. If you want a brand-new guitar with a warranty and zero risk, the AS73 or the Epiphone ES-335 are sensible buys, and our look at the Gretsch G2622 covers another strong sub-$500 center-block option. If you want the tone for the least money and you do not mind buying used, the AS80 wins outright.
For context on the instrument all of these are chasing, our Gibson ES-335 50s and 60s breakdown explains what the real thing costs and why the semi-hollow format has endured for seventy years.
The verdict
The Ibanez Artstar AS80 is a better guitar than its reputation, and than its old review, ever gave it credit for. It is a Cort-built semi-hollow with a true maple center block and, on any 1997 or later example, the alnico Super 58 pickups that Ibanez trusts in its professional jazz signatures. At $400 to $550 used, it undercuts every new semi-hollow that carries the same pickup by a wide margin. Check the year to confirm the Super 58, budget for a tuner upgrade, and understand that this is a clean-and-crunch guitar rather than a high-gain machine. Do that, and you have one of the most underrated used buys in the semi-hollow world.