Ibanez AC240 Artwood Grand Concert Acoustic Guitar Natural Open Pore

I bought this guitar two years ago and gave it a five star review after a week. My opinion of this guitar has not changed since. I still love playing it whenever I have time. I have experimented with some different strings, but I'm back to the originals. The only thing I did was to remove the pick guard when I first bought it. That really brings out the physical beauty of the top. I have owned and sold off several expensive guitars and I really don't miss any of them. If anything happened to this guitar, I would look for another one in a heartbeat.

This is an amazing guitar. Bone nut and saddle, awesome grover tuners, solid top at this price? It's fantastic. The guitar has a warm but also bright tone to it with pronounced mids and highs. It's got this strange sort of mixture to it where it has some modern brightness but also a vintage warmth to it with the great mid range. It just sounds great. The frets and fret board feel good and it is a great guitar for fingerstyle and does fine for strumming as well. The open pore finish is beautiful. I just look at the guitar and it makes me want to pick it up and play. I see a lot of reviews saying these are equal or at least on the same playing field as some of the lower level Martins and Taylors so I wanted to weigh in on this. I own a lower end Mexican made Martin and I can say that this guitar is just not on the level of my Martin. However the differences are very very subtle for the most part. The biggest difference is my Martin has more noticeable low-end in the sound that Martins are known for. That by itself puts the Martin a step above the Ibanez to me. The Martin feels slightly more comfortable to hold and play, but only slightly. Just enough that I notice it. On the flip side, the tuners on my Martin are NOT as good at the grover tuners you get with this Ibanez. Keeping the price difference in mind, it is up to you to determine if it is worth paying extra for a Martin. I do not believe this Ibanez could hold a candle to a more expensive Martin especially a full solid body one. Taylor is a different story. They're usually known for their bright sounding modern tones, especially in the lower level guitars. With the ac240 also having a tone that shines in the mids and highs, bone nut/saddle, grover tuners, I believe this guitar is hands down a better value than any Taylor under $1200. I've played the 100 series and Academy series and do not feel its worth the cost over an ac240. Taylor playability is better but a setup can get the ac240 very close.

I am only 5' 0", so most acoustic guitars feel too large to hold comfortably. This guitar is comfortable to hold and sounds way better to me than anything else in its price range. It sounds a little brighter than mahogany--Ibanez website says top is solid okoume. The action was way too high so I had a setup done. Lowered action plus Silk & Steel strings make it truly easy to play.

I was really surprised by the tone of this little baby. It is light as a feather & hard to put down. It plays so smooth with the shorter scale length, takes a capo well, it's just a charmer. Using D'Addario EJ26 Custom light strings. Not a hard playing style guitar more of a fingerpick or light strummer.

I chose this guitar after reading many reviews of many guitars and could not be happier. I have had the ac240 for nearly 3 months and love to play now. It used to be so frustrating for me. The playability out of the box made me feel like a better player instantly. The tone is unique and I feel can not be matched in this price range. I am wanting a electric now and will probably go with an Ibanez hollow body or semi hollow because I have been so pleased with this one.

For the money this guitar is awesome, feels great, smells good, and plays very well!