A relic or an antique?

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Ibanez have made some pretty nice jazz boxes for some years now. From way back in the 'law suit' days when we first saw George Benson with his L5 'a like' Ibanez. George loved his Ibanez so much that they made his own signature model guitar. In fact George was one of the first guitar endorsee's and still plays his own model today. This particular instrument isn't quite up to Ibanez's signature standards but it is a mighty fine jazz box, great sounding and ultra playable.
We're taking a look at the Artcore Expressionist Vintage AKJD90V. mmm? looks like a rego number. You will notice Ibanez are careful not to call this a relic however they do mention 'aged'. Check one out and you can decide for yourself. To me they have made a great antique, well a restored antique only missing the dust. The body has had a few accidents not really seen in a cared for vintage instrument and the metal hardware appears to have been sand blasted. Apart from the shiny new Sure Grip 3 control knobs it does look aged.
The AKJD90V has a spruce top with flamed maple sides, no doubt laminated so I would presume only the outer skin of the laminate would be spruce or flame maple. The finish is dark amber low gloss, different but not for me. Ibanez do have a matte finished archtop model, the cheapest in the range. Why would they do a matte finish in a more expensive model? I can't say I've ever seen an L5 in matte. The neck has the usual shape and feel of all the Artcore models and as with all the Expressionist series models has the AKJV 3pc Mahogany/Maple set-in neck. No flex here. A bound rosewood fingerboard with largish acrylic MOP block inlays. I personally found the binding to be quite sharp but I am used to rolled edges for my thumb-over style. With a radius of 12 inches I'd be thinking this may be a bit flat for a jazz box. Nice to see they give us a set of flatwounds 11-50 with a wound third though rather disappointed in the tune'o'matic style bridge and not a woody one as were fitted on the previous AK models of yesteryear.The tuners look pretty light weight with Grover style broad-bean buttons, which also had taken a sandblasting.
Super 58 pickups, or so they say. There is a long-standing myth around the Super 58's. These were made originally in Japan, some made in China some versions even made by outside contracted pickup manufactures. So which Super 58's are these particular pickups? Ibanez do tell us they are passive (well I hope so) and that they have alnico magnets. With the myth and the lack of detailed stats I think it comes down to your ears. To mine, ears that is, the neck pickup did have a nice warm tone, a true jazz tone with a response similar to a PAF. However the bridge pickup was a tad weak. It didn't have that 'biting growl of blues' that Ibanez claim it has. By comparison trying the basic AF75 lower end model with ceramic pickups, the bridge pickup had much more growl and quite a bit edgier, much more so than the alnico Super 58.
Don't get me wrong, the AKJD90V is a fine guitar and who is saying it really is a jazz box? Not Ibanez. I'd be going for the AF75 myself and saving 400 big ones for virtually the same guitar. Unless you're up there with the top-end Made-in-Japan archtops the mid range models really need thinking about. Ibanez do have a bunch to choose from but they do make it hard. All the Chinese made Artcore series are as good as one another, it all simply depends on looks and price.

Thanks to the rockin' dudes down at KC's Rockshop for allowing me to give this a bash.