Re: 1985 Ibanez Artist - what can you tell me about it?
Yes, the black one is an '85 semi-hollow Artist AM75:
I'd avoid it. Why? The Pro Rock'r trem. The separate nut causes extra and unnecessary friction; and the bridge itself pivots on round pins/studs, which creates a greater friction surface area than a Floyd.
Parts are hard to find and expensive if you break something. The t-nut, through which the intonation and saddle lockdown screws pass is made of some kind of cast zinc alloy, the worst possible material for a high stress component. I broke one when I was radiusing the bridge on my Roadstar; managed to find some, but set me back a pretty penny. Lesson: don't radius a Pro Rock'r under string tension!
It's a shame - so many nice guitars ruined by this bridge. Yes it can be set up to work ok but it's cumbersome, and if you're used to Strat trems or Floyds, it's a step down. Luckily Ibanez wised up and paid up to license the Floyd patent, bringing us the Edge. You can't retrofit other trems onto guitars with Pro Rock'r because the of the wider stud spacing and extensive routing; you'd have to to a lot of plugging and re-routing. Our Frank F did this conversion once and he said 'never again'.
The pups are IBZ triple ceramic mag units, pretty hot and compressed sounding. I found the neck unit in my Roadstar to be weak/muddy so I tossed it out, bridge is fine for a Custom/SuperD kind of vibe. So if you're looking for open, dynamic, vintagey tones, these pups won't do it.
So, those are the main reasons I guess as to why it's not $800-$1000 like other Artists. Apart from the pups and bridge, it should be what you'd expect from an 80s MIJ Ibanez quality wise - very good.
The burgundy guitar is looks like a PF150. Here's the specs:
