NGD: Ibby AK80 Hollow body.

Artie

Artie

Peaveyologist
Me and a friend were running around, and there was this pawn shop having a sale with free food. (Dawgs and burgers kinda thang.)
He wanted a cheap bass to noodle on. They had a couple, but he didn't like them.
Over in the corner, I spotted this hollow body.

An Ibby AK80. Brown Sunburst. Full hollow body. Not a scratch on it. They made this for three years. 2009 - 2011. This is the newer 2011, that had a couple upgrades. Different headstock logo, and Sure Grip III knobs. She came home with me.

Full binding, front, rear, neck and headstock. But more amazing, the pickguard is laminated spruce, front and rear, on Bakelite, with the same full binding that the rest of the guitar has. The F-holes are huge. Almost full acoustic sound. Easy access if I change the electronics. Which, I love the placement. All in a tight group. Output jack on the lower side, where it belongs.

Bone stock Ibby ACH1/2 pickups, which are simply Artec LPC210's. Not bad, but not exactly "Jazz box". 16.4k bridge with 9.43k neck ceramics. I'll have to think about what to put in here. Seths, Antiquities, Benedettos? Maybe bring my Jazz set over. Not sure how zebra's would look in this box.

Plugged in, at bedroom volume, you get a nice mix of the electric sound and the acoustic sound. Sweetness. I'm lovin' it. But then again, I love every new guitar I get.

And one last oddity: The truss rod cover rotates sideways. You can adjust the truss rod without removing the screws. I don't think this was ever an issue, but they did it. Really strange.

First pic is an internet pic, 'cause my photography skills suck. But mine is identical.





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Those are cool guitars! I had a student that had that exact one. Congrats on a cool NGD!
 
Thanks. I traded in a Peavey T-30. Not a dime out of my pocket.

(The Peavey went to Guitar Scenter. The cash went to the pawn shop.)
 
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antiquitys or seths for that thing. looks like a fun guitar to play! i frequently leave the truss rod covers off guitars, so i like the idea of being able to slide it out of the way to make adjustments
 
Yeah. I'm thinking Antiquities. But I'd probably want them wax potted in a hollow body.
 
ive had good luck with antiquity buckers at volume in many guitars, not a full depth hollow body but a full hollow 335 thickness guitar for example. cranked tweed bassman at the time so plenty dirty and loud and no feedback issues
 
Cool. I'll keep that in mind. I have the Yammy 4 x 10 version of the bassman. I'll check it out.
 
I have Antiquities in my semi hollow Howard Roberts, and they aren't potted. They sound (and feel) fantastic. Mine are not aged, though.
 
I got her back from my luthier. Full setup, with fret dress and level, truss rod and bridge adjustment, and intonated. And, he replaced the plastic nut with a Water Buffalo bone nut. (He just had a chunk on hand.)

Also, it now has the original factory recommended gauge strings. D'Addario XL ECG24 Flatwound Jazz Lights. (11 - 15 - 22w - 30 - 40 - 50) If these are light, I'd hate to see heavy. The bottom three strings are like prison bars. I can't really bend any of them, which I love doing. I need to build some finger strength.

But she sounds great. Playability is a little stiff. I need to get used to these strings. Definitely "warm", even on the bridge pup. I'm not sure I need to mess with swapping pups. At least, not for awhile. I think these flat wounds tamed the ceramic mags.

This is so different from anything else in my stable that it will take some getting used to. As I mentioned earlier, playing at low amp volume gives you a nice mix of the electric and acoustic sound. I bet this thing mic'ed, along with the amp, could be especially sweet. I'll mess with that config later.

For now, I gotta do some finger exercises.
 
Very cool find! Even though its a Gibson scale, the longer string length to the tailpiece does make them feel stiffer and bends harder then a regular positioned stop tailpiece would. On top of if you're used to lighter gauge of course

EDIT - Nope, I bungled my words - all else equal its not stiffer, in terms of "compliance" the technical term... but bends seem harder because the string has to be pushed further.. see a few posts down...
 
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switchman said:
Very cool find! Even though its a Gibson scale, the longer string length to the tailpiece does make them feel stiffer and bends harder then a regular positioned stop tailpiece would. On top of if you're used to lighter gauge of course
Click to expand...

It's amazing the difference a thou makes. I'm used to D'Addario EXL110's, (10 - 46), on a Fender scale. I rarely use a wound G string. Hopefully, I'll adapt. I love this guitar.

Edit: It took me a moment for part of that to sink in. I don't understand what affect the part of the string past the saddle makes.
Not doubting you. I just don't understand.
 
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Artie said:
It's amazing the difference a thou makes. I'm used to D'Addario EXL110's, (10 - 46), on a Fender scale. I rarely use a wound G string. Hopefully, I'll adapt. I love this guitar.

Edit: It took me a moment for part of that to sink in. I don't understand what affect the part of the string past the saddle makes.
Not doubting you. I just don't understand.
Click to expand...

Well no worries because I just read what I wrote again and I didn't say it right lol Its confusing!

Longer string length after the nut and saddle actually makes the overall string looser at rest all else being equal than with shorter afterlength. BUT..and its the big part, which is what people notice in the feel...you have to move the string further to bend the same amount when the overall string is longer.

The best way I saw it explained is this. Take two identical 25.5" Strat style guitars, one with standard tuners and tremolo bridge, the other with Floyd style locking nut and saddles..

When you bend on the regular guitar, you're bending (or stretching) the entire length of the string from post to the recess in the bridge block. On my Strat the total High E length is about 33-1/4" overall. Let's say you have to move the High E string roughly 5/8" (.625") sideways to bend a whole step from D to E at the 10th fret. (I just tested this with 10's). That's a little under 2% of the total length.

Now take the Floyd style guitar. The total string length you have to bend is just over 25.5" plus maybe 1/32" for intonation because the string beyond the locks doesn't move (or its cut off at the saddle end). Now it's just geometry. The bendable string length is about 20% less on this guitar than example 1. That 2% required to change pitch a whole step is now little under 1/2" inch, about 20% less than 5/8", to achieve the same pitch increase. I'm ignoring the floating tremolo sag factor when you bend in this example since both guitars have it and things like friction at the non locking nut and saddles...

So a string with a longer total length feels harder to bend because it has to be moved farther to affect the same increase in pitch. I've seen others refer to the stiffer / looser feel as "compliance". It's one of those things that's counterintuitive, like how people may think turning a pot down lowers the volume by increasing resistance when its the opposite.

It took this blog post form the late Rick Turner to finally get my head around this properly to explain what I was observing for years of playing before. But I'm no acoustics expert and still have to remind myself of the proper terms every so often. So if something doesn't sound right feel free to ask, huh are you sure about that?

PS - when you all were talking about the guitars with one piece stoptail, that's another guitar where the ones I've had bends felt easier because of shortened overall string length.
 
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Good info, and great link. It will take me a bit to wrap my head around all that.

But it also helps to explain why I hear almost no pitch change as I try to bend a string on this thang.

Thanks.
 
I don't understand why the need to put thick strings on your guitar and complain about it feeling stiff

Put 9s on that

Put flat wound 9s on it

I put nines on everything but bass

If I could find 9s in phosphor bronze I wouldn't use the 10s I got on those
 
ehdwuld said:
I don't understand why the need to put thick strings on your guitar and complain about it feeling stiff.
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Totally reasonable question. This was "new" to me. I'd call it in 99% like new condition. You'd have to hit it in just the right light to even see a minor scratch on it. Almost if it had never, or barely, had been played. But it had nasty, corroded rusty strings on it. So I researched it. The Ibanez Wiki had all the info I needed, including the original factory string specs. I thought that would be a good place to start, just to see how Ibby thought it should be.

I duplicated their exact string specs. Clearly, not my cup 'o tea. But I want to at least give them a chance. (They were $24 strings, and I got two packs.)

After awhile, if I truly hate them, I'll change them. But I at least want to try this as it was created, so to speak.

AKK80-Specs-02-forum.png
 
I understand

My Epiphone Hummingbird came with 12s from the factory

Unplayable

Like playing on light pole guide wires

But I understand

I thank you
 
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