F holes!

Elroy Montano

A friend of mine is selling his AFJ81 IBANEZ to me for a reasonable price. Originally I like a di mauro chorus gypsy jazz guitar. Im torned right now

I already have an oval hole.

What would be the best purchase if you are in my position?

ChrisMartin

Many folks on here will have all kinds of opinions but first it would help if you explained what you want to play, just Gypsy Jazz or other styles, electric or acoustic, band or solo.
The Ibanez is probably a good all-rounder and usually (hopefully) cheap.
A Di Mauro Chorus will be expensive, unless you are referring to one of the many copies available like the Altamira.
The 'Chorus' style guitar, while it looks great will probably not do much more than your oval hole, unless you are so good a player that you can exploit the finer nuances of tone, in which case you do not need our advice anyway.

Lango-Django

Hello from Canada, Elroy. I just googled your AFJ81 Ibanez guitar because I’d never heard of them before.

I doubt that it is all that great as an authentic GJ guitar for playing GJ, but who cares?

Its lovely looking,and probably great for the very kind of stuff I like to play on electric guitar, which is sort of George Barnes-ish.

So my advice is—— HELL, YES! BUY THE M———F———!!!!!!!!!!!

A couple of weeks ago I bought a burgundy red Gretsch Streamliner used and Ive been having way more than $500 ($400 US) worth of fun playing it!

Electric guitar is so EASY after playing acoustically for the previous 50 years! Its like you just have to THINK the note... plus now my wife thinks I sound ‘cool’...

Good luck! Have fun!

Will

Elroy Montano

Chris Martin wrote: »

Many folks on here will have all kinds of opinions but first it would help if you explained what you want to play, just Gypsy Jazz or other styles, electric or acoustic, band or solo.
The Ibanez is probably a good all-rounder and usually (hopefully) cheap.
A Di Mauro Chorus will be expensive, unless you are referring to one of the many copies available like the Altamira.
The 'Chorus' style guitar, while it looks great will probably not do much more than your oval hole, unless you are so good a player that you can exploit the finer nuances of tone, in which case you do not need our advice anyway.

Thanks Chris!

I do love the look and tone of the Ibanez. Do you think it has a capacity to blend well to gysy jazz? I do see the greats to have done this but what is your opinion on this Chris?

Thanks Again

Elroy Montano

Lango-Django wrote: »

Hello from Canada, Elroy. I just googled your AFJ81 Ibanez guitar because I’d never heard of them before.

I doubt that it is all that great as an authentic GJ guitar for playing GJ, but who cares?

Its lovely looking,and probably great for the very kind of stuff I like to play on electric guitar, which is sort of George Barnes-ish.

So my advice is—— HELL, YES! BUY THE M———F———!!!!!!!!!!!

A couple of weeks ago I bought a burgundy red Gretsch Streamliner used and Ive been having way more than $500 ($400 US) worth of fun playing it!

Electric guitar is so EASY after playing acoustically for the previous 50 years! Its like you just have to THINK the note... plus now my wife thinks I sound ‘cool’...

Good luck! Have fun!

Will

Haha!! HELL YEAH

Thank you Will! Now i am excited to buy one

AndyW

I practice a lot on my Ibanez AF151 archtop and I see Ninine Garcia gigging on a AF155, the two pickup equivalent.
I've even done a couple of small "Gypsy-ish'" gigs on it.
A nice guitar, and a WHOLE lot cheaper than a Di Mauro Swing Chorus (which is perhaps my dream Gypsy guitar)

Elroy Montano

AndyW wrote: »

I practice a lot on my Ibanez AF151 archtop and I see Ninine Garcia gigging on a AF155, the two pickup equivalent.
I've even done a couple of small "Gypsy-ish'" gigs on it.
A nice guitar, and a WHOLE lot cheaper than a Di Mauro Swing Chorus (which is perhaps my dream Gypsy guitar)

Thank you Andy for sharing your experience with Ibanez jazz box!

MichaelHorowitz

I'm all for playing archtops, especially when you need to plug in at high volumes. But with that said, the Ibanez AFJ81 is a completely different animal than a Di Mauro Chorus style guitar. The AFJ81 has all laminate woods, including the top so it's not going to have much of an acoustic sound at all. A Di Mauro Chorus will have a solid top which will produce a lot of acoustic volume.

Elroy Montano

Thank you Michael. Well one of the things I really love in gysy jazz is the acoustic tone. I think whether I want to solely focus on venturing other forms of jazz or sticking to The gypsy jazz is the question for me now.