Ibanez Acoustic Electric Guitars under $300 Review: Colorful Choices for Not a Lot of Cash

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Are you looking for a quality, inexpensive, acoustic electric guitar and want some variety in your color options? If so, you’ve come to the right place. The Ibanez acoustic electric guitars I’ll look at in this review should each be available for less than $300, and you will have 9 colors from which to choose.

I’ll look at 8 guitars here, which at first seems like a lot, but we can put 6 of them into two groups because they are very similar models. So in the end this will feel more like we’re comparing just 4 guitars instead of 8.

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Table of Contents

What Features Are Common to All These Ibanez Guitars?

Even though there are technically 8 models in this review, there are actually a few things that Ibanez kept the same from one to the next.

The first item is the materials used in construction. The backs, sides, and necks of these guitars are made of mahogany, and the fretboards and bridges are made of rosewood.

The body binding on all but the AW54CE is ivory. On the AW54CE it is black instead.

The other main feature that is the same is the pins that hold the strings into the body. Ibanez uses their own Advantage pins. Here is Ibanez’s description of these pins.

“These pins really are an advantage over old-fashioned pins. Advantage™ pins are easier to take out and easier to put in than standard pins. A special bulb-shaped end makes the pin easy to grip and also prevents the pin from being pushed in too far. Best of all, with Advantage™, the pin and string stay put.”

There actually is quite a difference in how these pins work compared to standard pins as you can see in the diagram below.

Ibanez Advantage pins

Comparing the Performance Series Guitars

The table just below the pictures shows you at a glance the other similarities and differences among the Ibanez Performance series acoustic electric guitars in this price range. Although these are in the same series, there aren’t as many similarities as you might expect.

Model	PF15ECE	PF28ECE	PN12E
Colors	Black, Natural, Transparent Blue Sunburst	Dark Violin Sunburst, Transparent Red Sunburst	Vintage Mahogany Sunburst
Body Shape	Cutaway Dreadnought	Cutaway Dreadnought	Parlor
Top	Spruce	Flamed Maple	Mahogany
Body Binding	Ivory	Ivory	Ivory
Tuning Machine	Chrome Die-cast tuners; Half moon knobs	Chrome Die-cast tuners; Half moon knobs	Chrome Die-cast tuners
Number of Frets	20	20	18
Strings	Ibanez IACS6C	D’Addario*	Coated bronze
Pickup	Ibanez Under Saddle	Fishman Sonicore	Ibanez Under Saddle
Preamp	Ibanez AEQ-2T with tuner	Ibanez AEQ-SP2 with tuner	Ibanez AEQ-2T with tuner
Output Jack	¼”	Balanced XLR and ¼”	¼”
Neck Scale (mm)	650	650	620
Neck Width at Nut (mm)	42	42	42
Neck Width at 14th Fret (mm)	54	55	54
Neck Thickness at 1st Fret (mm)	21.5	21	20
Neck Thickness at 7th Fret (mm)	23.5	22.5	21
Neck Radius (mm)	250	250	250
Body Length (in.)	20	20	19 ½
Body Width (in.)	15 ¾	15 ¾	14 ⅓
Max. Depth (in.)	5	4 ¼	4

*Ibanez failed to list which strings come with the PF28ECE on their site. A post at Amazon mentions D’Adarrio.

I didn’t list the finishes for the Performance guitars in the table above (as I do in the tables below) because everything here – fronts, back, sides, and neck backs of each – has a gloss finish.

See these Ibanez Performance Series guitars at Amazon now.

Comparing the Ibanez AEG Series Guitars

I haven’t found it in print anywhere, but I think “AEG” stands for “Acoustic Electric Grand” in reference to the body style of the instruments in this second group.

Unlike the group above, here you will see many similarities from one guitar to the next. In fact, the only main difference, besides colors, is the material used for the top of each. The AEG15II does have different finishes and body depth as well.

One nice touch that makes the AEG12II a little different is that the fretboard has a fancier inlay, as you can see in the picture below.

Model	AEG10II	AEG12II	AEG15II
Colors	Black, Transparent Blue Sunburst	Natural High Gloss	Natural
Body Shape	AEG	AEG	AEG
Top	Spruce	Mahogany	Cedar
Body Binding	Ivory	Ivory	Ivory
Finish: Top	Gloss	Gloss	Satin
Finish: Back & Sides	Gloss	Gloss	Satin
Finish: Neck Back	Satin	Satin	Satin
Soundhole Rosette	Abalone	Abalone	Abalone
Tuning Machine	Chrome Die-cast tuners	Chrome Die-cast tuners	Chrome Die-cast tuners
Number of Frets	21	21	21
Strings	Ibanez IACSP6C	Ibanez IACSP6C	Ibanez IACSP6C
Pickup	Fishman Sonicore	Fishman Sonicore	Fishman Sonicore
Preamp	Ibanez AEQ-SP1 with tuner	Ibanez AEQ-SP1 with tuner	Ibanez AEQ-SP1 with tuner
Output Jack	¼”	¼”	¼”
Neck Scale (mm)	634	634	634
Neck Width at Nut (mm)	43	43	43
Neck Width at 14th Fret (mm)	55	55	55
Neck Thickness at 1st Fret (mm)	20	20	20
Neck Thickness at 7th Fret (mm)	21	21	21
Neck Radius (mm)	400	400	400
Body Length (in.)	19 ¼	19 ¼	19 ¼
Body Width (in.)	15	15	15
Max. Depth (in.)	2 ¾	2 ¾	4 ⅓

Check out the Ibanez AEG Series acoustic electric guitar at Amazon today!

Comparing the Talman and Artwood Guitars

Finally, we come to the TCM50 (Talman) and AW54CE (Artwood Series) guitars. Here you will see many differences because each of these, as noted, is in its own series. Still, a side by side comparison is worth a look.

Ibanez points out that the neck joint on the Talman double cutaway is located at the 16th fret. This is a couple of frets closer to the body than on many acoustic guitars. The Talman is designed for the electric guitar player who wants the option of playing acoutically. If you tend to play those high notes a lot, this could be a real plus for your playing style.

The only other special item to note about the AW54CE is that it has a dovetail neck joint, making that connection extra solid.

Model	TCM50	AW54CE
Colors	Dark Night Ocean, Natural, Vintage Brown Sunburst	Open Pore Natural (OPN)
Body Shape	Talman Double Cutaway	Cutaway Dreadnought
Top	Figured Ash	Mahogany
Body Binding	Ivory	Black
Finish: Top	Gloss	Open Pore
Finish: Back & Sides	Gloss	Open Pore
Finish: Neck Back	Gloss	Satin
Tuning Machine	Chrome Die-cast tuners	Chrome Die-cast tuners
Number of Frets	20	20
Strings	Ibanez IACS6C	D’Addario EXP
Pickup	Ibanez AP2 Magnetic	Fishman Sonicore
Preamp	Ibanez AEQ200M; 2-band EQ	Ibanez AEQ-SP2 with tuner
Output Jack	¼”	Balanced XLR and ¼”
Neck Scale (mm)	648	651
Neck Width at Nut (mm)	42	43
Neck Width at 14th Fret (mm)	54	55
Neck Thickness at 1st Fret (mm)	20	21
Neck Thickness at 7th Fret (mm)	21	22
Neck Radius (mm)	250	400
Body Length (in.)	18	20
Body Width (in.)	14 ½	15 ¾
Max. Depth (in.)	3 ½	5

Get your Ibanez Talman TCM50 at Amazon

or…

Find your Ibanez Artwood AW54CE at Amazon.

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