Dante! - Ibanez Artcore AM53-SRF – Sunburst Red Flat Semi-Hollow Guitar

Ibanez Artcore AM53-SRF Semi-Hollow Electric Guitar in Sunburst Red Flat

Meet Dante, an Ibanez Artcore AM53-SRF, a compact semi-hollow electric guitar finished in Sunburst Red Flat and combining a sapele body, set neck, solid centre block and twin Ibanez Infinity R humbuckers.

The smaller AM body offers much of the warmth and resonance associated with a traditional semi-hollow guitar without the physical bulk of a full-sized jazz box, making the AM53 an unusually approachable and versatile instrument.

Dante arrived at The Stray Chord in respectable condition, but underwent extensive fretwork and a complete professional setup before being successfully rehomed for £260.

About Dante

The Ibanez Artcore range was created to make hollow and semi-hollow construction accessible to a much broader range of players, and the AM53 packages that formula into a particularly compact body.

Dante's laminated sapele top, back and sides are finished in Sunburst Red Flat, allowing the grain to remain prominent beneath the satin surface.

Unlike a fully hollow guitar, the AM53 incorporates a solid centre block running through the body. This helps control feedback at higher gain levels while providing a stable mounting platform for the bridge and pickups and contributing to the guitar's sustain and focused response.

The compact body is paired with a set neck and a 22-fret fingerboard, while the approximately 24.7-inch scale length provides a relatively relaxed string feel.

Cream binding provides contrast against the deep red finish and gives Dante a more traditional appearance despite his compact proportions.

Pickups & electronics

Dante is equipped with a pair of passive Ibanez Infinity R ceramic humbuckers.

The neck pickup provides warm, rounded clean sounds particularly well suited to jazz, blues and softer styles, while the bridge offers additional attack and definition.

Add overdrive and the AM53 becomes considerably less polite.

The centre-block construction helps keep the instrument controlled as gain increases, making the AM53 equally capable of blues, classic rock, indie and alternative styles.

Controls are deliberately straightforward:

• Master volume
• Master tone
• Three-way pickup selector

No lengthy Divine Comedy required.

Restoration & setup

Dante arrived in fundamentally good condition and required refinement rather than major structural or cosmetic repair.

During his rehabilitation at The Stray Chord he received:

• Complete professional setup
• Frets fully levelled
• Each fret individually crowned
• Frets polished to a smooth finish
• Fret ends dressed, rounded and refined
• Fingerboard edges carefully rolled
• Fingerboard thoroughly deep-cleaned
• Fingerboard conditioned and rehydrated
• Electronics inspected and tested
• Infinity R humbuckers checked
• Pickup heights carefully balanced
• Neck relief precisely adjusted
• Bridge action optimised
• Full intonation
• Hardware inspected and adjusted
• Body carefully cleaned
• Satin Sunburst Red Flat finish sympathetically detailed
• Final electronics and playability inspection

The result was a noticeably more refined AM53 with smooth fretwork, comfortable action and a naturally broken-in feel across the neck.

Specifications

Dante's adoption

❤️ REHOMED ❤️

Dante's journey through The Stray Chord is complete.

Thankfully, unlike his namesake, he didn't lead his new owner through the Inferno. Instead, he left rehabilitation ready to provide warm cleans, rich overtones and enough sustain to begin the ascent towards Paradiso.

Dante has now found his new home and is no longer available for adoption.

His page remains permanently in The Stray Chord Rehomed Archive, documenting his rehabilitation and providing a reference for players researching the Ibanez Artcore AM53-SRF compact semi-hollow guitar.

Rescue • Restore • Rehome