Ibanez AVN3

It’s amazing how the Ibanez guitar brand comes up when talking about modern electric guitars and traditional acoustic guitars! While their more popular works are indeed electric guitars, they have been successful at preventing their brand name from being pigeon-holed into a particular instrument or musical style. Now the company continues to produce a wide array of quality and affordable instruments, and the AVN3 parlor guitar is but one of them.

The AVN3 is part of the brand’s Artwood series guitars, which they describe as a “modern approach to acoustic guitar tradition“. And the description is quite fitting especially for the AVN3 because this particular parlor guitar looks really old school, having the appearance comparable to that of older pre-guitar lute instruments. This means that you can get an ancient looking instrument that does not break apart when played, and more importantly – you can buy it at a reasonable price.

This guitar’s distinct body shape is described by Ibanez as “Parlor 2”, and it looks to be smaller and more compact than conventional parlor guitars. Aside from it’s unique shape, the choice of wood used on the AVN3 does not stray from the familiar path, featuring a solid sitka spruce top supported by mahogany back and sides. The guitar’s compact body and tonewood combination result in classic acoustic tones that emphasize the high-midrange frequency.

For its price, this parlor guitar has some impressive cosmetics, including a wooden marquetry top board purfling. Even the back side of the guitar has cool aesthetics, featuring wooden mosaic backstrip inlay. The soundhole rosette has a classical mosaic design, giving the guitar a true vintage appearance.

The guitar’s neck is crafted from mahogany, topped by a rosewood fretboard. It has a total of 18 frets spread out across its short 24.33″ scale length. Nut width is 1.69″ while the fretboard is 15.75″. Having been made by Ibanez, you can expect the playability and setup of this parlor guitar to be as comfortable low as they possibly can, making this an ideal everyday couch guitar. Other features of the Ibanez AVN3 include X-style top bracing, rosewood bridge, white body binding, chrome tuners with ivory knobs and bone nut/saddle.

If you are looking for an eye catching parlor guitar that does not look like a miniature regular size guitar, then this is a great choice. Heads will definitely turn when you pull this one out from it’s bag. It’s compact size and the tried and tested durability of Ibanez guitars will make this one a fancy looking workhorse/couch guitar that you can leave on a stand and pickup whenever you want.

The Ibanez AVN3 is currently retailing for just under $400.