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Every now and again in life you’re confronted by something that’s just down right bamboozling. On removing the protective sleeve of the Ibanez EWC30ASE-RLG, I was bamboozled. As someone who primarily plays electric guitar and also someone who goes a bit wibbly at the site of natural finishes on exotic wood, this guitar is bang on the money.

First impressions of the Ibanez EWC30ASE-RLG are quite simply ‘woah, check out the wood!’. The body and top of the guitar are crafted from figured Figured Ash and a lot of care has been taken to make sure the two pieces of ash that make up the top are symetrical, which results in a slightly hypnotic butterfly wing effect. The neck has a very shallow profile more like an Ibanez electric, which makes it ideal for the player who is primarily an electric player. The fretboard sports nicely rounded and well seated frets with a tastefully twiddly inlay and the machine heads have a very smooth action and keep the guitar in tune very well.

Plugged in the guitars B Band Preamp does a fine job of producing the very sweet sound that’s produced by the small body, it’s a very tight sound with surprisingly smooth low end. when you need a quick tune up the preamp features a very responsive but not jittery tuner, with a very clear display. perfect for low light gigs.

All of this is would be fare enough, however, the bamboozlment came when I discovered the price. Available for as little as £214 this guitar is entering the price level of ‘budget guitar’ but I assure you this is not the case. This guitar is a seamlessly crafted chunk of lovely wood with a fantastic sound with a professional quality preamp…. get one now!

EWC30ASE-RLG Ibanez Exotic Wood Series Acoustic Guitar