Sounds

The lack of a substantial centre block actually works to the Artcore’s advantage to a certain extent, as the bridge pickup does offer a degree of hollowness to its tone. For those slinky leads and full chords, its sound surprised us with its quality.

It reacts well with a touch of drive and is also more than good enough for any jazz toastiness to boot. In fact, if it wasn’t for that pesky vibrato continually throwing tuningrelated spanners into the works, we’d be totally enamoured with the Artcore.

Bridge then neck pickups:

Pros: Impressive look and vibe; tonal performance; light weight; price.
Cons: The overly sticky Bigsby performance.

35 Stars

Verdict: This lovely looker is let down by a vibrato that’s virtually unusable. Great potential though.

Next: The verdict - which semi-acoustic guitar is best?