When I joined my first semi-professional band back in the 90s, I went to a guitar store in Cologne. I talked to the salesman and asked for a versatile workhorse type guitar. It should keep the tuning no matter how much time it will spend in cold trucks or on hot stages. Additionally, it should cover my favorite sound: Neck pickup of a Strat (twang) and hot humbucker sounds when I want to step on the gas pedal. Additionally, those pearly “in-between” clean sounds should be possible.
I had no idea that the guitar I was offered was going to be Andy Timmons’ future signature model. Yes, you read “was going to be” correctly, because it was one of the first 100 pieces Ibanez made back then to test if the idea of an AT would work commercially.
Even then, my eyes weren’t buying, but my ears were, and I was very excited about the possible sounds of the AT100. In the next 20 years I played this guitar in all bands and on all stages and regularly thanked the seller of that time, because the AT100 is by far the most reliable guitar I have ever owned.
I then sold them in the 2000s. Yes, sometimes G.A.S. sets in and you want to try something else. As is so often the case, you don’t know what you had until it’s gone. Not only that I didn’t understand that one of the first 100 AT100s could now fetch a respectable price with collectors and I sold it way too cheap. I regretted it already a few weeks after the sale.
A long Story short. In 2020 I bought another AT100. Used, but almost unplayed and now I use it again in my current band “Gift Of Silence“. Despite the multi-faceted songs and all the different guitar sounds we need there: the AT100 is never the limiting factor.
I have long wondered how Ibanez came up with the really optimal neck dimensions. Because the neck with the jumbo frets is a positive surprise every time. Solution: Andy Timmons sent his favorite Strat neck to Ibanez and asked them to reproduce it. Great Idea, Andy!
Take care,
Thorsten
