Ibanez AK86-DVS: arch top jazz guitar, art-core series with set-in neck, 3-piece maple/ mahogany neck material, and flamed maple top/sides/back body.
Aleksey sounded quite good on any guitar he played. His really shined playing solid body guitars, especially over-driven, and handled acoustics quite well. You might ask: what about the middle ground, i.e. jazz hollow body guitars? According to his own confession, Aleksey was not a jazz guitar player, but his gentle touch and taste for the melody often contradicted that opinion. One should have listened to him playing his AK86 arch-top via a Class A tube amplifier to really appreciate this so called non-jazz guitar player. Add a Uni-Vibe pedal to this setup and a musical miracle could be easily experienced. A nice sample of Aleksey playing his Ibanez art-core guitar could be heard on a few recordings, e.g. An Extra Night in Paris written by Eugene Borovikov. Aleksey made a few mostly cosmetic modifications to this guitar. The most noticeable is the wood volume and tone knobs in place of the stock plastics.
Unlike many other arch-top guitars that sound mid-rangy and compressed, AK86 delivers a lovely full-range resonance and very airy sound resulting from its excellent workmanship.
Top: spruce
Back/sides: Curved flamed sycamore
Neck: 3-piece mahogany
Fret board: rosewood with mother-of-pearl inlays
Transparent high-gloss finish in brown burst
Neck/body transition at 14th fret with total of 22 frets
Scale length: 62,8cm
Body depth at the waist: 70 mm
Bridge: ART-1
Hardware: chrome-plated
ACH1 neck PU (pickup neck position)
ACH2 bridge PU (pickup bridge position)
