ivy 6 String Acoustic-Electric Guitar, Right, Tobacco Sunburst (IPF-300 TSB)

The IPF-300 TSB weighs a relatively feather-like 6.84 pounds, or about half if it's solid-body cousin, the IP-300-TSB that is listed at 12.47 lbs. When this was delivered today, the single layer carton looked like it was new, when usually, IYV cartons coming from the other side of the planet, suffer quite a bit, depending on the delivery method. There was absolutely no damage to the carton or the guitar inside; no marks, gouges, scrapes, as if Scotty himself beamed it here.The listing photos are disappointing in comparison to seeing this guitar in person, as it’s solid-body cousin. This finish on both this and the solid-body is the best of any IYV guitars; as delivered, there was no film, smudges, dirt, grit, scuffing, scratches, or dings, it’s easy to hold and play.Like this it’s solid-body cousin, (the IP-300-TSB) the finish on ours is clear from the base to the top level clear coat and the gloss is smooth. During inspection and handling, I used cotton gloves and afterward wiped the guitar down with a polishing cloth. The use of your preference of a high quality polish or wax will maintain the finish for years.This neck was a nice surprise and with the light weight it was easy to hold and play. It was in perfect alignment, without any need for adjustments thus far, especially after traveling from half a world away. The factory strings felt surprisingly responsive, certainly not the usual dead and dull sound, and without any grit, film or rust which others have reported, usually common on factory installed strings (there was no rice-paper wrapping). Another nice surprise was that the factory strings had been de-tuned prior to shipping and storage. Leaving strings at pitch for extended periods without playing can inflict stress and damage to the neck. The string gauge from the factory played well enough, a size smaller should handle well enough without any buzzing. Fret spacing, intonation is also spot-on. On checking with the straight edge, the frets have no sprout and no beveling/leveling or other work is indicated. The fretboard on the top and both sides are flat and smooth, there are no uncomfortable edges. Recommendation, this IYV and it’s solid-body cousin make a perfect-playing pair, grab one or both!

I love the IYV guitars. I have two now. More in the future. The price is right and the quality is on par with other branded guitar that cost far more. Everyone comments on how cool these git fiddles look. I could not be happier. The weight and size are perfect and comfortable. Fret work is solid. No buzzing.

Guitar arrived on schedule and was not damaged in shipping. First impression was that it was very light and finished in an attractive brown sunburst. Acoustically it is quite loud and pleasing for such a small body guitar. I plugged it into a Vox modeling amp without any changes other than tuning it up. The strings felt stiffer than what I normally use, so I tuned it down to E-flat. Clean, it sounds great for jazz and pop, especially using the neck pickup. Through the overdrive channel it sounds great for blues and Southern Rock. As delivered, the neck was just about straight, with only slight relief, and the action was low and easy to play. The setup was just about right for me, except the bass strings were a bit lower than I prefer. The intonation was pretty close, except a little sharp on the wound strings. The wraparound style bridge is similar to that offered by Wilkinson, a simple unit with an adjustable section under the B and G strings. The factory strings are okay for now, but the fingerboard is dry and the frets are a little bit rough. For now I’m playing it just like the way it arrived, but when I change the strings I will polish the frets and oil the fingerboard. I’ve found the best way to polish rough frets is to mask off the fingerboard and use original Colgate toothpaste and a soft cloth and lots of elbow grease to really make them shine. Now for the electronics. The pickups sound great to my ears. I have a pair of Seymour Duncan’59 Humbuckers that cost more than this whole guitar and they don’t sound half as good as the ones in this guitar. I’ve had those Duncans in two different guitars and I just hate them. The IYV factory pickups have a clean low end, lots of midrange, and a fat, wooly high end that I really love. There is a problem with the wiring, however, and that’s the reason I’m not giving this guitar five stars. The volume control is defective or it’s hooked up wrong, so when both pickups are engaged, the volume knob only turns down the bridge pickup. A look inside with a dentist’s mirror didn’t reveal the problem, but it does look like in order to fix the problem I will have to pull the wiring harness out through the treble side f-hole. Initially I wanted to replace the dime-sized pots with full size Alphas, but the larger pots won’t fit through the f-hole. So for the time being I’m going to leave it alone, and I’m not too disappointed about it, because when the toggle switch is in the middle position I can get a great range of in-between tones by turning down the volume. Since the volume of the neck pickup stays the same, while only the bridge pickup volume goes down, there’s a wide range of different sounds I can get from the guitar. (And it’s giving me a good excuse for finally getting a volume pedal!). The guitar tuners work just fine, the nut is slotted and shaped nicely, and aside from the wiring I really can’t find anything really wrong with this guitar. There are the usual minor finish flaws to be expected in a budget priced guitar, but I think I got way more value than my $183 purchase price. I would definitely recommend this guitar for a beginner, someone who likes to tinker and upgrade lower priced guitars, or someone who is looking for a guitar that sounds good for jazz, blues or classic rock. I would definitely consider buying other guitars from IYV, and if it weren’t for the glitch in the wiring, I would rate this guitar a solid five stars.

I’ve had my IVY Guitar for over a year now and I love it! It’s got a good, nice hollow, dark rock ‘n’ roll tone to it! Like other reviews have said I set up was necessary to get it to stay in tune and I add a little graphite to the strings and running a little heavier, gauge of string And she stays into and just fine. Might be worth getting in and creating a better ground in the wiring but so far out of the box I loved it! Stop thinking buy it…