The AE500 is an AE series acoustic/electric guitar model introduced by Ibanez in 2016. It was produced in China.
The AE500 features a Venetian cutaway body shape with a solid Sitka spruce top bound in rosewood with scalloped cross-bracing and solid Indian rosewood back (with Tone Projection cross bracing) and sides with a gloss finish. The soundhole is round with an abalone and maple rosette. It has a satin-finished mahogany neck with a 20-fret rosewood fingerboard with special mother of pearl position markers. Components include a compensated bone saddle in a rosewood bridge with ebony pins with abalone dots, a bone nut, a tortoise pickguard and chrome Gotoh tuning machines.
Electronics consist of a T-bar undersaddle pickup connected to a ¼" endpin output with the only onboard control being a mute button. The included AGPD10 preamp unit is external to the guitar.
The AE400 is a similar model with African mahogany back and sides and maple binding. The AE900 is a model with very similar specs which is made in Japan. The AE305 is a related model with an internal preamp.
The AE500 was discontinued after 2017 and replaced with the AE510.
