The AFD40 is an Artfield series solid body guitar model introduced by Ibanez in 1988. It was made in Japan by Iida Gakki and sold exclusively in Europe.
The short-lived Artfield series was a line of premium guitars which offered innovations such as the new All Access neck joint, multi-ply necks and locking tuners along with three new body shapes in exotic woods.
The AFD40's body shape is a non-symmetrical, sculpted, offset double-cutaway design with rounded shoulders and a short pointed lower horn with a deep cutaway and a much longer pointed upper horn. The profile shows that the entire body has an arch shape. The overall shape is somewhat reminiscent of the Maxxas series body.
AFD40 side view
The AFD40 has a bubinga body bolted to a mahogany and maple neck with a 30-fret rosewood fingerboard with small dot position markers. The fretboard is beveled past the 24th fret, so only the upper strings are accessible up to the 30th fret. Components include a pair of Ultrasonic pickups (made by Bill Lawrence) with a high-output Ref 6 humbucker at the bridge and a mid-output Ref 2 single-coil at the neck, an HQ synchronized tremolo bridge and Gotoh locking tuning machines.
The AFD40-Z is a near identical model with Ibanez USA pickups. The AFD45 is a similar model with three single-coil pickups and gold hardware. The AFD5 and AFD25 are related models with similar components but different body shapes and gold hardware.
The AFD40 was discontinued after 1989. Although it appears in a 1990 catalog, no example with a 1990 serial number has been seen.
