The AR5000RE in an Artist series solid body electric guitar model model introduced by Ibanez in 2007. It is a reissue of the classic AR5000 Ibanez offered in the early 1980s. The AR5000RE was crafted in Japan by Sugi.
The AR5000RE debuted at the 2007 Summer NAMM Show. It was the third year in a row that a classic reissue was revealed at Summer NAMM after the BWM1 in 2005 and the 2670RE in 2006.
The AR5000RE features an arched flamed maple top on a mahogany body mated to a set-in maple neck with a 22-fret ebony fingerboard with binding and abalone vine inlay with special "Limited Edition' placard at the 21st fret. Components include a pair of Ibanez Super 58 humbucking pickups with brass covers, a Tune-o-matic style Gibraltar bridge with a sustain block recessed into the top and a Quik Change Classic tailpiece.
The AR5000RE was produced in very limited numbers of perhaps as few as 50 units sold worldwide.
The toggle on the upper horn is the pickup selector switch. The three knobs in the top row control master volume, master tone and EQ level. The three smaller knobs in the bottom row are part of the Ibanez EQ Tone System. They are center notched to accurately provide plus or minus 15db of gain in three frequency bands: bass, mid and treble. The red LED is a power indicator for the active EQ's 9-volt battery. The lower toggle is a bypass switch that turns the EQ system on or off, the other two toggles are Tri-Sound switches for bridge and neck pickup parallel/ coil split/ series switching.
