The AR550 is an Artist series solid body electric guitar model introduced by Ibanez in 1983. It was made in Japan.
The AR550 features an arched flame maple top on a double-cutaway mahogany body mated to a set-in three-piece maple neck with a 22-fret ebony fingerboard with binding and pearl and abalone split block position markers. Components include dual Ibanez humbucking pickups, a Gibraltar Tune-O-Matic style fixed bridge and Quik Change tailpiece with decorative "cloud" and VelveTune II machine heads.
Controls consist of a master volume and tone, a ±6 dB boost knob, 3-band ±15 dB active EQ knobs (bass, middle, treble) and a mini-toggle Duo Sound switch for each pickup with three settings: humbucker, single-coil or reverse phase.
The AR550 was sold only in Japan and was discontinued after 1984. It's believed that very few examples of this model were produced including perhaps as few as 38 with the polar white finish.
