From everything I've seen of the Artcore guitars, they are what the literature says they are. But there are some points made in this thread that should be clarified:
99% of all arch top semi-hollows and archtop thinline semis have a plywood top. And that includes the grandaddy Gibsons -- ES 335's, 345's, and 355's et al. That even goes for for some fully hollow, full bodied electrics like the Gibby ES175, Gretsch Hollowbodies, or their other derivatives like the Ibanez George Bensons, etc. These tops are manufactured through a process which involves putting a plywood sheet in a machine press and introducing heat and steam to "stamp" the top into an archtop shape. The layers of this plywood are usually "less than perfect" sheets of maple, sycamore, mahogany, spruce, or poplar, birch, or any other stuff of lower grade woods.
the outer, visible final layer of these tops are usually a piece of clear or figured sheet maple, mahogany, cherry, or other traditional guitarwood that is essentially a veneer intended to receive a finish and be cosmetically acceptable. When someone refers to a topwood in an archtop semi, EVERYONE understands that they are referring to the veneered top that is visible on the outside, and not making a claim that the top is solid.
the exceptions to the plywood rule on archtop semis are seriously expensive models like the PRS McCarty hollowbody (maple or spruce solidtops without a centerblock), or the even more expensive fully hollow, full bodied archtop jazz boxes like the Gibby Super 400's, L5's, Benedettos, D'Aquistos, D'Angelicos, etc. These kinds of tops are made by carving the tops from solid spruce, maple, or other selected tonewoods and the manual effort alone is worth thousands of dollars.
it's totally unreasonable to expect or hope for a solid, carved archtop on a $300 guitar, regardless of where in the world it's made.
There's nothing in mahavishnu's pics or on other artcore models that contradict this. The tops and backs are molded plywood with a plain or figure maple veneer -- not a "painted-on fakewood". The interior block seen through the f-hole is unfinished mahogany -- that's what it looks like -- not some mystery plywood block (making the block out of ply is more expensive, time consuming, and labor intensive). The neck is a 3-piece mahogany/maple/mahogany job -- that's what they look like ( very often, 3-piece necks are more "stable" than one-piece necks).
The reasons why the artcores cost a lot less than their Gibby counterparts are the following:
1. Cost of production is a lot lower in China.
2. Selection process of material is less stringent than in the Gibby's.
3. Hardware and electronics of a lower spec.
4. The biggest factor: The marketing guys have 90% of the world convinced that the name + history + cool factor = guarantees a better guitar and is worth paying 8 times more for the brand name.
The truth about the Artcore guitar is this: 335's can be very nice, but if you use your ears and spend the time, effort, good judgement, and some resources to upgrade your artcore, you could possibly end up with a well-built, great sounding, and smooth playing guitar which you will enjoy immensely.
