IbanezGRG121DX GIO Range - Electric Guitar - Walnut Flat

I got this Ibanez to use mostly as an everyday practise guitar that I can switch from standard tuning to drop D easily (my other guitar has a floyd rose).These are my thoughts after owning & using this guitar for ~5 months.When I first removed it from the box, tuned it & plugged it into my Katana, I was quite underwhelmed & actually disappointed. However, I took a breath, paused & looked it over again.You can feel dust particles stuck to the finish of the guitar on the back of the neck & the body...this clears with use or can be rubbed off with a soft cloth - mine is now completely smooth & feels very nice to the touch.The sound that it produced initially was the most disappointing part (my other guitar has seymour duncan pickups and low action). Firstly the action was very high, making it harder to play, but also meaning that the strings were quite a long way from the pickups making the output much quieter & duller/muddy sounding.After checking the truss rod (which was very close to perfect out of the box), lowering the action and checking the intonation, the sound & playability improved - but the sound was still lacking...I then changed the strings to D'addario's, what a difference - the sound changed dramatically & the pickups could finally do their thing...I have no plans on changing the stock pickups, even when comparing them to the Seymour Duncan's on my other guitar.The biggest issue is the frets - they are rough, dull & a bit scratchy as it comes. You need to polish them, otherwise you will not get the best out of this guitar.This week (after owning it for ~5 months), I lightly oiled the fretboard with D'addario lemon oil as well - the fretboard has thanked me for doing this...I don't think this needs doing out of the box - but you will want to do it after a while.Tuning is very stable - even when changing from standard to drop D regularly. The pickups are amazingly versatile for the price & sound much, much better than I expected.I originally bought this to be treated as a cheap guitar that I wouldn't really care about...I've hardly played my other (significantly more expensive) guitar since owning this one - I think it has become a keeper.This would make a very good first guitar (but I would suggest getting someone to do the set-up work on it for you), or equally, it makes a great (very affordable) choice to flesh out an existing collection.While there are some issues out of th box - it really doesn't take much to sort them out & the end result is a great guitar.

I was looking for an affordable Ibanez to mostly play thrash and metal on having just sold a variety of guitars from my collection and buying a Fender Jazzmaster (beautiful but not so great for thrash). It plays well out of the box but I adjusted the action to be a bit lower for comfort (Ibanez ships the guitar with two allen keys, one for the bridge and the other for the truss rod). The body is beautiful and one of the things that made me want to buy this guitar, the neck is quite flat and fast which is what I was looking for given that I want to play thrash and metal.

exellent value for the money

Maximum comfort out of this guitar. Surprisingly comfortable to play with and very nice finish. The pickups are not very nice, tho. Feels like some low gain stuff, but it doesn't bother me as I own a lot of other guitars if I need something more powerful. A great addition to my collection

Awesome affordable guitar. Neck was playable out-of the box, which is always a bonus. Frets were a little scratchy, but not enough that a beginner would notice which is the market this guitar is aimed at, rather than an old modder like me.. so I used it a modding platform, which it did well at because its got a thicker body than a lot of other cheapish guitars. This means it has deeper pickup routes, so it'll take any humbucker you wanna throw in it. Having the thicker body also means it has a deeper control cavity, which will fit push/pull or push/push pots and a full size switch. (They come with a low profile ibanez 5 way, which I do actually recommend keeping, along with the original pickups by the way). The only downside, is the proprietary input jack which I've yet to source something similar... Anyway.. Cheap modding/beginner guitar... Should you buy it, yes, absolutely, you should!

Lovely guitar nice finish n looks n sounds great

Plays great, built nicely, perfect for beginners.

This is an absolutely brilliant guitar, not just in looks, build quality and (of course) the sound.Which is why I have not rated it as being 'For beginners'; because the sound it produces, with the advantage of a five position pickup switch makes it very, very good; if not great. No way is this for beginners!I am really, really pleased; and amazingly, it is at a price lower than all of the guitar sales web sites I looked at (which was many) for the same guitar which has a high quality in build and looks.