Ibanez Gio GRGA120QA - Transparent Black Sunburst Reviews

Never had an Ibanez guitar in all my years of playing. Love this guitar. Can't find a thing wrong with it and I'm trying.

This was my first ever electric guitar and I was not disappointed! It looks amazing and sounds amazing, and it plays really nice. I have had it for almost a year and is still is my favorite guitar. It is great for any style and performs equally well when playing power chords or scales. If you are looking at this trying to decide if it is right for you, don't hesitate!

First off I would recommend you get another color other than black if you want to see the maple top.
Now I'll tell yo how impressed I am with the quality of the Gio! Frets are fantastic, no filing is needed, as with my Classic Vibe Squier. I did not find a need to take this guitar to my tech for a setup, as with other guitars I've bought new.
Looks great. Fit and finish marvelous, as you might expect from Ibanez' most expensive guitars.
I see no issues at all. Don't let the price fool you, Ibanez does not cut corners when it comes to quality.
I have considered replacing the pickups, but I actually think that I could live without doing so.
I like to dive bomb the whammy and after a big dip, I just pull up a little on the bar and -- back in tune!
If you're considering buying this guitar, know that the quality control folks at Ibanez got you covered.
Just remember to buy another color if you really want to see the maple quilt top.

This is the first guitar I buy new and on my own! I'm really appreciative of the kind service and how well protected this was shipped to my address. Absolutely awesome!

Don't expect to be gigging with it, but whether you're new and learning how to play or just want an 'el cheapo' that doesn't suck and is fun to play for S's and Giggles, this is a fantastic option.

In my opinion, it plays like a $500 or $600 guitar and sounds about it in its price range, maybe a little higher.

But for $, the Pickups aren't going to be total bone crushers for heavy metal, but sound solid nonetheless. This would be a great guitar to mod and upgrade on.

For those of us that grew up with super cheap quality guitars to learn on, Ibanez has new generation of guitar players spoiled as they do NOT cut corners on quality.

If I have a minor critique against it's design, I think the bridge feels a bit lower quality. It's a very minor thing but, that can also be upgraded. The description claims you can do dive bombs on this, but I have to respectfully disagree haha. There's not much room for pulling back on the bridge to achieve those fun dime bag-esque squeals. Chances are though if you're learning to play, dive bombs are much further down the road for you to pick up, focus on your scales young padowan. If you really want to do dive bombs, get a guitar with a proper floating bridge.

Tuning stability is actually not bad at all! It can def fight you a bit when you go to drop the tuning, but once you're there it stays in tune reasonably well considering it's price range. I'd probably eventually invest in locking tuners anyway, but stock tuners are decent quality.

For a $ guitar I have to admit I am fairly impressed with the build quality. I've had other premium and prestige model Ibanez guitars and the difference is very noticeable for sure, but the overall build quality and materials are fairly agreeable!

The veneer top might sound like a bad thing if you're replacing countertops or something but on this guitar, with the clearcoat finish and shine, you would not even know unless you were told that it's not a real quilted top.
The binding is a nice touch too, albeit the off white color is not completely to my taste but it's nice to have, regardless.

One thing I noticed is the Nut is advertised as plastic. This is not the case!
The nut actually appears to be graphite! I ordered a Black Tusq XL nut to replace it and when I took it off it was clear that it was not plastic due to the texture, weight and sound it makes when dropped onto a hard surface. Wish I had realized before ordering the new nut but oh well, it's a pleasant surprise!

The only real complaint I have is the fretwork. This is where the guitar is obvious about it's price point. The edges are pretty sharp and there are obvious fine cuts in my fingertips if I slide them along the edge. Not enough to draw blood, obviously; but it is very noticeable in the feel.
Another issue on the line of fretwork is the finish and sheen of them. I noticed small divots and almost corroded looking points on the frets. For these reasons I am removing 1 star.
Though I probably will have this re-fretted eventually but at it's price point it's probably not entirely worth it to do but I am actually upgrading this guitar with a bunch of spare parts I had from some upgrades I made to other Ibanez AZ guitars of mine so I won't mind having it re-fretted to improve the overall playability of it.

If you ask me if it's worth the price point; Absolutely, yes!

I'll add some photos of the current progress but do keep in mind that this does not represent the stock product as I have replaced all hardware on the body and the tuning machines, also The nut and truss rod cover are not installed at the time of writing this review.

First part of review is for the guitar, 2ed part is Sweetwater. I ordered this a week ago, got it 2 days later.Upon unboxing and inspecting the guitar, as its high gloss any scratches are easily visible, counted 7-8 surface scratches on the front body of the guitar and about 4-5 on the back, moving down the body a ring of wood looks chipped out around the input jack as well as rust being on the input jack (Guitar says made in June 2020). I ordered transparent black sunburst, what i got was more of a green sunburst. Photos of both are attached. The electronic are good, no problems, slight fret buzz when working the neck fast. As for my order, first i was sent to the sweetwater repair, and i said a new guitar shouldn't need instant repair after just buying it, after a day or so of back and forth, they said they were pulling another one and holding it for me, but needed info to get replacement shipped that same day, i sent the info and waited for a tracking number, a day and a half goes by no number,then after a phone call i was told the guy was gone for half of a day so that's why i didn't get a response. Then it was said the replacement was not shipped. As it was close to weekend i was told for them to pull it and inspect it, it would take at least a couple days and probably wont get looked at till the Monday after this weekend. IMO all guitars should be inspected before shipping, not just ones $300 and up, feels almost like you have to pay $300 or your guitar may come with imperfections a plenty. I had told them to just forget shipping the replacement and have asked for a deduction in price that was paid for the guitar,(like the demo deductions, as these scratches,wood chips,rust and peeling paint make it feel like a demo) very similar to a demo still no response, will update review upon response. This replacement would have been fine, but its just that Sweetwaters process for this is snail paced and very slow. Make sure you have someone inspect it first before having this model shipped.