Ibanez GIO GRGR131EX Electric Guitar - Black Flat Reviews

Great looking and playing guitar, the neck feels nice, the pickups sound good, besides the back of the neck the rest of the guitar is blacked out. The fretboard looked kind of dry but bought some lemon oil to rub on it when I go to change the strings. Thanks to the folks at Sweetwater for the great guitar hookup.

Love this guitar sounds so crisp I dig the black out look

I bought this guitar because I missed the RG550 I had back in the day. I don't play enough nowadays to justify an expensive guitar, so I chose the Gio to fill the role of a high gain, slim neck, rock n, roller. It certainly does all that, and does it really well. I was surprised to find that, thanks to the 5-way switching, this Gio will do strat things also. It'll even twang if you tell it to do so. Mine is REALLY well made. Setup was damn near perfect out of the box. The neck is just a wee bit chunkier than a real Wizard, but very comfortable. Of course it has the flat radius an Ibanez should have. I find it very comfortable and fast. Over the years, I've paid a whole lot more money for much less guitar. This Gio is superb for the price point and it looks evil, as a guitar should. I really can't find anything to bitch about with this purchase.

First off let me say, I bought this guitar a few years ago, it immediately went on backorder and I had to wait 6 months for it to arrive. I almost canceled the order a few times being impatient but I'm glad I didn't! It's just a touch more expensive now but it's still worth the price current price, and honestly, I'm amazed at how they build these so cheap and still make a profit!

For the price point, this is one of the toughest looking metal shredder guitars Ibanez makes. Matte black on black with the reverse headstock and matte black name badge on the headstock which kind of hides the "gio" portion, which is nice (I always thought the GIO name was tacky looking). The stock set up is fine, it feels nice and plays nice, typical fast and comfortable Ibanez neck, the body is lightweight and very comfortable. The pickups sound ok, controls are solid. Tuners are so/so. Remember, you get what you pay for here.

The purpleheart fretboard is interesting, I haven't owned one of these before and I don't know if this is common or not but this wood is thirrrrrrrsssstttttyyy. I noticed right out of the box it looked kind of dry, and after a while it started to look almost ashy. I rubbed in some old english lemon oil soap into the fretboard and after maybe 2 or three 3 coats it seems to be a completely different fretboard now, very dark, almost ebony looking. It's much more attractive now and looks quite healthy.

Now time for the mods.

I pulled the pickups out and replaced them with a set of Seymour Duncan Blackouts that I happened upon (they are the same price as the guitar, but worth it!). I then replaced the strings with some Ernie Ball Mammoth's and set the tuning to Drop A. Holy Moses this thing CHUGS NOW!! It's a completely different guitar. I plan on replacing the tuners with higher quality set of locking tuners and a graphtech nut to set the action for the strings for playability and any tuning stability issues, not much more than that is needed than that I think.


I have to say this has become my current favorite guitar to play now, with a few upgrades it's a whole new beast. This is basically a poor man's Iron Label, but with a few basic upgrades it's as good as, if not better than the Iron Label at less than half the price!

What an over used word, but this guitar is...

I needed a shredder type guitar for a new project that I don't know will go too far. But that didn't mean I didn't want to try, I just didn't want to change my entire rig to get tones it was never meant for, and does not do well with my guitars. I figured to buy a cheap shredder and then I'd only have to make slight adjustments. Maybe plug in another slot on the processor I use just to put it over the top. Nope! This guitar plugged in and sounded like the whole rig was built around it. Cheap guitars can do that, even if rarely, but then I'd have to replace the nut for bad spacing or adjust the intonations...some small things to make it play properly. Again, No! Everything is spot on out the box. Even if I didn't hit the tone I was expecting the build of this guitar is top notch, plastic parts not withstanding. Even the cheapest parts nowadays seem to miles ahead of just a few years ago. I'm sure as it adjusts to the Arizona climate I'll have to adjust the neck, but that's true for any guitar made of wood. I'd be raving about this guitar if it were cheaper, because it feels like it's among the top of that price range, but it sounds like it's expensive...
I've bought a few guitars in my time, not too many, but for me this is my first Ibanez, my first shredder, and the best value for dollar I ever spent on a guitar. Hands Down!

Got this on a whim as it has a reverse headstock and all is blacked out. I had some Seymour Duncan Black Winter pickups so those were going in. The stock ones are ok but not for me. I also picked up some DR strings in black of course, and this thing sings. My first Ibanez and cannot believe how the neck feels. Smooth and fast and easy to get up on the neck. Great cheap guitar to put upgrades in if you want too or just spend more and get what you want in them. Me I like cheap and then upgrade. Thanks to Chris Cruz for sending everything out super fast as always. Thanks man.

Before I start my review, I want to say thank you Dave for making this happen! I got this as a birthday present. I absolutely love this guitar! It plays great and it sounds good! I really like the reverse headstock, because since it provides extra tension on the low strings and less tension on the high strings, it's pretty much perfect for rhythm and leads. At least to me. It's also easier for me to tune it, because it feels more natural for me to reach the bottom tuners. The pickups in this guitar respond well to high gain and are very versatile. The neck is very comfortable for my hands. I have mine set up in Drop D and it's my main guitar to use in Drop D. I do heavily recommend this guitar.

Overall a great guitar for the price. The stock strings defiantly are not the best. So I went and replaced those, and it made the guitar a lot better. Pickups are okay, defiantly wouldn't mind replacing them, but for the price they are defiantly something that you don't have to replace. the reverse headstock is a great addition as well.

Longtime Sweetwater customer, first time reviewer:

I got this guitar on a whim because I thought it looked really cool compared to literally everything else in the low end $100-$300 price range. Figured it would be a great mod platform if nothing else. Had to wait a few months for it, kinda forgot I ordered it, and was pleasantly surprised when I recently got a shipping notification.

Lo and behold: this guitar is absolutely great! I have fun and come up with new ideas every time I pick it up. The bridge pickup sounds great, neck pickup is a little lacking but not an issue for me. The maple neck is nice and comfy, and the frets don't need any work done at all. It stays in tune really well too! But, of course, it has to be said how mean this looks. It has better aesthetics than its Prestige counterparts, in my opinion. (hope an Ibanez rep reads this and takes the hint lol)

Really the only issue I have with it (hence the 4.5 stars) is a few weird nicks on the fretboard, which you don't really notice unless you look for them, and one weird spot on the body's finish where maybe it wasn't sanded enough? Idk, but don't really care. Thing is an absolute ripper for the price, and I honestly wish there were beginner level guitars this great when I started playing 14-ish years ago. Replace the nut, tuners, and pickups in this thing and I think you'd have yourself a true workhorse of a guitar. If you're a long time player, buy this and have some cheap fun. If you're a beginner, stop reading this and add it to your cart!

If you can do a setup yourself, then this is the guitar for you.
I only had to lower the action and oil the fretboard….it was severely dry.
Neck and frets are great. Tuners are good as well. I thought id have to change them to locking tuners and replace the pickups, but actually I see no reason at this point. I have plenty of guitars, some more then 3X the $ then this one and guess which one I play the most.