GRG170DX Review

Don't settle for less. With Ibanez less bucks doesn't mean less looks or less tone. The GRG170DX features a maple GRG neck, basswood body, 24 medium frets, FAT 10 bridge, sharktook inlay, and much more!

Features:	8.4
Sound:	8.6
Action:	8.6
Reliability:	8.8
Impression:	8.6
Overall rating:	8.6
Users rating:	8.7
Comments:	121

Featured review by: unregistered, on june 19, 2006

Price paid: $ 276.5

Purchased from: Robertville Music Shop

Features: The guitar was made in 2006 and it was made Japan I am pretty sure. It has 24 Medium size frets with a rosewood fingerboard and a maple thin neck. The body is made of basswood. It has a gloss black finish which is really beautiful but easy to stamp your fingerprints on it so it's pretty annoying. The body is an RG style body. The bridge is a FAT10 non-locking floating tremolo. There is one volume control and one tone control with a 5-way pickup selector switch. Fingerboard inlays are Ibanez classic sharktooth which I like very much. Pickup configuration is H/S/H. The features are perfect for me except I would love to have a locking floyd rose tremolo instead of a FAT10. // 9

Sound: It suits up to my style of music perfectly. I play all kind of rock like: death metal, heavy metal of metal or simply hard rock. The guitar sounds perfect to these styles. The bridge pickup is really good for distortion and sounds fat. The neck pickup sounds perfect for solo work beyond 12th fret. The guitar sounds really nice clean. I use a Ibanez IBZ10G guitar amplifier which has really good distortion and works very well with my guitar. When I crank up the distortion it's pretty noisy and sounds bright and rich fat sound. Overall I love the sound. // 10

Action, Fit & Finish: The action was one of the best I have experienced from the first day I got it and it's still the same(I have it since 1 month). It plays easily and dosen't require a lot of effort. The pickups were adjusted correctly I think since I don't know much in pickups. All is perfect. The frets are perfect, the routing is perfect, the bridge is perfect. The finish is a beautiful gloss black. It was really nice out of the factory since right now, it has many fingerprints on it. It's so easy to put your fingerprints on that finish. // 10

Reliability & Durability: This guitar works very well in live conditions. I only experienced that in one little show but I think that it would work really nice. All of the hardware look like it will last. The strap buttons are exceptional. They are bigger than on other guitars. That holds the strap better. Reducing the chance of guitar falling which can damage lot of things. I depend on it 100%. Nothing could harm my playing in a gig. I mean it's so easy to play! And like I said it many times, the finish is too much subject to put your fingerprints on! I have to wipe it really often. But when it is wiped, the finish is as much beautiful as it was coming out of the factory. // 10

Impression: I play all kinds of metal and heavy rock and the guitar works well with all those styles. The guitar distorted sound is perfect for music like: Metallica, Children Of Bodom, Avenged Sevenfold etc. On the clean channel, it works perfectly for classical or western etc. I've been playing since Christmas 2005 and we are in June 2006. So it is about 6 months. I also own a Mansfield acoustic guitar which plays really great. I also own a Qwik Tune Automatic Guitar Tuner. If for whatever reason, I get to don't have my guitar no more I would buy a same one because I got use to playing with it and with it, I am playing exceptionnaly good and I don't want to lose that playing. And I am saving some money for a good quality metal distortion pedal so I don't want to waste my money on really expensive guitars. My likes and dislikes on my guitar: Likes; Sharktooth fingerboard inlays, pickups, easy action, wood resonance, tone. Dislikes; FAT 10 Bridge. I can not change guitar settings except going in dropped D due to the tremolo bridge. I chose this guitar because it plays great and looks great and has a reasonable price. And for the price, you get a lot of good quality. The only thing I wished it had is a floyd rose locking tremolo system. Overall, I like very much my guitar and for now, it is the best I've played. It's a must have. // 10

overall: 9.8

Reviewed by: faust_damned, on february 19, 2007

Price paid: $ 283.5

Features: So, enter, stage right, the GRG170DX! My particular model is fairly new, 2005-made, in the lands of Indonesia. Right, now let's get to the basics, tackling each item in order. The guitar features a 24 medium - fret neck, which I can only classify as thick. The specs for the neck are detailed on the home website (which I encourage readers to check out); but, in comparison, a Peavey's neck as compared to this one is like stacking baby David against mother Goliath. It definitely needs time to sink in, but when you've got it mastered, boy, you are flying! The entire axe is made out of a single (as I gather, and if not, it shows tremendously fine bindig) piece of basswood, with a full-on black (in my particular case) finish. Featuring a Fat10 bridge, and incorporating a floating tremolo (to which aspect I shall return), a simple, "One volume + one tone knob" combination (simplicity does pay off; really) and a 5-way pickup selector that enables you to Switch in between the H/S/H layout, this guitar might be the quintessence of the affordable "metal axe"! Sadly, though, mine didn't come with any added accessories, leaving me to "fend for myself". Still, I don't think this can be a generalised issue. On the whole, the features of the guitar make it very appealing, their versatility earning the GRG 170 some 9 points. Why 9 and not 10? Well, because of it's neck, that in my case needed a little getting used to. I might chuck in here a complaint concerning the lack of jumbo or even medium-jumbo frets, but I'll leave it out, considering that: this guitar isn't really that suited for beginners, and medium frets mean faster action. // 9

Sound: To clear things up from the get-go: this axe can cut. Really. It'll cut your audience to shreds if you're not careful with it. Personally, we together play, or should I say, kill, anything that says black, death, grind, thrash or you-name-it metal. For classic-rock, blues, jazz or other lame attempts of mine, I set it aside. It really packs too much "oomph" for those musical genres (besides, my playing them isn't that great). What makes it churn out aggression is a reasonably good distortion pedal. In my case, I use a DigiTech RP50 guitar processor, custom-set to the distortion(s) of my liking. To emphasize, I played it during one rehearsal connected as follows: GRG170 - RP50 - a 1950 (yes, year of fabrication), Soviet-made, run-down equalizer with two 100 W speakers that were so out of use that the other guitar (no names given, this is an Ibanez review) was barely as loud as the drum part. The thing that made it howl was it's remarkable build, that, when cranked up to full volume, it absolutely overwhelmed the drums (indeed, I was caught playing out of time because I couldn't hear the drums properly). More recently, I play it through a Fender 65R (reverb is sweet), that took care of any inconveniences related to it's sound. Ok, take three. The tremolo arm. Well, this one is tricky. It has amazing versatility and ease of use (remember it "floats"), allowing even a friend of mine (guitarist for about two months) to bombdive, vibrate, bend or anything else that you wish like the pros. This ease of use can, however, lead to discomfort, as it again needs getting used to; if you plan on using it, make sure you're paying close attention to the hand holding it (I.e. the picking hand, unless some of you have three arms), and don't move it closer or farther from the body or you'l immediately find yourself "floating" and don't know where that came from. That being said, we move on. The axe's sound has a remarkable span. Without distortion, and the Switch placed in 1st position (that is, the uppermost) I stop and think whether Ibanez actually intended to create a "bass + guitar" combo. It actually permeates extremely deep and accurate, and has huge sustain (the lower you turn the tone knob, the more sustain you get). At the other extreme, switch in 5th position (lowest) and tone to the full, you get a very sharp, biting sound, actually ideeal for most black metal tracks; the sustain isn't overwhelming, but any more and it would've made me question whether something was wrong with the guitar itself; naturally, with distortion included. Without, it gives out a high, rich sound, slightly sacrificing the lows (but remember, tone is at the fullest, just crank it a notch down and you'll be fine). The middle pickup positions confer an edgy, thrash-like feel (especially combined with a little palm-muting), sacrificing neither tone not sound in the process. Flaws? Well, there is one. In 1st position with tone at the lowest and without distortion, the low strings tend to buzz, giving it a "slap-bass" feel. Still, this is only due to the fact that, at one point, I wanted to experiment with some "alternate tunings". Switching from E to B to E to B to E to B to E and everywhere in between over the course of 24 hours is surely going to have an effect on the tuners and on the string-length, mind you. Don't go doing this. Get a second guitar if you want a low tuning (such as B), and leave it on that note! Overall, the sound of the guitar is fully deserving of a 10. So:

- Music: fits like a metal glove (black, death, thrash, "etc" metal).
- Amps & Effects: DigiTech RP50, Fender 65R amp (currently).
- Tremolo: floating bombdives and easy handling.
- Sound: clean and clear or rough and dirty. Your choice, it delivers.
- Variety: from demonic sustain to slashing highs and all in between. // 10

Action, Fit & Finish: I've had little to no trouble in the shop whilst drooling at the guitar. Most experienced guitarists will scorn me for this (and rightfully so), but about 30-40% of my decision to buy it was made on account of it's looks. Still, it's factory set-up being overly satisfying, I went home carrying the first guitar I sat down to try out. Not many people, including myself, can say that about a guitar. Pick-up-wise, there was no reason to go out modifying their height. A great configuration, to which I only changed the neck pick-up with a DiMarzio (and that solely because I always had a thing for them). Still, the "sound" characteristics shown above are taken with the original pick-up in place (especially put back to give you, kind readers, an honest idea), so that doesn't interfere with the original pickup situation. The bridge was (and is, I haven't changed a thing to it) in superb condition, yet I must stress out once again that CARE is needed to handle the tremolo arm. Otherwise, great sound, was hardly a pitch out of tune after about one hour of quasi-constant tremolo-soloing (yes, I am becoming the new YJM, bow before me). As for the flaws, well, there are no apparent ones this far into use. The finish gets somewhat easily soiled with fingerprints (don't you wish humans would just stop letting out fat through their fingers? ), and the neck can get a little dirty at times, but with the proper care and attention the guitar needs, and minimal hygene (something like: "this is called s.o.a.p."), the axe will happily stay in shape for a lengthy period. All in all, a deserved 10 points to the GRG. // 10

Reliability & Durability: Live? Did you ask about performing live? It was built for Live performances. The GRG 170 practically fells the audience, the neighbours or anyone else that happens to be around you while playing. With looks to kill and power to match this guitar is, in my humble opinion, the closest you're going to get to some 4000-euro custom. In addition, I can safely say the hardware is rock solid. I accidentally dropped it from about a meter onto hard concrete, and all it did was chip a little off the bottom; the tuning, machine heads and, more importantly, pickups didn't suffer any shock what'soever due to the impact. Three days afterwards I was still firmly convinced that THAT hadn't happened, and if it hadn't been for the chipped side, I would still have thought so today. The strap buttons are dependable, fully; but take into account that it is a heavy guitar. I did the folly of placing the old Peavey strap onto the Ibanez; now, compare the weight of a 3 kg guitar to the GRG's 6. Needless to say it started to break about a month of use. So, heavy guitar, heavy strap. At a gig, I normally show with only my trusted axe at my side; all the others have about two guitars / basses with them at every show; me, with only the "bane" (affectionally named), reliable and assuring, give out as much as any of the others, and receive as much praise. So, in that sense, it is dependable. The finish, as I have mentioned before, is solid and quite thick; no nooks or crannies so far, and I'm waiting with horror for the day when it will start to chip away. I probably guess that'll occur about two to three years from now. For it's remarkable durability, I dub the GRG with yet another 10. // 10

Impression: Ah, yes, the part where subjectivity kicks in (have you noticed how "objective" this review was from the get-go? ). The styles of music I play, as I mentioned earlier, are mostly the Metal subgenres, with an occasional pull of a bluesish pentatonic. To me, this guitar fills every need I might have concerning any and all "heavy" music. It simply molds itself to any need I might have, and fills it in style. Sure, I DO have that Peavey Raptor as well, using it as a practice guitar, but the GRG will remain foremost. If I had had a question to ask before I'd bought it, then that question would irreversibly be: "Does it come as a "2 for 1" special?"... and if it were - forbidden be the thought - lost; or worse - stolen, then I'd definitely get another one. Simply put, this is my guitar. What I love most about it is it's demeanor. I compared it to the Raptor: whilst the latter is an extremely comfortable guitar, quite literally screaming "play me!" (I don't speak "guitar", though, sadly), the Ibanez stands firm, proud and distinguished, with a superior look on it's face; It took me a while before I could subdue and befriend it, unlike the Peavey's "I go with anyone" attitude. Yet that's what the beauty of taming is all about. What do I hate about it? Possibly everything, possibly nothing. But the thing that ticks my nerves, still, is the aforementioned buzzing frets (though, I reiterate, that is not a fault of the builder). And, lastly, my favourite feature of the guitar is, as you might not have guessed, the neck. 24 medium frets of sizzling speed, Ultra-fast picking and high screams, on a fast and responsive neck. That is, ultimately, what the GRG 170 is all about. Versatility and adaptability, all with an affordable price tag. // 10

overall: 6.8

Reviewed by: cjlane, on june 16, 2009

Price paid: A$ 240

Purchased from: Intermusic Bondi

Features: My Ibanez GRG170DX was made in 2008 in China. The guitar has 24 medium frets on a rosewood fingerboard with Shark tooth inlays and is a 25.5" scale length. The grain of the fingerboard wood is quite impressive and the Shark tooth inlays look nice but could of been put on a little smoother; the frets are cut perfectly though the 19th fret on the D string is dead and ultimately unplayable. The body is a solid-top basswood construction and is finished in candy apple with the Standard polyurethane seal found on most instruments in this price range. The body on this guitar is quite thick and pretty heavy, though the finish is nice and the polyurethane seal is pretty thick and hard to scratch. It is a conventional double-cutaway RG body style that lets you access all the frets with ease. This is a great strong-point of the instrument. The bridge is Ibanez stock FAT10 non-locking vibrato bridge and the instrument uses passive electronics. The bridge is rather bad, it doesn't stay in tune at all and because of the configuration of it, changing the tuning on one string puts all the strings out of tune. The controls allocated on this guitar are your Standard volume/tone layout with a 5-way selector Switch. The tone control rolls off fast at about half-way then slows down and requires more force to turn it, a little strange. The tip of the selector Switch isn't glued on a fell off pretty quickly. The pickup configuration of this guitar is humbucker-single-humbucker that uses Ibanez Powersound 1 & 2 pickups for the humbuckers and an Ibanez Powersound S for the middle single-coil. The pickups aren't amazing but are decent for what you're paying, though the humbuckers are terrible for clean tones and lose alot of clarity. The tuners are stock Ibanez non-locking tuners. These tuners don't help at all with the tuning issues of this guitar. The guitar did not include any accessories. // 6

Sound: The sound of this guitar caters to my music style perfectly, I play alot of hard rock, classic rock, grunge, metal and the pickup configuration is quite versatile. I am playing this guitar through a Marshall MG15CD amplifier without effects. The humbuckers are dead silent but as you would come to expect with the single-coil, it is very noisy. The single-coil really shines when using the clean setting on my amplifier and so does both the Single/Humbucker combinations and the bridge humbucker works nicely for distortion, though it's not amazing by an extent.. The guitar has quite a rounded-out bright tone to it. The guitar can make a variety of tones from Acoustic-like cleans to hard forms of metal. That said it doesn't do any of them spectacularly really. // 7

Action, Fit & Finish: The guitar was set-up quite nicely, though the dead fret was quite a disappointment. The positive side is that the action was very nice for me. The pickups were adjusted fine and need no further tweaking. The bridge was routed fine though the clench that the springs hold onto at the back of the guitar was scratched up quite a bit for a new guitar, doesn't matter too much though it makes it seem like it was a used instrument. The guitar came with few flaws, though the ones it did come with were a bit of red paint high up on the neck, a stiff but slippery tone control (quite an oxymoron), a dead fret and a small dent in the neck. Besides this the guitar didn't suffer the many problems of poorly cut fret wire or a bad nut. // 7

Reliability & Durability: In reality, this guitar would withstand Live playing, though it really isn't the kind of guitar you'd want to play Live at a serious level. The hardware probably wont last, just because it does feel quite cheap and almost plastic-like. The strap buttons are solid but strap locks are a must for this guitar. This guitar has never failed on me so I suppose I can depend on it but at the same time, I would bring a backup to this at a gig for sure. The finish is polyurethane and could withstand much abuse, I predict it would not easily wear off. // 8

Impression: As I mentioned earlier I play alot of rock genres and some metal, the pickup configuration of this compared to a Stratocaster or the likes is quite handy, two humbuckers really helps when you need that raw, heavy sound. So in short, yes, this is a good match. I have been playing for about 6 months but I had previous experience with guitars being a bass player. My other gear is my bass which is a Squier Affinity Precision Bass and my Marshall MG15CD as I mentioned earlier. Before I purchased this I wish I had asked more about the tuning stability and the bridge, I think I'm much more keen on a non-vibrato bridge as it is simpler in design and will stay in tune better. If this guitar was stolen or lost, I would buy something else, it is a nice guitar somewhat, but there's so much more out there. I love the fret access of this guitar, it's superb. I hate the tuning stability the most about this guitar and my favourite features would probably be the Shark tooth inlays. They aren't the best quality, but it is a really cool feature for an instrument of this price. // 6

Reviewed by: unregistered, on may 22, 2006

Price paid: $ 183

Purchased from: Ebay

Features: // 8

Sound: Bridge pickup: fat and loud. This produces a very noisy rock/metal sound that fits perfectly for bands such as Rage Against The Machine and Black Sabbath. No hiss and very useable. Middle pickup: Clear. Essentially the acoustic sounding pickup. Very very effective for chordal work. Sounds great for acoustic work such as certain Babyshambles, Libertines, Oasis and the ilk. Does get a hiss occasionally, but not too huge. Probably isn't aided by my old amp. Neck pickup: bright. Extremely sweet sounding pickup for solo work beyond the 12th fret. It does sound a little muddy playing 1-5th frets on occasion, but the tone and sound at the other end of the neck is beautiful. Sounds fantastic playing Hendrix, Kravitz and solo's from Strokes etc. Have also used it to good effect on some Clapton tracks. There is the option to mix pickups (such as half neck humbucker, half single pickup) but I generally find these too weak and indistinctive yo be used effectively. I'm running it through an old Sammick 25W amp and it gets me a nice range of sounds, giving me the ability to play Indie, rock, metal et al. I doubt it's abilities for funk, but blues sounds great. A surprising variety of sounds and never fails to surprise. Obviously, the sound of this pales in comparison to guitars like the Ibanez PGM301 etc, but it's a completely different price range. The pickups are of a high quality for such a cheap guitar and there's alot of potential for upgrading. // 8

Action, Fit & Finish: The action wasn't too high, but certainly not low out of the box. Even this setting though yields a fast playing guitar, as the renowned Ibanez neck is superb. The one piece neck is fast, surprisingly so for such a cheap guitar. Very thin and wider than guitars such as Les Pauls. It makes for a very playable guitar, especially for lead and solo work. After playing my acoustic, it feels a dream to play. The pickups were moderately well setup, particularly the bridge and neck. The middle pickup may need a bit of fiddling to get the best sound out of it and least hiss, but it's only of concern if you wish to play acoustic work on it. The finish on the body is attractive, although it does tend to get covered in finger prints easy. One notable thing is that the guitar holds tune exceptionally well. The whole guitar is very playable indeed, much more so than the majority that I've played. // 9

Reliability & Durability: I've had to tighten the connections around the jack input a couple of times, but this isn't exactly hard. Asides from that, everything about this guitar feels solid and that it will last. I wouldn't use this to gig as a main guitar, but I'm going to use mine as my second guitar once I've changed the pickups. It will be backing up my Ibanez PGM301. // 8

Impression: I play a variety of music and have found this guitar is very effective at letting me vary without changing settings. A versatile guitar indeed, not sounding out of place for acoustic, metal, rock or Indie work. It's certainly alot of guitar for the money and I can't reccomend it enough as a first guitar. I'm glad I had this as my introduction to guitar playing and it's served me well and will continue to do so. If it were stolen, I wouldn't buy another one, I'd probably get an Ibanez RGA121, but that's not to say I don't love it. Like I say, I plan on upgrading it and using it as a second guitar, rather than buying one fresh which wouldn't cost much more overall. // 8

overall: 7

Reviewed by: stephen_rettie, on december 16, 2008

Features: This was my first guitar the Ibanez GRG170DX, 24 frets, HSH pickup set up, and 1 tone and 1 volume control. The bridge was a synchronized tremelo with whammy bar. This was a good started guitar due to it's decent amount of features, it allowed me to sample a lot of different aspects of guitars to see what I liked and didn't. I found out the difference between single coils and humbuckers, and how I personally handled thin necks. It also allowed me to sample many styles of music, with the versatile pickup configurations, easy downtuning, but with a whammy bar if I needed it.

This was a great beginner guitar as it taught me about myself as a played and allowed me to find my style quite early on. This was mainly down to it's respectable array of features, I cannot mark it down for that but I can say none of these features were particularly good. // 7

Sound: The great thing about this guitar was that it allowed for most styles, in looks and sound. Which is perfect for a beginner, the pickups were medium output and by no means good, but much better then some guitars in the same price range. I was playing through an MG30DFX at the time and I'm finding myself giving it more credit as I now realise what a truly aweful amp that was and the sound was less the guitar's fault then I had thought at the time.

This is a beginner guitar and will most likely be paired with a beginner amp, which almost condemns it to forever sound bad, but I think there I more to this guitar and if played through a decent amp it would hold up well and keep it's versatility. // 5

Action, Fit & Finish: The finish was it's greatest boon in my opinion. I had it in blue and everyday I picked up that guitar because it looked so appealing, It's important for new players to WANT to play their guitars and I think that's why I strayed away from (and still do stray away from) black guitars. The action was a little high when I first bought it, but my teacher fixed that and the pickups were fine in terms of height. // 8

Reliability & Durability: I played this guitar everyday when I owned it and nary a scratch or scuff on it the finish is nice and dark and even if it were to be scratched it would be hard to see. Quite susceptible to smudges, but this is hardly a major issue. The strap button did came off but that's an easy fix (and an important one to learn, although I doubt Ibanez made faulty srap buttons on purpose). Had I been more outgoing and actually gigged when I used this then yes I believe it would have held up. I played with friends thrashing around and it never failed me it was a reliable guitar. // 8

Impression: I've been playing for 3 years now and I must say I couldn't have chosen a better guitar at the time, a better amp? Yes. Now could I find a better guitar on eBay? Probably. But for the time and with my experience (none it was my first guitar) I did myself a favor in choosing this over a Squier. You may have gathered from the past tense of this review I sold this guitar, and this was because it's a beginner guitar, a good beginner guitar, but something that will be upgraded eventually. // 7

overall: 5

Reviewed by: JP21, on august 07, 2008

Price paid: € 130

Purchased from: Vine Music

Features: This guitar has a basswood body and rosewood fingerboard. 24 medium frets, fat 10 bridge and floating tremelo. It has 3 pickups, 2 humbuckers and one single coil. Powersound 1 humbucker at the neck, powersound single coil in the middle and Powersound 2 humbucker at the bridge. Chrome hardware with sharktooth inlays. Tuners are standard issue. Include 5-way selector, one tone and one volume contol. When I bought it I got it as a custom package from Vine Music (Eversham, UK) with cables, gig bag, Indie Sky Blue 10w amp and Korg tuner. // 7

Sound: I play mainly metal, ranging between black and death metal (Dimmu Borgir and In Flames) to some of the lighter sides of rock (30 Seconds To Mars). Most of the time this stays in either drop C or drop Db tuning with the thinkest Ernie Ball strings you can buy. Turn the Tone to Nil and you get a thick crunch sound, so long as you send it through some good distortion, sounds great on Line 6 spider III, Ran it through a Mesa Dual Rectifer and also a Peavey 5150, playes great. Turn the tone up slightly and it can do some good thrash sounds, very modern tone, hit the Dragonforce sound well I though. The middle pickup I found to buzz a little bit on high gain and lacked the jazzy feal of a Telecaster's single coil when on clean, the neck pickup does shread well. This guitar was my first guitar and I do love it, but after a year you will start to realise that that's all it is, a first guitar, it has better sound than most first guiatrs but if you want a profsonal sounding guitar, look higher up the range. overall good metal guitar with some nice clean sounds, so long as you are willing to experiment with the different tones you can get out of it. // 7

Action, Fit & Finish: The guitar has great action for a guitar in this price range, you can do power chords, fst legatos and some amazing tapping, put an acousic pedal to it and do some open chords, still no real problem. Ibanez do make good guitars at good prices but the GRG170DX is a Gio model, it is a beginers guitar. This guitar has a very simple floating bridge made by Ibanez themselves, and it is awful, truly awful. The Tremolo bar doesn't scew in, it slots in, so lean forward or turn while playing and it will fly out. Also the guitar has no locking mechanism on it. If you do manage to get it into tune it wont stay in tune for very long. I have actualy fixed the tremolo so it doesnt't move at all, that solved some of the tuning instability. // 4

Reliability & Durability: My guitar has a faulty input socket, after a wile it does cut out, that could just be mine though. this guitar (beeing made of basswood) is heavey so could do you some damage in the long run. I have used it when practising with my band and also in the studio, but the only time I would use it onstage is on the last song so I could smash it up on the stage. It's a shame really, has a good sound for a cheap guitar but if yours is anything like mine, it will cut out. I've taken it all apart and re-built it and that didn't help. // 2

Impression: Overall for a beginers guitar it is better than a Squire Stratocaser, especially for metal. But don't take it further than the bedroom, it's a practice guitar, I'm my opinion if you are considering getting one of these as a second or stage guitar, get one of the Ibanez RG's or better yet an S model. Ibanez are a great company and I love there gear, even this guitar, but this one is a beginers guitar, I cannot stress that enough. It has lasted over a year and it is built like a rock so if you drop it, it will be fine. If it were lost or stolen I would get an Ibanez RG or if I could get my hands on one, an Ibanez V Blade. // 5

overall: 9

Reviewed by: JamieUK, on january 05, 2009

Price paid: £ 179.99

Purchased from: http://www.guitarampkeyboard.com

Features: The guitar that I purchased was only made 2 months before I bought it, Indonesia, October 2008. It has a basswood body which adds extra weight to the guitar. It has 24 Standard frets with a rosewood fingerboard and a maple thin neck.It has a Red sparkle finish which I must say looks brilliant for this guitar but it can attract fingerprints. The body is an RG style body. The bridge is a FAT10 non-locking floating tremolo. There is one volume control and one tone control with a 5-way pickup selector Switch. Pick-ups are as Hum bucker-Single-Hum bucker.Fingerboard inlays are Ibanez Shark tooth which I prefer over the Standard circle inlays. The action on the guitar is top notch for what you play // 8

Sound: The main music that I prefer to play is metal/hard Rock. This guitar suits my style of music fine. I plugged it into my Boss ME-20 and when I added a distortion effect it sounded beautiful.. With the metal distortion I could produce sounds that Metallica and AC-DC make. When you turn the Tone control all the way down the bass on the guitar becomes pretty high. If kept the other way and had the pick-ups to the front hum bucker it produces a rich beautiful sounds. // 10

Action, Fit & Finish: When I got the guitar it was already tuned up and no damage. The bridge was fine. It still had tags attached to it from when it was made. The guitar contained no flaws when it arrived. The action on it is amazing and you can play solos with ease // 10

Reliability & Durability: This guitar can withstand Live playing without a doubt. The hardware seems to be set in place and wont be moved unless forced. The strap buttons are good just have the right strap. I would play Live with out a backup as this guitar is just amazing for the price you pay for it. The finish will last years. // 7

Impression: I prefer to play metal and this is an impressive match. I've only been playing for about a year. This guitar was a replacement for an Encore Stratocaster copy. I researched this product before I bought it so I knew it was good. If this guitar was lost or stolen, I wouldn't replace it but it a black colour. I love all the features about this guitar. I didn't really like the Stratocaster shape but when I saw this the dislike when and I really like it now. I compared it against a Vintage Les Paul and I loved this Ibanez over the Vintage. For the price you pay for this guitar, you would be stupid not to buy it // 10

overall: 9.8

Reviewed by: Slayer0106, on february 10, 2009

Purchased from: Willis Music; Louisville, Kentucky

Features: Made in: 2006, Japan. Frets: 24, medium. Laminated top. Fingerboard: Bound Rosewood. Neck: Maple. Body: Basswood. Bridge Style: Dual-way tremlo. Control Knobs: 1 volume, 1 tone. Tuners: Non-locking. Pick-ups: 2 humbuckers, 1 single coil. Bridge Pickup. Name: Powersound. Model No: PSND2. Construction: Humbucking. Magnet: Ceramic. Description: High output with enhanced harmonics. Neck Pickup. Name: Powersound Model No: PSND-S. Construction: Single Coil. Magnet: Alnico. Description: High output with complete clarity. Neck Pickup. Name: Powersound. Model No: PSND1. Construction: Humbucking. Magnet: Ceramic. Description: High output in the neck position with no “muddiness. Mine came with no accessories because I bought it guitar only. // 10

Sound: This guitar from Ibanez is the only guitar that can satisfy my techno-death metal playing style. I am currently using the Peavy 15-watt 8" vypyr series amp, it comes with 24 different amp models and 11 program effects(which by the way are stronger than their pedal counter-parts). The volume knob on this guitar is on the lower side of the sensitivty level of volume knobs. You really have to turn this knob to see a difference in the volume. This guitar can also range from a deep rich acoustic, to a screeching and I mean screeching death metal. All 5 pick-up configurations change the sound output of the guitar, use the neck pick-up for a deep low sound. Use the middle pick-up for solos/major picking songs. Use the bridge pick-up for the effects on the solos. // 9

Action, Fit & Finish: The guitar was set up fairly well, but since it had been in store for a few months it's strings were old, it was out of tune, and dusty. So I cannot tell you anything about it's out-of-factory condition. The pick-ups on this guitar were set up very nicely, except the middle pick-up is a bit high up for my playing style and picking style. There were no issues with the guitar when I bought it. // 10

Reliability & Durability: This guitar is definalty able to withstand Live playing, and is so amazing that you could also use it for recording. The hardware really seems like it will last a very long time, but I am a very parinoid person so I changed the strap clips out for some strap-locks. Yes, I would use it at a gig without a back-up, the only thing I could think of going wrong with the guitar would be the strings going out of tune. This finish is amazing the high-gloss is basicly a mirror, just try to keep a micro-fiber cloth on hand to keep off the fingerprints and smudges. So long as you keep the finish clean with that micro-fiber cloth it will last for a very long time. // 10

Impression: I play, as I stated above, techno-death metal and I believe that this guitar is an amazing match for me. I'll just have to pick up a synth pedal at my music store. I have been screwing around with a guitar in general for about 6 years, put only started to seriously play a few months ago. I also own a Peavey Milestone 2 Series 4-string bass, a Peavey 115-watt 12" speaker bass amp, a 8" 12-watt Peavey vypyer series guitar amp, a 1964 Fender-Harmony acoustic guitar. I cannot think of anything that I should have asked that I didn't ask before I bought this guitar. If I did have this guitar stolen then I would either 1: buy it again 2: get the next guitar up the RG series really depend on the amount of money I have on hand. I really love everything about this guitar, the only potential thing I can find that is not so good about this guitar is that volume knob I was talking about earliar. I actualy compared this guitar to a 1400 dollar Gibson Les Paul, and a 1200 dollar Stratocaster, and this guitar dominated both of them. I do wish it had a 7th string, and the Edge-Pro Tremlo and some string locks. But hey you can't have everything that Ibanez offers in a 250 dollar guitar. // 10

overall: 8.2

Reviewed by: SlayingDragons, on october 16, 2009

Price paid: $ 250

Purchased from: Make 'n music

Features: I don't know what year it was made in, but I'm pretty sure it was made in '09, in the distant lands of Indonesia. This guitar has 24 medium frets, with an grg-style neck. The neck is a little bigger then the rg necks, but feels similar to them. The body is made of basswood, with a maple neck and rosewood fingerboard, with sharktooth inlays. I got mine in the jewel blue finish, and it's brilliant! The metallic flakes look amazing in the right light. It has an RG style body, (this entire guitar is based on the RG,) with a FAT 10 floating bridge. It has passive electronics, with the Standard powersound pickups. It has just two knobs, for volume and tone, and a 5-way pickup Switch. Standard Ibanez non-locking tuners, and it came with a tremolo arm. // 9

Sound: It suits my playing style really well! I play stuff like hendrix, led zepplin, vai, Metallica, Megadeth, Children Of Bodom, Slayer, Parkway Drive, etc. I currently use a Roland Micro Cube, which makes it sound amazing. The powersound pickups are average. Nothing special, but they're not too bad. It's not noisy or anything, except for when your using just the single coil, but that's normal for single coil pickups. They sound bright, but they have a slightly cheap sound... not exactly the richest sound ever. This guitar can make a wide variety of sounds, from jazz to death metal. Very wide veriety. // 7

Action, Fit & Finish: This guitar was well set up when I bought it, be it by the shop or by the factory... The pickups were set up well. The bridge was properly routed. The only thing was the tone knob and the tip of the pick-up selector fell off, but that's easily fixed with superglue. No flaws in the guitar besides that, though. // 9

Reliability & Durability: This guitar will withstand Live playing, as long as you don't pound on the tremolo. this guitar has some slight tuning stability problems, but as long as you don't do Van Halen dive bombs or use the trem like Steve Vai, you should be fine. The hardware is very good, will definitely last. The strap buttons are bigger on this then most guitars, and hold the strap very well, which I like. I wouldn't use this for a gig without backup, just because I like to be prepared for the worst. But if I had to, it could take it. The finish is pretty good, it's really solid and thick. probably won't wear off for a long time. // 8

Impression: This guitar is a good match for my style of music. I've been playing for a little over a year at this point, and I own a starcaster, which I bought this guitar to upgrade from. I also use a Roland Micro Cube at the moment. If this guitar was stolen, I would be extremely pissed, and would hunt down the man that stole it. I might buy it again, but I would probably guy something else, just to experiment with. // 8

overall: 9

Reviewed by: Boomjosh, on march 26, 2008

Price paid: $ 256.2

Purchased from: www.Gak.co.uk

Features: The guitar has a GRG neck with very cool sharktooth inlays. The body is made of basswood and is finished in glossy black. there are 24 medium sized frets on this guitar and from what I have experienced the intonation is fairly good. the pickups are Ibanez ones it features one humbucker in the middle with also a bridge and a neck pickup. The selecter Switch allows for 5 different combinations between pickups. The bridge is an Ibanez fat10. The body is a great shape and is fairly deep cut near the neck so that the higher frets cn be easily accessed. Overall the features are are quite good and considering the price of the guitar I would say very good. // 9

Sound: I play a lot of neoclassical metal and metal/fusion (think Dream Theater, Malmsteen, Becker) and this guitar suits my style brilliantly! the neck pickup is great for those fast sweeps and solos above the 12th fret and gives a great ambient clean sound. the bridge pickup is great for heavy riffs and infact I use this pickup for just about everything apart from screaming solos, really good realiable piickup. As for the humbucker, well this is the guitars downfall, it delivers a horrid buzzing when used and the sound is fairly empty, it is also very high and often gets in the way when playing (so I lowered it). Other than that though the pickups give a great sound, but don't be mistaken in thinking that this guitar only delivers in the matal department it can easily adapt to any musical style; blues, rock, jazz you name it and I can assure you it will deliver. I use this guitar with a really poor Stagg amp and a Zoom G1X effects pedal and it sounds great you wouldn't believe it was coming out of that shit amp. Overall a great sounding guitar but that humbucker does affect it's mark. // 9

Action, Fit & Finish: When I got this guitar the action was nice and low but not too low so that it rings on the frets. The pickups as I mentioned before were all well highted, apart from that humbucker. The finish was nice and shiny too; loves fingerprints. overall everything seemed well. // 9

Reliability & Durability: Nice big strap buttons o yes haha these seem reliable enough. I would definitly be confident gigging with this guitar it seenms very reliable in all aspects. But there is one thing I have a hang-up about with this guitar. Over whammy on this bridge and your going to end up half a step down from what you were when you started quite annoying really but I've learnt to not use the whammy bar so it's not too big a problem anymore. // 9

Impression: Great guitar for any style of music. Would definitly recommend it to anyone wanting a cheap guitar the packs a punch above it's worth. If this guitar was stolen I probably wouldn't get it again as I am getting the Vai Ibanez JEM7 in a couple of months, but if I wasn't I probably would. All I wish is that this guitar had a good humbucker but to be honest it's great as it is, if you can look past the humbucker. // 9

overall: 9

Reviewed by: lilmexicano_12, on february 04, 2009

Price paid: $ 256.00

Purchased from: Sam Ash

Features: Mine is a 2008 model fairly new got it christmas eve. It was made in Indonesia, with everything coming amzingly how I wanted it. It has 24 jumbo frets wiht the cool Sharktooth Inlays on a Rosewood fretboard and a light weight basswood body. With a laminiated top, with a Black High Closs finish (which gets annoying by the way). Looks Sexy though)Featuring a double Cut away Body with Powrsound Pickups and a FAT 10 tremolo. A 5-way selctor Switch wiht the amazing HSH setup. // 9

Sound: I Play metalcore/deathcore msuci from As I Lay Dying to Parkway Drive to Cradle Of Filth.etc. So It Catches those tones quite easily with it running through a Peavey Rage 158 (Transtube) wiht a Danelectro Distortion Pedal. The EQ on my amp sounds amazing wiht the Low-10, Mid-2, High-10 which gives it a beefy edgy metal sond to it. And With the pedal giving just the right amount of high gain I want the 5 way selector catches the tones amazingly. It Produces the tones amazingly bright and hte Harmonics sound awesome. // 10

Action, Fit & Finish: Well since it was Sam Ash it was hanging there just staring at me (through the finish of course... ) And the setup was great, no tto low or to high.th rpickups did not need to be lowered or raised they were amazing.Th only thing I don't like is that since it's a HSH setu guitar there's not much room to pick. But other than that it was amzing. The finihs was quite annoying since I gto black gloss. The fingerprints are quite easy to show up on it. // 8

Reliability & Durability: fro some reason this happens wiht al my guitars there's a chiup in every single side and on this guitar it was quite easily chipped showing the wood of the guitar. but quickly covered it with sharpie:). The strap buttons are larger than my Squier and not easily falling off but I would recomment that you get strap loks just fro the security to do flips and shit on it. iI Have used it as my main guitar (siimply because I would never use my Squier for Live play come on... ), but there was no feedback or buzzing it was setup amazingly at so it sounds great. // 10

Impression: It matches my Style of music perfectly with the right amps such as a Vox or a amrshall even better and a ML2 Boss... man sounds like heaven in your hands. I've been playing for bout 1 1/2 yaer now and it sounds great wiht a lespaul/fender/ibanez tones. I would have liked a Floyd Rose but for a guitar this much suits it perfectly. If It Was Lost I'll be sure to buy another hands down (maybein another color) but defenitly the same one. // 8

overall: 8.4

Reviewed by: MarkCP, on february 21, 2008

Price paid: $ 289.95

Purchased from: Musicians Friend

Features: 24 frets, all great, my fingers are fat, and I can still wail away on the 24th, which impresses me to no end. The floating bridge was ok, but since I don't use a whammy bar (hate them), kind of useless, and after I put a third spring in, completely useless. I am very picky about the tuning of my strings, and it only kept a tune for about two or three days, so I installed the spring and now it needs minor tweaks and adjustments every two weeks or so, even when it's left in the cold. The knobs are wonderful, very tough, and they don't just keep turning on a spring, they actually stop, which is nice. The switch, it's a switch, and it works fine. The pickups are great, it's H/S/H, and I'm not sure of the particulars but the neck pickup is really nice. I play ska and a lot of soft stuff on that, and it's perfect, nice and clear, but mellow, not twangy in the least. The bridge is pretty hot, could be a little sharper, but it's fine for the stuff I do. I never use the single-coil (middle), I never saw the use of it, it's quiet and has no distinctive personality, just kinda there. The only problem I have is the low E. It buzzes. Going to change the strings, but it's buzzed throughout all my other string changes. It's also heavy as a tank, but I don't really mind that. // 9

Sound: I play ska, metal, soft rock, some country, funk, jazz, it can handle all of it. No Doubt about it. I don't use very complicated stuff, just some 15w Ibanez brand amp I got with my first guitar (the little thing surprised me though, the distortion is great, it's nice and loud, and the equalizer knobs are nice too). Until about two weeks ago I was using a cheap FAB Metal Distortion pedal, which sounded great through it (I don't recommend the pedal though). When I'm with my band though, I use my friend's Marshall (micced through a Yamaha PA) and a Boss ME-50 multi-effect pedal, and it sounds amazing (I highly recommend the ME-50, it's awesome). // 9

Action, Fit & Finish: Here's the kicker. It came to me and worked fine for about six months. Then I lowered the action and monkeyed around with the pickups. Just within the last month though, I took unscrewed the input because it was cutting out every once in a while, and the whole damn input fell out. The wires had been soldered on very badly, and because one wire had lots of tension, it snapped, and when the other wire was left with the whole weight of the input (all of an ounce) it snapped too. So at the moment, I use my friend's Hellraiser (heavan with six strings) because mine is out of service. Otherwise, the finish is amazing, deep blue with a very slight sparkle, just gorgeous, and everything else works like a charm. // 6

Reliability & Durability: Once I get my input fixed I imagine it will work until hell freezes over. The strap buttons are solid as rocks, would definitely go to a gig without a backup (mainly because I have no backup, but still, I'm sure it would do fine even if I did). Everything is great. // 10

Impression: This thing is great, it's absolutely gorgeous. Only the fact that it's input is shit, it's very heavy, and the low e buzzes, it's perfect, nothing to hate. If it were stolen I would probably not replace it, but not because it's not good, just out of curiosity for other guitars. // 8

Reviewed by: unregistered, on march 26, 2007

Price paid: $ 300.2

Purchased from: Local music store

Features: My Ibanez was built in China in 2006 if I remember correctly and it has a sparkling blur paintjob which seems to attract fingerprints. The neck is rosewood, with "shark tooth" inlays. It's an RG style body with a trem system, which in my opinion is the only downside of the guitar. It has 2 humbuckers in the neck and bridge with 1 single coil in between, all passive. The strap locks are huge which make it almost impossible for it to fall off the strap. It has one 5 way pickup selector with 1 volume and 1 tone knob. // 9

Sound: This guitar is perfect for my style of play which is metal. I am using a Vox DA15 amp, and occasionally a Boss DS1 distortion pedal. I use the bridge pickup almost exclusivly and I love the bite and edge that it gives to my sound. This guitar has a variety of sounds ranging from crushing drop-D chords to face melting screaming solos to lush clean sounds. // 10

Action, Fit & Finish: Right from when I got this guitar home the action was lower than Paris Hilton's IQ. With no fret buzz also! The pickups were fine and the bridge came floating but I play with it flush against the body so that was the only thing I changed. The guitar had absolutly no flaws from day 1. The controls were all snug and the pickup selector was quieter than my last guitar by far. // 10

Reliability & Durability: I haven't played Live with this guitar yet but I would without a second thought about it failing in some way. It's just a tank. And the finish seems like it will last forever, besides the one scratch by the neck, which I don't know how that happened. The strap buttons also are something else. Almost twice the size of the strap buttons on my old guitar, if I take my guitar strap off it's actually hard to put it back on because of the size of the friggin strap buttons! Which is a very good thing. // 10

Impression: I've been playing for a few years and my only other guitar was a Squier "Strat" so this guitar is a major jump up. I love the bite I get out of the bridge pickup on this guitar, the only thing besides the trem, that I don't like is the single coil pickup in the middle. My next guitar will be a 2 humbucker with a fixed bridge. The only thing I wish this guitar had was active pickups which I can arrange. // 10

overall: 8.8

Reviewed by: dudey5691, on february 20, 2007

Purchased from: Music123

Features: The FAT10 bridge makes tuning a bit harder because it is a spring tremelo, and any little movement causes the strings to go out of tune. The pickups aren't the best, but they work until you start using much better equipment, like a tube stack or something. I am replacing mine for the sake that I need more versitality in my tone, but they worked for the first 9 months. // 8

Sound: I play all types of rock; classic, emo, metalcore, and some thrash metal. This guitar suits all these styles fine, but you need to make sure equipment is right. When hooked up to my Crate GT30 and Boss DS-2, I can create the metal tone that I'm looking for with a few adjustments to the guitar's volume and tone. I use a Crate GT30 or Vox AD15VT. My pedals include a DigiTech RP80 and a Boss DS-2. The guitar is a bit high gain, and sometimes there is feedback, but nothing that muting the strings can't prevent. The guitar can pretty much play anything from AC/DC all the way to Disturbed. Although, if you want to play the heavier stuff you might need new pickups. // 9

Action, Fit & Finish: The guitar was setup perfectly when it came in; pickups, action, everything. the finish for black night can get fingerprints pretty easily, but that's easily taken care of. I can't complain about anything because it came setup exactly how I liked it. The bridge is again, if anything, the only problem, just because of the tuning thing, but problem solved if you don't use the tremelo so much. // 9

Reliability & Durability: I've played this guitar at all my gigs in my old band without a backup guitar. And I didn't need one for the sake that it was really reliable for the price. The hardware seems like it will last, although a few of the things could be replaced if you really wanted them to be. The finish takes pick scratches, but hardly noticeable in most cases. // 9

Impression: This guitar is good for basically any type of rock between classic and metal. I've been playing guitar for about 3 years, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone Who is on a budjet and needs a good guitar. It's designed as more of a beginner-intermediate guitar, but I've had several guitarist with 10+years of experience say that it was good for what it is. If it were stolen, I would probably not buy this particular guitar again. I'm not saying it's bad, but I'd like the mahoghany body of Ibanez RG321MGHN. I was asked by a friend if I wanted to borrow his Fender Stratocaster for a show, and I said "no" because I knew I liked this guitar more. Maybe it's just me, but this thing is probably one of the better guitars in the $200-$300 price range. I'd definitely recommend it, but if you had an extra $50 just get the RG321. // 9

overall: 8

Reviewed by: Quintessence153, on may 19, 2006

Purchased from: Brier & Hale Music

Features: The GRG170DX has a maple GRG neck with 24 medium frets and a rosewood fingerboard. I am a pseudo-lead player at the moment, so I would like some larger frets, but this was my favorite guitar out of the few the music store had in my price range. The Fat 10 bridge goes out of tune quite fast with excessive use, so I only use it for the occassional vibrato. The pickups don't really sound amazing, but they're pretty decent, and I have a really old, beat-up amp which doesn't help their case. The guys at the music store really seem to like me, so they threw in a bunch of free stuff with it (I.e. picks, strap, cables, gig bag, etc). // 8

Sound: I've been playing a few weeks shy of a year now, and I play pretty much any kind of rock or metal. That being said, this guitar suits me fairly well. I'm not yet good enough to play anything outrageously fast or showy, so it's a good match for my skill and experience. The basswood body gives the guitar a pretty good tone, and the pickups give me pretty good cleans from the neck position and good distortion from the bridge. I only use the middle singlecoil for the rare blues improvising, which it suits well. However, moving the guitar to the right place will get a lot of noise from the singlecoil. I'm told this is normal, but it's still annoying. // 8

Action, Fit & Finish: The finish and setup were all top-notch, except for a few flaws. First, the action was way too high. When I first learned how to bend, my fingers could actually fit completely underneath the surrounding strings. My teacher remedied this problem with a quick adjustment and his set of allen wrenches. When he was adjusting, he tried to tune up the truss rod as well, which had gone slightly off after seven months. Even after half an hour of adjusting, there was always a slight dip around the lower frets of the fifth and sixth strings. No big deal, but still always a very small thorn in my side. // 7

Reliability & Durability: This guitar will withstand live playing, assuming you care for it well. Hardware will last, but I'm told basswood is easily dented. I take good care of it, though. Only problem I've ever had at a live gig was my strap coming undone in the middle of the song, but that was the strap, not the guitar. I have since replaced the strap and now have no troubles. // 9

Impression: Overall, I'm quite happy with this guitar, mainly because I stick to playing chords and slow solos, nothing fast yet. I play it through my school's old Crate speakers (don't know the model) and a Zoom 505 II with excellent audience response. I chose this over a few other cheap Ibanez guitars, mainly because I liked the tremolo bar. Outside my aforementioned strap malfunction, my only issue with this guitar is how easily it collects dust and fingerprints. I have a microfiber cleaning cloth, which I must use before every gig, and sometimes in between songs when I get a break. It just gets so dusty and grimy that I can't resist the cloth. If it were lost or stolen, I would probably get something else with jumbo frets, and possibly a locking tremolo. As I advance in skill and gain some experience, I'll be looking to advance to something better. But it's okay for now. // 8

overall: 8.8

Reviewed by: Rythmist1, on august 01, 2007

Price paid: $ 256.2

Purchased from: Cowley Rd

Features: I got the axe January this year, as a present for by birthday. It's Jewel Blue with a black headstock and chrome hardware, bolt-on neck, and 24 jumbo frets. A PSND1 pickup is in the neck position, a PSNDS in the middle and a PSND2 in the bridge. A five-way selector Switch gives you a few variations on the 'Bucker or Single sound. The bridge is a pretty crappy FAT10, but it does the job. It also has some pretty mean inlays, which are like Jacksons' only cooler. I also got a Roland microcube in the deal (so in all £220), aswell as a load of picks, electronic tuner and gigbag. // 8

Sound: I mostly play Metal, and this guitar suites me perfectly. Just tune to drop C, put the amp into R-Fier, select bridge pickup and, there you go, perfect Killswitch Engage sound everytime. It doesnt't quite have the same low-end bite that caparisons have, but that's a bad comparison really. Basically any rhythm metal with distortion is great. Moving on to the single-coil, I never really use it, it hums FAR too much, it's just there to get in the way of my picking. The neck pu is abit trickier, don't use it for rhythm, espescially when downtuned. But then, when the leads come, it's just, well, boring. It doesn't scream, tis abit flat, you do get some occasional high points, nothing to shout about though. // 8

Action, Fit & Finish: The action, pickup height and bridge where all perfect, although I did lower the middle pu a little. I also blocked the bridge 1. So I don't have to worry about it bottoming out when I downtune and 2. sustain was improved slightly. A small thing that irritates me sometimes is the jack socket, it seems no matter how hard I tighten it, it always manages to unscrew itself. The finish WILL attract your fingerprints. You have been warned. // 9

Reliability & Durability: I think this axe could easily withstand gigging, only trouble is, I don't have a band. It's made like a tank. The strap buttons are huge, but it has fallen from me a few more times than I'd like it to, luckily I was quick enough to catch it. I have taken this thing with me everywhere, and it's still got a lot left in it. // 10

Impression: For the style of music I play, and the level that I am at, this guitar is perfect for me. I love it to bits. It is way better than any Strat copy, and lps just feel clumsy and difficult to play after that wicked thin neck. If it were stolen, I would get an RG, because of the FR tremelo and pickups ect, and I'm a bit more of an experienced player now. If you are a beginner, in a guitar shop looking for your first guitar and see one of these, buy it. // 9

overall: 9.8

Reviewed by: akack, on january 15, 2008

Price paid: $ 295

Purchased from: Musician's Mall

Features: A bought it in December '06, but it was made in '05 in Japan. It has 24 medium sized frets which suits me well and is one of the main reasons I picked this guitar over a Showmaster. I do a lot of soloing and the fret size, width and action is just right for me. The neck is on the thicker side but I think it has a Rosewood neck which your palm just glides clean across. It has a lovely glossy "Black Night" finish which is hard to not fawn over all the time. It gets finger prints easily but a little Min Cream polish cleans it right up. I couldn't find a pick guard for it so you have to be careful if you anchor while play. The body style is compact and smooth like the rest of the RGs and looks great Live. The basswood is great and the binding with the nexk is perfect. Don't chip it. It looks horrible. The bridge is a Standard FAT 10 bridge which was a real turn off for me because I use the tremolo effect often. This guitar is very easily easily customized and I'm planning to Switch to Floyd Rose soon. Otherwise it's fine and doesn't go out of tune. It has good stock Ibanez Passives which sound great (unexpectedly) The pickup height was faulty on mine, but fiddling around with the height is really easy to get your personal sound. It has 1 Volume nob, 1 Tone nob, both of which I almost never use. Especially the volume nob because it doesn't have smooth transition from loud to low. And the low volume sound quality is quite bad. It also a extremely useful 5-way pickup switcher which is absolutely a blessing from above. The pickups are Standard Ibanez with two humbuckers in the neck and bridge position with a single-coil in the middle. The sound quality for the pickups is absolutely mind blowing for the guitar's price. The neck pickup sounds gives a really smooth lead sound with ample middles. The bridge pickup is good for metal riffing too and sounds really good and chunky. The single-coil sound is really bright and good for clean playing. Mine came with a soft case and manual on taking care of it and adjusting parts. // 9

Sound: My music style is very versatile and varies from jazz/blues to classic rock to modern metal to avant-garde. Another reason for me picking this over the Showmaster is Ibanez's famous versatility catering to artists from Paul Gilbert to George Benson to Mike Mushok (Staind) to Noodles (The Offspring) Mick Thomson (Slipknot) and easily duplicating their sounds. The clean is bright and brilliant but can turn to warm and moody really fast too. I use this guitar through a Zoom G2.1u into a Marshall MG15CDR practice amp. It sounds great for the total price I paid for all three. It's absolutely silent and works really well on my Marshalls clean sound. Keep the bass at about 8/10, the middles at 5/10 and the treble at 3/10 with Reverb and it'll sound perfect. // 10

Action, Fit & Finish: When the guitar came home it was more or less perfect except fot slightly faulty pickup height which is understandable. The action is perfect for fast slowing without fret-buzz and sound. Another problem is the end on the pickup switcher is that it's slightly loose but I've heard it's like that on all of GRG170DXs. As long as you don't change pickups like an animal it won't come off. // 10

Reliability & Durability: I have just tinily chipped it as yet, but that was a violent fall because of a faulty strap. Shows how durable it is. The strap buttons are okay. My strap was not. It's ultimately dependable. You can depend on this guitar as much as you can depend on David Beckham to score a penalty with no goalkeeper. // 10

Impression: For my aforementioned varying musical tastes this guitar is a perfect buy for a beginner. I've been playing for an year now and I also own a Zoom G2.1u (Contrary to popular belief a GREAT pedal) and a Marshall MG15CDR (Quite rubbish is first on the upgrade list). I love this guitar so much that I'm emotionally attached to it and the day I first scraped it I cried for a day and was clinically depressed for a week. If it get's stolen I'll personally find the guy who stole it, kidnap him, gouge his eyes out, hammer out his teeth one by one, castrate him and take a dump in his face. If it get's lost I'll probably blame myself and be a 40 year old recluse before I get over it. As mentioned multiple times I compared it with a Fender Showmaster while buying and rightly picked this one. I have a good Floyd Rose and EMG pickups on my wishlist, but that's far off. // 10

overall: 8.8

Reviewed by: deadringer13, on february 21, 2008

Price paid: $ 274.5

Purchased from: Ebay

Features: Indonesian made, maple neck with rosewood fretboard, 24 mediums, FAT10 Bridge, H/S/H pickups, 5-way, 1 volume and 1 tone for simplicity. Not bad for 150 quid may I say. If it came with a good old Floyd Rose I'd be on the moon. The strap was pap but I throw my weight around so it doesn't matter. // 8

Sound: Now, most people Who use Ibanez from round here use it for heaavy rock. Personally, I play anything from Slayer to some jazz. Running it through a Line 6 Spider III 30, I can get a range of tones. It can be a beast, or it can be soft and caring. With a nice fat sound in the neck, great for some heavy rhythm playing, and the bright highs of the bridge great for ripping out a shreadin' solo! I rewound the middle pickup for a slight more warmth, but apart from that, stock is good! // 9

Action, Fit & Finish: The previous owner of this was a bit of a nutter; he had messed with the action so much I had to get a pro to set it up and sort out the action. The pickups were faulty due to wiring and were so low there was hardly any sound comin out, but solved that quickly. the only flaw in the guitar that was noted was the tip of the truss rod had cracked, but replaced it and was sorted in no time. I tried my friends straight out of factory and I fell in love with it all over again. // 9

Reliability & Durability: I've done a few gigs in my time. many things have happened to me, my strings have broken, my leads have snapped, picks shattered, amps blown. But this baby has kept going! I mean heck, I have thrown my guitar in anger because my amp broke down, and I picked up my guitar, retuned it and kept on playing! // 9

Impression: For me, this guitar is all good! 3 years of playing electric has really been worth while with this baby. I have to say if this were stolen or broke agaiin, I'd by an RG model for the Floyd Rose, but I have to say that this is another fab one from Ibanez. The only thing I hate, and I mean HATE is the headstock, never been a fan. // 9

overall: 8.2

Reviewed by: zhungyi, on may 02, 2006

Price paid: $ 300

Features: Made in 2004 in Japan I think.

- 21 Rosewood frets (medium)
- Solid top
- Basswood body
- Single cutaway, looks like an RG
- Floyd Rose bridge with tremolo
- Passive standard Ibanez pickups. 2 humbuckers in bridge and neck and a single coil in the middle
- Locking Ibanez tuners
- One tone and one volume control. 5-way selector switch for different pickup configurations. // 8

Sound: I play mainly all types of rock and some edgier pop songs. I use a Boss DS-1 Distortion into a small Marshall practise amp. Clean sounds are pretty good. Neck humbucker can handle the distortion quite well and sounds nice. Bridge humbucker really lacks though. Muddy sound is just one of its problems. I would prefer a brighter sound and tone but at the price, I'm not complaining. Single coil on slight distortion performs suprisingly well, with Clapton-like tones. With the pickups, a wide range of sounds and styles can be played by utilizing various effect pedals. Just don't expect too much from the bridge pickup. // 8

Action, Fit & Finish: Guitar was pretty ok straight out of the box. Action was a bit too low for my liking though. Slight string buzz at lower frets. The output jack also gets loose after a bit of fiddling around with the cable. // 8

Reliability & Durability: Guitar is good enough to withstand live playing. Strap buttons are solid as are knobs and switch. Finish is pretty good. Won't easily wear off but smudges quite easily. // 9

Impression: Great for guitarists on a budget Who need something louder than a Strat-copy. I suggest changing the pickups if you have a bit of cash and don't want to change guitars as the neck and body are pretty good. Only real problem I have is the damned floyd rose. The bridge is a major pain. I can break strings by just bending them. I've thrown my tremolo bar into my case because I'm tired of changing strings after playing around slightly with the tremolo. // 8

overall: 9.2

Reviewed by: henryo1, on february 29, 2008

Price paid: $ 274.5

Features: It was made 2007 in indonesia. It has 24 mid-size frets with a rosewood fretboard. It has a Beautiful finish described as 'jewel blue' which looks just great when it's polished up but gets dirty very easily with fingermarks etc. The guitar has two humbuckers and a single coil. The actual guitar has controls for Volume, tone and a 5 way pickup selector. The guitar was fully tuned up when I got it but had no strap or gi bag. It did come with Tools, whammy bar and a crappy cable. // 9

Sound: This guitar suits my music style well. I play lots of metal and rock but the guitar also sounds great on clean chanels aswel for your indy/blues type of music. I am playing it through a Peavey Bandit 112 and the combination works just great. The neck pickups are great for playing solo's and the bridge pickups work well with more distortion. // 9

Action, Fit & Finish: When the guitar turned up it was almost perfectly set up for me, the action was set up perfectly with no fret buzz but at the same time very easy to play. As I have mentioned before the guitar came with the bridge set up and almost perfectly tuned. I have yet to find any flaws with this guitar. // 10

Reliability & Durability: I still haven't played this guitar Live but will be soon later on this month and I am confident that it will perform for me. I will not be taking my old guitar as a back up as I trust it entirely. All the hardware seems pretty solid and looks as though it will last. The strap buttons are solid and so I don't think there is any chance of them coming off (any guitar players nightmare). One of my only critics of this guitar would be that it doesnt't stay in tune massively well. I have heard that fitting the other tremelo spring supplied counteracts this problem but want to keep my whammy bar which is also great by the way. // 9

Impression: Well if the only things that you can find wrong with a guitar is that the finish gets dirty easily and that it goes out of tune quicker than you'd like then you are doing pretty well. It is truly a fantastic guitar and I would reccomend it to any guitar player of any level for infinite durability and reliability. It also does what you buy a guitar for in the first place, produce great sound! // 9

Comments

[.:LoCo:.]

dam that looks nice!

[ToesKa]

The GRG170DX features a maple GRG neck, basswood body, 24 medium frets

21 Rosewood frets (medium)

... soo... what about that?

[madpickin03]

The GRG170DX doesnt have any Floyd roses in 'em. It uses FAT10 type bridge instead. Its very similar to a vintage style trem only that it uses 2 studs similar to Floyd roses and doesnt have action customizing ability on each string. It also has 24 frets.

[schwedengitarre]

There are better ibanez guitars...

[zhungyi]

Whoops, my mistake there. It is 24 frets but its rosewood though. Look at the picture, that's definitely rosewood.

And sorry it is a FAT 10 type bridge. I don't know absolutely everything about guitars, but the salesperson told me it was a Floyd Rose so I believed him. But the fact remains the same, the bridge is absolutely horrendous.

[cky89]

are we talking 300 british pounds or american dollars

[Ju5tg0tw1ck3d]

zhungyi wrote:

Whoops, my mistake there. It is 24 frets but its rosewood though. Look at the picture, that's definitely rosewood.

And sorry it is a FAT 10 type bridge. I don't know absolutely everything about guitars, but the salesperson told me it was a Floyd Rose so I believed him. But the fact remains the same, the bridge is absolutely horrendous.

He's right about the Fat10 bridge, probably should have come with a locking tremlo bridge, but its not a bad guitar for the price.

[zhungyi]

300 American dollars. Its worth it for the price I guess.

[Ktulu Master]

Ju5tg0tw1ck3d wrote:

He's right about the Fat10 bridge, probably should have come with a locking tremlo bridge, but its not a bad guitar for the price.

The GRG370DX has a Locking Trem (Floyd Rose Style)on it but its a crappy Edge II bridge.

[sithian476]

That was $300? Ripofffff.

[Insane Esp]

im with Sithian476 this guitar peice of shit. You can get an Esp KH 202 for $489 that comes with Emg H-Z pickups, actual Floyd Rose double locking tremolo, a rosewood fretboard and its an Esp. That owns this guitar and it costs the price of this guitar plus only Emg's. Id go with Esp KH 202

[clusky]

im either getting this or a GSA which should i get????

[cowboybebop32]

Ok the reviewer got ripped. I got this guitar with a gig bag, picks... you know the freebie crap, for only $220 american.

[heavymetal13]

well, you guys are a bunch of fags first of all... fighting over the wood of the neck?? If the wood is rosewood... that doesnt mean the guitar sounds liek shit, its the pickups that make it sound good...

[aceacebaby1701]

wow, how can you the get the same guitar for two wildly different prices?? sorry reviewer, but i agree with cowboybebop32, you did get ripped.

[KVX10 KING V]

First off the guitar has 24 frets, I know because my friend got one. Secondly the bridge (even though it says its not) is a floating one. Therefore tuning is a bitch because when you tune one string the rest of the guitar tunes to itself. Thirdly the wood of the guitar had nothing to do with its tone. You could put the same pickups in dog shit and it will sound the same. If the pickups suck, buy better ones, like EMGs, Dimarzio's, or Seymor Duncan's. They are good. Other than that this guitar is ok.

[t-bo]

im either getting this or a GSA which should i get????

neither, spend a little money and get a decent ibanez

[cool#9]

This sounds a lot like my Cort G250, i got that for about $200 (just a little more i think), and the only thing bad about it is that it doesn't come with a locking nut, but from the review it sounds like it's got better pickups and tone quality. So yea, not a bad guitar but i think you got ripped, cause no locking nut is worth $100.

[Doctorx]

Imo this guitar is ok for learning on but any serious guitarist should really be looking at the more expensive models with floyd roses and better pickups

[daryle_goh]

hey i got the guitar for S$260. that's US$165. i think he got ripped.....

[Floyal]

guys i used this guitar for almost two years and its good i got it for 250 from musicainsfriend.com .. its amazing for both pros and learner.. i advice people to buy it .. and dont except any trash about it!

[mrsi]

good first guitar, good price for two humbuckers and a pickup

[The Wanton]

flat, toneless, ugly, mass produced. not my cup of tea

[GRG-HLB-170]

the only real problem is the floating bridge. i think it needs a double locking to make it really shine but other than that its pretty decent for the price

[Vantage]

so....the problem is the bridge?

not the tuners??

i'd like to know...because i have one and tuning is a real pain in the ass....and if you bend you go out of tune too

[Phil_Bass_Boy]

Omg. All of you are like "Ugh tuning is a pain in the ass..." Dumb. My friend has the strat-like guitar from the Jumpstart package. Ive been playing 2 years, play SoaD and stuff like that and hiss guitar does REALLY well. I don't know what youre whining about. Just tighten the springs in the back and insert the third string you get. Perfect, NO tuning problems.

[OttovanZanten]

same pickups as the GRG270 GRG370 and the RG321, and i love the sound i get out of it (in combination with my old-school (hard)rock/metal amp so don't think it sounds worse then the GRG270 or somthin

[i'm a noob]

300 bucks? You guys got ripped, i bought this new for 140 USD.

[GRG-HLB-170]

ok i replaced the bridge pickups wif SH-8 invaders and this thing sounds amazing through a marshall 100watt. if you wana play gigs please change the pickups because the tone knob doesnt do much with a big amp on the stock pickups :|

[daryle_goh]

isit possible for me to just change the whole bridge to something that can help it stay in tune?

[TheFuegoMiester]

300 bucks is a bad price, i got it for 210 i think (it was a sale tho), but i would strongly reccomend this as a first guitar for anyone who's starting out.

[bustin_beats288]

the one guy definetly got ripped off, im getting one of these for 175 cdn, on sale from $230

[chedavey]

this guitar is awesome i bought 1 about i month ago and its awesome as =]

[severed-metal]

i recently got this guitar, and it is pretty damn good for the price range it's in

[Logan_B]

I own this guitar. kicks total ass man....perfect for rock to metal kinda sound like Linkin Park, to Avenged Sevenfold. only thing is no locking tremolo which can detune your guitar. A MUST BUY PPL

[Logan_B]

if you're looking for this guitar you better hurry its 225$ retail but tis been dropped to 175 at Long & Mcquade

[Logan_B]

by they way.... i looked on this product search site for Ibanez and this guitar started in 2004 and production ends 2011, mine's an '06:P

[nikhil101]

hey what is it with people having problems with the guitar getting out of tune? Mine never goes out of tune, but then i guess i dont use the tremolo much. This guitar is good for shredding

[nikhil101]

Logan_B wrote:

by they way.... i looked on this product search site for Ibanez and this guitar started in 2004 and production ends 2011, mine's an '06:P

yeah mans fairly new too i got it in december 2006 and it was made in September 2006

[nikhil101]

damn i mean mines instead of mans

[Erlend Johan]

Take a look at the backside on the guitar(if it is no laquering on it)
You will see that the head and the neck is in two different parts...that is not good, it gets unstabile!
buy an esp.

[Erlend Johan]

http://i13.tinypic.com/2wlroeu.jpg

You see?

[nikhil101]

Erlend Johan wrote:

Take a look at the backside on the guitar(if it is no laquering on it)
You will see that the head and the neck is in two different parts...that is not good, it gets unstabile!
buy an esp.

err my grg170dx does not have that on it.....

[TaV0]

I have just bought this guitar and it's Ok. I mean, it's not like a nice Fender, or a Gretsch guitar, but still it's awesome if you payed less tha 300 bucks for it. I actually play with mine on some gigs and I'm not dissapointed. Anyhow, I rather play with my Fender Jaguar HH. \m/

[-beyond-human-]

oi dat makes no difference....

Erlend Johan wrote:

Take a look at the backside on the guitar(if it is no laquering on it)
You will see that the head and the neck is in two different parts...that is not good, it gets unstabile!
buy an esp.

oi dat makes no difference...
its awsome...
i paid 700 NZD 4 mine n i fukin love it so stop talking owt yo ass

[Dooger]

i have this guitar, it

[sic_riffs]

This guitar is absolute SHITE!!! pay a decent amount of money and get a good Jackson,ESP or BC Rich

[wyldelife]

Ï have this guitar, it's alright, get some heavy strings on there, and a decent amp, and you've got a good guitar you can use for a long time!

[Aminos]

i have it and i can tell you that this bridge is really bad.. it blocked often when i was playing with the trem.. now i got the jackson randy rhoads RR3 and its kicks that crappy ibanez ass =)

[Ur Guitar Hero]

Yea, I own this guitar. It`s a pretty good guitar.

2 problems with it though

1. It doesnt stay in tune good, if you use Standard E or Drop D, then it`s alright. But if you switch around tunings alot like mabye to Drop C then a little later you want Standard Tuning, have at least 30 - 45 mins on your hands to get it into and to stay in that tuning.

2. Ive had to tighten the out put jack ring things repeated times, and also had to go in and re-sauder the output wires in the guitar, nothing to big, but it`s a real pain having to do it often.

aside from all that, it`s a good guitar. Mine has held up and is in great shape after 2 years. and the body is nice and hard, and doesnt dent or chip too easy so thats a plus. but yea over all it`s a good guitar.

[kempo1222]

well it seems like a wonderful beuatiful guitar its just how well u take care of it if u take care of it its probably a really really good guitar. great reviews, but people dont listen if they say they had to tighten or anything like that its probably the condition they had it it, after reading these im 90% sure now that i will buy one, thanks UG!

[darksideoftom]

zhungyi have u actually got a grg170 if so have a good look at it and count the frets. then have a look at the bridge. Then hopefully youll realise that it has a fat 10 bridge and 24 frets

[jakers1234@veri]

got one and i love it my frinds got an sg and he woud rather play mine than his

[Hamer098]

In my opinion its pretty good as an entry level guitar. I was changing the pickups on it for my friend and played it - must say that it has a decent sound...

[ISM]

Hi, I use a RG370DX and the locking trem really annoys me (i only use fixed bridge ibanez's now) - its really difficult to get to the tuneing i like (Eb). Seeing as this is a floating trem it it easier to slightly detune; by that i mean will the action etc die if you go down half a step? I know it won't stay in tune but im mostly only gonna use it in studio.

MVL.

[rurouni_aoshi]

When I bought this guitar I loved it imediately just to find that I'd been ripped off. The filter in the output jackin my guitar was kinda broken so I fixed it but the negatives and positives were touching eachother resulting in a crackling noise whenever I hooked my guitar up to an amp. After a while I finally sold it for a better guitar that actually worked. Other than the fact I had been ripped off this is a lovely guitar.

[eggy1991]

Insane Esp wrote:

im with Sithian476 this guitar peice of shit. You can get an Esp KH 202 for $489 that comes with Emg H-Z pickups, actual Floyd Rose double locking tremolo, a rosewood fretboard and its an Esp. That owns this guitar and it costs the price of this guitar plus only Emg's. Id go with Esp KH 202

what are you, and idiot?

this guitar: $300, you have simply stated a guitar $200 more!

this is obviousyl not going to be as good!

I swear, no offence to the people on this site willing to make a good contribution, but are teh people here getting thicker?

seriously, if $300 is your budget, take the time to read the reviews, adn not retarded comments some people leave!

your hardly gonne think "right, i got $300, lets go find a $500 guitar!"

god, i swear.

[javier2012]

can someone tell me if the grg270dx is better than this guitar???

[High_o]

First off the guitar has 24 frets, I know because my friend got one. Secondly the bridge (even though it says its not) is a floating one. Therefore tuning is a bitch because when you tune one string the rest of the guitar tunes to itself. Thirdly the wood of the guitar had nothing to do with its tone. You could put the same pickups in dog shit and it will sound the same. If the pickups suck, buy better ones, like EMGs, Dimarzio's, or Seymor Duncan's. They are good. Other than that this guitar is ok.

yeah...you're a ****ing idiot

[jmcv1984]

I got this guitar yesterday for $200 USD. I THINK IS GREAT, but the problem is that I bought it without researching too much about it. Mine does not have the white plastic frame around the NECK. made in China 2007. want to know if anybody has the same model or if this is a ripoff. it's brand new w/ warranty. Any help will be trully apreciated... 10x!

[Logan_B]

nikhil101 wrote:

Logan_B wrote:

by they way.... i looked on this product search site for Ibanez and this guitar started in 2004 and production ends 2011, mine's an '06:P
yeah mans fairly new too i got it in december 2006 and it was made in September 2006

I got mine a coupla days before Xmas

[-beyond-human-]

i got it and if you change this strings its a ****in ****... it pulls the bridge right down and you have to get something rebalanced... i dont know much but now it sounds like shit and the strings are further out from the fretboard and it is way harder to play than it should be and it comes with pretty soft strings...

[the_stickman]

I own this guitar, I like it. I personally think the pickups could be a little better, but it's whatever. But yeah, good guitar for not a big price. Keeps its tuning relatively well, it's not too heavy, and the strap knob doesn't just come out of the guitar like I've seen on other guitars.

[droptuned17]

i also bought it for 300 dollars. i bought this guitar here in the philippines so, they have to pay for the import tax on the product, plus the VAT

[wildchild6660]

IMO ibanez guitars have the best value for money

[DarkTsu]

i lov this guitar bcos i have one xD!... the sound is amazing and the style of guitar...:o

[tucker3]

I have a GRG170DX. I use it with my Boss DS-1 and it sounds kickass. The main problem i have with it is that it doesnt have sharktooth inlays, it has pearlaroid dots. TOTALLY BUMMED!!!

[akack]

^ then it most definitely ISN'T a GRG170DX.

GRG 150s have dots.

[Temperance]

^ Yep i own a GRG150 and it has dots.

Btw, what other differences do these guitars have? Anyone?

[downey17]

do ibanez have a single other rg model with a fixed bridge and a whammy bar? i know this is a grg but i was wondering if there was a higher quality version of this guitar? i can't be bothered with the fixed bridges

[downey17]

^sorry i meant i can't be bothered with the locking bridges

[quorthon1986!]

PLEASE HELP!!!

Greetings!

I have problem with adjusting the Ibanez GRG170DX bridge...do you know what should be [b]hight of the bridge on the bass and on the high E side?

I know how to ajdust but i don't know what should be right height.

Thank you in advance![/b]

[henryo1]

i love my grg 170dx :-D it stays in tune very well and the notes seem to ring forever!

[Steve.RedFox]

Temperance wrote:

^ Yep i own a GRG150 and it has dots.

Btw, what other differences do these guitars have? Anyone?

The next is made out of a nicer wood and there are swallow tails on the fretboard instead of dots. Hope this helps.

[mMILKMANm]

$200 on eBay... Fantastic guitar for that price!

[mMILKMANm]

Make that $150 on eBay with $50 shipping... Very, very, very slightly used... A Steal!

[MarkCP]

soo i wrote a review on this guitar...and i said nice things about it. most of them were probably wrong...its a shitty guitar. don't buy it. you can get a nice fender for a much better price

[ddusandu]

HELP ME OUT HERE PLEASE:
This guitar or Fender Squier Strat ? not stratocaster - strat..

[guitarfreak222]

ddusandu wrote:

HELP ME OUT HERE PLEASE:
This guitar or Fender Squier Strat ? not stratocaster - strat..

this guitar the strat sucks ass compared to this guitar trust me ive tryed one

[Zertuche]

My friend has one of these, but its not worth $300.

[max1107]

i have this guitar and it rly gd rly worth the money i paid £150

[guitar_yoshi]

I also paid £150. It is my first guitar (I have been playing for almost a year now) and it's great for beginners to intermediate. I would not recommend this for serious guitarists though

[Golden_creature]

had this guitar for a year now, asnd it is including a PRS and a Epiphone, but i play this one the most. it has generally a better tone and more variety than either of the other guitars. I would definetly gig with it over my other guitars, and i would recomend it very highly to anyone looking to buy a versitile guitar that can play anything.

[diddykoi6]

im going to get one of these soon for 144 quid

[CoverOrDie]

excellent guitar. got mine in jewel blue. plays perfect!

[DesolationJD]

Black ... amazing fret inlays man ... but the tremolo arm screws the tuning everytime should have had a lock on the top o the neck

[Shb]

Should I buy an Ibanez GRG170DX or a Yamaha Pacifica 112?

[guitard00d13]

have had it for two years now,and its a pretty decent guitar. also have an ESP EC-1000 which makes it look pretty soft, but besides having ridiculously high action out of the box, its a solid guitar especially for the price.

[Razorback555]

It's pretty good Guitar for beginners and a good back up guitar for it's price.

[MotU2510]

Had this guitar for about 8 months. Cost me around £170.

I love it to bits. It sounds great, really comfortable to play. I've had no problems with the electronics.

The only (slight) problem is the floating bridge. I do change tunings a bit, which takes about three minutes to do. Not ideal, but perfectly bearable.

[git-airman]

heavymetal13 wrote:

well, you guys are a bunch of fags first of all... fighting over the wood of the neck?? If the wood is rosewood... that doesnt mean the guitar sounds liek shit, its the pickups that make it sound good...

exactly man, if it sounds shit replace the pickups, seymore humbuckers are good.

[s0ccerguy159]

hey this guitar is great for the price i got it a gig bag decent sized amp strap and pics for 260$ definatley good for the price. and pluss i think it looks beutiful, so stop arguing about what wood its made out of.
god

[spartanfrets]

This was my 1st electric guitar
loved it, awesome neck

[Scarlatto155]

this is my third guitar love it lots i di

[wildchild6660]

For any of guys here in the UK interested in buying this guitar:
http://www.guitar.co.uk/electric_guitar_starter_pac kages/25-ibanez_grg170dx_and_marshall_mg10cd_package_black_n ight?page=2

[padgea7x]

Insane Esp wrote:

im with Sithian476 this guitar peice of shit. You can get an Esp KH 202 for $489 that comes with Emg H-Z pickups, actual Floyd Rose double locking tremolo, a rosewood fretboard and its an Esp. That owns this guitar and it costs the price of this guitar plus only Emg's. Id go with Esp KH 202

wait so the most someone paid was $300
so how is $489 the same as $300

Nd ive seen that Esp KH 202 for (in american guitar shops on the internet) for about $389

[Archmosh]

my first guitar
still ove it.

9/10

[Newbie128]

I LOVE THIS GUITAR !!!

10 / 10 points !!!

[Armagedden66]

nice

[fuel77]

THIS IS GUITAR IS RELIABLE AND GOOD!!!!! 10/10

[zsolt152]

This is a very good guitar

[MetalheadforJC]

If I used locking tunners would it stay in tune when I use the tremolo? It gets out of tune every time I use the tremolo

[playpsp8]

this guitar is awesome for the price but it doesnt have a floyd rose or locking tremolo so whenever i use the whammy bar it goes out of tune (i use it lots) nad the middle pu gets in the way but 8/10
my 2nd guitar (i had a strat copy)

[Mak1392]

schwedengitarre wrote:

There are better ibanez guitars...

There are more expensive ibanez guitars...>.>

[BigFella69]

i've been playing guitar for 2-3 years now and i want to know if i should buy this guitar or i should get a good rg.

[BigFella69]

I've been playing for 2-3 years now and im thinking if i should buy this guitar, or save up some more money and get an rg?

[A_assassin]

I dunno where everyone seems to be getting these for $100US, even $300US, I'm looking at a left handed
model (yh, being a leftie sucks) and it's almost £200GBP

[loz4]

Hey guys I have a Ibanez GRG170DXL does the L bit make any difference coz this is my guitar

[loz4]

sry for duoble post to the guy above my first post i'm leftie and mine cost £150

[A_assassin]

Yh the L signifies the left handed bit, where did you get yours?

[sewoo55]

the pickups are not the only thing that decide whether the guitar has a good sound or not.

these factors all come into play:

1) Wood quality
2) Pickups (obviously)
3) Bridge material (nickel, chrome, gold... etc)
4) Amp
5) Strings

[justine3563]

if you want a locking trem.get grg 220,250,270..they have ILT1 brdge

for 2009-GRG270B was released it has an edge III.you can get it from ebay at around php12000-13000(about 250 USD)

you pay more for the trem =)

[camhussynec]

I used to own this guitar.....then sold it because it's crap

[GisleAune]

I bought this guitar as a first guitar, it was soo awesome and sounded good. I still have it, but im using my AX-260 now.

This guitar is the king of its price. It might cost 300 dollars in europe, since every guitar there costs like hell. it costs just 200 im the US. When changing string gauges, just tighten the bridge.

[metalriff735]

someone might have already asked, but i was wondering if u could put a floyd rose on a grg170dx, any1 know??

[metalriff735]

dont worry about my post above^^
not getting one of these anymore, just gunna put a floyd rose on my strat :P

[Danielucho1000]

I love this guitar but u should lock the fat10 bridge...

[Shae \m/]

metalriff735 wrote:

someone might have already asked, but i was wondering if u could put a floyd rose on a grg170dx, any1 know??

Of course you could, but it would just be easier to install a locking nut so your guitar doesn't go out of tune and you can still be able to use the tremolo without the hassle of picking up your tuner ever 5 seconds.

[SlayingDragons]

Wait, so if I wanted to, I could install a locking nut on this guitar without having to do any routing to fit a floyd? or would locking tuners be better..?

I just got this guitar, btw. It's amazing. I'm writing a reveiw sometime soon...

[The^Unforgiven]

schwedengitarre wrote:

There are better ibanez guitars...

Not for the price of a stompbox, I believe.

[SlayingDragons]

At the review that Boomjosh made... He kept mentioning the humbucker buzzing. but he said that there was just one humbucker. did he mean single coil? if so, it's supposed to buzz, and it's not hollow, its just that it's not as high output as the other pickups.