IGP03 Review

Ready to become a guitar hero? ION's Electric Guitar Kit comes with a sleek full size guitar, complete with 3 vintage pickups. Plug in to the included 15 watt amplifier with "drive" feature to add screaming distortion to your playing.

Features:	10
Sound:	8
Action:	8
Reliability:	7.7
Impression:	9
Overall rating:	8.5
Users rating:	6.5
Comments:	11

overall: 8.2

Featured review by: Silent Murder, on february 15, 2006

Price paid: $ 182.9817

Purchased from: Tesco

Features: This was my first electric guitar because it was cheap and had all the basics. It includes 2 Allen wrenches (one for the bridge, the other for the Truss rod), spare set of steal strings, a tuner (not electric), 3" guitar cable, 3 guitar picks (bright pink, mud brown and a dark green all under 1mm thick) and an instruction booklet with some chord diagrams (all the basics). It also has a 15 watt amp including: 3 EQ settings- high, mid and low with a selection of gain and distortion/clean, 1 input and one output for headphones. Apparently, it has a custom 5" woofer. The guitar itself has 3 single coils with a 5-way selector. The bridge has a whammy bar, chrome frets, a maple solid wood body, a hard maple wood neck with rose wood for the fret board. The tuners are chrome Die-Cast. It only comes in "sunburst" and the single coils are "iGT03" Pickups. Its a Fender Strat copy, so it won't have a double locking tremolo. It has one volume control and 2 tone controls. // 10

Sound: The tone is fairly bright (due to the single coils), and it's hard to get rid of that brightness with the distortion. The tones and EQ settings can be changed to turn into a deep bass (and I meen deep). The amp has a lot of power for its price, which is a good thing. The clean setting on the amp also seems to make the noise seem very sharp, which is what I like (unusual tones). Speaking of tones, the single coils aren't the best at picking up harmonics. In two words, the sound would be called sharp and chunky, great if you like Franz Ferdinand. // 8

Action, Fit & Finish: I remember that, when I first played it, the action was a bit too high, but that was easily fixed. The pick ups really had no impact when raising or lowering, so that was a bit concerning, but nothing was loose or broken and the selectors weren't dirty. Any strings however, will go out of tune using the whammy bar. // 8

Reliability & Durability: It has a 1 year guarantee if that helps. I don't think this guitar will survive a live play, seeing as when I tried it, the strings snapped. However, if you want to be like The Who, trashing everything onstage, buy one of these because they are really cheap. The finish is fairly thick, but the hardware and the premature string aging will stop it lasting a gig. This is more for beginners starting guitar really. // 7

Impression: I do play a lot of Franz Ferdinand, and the guitar suits it because of its sound. I've played for about 9 months, and I still love it, and I still use the amp for my Jackson RR3. The EQ settings though are harder to use because it doesn't use Treble etc. I didn't know how guitars worked before I purchased this, so I would've asked what made a decent guitar and gone from there. If it were stolen, I could say that I'd want another, because of its bright, chunky sound. This is a grate product for people starting to play. // 8

overall: 9.2

Reviewed by: stboney, on may 29, 2006

Purchased from: ebay

Features: The features are what every eletric guitar for begginers need, three single coil pickups with a 5-way selector, 21 frets on an average sized rosewood neck. The pack includes a strap, 10ft lead into a 15w amp, pitch pipes, and of course extra strings ands picks all 0.95mm thick. // 10

Sound: I generally play punk, grunge, and a bit of metal, which is a bit of a problem the single coils do give out a bright sound however a small Switch of the pick ups (I use neck middle together) will sort that out. but now I play through a great Zoom 606 pedal with over Drive or fuzz as they both kill off the brightness. The clean sound is very cool, sharp and pearcing but by (I know, again) flicking that switch it becomes almost an acoustic sind with strong bass. // 9

Action, Fit & Finish: The guitar built very, not much room between frets down at the bottom makeing it hard to "wank", but its the same on my mates squire so guess its quite common for a Strat style guitar. the only problem with the bridge (as with all Strats/Strat copys) has to be that it rises up with the strigs, makeing the effect of the whammy bar quite minimal, but that can be fixed by "locking" the bridge. // 8

Reliability & Durability: I guess it could withstand a live show, and the hardware will last. The strap bottons on mine are quite after a year but I use straplocks so it dosen't really bother me. the paint will last a lot as I've atacked mine with a screw driver while I was trying to get that Rory Gallagher style finish. // 9

Impression: It's plain n simple that is a great guitar, if it was stolen id buy a new fnd out who still and beat the shit outta the guy that stole it (with my new one) and take the old one (my beloved Chip) back home. I do however wish that it had a bassier sound but that has been achieved now with a pedal thats exelent for its price of £60. // 10

overall: 8.2

Reviewed by: unregistered, on december 25, 2006

Price paid: $ 158

Purchased from: Radio Shack

Features: Well, this is your basic Strat-copy, sunburst body, 21 frets, bolt on neck, 3 single coil pickups, as well as a 5-way selector, 2 tone knobs, and one volume control knob. Then there's a descent amp, 3 picks (all of which I've managed to lose), a whammy bar (horrible in my opinion), a pipe tuner (throw it out), extra strings, 10 ft. cord for amp and a nylon strap I believe. A dream come true for an aspiring guitarist // 10

Sound: Well the single coils give it a very bright sound, especially on the bridge pickup. I almost always use only the neck pickup alone, which gives it more of a deeper tone, something that works well with wgat I play (I play classic rock, nu-metal). The amp's distortion isn't all too strong, but for the price of the package is ok. As well with all the tone turned down you get a nice deep, blusey sound. // 7

Action, Fit & Finish: I once completely took apart this guitar for the hell of it, including unscrewing the pickups (something my neck and I severely regret), the put it back together, doing this I adjusted the action and pickups, and forgot their origional position, however I remember the action being a bit high before adjusting it. I've also had to tighten the input jack on a regulart basis, and keep I percision tool kit near-by just incase. // 8

Reliability & Durability: I would never use this guitar for a gig, at least not as a starter, maybe as a backup. I did see a guy in a local band use the same guitar instead of hit Gibson SG for one song, so it probably would stand up for a backup. however I had many problems for awhile with the wires and the guitar cutting out, but it was fixed by checking that all wires were attached completely. And the finish has stood up fine (I've had it for 2 years) with only scratches in the back from my belt buckle. // 7

Impression: This is not much of a metal-head's guitar, but is an awesome beginners, an with some tweaking should last. I would recomend upgrading the amp after some time however, but not until you need it for outside of home. If it was stolen I wouldn't go to the trouble of getting the whole package again, but would probably get an Epiphone SG instead. However, I am appy with it and it suits my home practise needs. // 9

Comments

[stboney]

this was my first EVER axe aswell, i luv it to bits, fukd up and stikerd it may be with a huge chip giving her its name, its still my pride n joy, havent played in ags though, i just got an acoustic for my bday

[Dj_Smoke3]

man this guitar within a year has went through so much, this is like the best guitar to mess around with. very cheap. it is almost impossible to tune (i have had over 30 ppl trying to tune it ear and tuner) the tuner that comes with it is a shitty harmonica ( throw that away) and the amp won't last song from wires breaking apart. I also found that the guitar isnt very good with sound. also within a year you have this you may experience your sound always cutting out (most likely its your guitar) i have had problem with the jacks alot, always have to have my amp plug-in adjusted perfectly so the amp can get some sound. i recommended getting a good amp like Roland Micro or 15 Cube and Ibanez GRX20 (I know thats what I am getting)

[Gogoas]

Ya the flute thing is soo gay, the kits alright just needs a tuner.

[RedDeath9]

Yeah this is my only guitar, had it for about a year. Doesn't really play that well for metal, and I don't really want to change any of the pickups on a beginner guitar. It also is sort of heavy, and comes out of tune easily. The distortion isn't really that good. Hopefully I'm getting a new one soon... There is also a lot of fret buzz on mine. Yeah the shitty pitch pipe tuner sucks.

[guitarNbass]

guitar suck dick... everything about this pack does

[guitarNbass]

**this guitar suck dick... everything about this pack does

[little_green_1]

Dont buy this guitar it is absolute rubbish. The amp is rubbish , the guitar goes out of tune so easily

[sum_ugly_man]

1st of al...had this guitar for about a year and a half now...after 6 months of buying it...got kidna sick of the distortion from the amp...and got a digitech rp80 ...and then ive been on stage with it...its awesome...its been through soo much...the action was freaking high wen i got it...so i tried to lower it down a little and messed up badly...but then i got the ex50 from esp...and now i miss layla(named after the song from clapton)

mneh...better get it out of my closet and tune it back(pretty easy to do)

and mneh..the harmonica/so called tuner is shit...throw itout now...its worthless

[LegendsOfRock]

i am using one right now (my first guitar) and my teacher wont let me use it. the strings bend out of tune and it needs to be tuned like every half hour

[Dr. House]

This is my first electric ever.

This guitar comes out of tune very quickly, especially when you use the whammy (which isnt that good). The amp is horrible. The pickups are crap, I always get loads of hum at any volume. I have to keep the volume of the guitar at 10 because any lower it adds alot of feedback. And try as I might, I cannot adjust the innotation at all. It keeps fretting sharp. Most of my pickup screws rounded out like nothing when I adjusted them. and high E gets caught up on the third fret often. The finish chips easily.

Save your money and get a better guitar.

[PANIKS]

what can i say about this guitar other than it sucks?.. my rhythem guitarist has one of these it goes out of tune in like 4 bars sounds like shit distorted and worse clean... the jacks broke and the volume controls are pretty much just for show, becayse of this i always have to lend him my guitar while im playing the bass... these things are the antichrist of guitar and should never have been unleashed on the unsuspectring world