Affordable Ibanez GIO (GRX70)

Affordable Ibanez GIO (GRX70)
Here's another budget guitar offering by Ibanez. It's the GRX70QA-TKS (who comes up with this stuff?).
I liked the previous Ibanez GIO I tried out. This one is slightly more expensive, but it's still very affordable. So I have quite high expectations.
Hope you enjoy!

Check out the links below if you want to help the channel:

0:00 Intro
1:43 Specs
4:28 What I'm trying it with
4:54 My "clean" sound
5:36 Sounds
11:51 The fun whammy bar test
15:03 Conclusion

[MetalMike]

Just to clarify: IBANEZ uses mnemonic codes to identify each and every model. This practice is quite common in big companies because it can make you recognize what is what just by looking at the part number.

G RX 70 QA - TKS
G = Gio
RX = Body shape
70 = Humbucker + Single + Humbucker
QA = Quilted Ash top
TKS = Transparent Black Sunburst


From a business standpoint this is perfect. For us customers ... 🤷‍♂

[jgseg]

I bought one of those like 20 years ago. Since then, I owned almost 100 other guitars (and I mean a hundred literally) but all came, were used in gigs or recording sessions, and went. This Gio remained. Well, heavily modified…but yet the best guitar I ever played. And keeps getting better.

[Hiro.the.God.]

I wanted to say thank you Elmo, because I truly trust your honesty and opinion and I bought this guitar. It’s absolutely worth every penny. You helped me pick the right guitar for my money! I wish you much success with your channel. And by the way, I had no fret sprout, but I will have to polish my frets, they are scratchy af, lol.

[Axess-svnq]

I picked one up in 2018 and left it stock. It's very reliable! There's nothing wrong with the GIO series at all. They need to be set-up and maintained like every other guitar.

[jeffbaker]

So I got one of these as my first Ibanez- being an LP fanatic, owner, player for nearly 50 years. It was well packed. The strings were even wrapped in anticorrosive paper. The fret ends were super sharp so I filed them and treated the dry fret board with lemon oil. Put Wilkinson locking tuners on it and hybrid slinkys. Other than the fret ends there were no high frets and I just gave them a polish. Tuned it up and the intonation and factory set up were perfect.
I'm not a big tremolo guy but this one is no junk budget trem- nice and solid and works great. No tuning issues with it.
One thing about the fret sprout- the humidity in my house here was around 35% so that didn't help.
I'm very happy with the looks playability and sound from this and consider it a bargain at it's price.

[tylernuckles]

Just bought one it a hour ago thank god they had one left handed one in stock

[Fawkes]

Amazing video as always, on top of what you said about fret sprout, it is also indicative of the quality of wood they are using in the factory. If you use properly dried wood, even for weather conditions in the south east of Asia, the wood will not shrink so dramatically to cause noticeable sharp fret ends. Beginners who buy this better have a kind and helpful teacher to assist them in solving the issue!

[TxmDrmr]

If you had a budget of 300 Dollars, which one would you choose? Yamaha Pacifica 112V or this Ibanez? Is there a HUGE difference? Because I am so IN LOVE with that Ibanez and its colour scheme and will surely have more motivation to play. BUT, when the Pacifica is that much better, I would go for that one!

[DirtJutter]

The TKS at the end indicates the color scheme. Black and grey. The GRX70qa is also available in black/blue and black/orange. How did you like the volume difference between the settings? I had to adjust the hight of the pickups to level things out a bit, to avoid sudden volume drops.

[clanwaddell]

I have a Squier telecaster and Epiphone p90 Les Paul. One of these in blue burst is going to be my birthday gift. I am excited

[terrygore]

I have the Ibanez GIO GRX20Z Black Knight with 2 humbuckers. It had no fret sprout and no dead spots. Plays great. I hated the pickups and the awful 5-way switch. OMG! i hated that 5-way switch. I upgraded it with low output alnico 2 humbuckers, full size pots and a 3-way switch. This is a fun, fun guitar now.

[Barbarapape]

I have just bought one on a special deal from Amazon.
To my dismay Amazon only delivered it in the flimsy Ibanez box, which had been roughly treat in transit.
The guitar headstock tip and bridge had punched through the soft protective sleeve.
Thankfully the only damage was some scuff marks that polished out.
Then i tried to play it, no sharp fret ends, but the action was like a wedge of cheese, the bridge saddles
at maximum height didn't help, the trem was screwed solid to the body so it is like a hardtail.
Clearly there was to time spent setting up this sample.
I have many Ibanez guitars including other Gio models, but this is the worst by a long way.
A full setup and some upgrades will turn into a half decent guitar, but it will never be a great one.
In future i will stick to models higher up the Gio range.

[robertmenzies]

Ok so I own this guitar, Well the blue version. know it’s budget guitar but generally works for me. I also needed a bit of set up from out of the box but now happy with the playability. My only disappointment is the sound of the neck pick up….. that was until I heard you playing Vai at 10:20 and OMG sounded just as good as a GEM. And can I just say you can really play. Very impressive.

[hoosierdaddy]

I totally agree about the fret sprout. It should NEVER EVER HAPPEN. PERIOD.
As you stated, most people buying this guitar are beginners and they more than likely won't want to fix it and probably won't know how, so that would be an extra expense at a tech.
I'm big on frets being leveled and no sprout and a good but and bridge and good strings. It's what is involved in sending the electrical signal to the pickups. The wood doesn't matter except to hold the controls. Of course the controls matter too and pickups matter big time to me.
Good review as always from you kind sir .
Hope all is well there...🤘

[fluffycharles]

That shred session was ridiculous, might buy one

[stephenkiszenia]

I popped some emg 81 and 85s in my gio and it sounds like my rg652 prestige.

[fengshui]

I was going to part ex my GIO. Thanks, you changed my mind.

[thattassiewargamer]

187 Euro is 295 Australian dollars at the moment but this model sells here for around $350. 👍

[brozio]

mine has no fret sprout but does not stay in tune with wammy bar use, i have to buy new tuners (horrid trapezoid tuners stock) and roller string trees. some graphite dust in nut slots and the problem could vanish.

[ToffeeTuff]

Videos like this helped me decide weather I’d buy one or not. I got one in October last year and it’s been great