Ibanez Grg120Bdx Electric Guitar For Sale (2024 Update)

I reviewed this guitar a couple of years ago. I was just browsing GC to look for another L/H I can get my hands on quickly (sheltering in place without access to my gear!) and came across my old review. So, my nephew came by one day with his luthier gear, set up the action, etc. — and this became my #1 go-to guitar! Really playable, wide range of sound using the switches from somewhat strat-like to a more shreddy humbucker sound. So, as it turned out, the guitar is really nice, but it helps if you (or someone) knows how to set it up. I would give it 5 stars, but that would kinda assume it arrives in the properly setup condition mine is in now …Sheldon

So this guitar ended up being like that girl at a party you wish you hadn't started a conversation with. Good looking, but not much else going on, and then after spending some time together, you're looking for a way out. Resale and trade in value is nothing, as I found out. Now I've loved Ibanez products for years – but those were my younger years in the late 80s. Stock pickups are okay, nothing special, neck was easy on the hands. This is an acceptable one if you want a guitar that will be your training wheels while learning to shred. Basswood is near bottom of the list for good tone wood, it is cheap and used for budget guitars – so it's not meant to last. Nice looks at first glance – shark inlays are pretty. The red burst finish is hot. But that basswood tho. Hard to shape the tone into something likable if you're an experienced player. If your budget is 200, by all means grab this one up, the action on mine was okay, I lowered it a bit for playability. The hardware is nothing special, especially the tuners. It's a guitar for a younger person, for sure – it's a matter of taste and after 27 years of playing I just don't draw inspiration from this guitar. I can't recommend this to anyone who can hold out and save a little while longer for something better – otherwise, by all means pick it up and start playing – don't stop EVER.Subsonikk

Thought I'd jump on the SDoD for this axe and glad I did. Out of the box, the first thing you notice are the great looks of this budget guitar. Fit and finish are perfect. Next, the setup. This action on this was setup perfect and the neck is perfectly straight (I checked using tool for that). Tuned the stock strings after stretching and checked intonation. It was almost spot on, minor adjustment on a couple strings and its done. Plugged into amp and very little buzz or hum. I've had other budget guitars that are so bad that I can't play them, amp buzz way too annoying. Probably need a rewire. The humbuckers have decent enough sound that I have no intention on replacing them. Anyway, this guitar is a good buy at the regular price and even better on sale! Highly recommend.idjut

I purchased this guitar as an intermediate player. I had the tech at GC do a set up on it. It looks, sounds and plays great. The workmanship out of he box was very good. Very nice fret work, no sharp edges. Very happy with this guitar. Just keep in mind that to get its full capabilities it will likely need a set up but this is common with most any guitar you buy. I would definitely buy this guitar again.Michael

I have several Ibanez, some of them being slightly on the higher end of the mid-grade lines. I didn't need an inexpensive Ibanez, but the looks of this Gio caught my eye and I had been pining for it for awhile, but everyone was either out or on preorder. When I saw this marked as used and $40 less than the regular price, I jumped on it. I expected some cosmetic wear maybe, since it was used, but when it got here two days after I ordered it, it was still in the original wrapping with the plastic on the pickguard and pickups. I don't think it was ever touched. Everything was set up very well right out of the box. The pickups aren't great, but they aren't bad. The neck and fretboard feel fantastic and the blackout finish of it all is what really sold me. The body is polar, so it's a bit lighter and that makes it feel a bit cheap, but it scream and I'm really diggin it. Proaudiostar is 3/3 for me.Scott W

A great humbucker pickup guitar for beginners. Has great tone and feels smooth to play. Only issue was the action, which was too low when shipped and caused lots of buzzing. Had to increase it by quite a lot to get a good feel – a beginner might not know how to do this. Guitar looks amazing, makes me want to play whenever I look at it.Reviewed by Andertons Music Co.

Cheap guitar that's all that should be said. But very nice looking and sounds much better than I expected. Great purchase for the money. Regarding the price I would recommend this one comparing to other, more expensive Ibanez GIO ones.ivaboyarki-0

Gio, being ibanez china cousin brand, but still carries the ibanez name. This being "black knight" version, strat type 2 humbucker design. This has an overall good feel to me, nice shape, comfortable neck…easy player. The body routing is actually hsh design, there's an empty single coil pocket between the humbuckers. Simple master volume master tone and 3 way slide selector switch. Pots are dime size, wiring is ok but basic, pickups are ok but mine had plastic base plates which was not happy with. Fat 6 tremelo is ok, zinc small block, larger top plate than fender style, decent cast saddles, but screw pattern is gio specific and can't be easily changed/upgraded. Plastic string nut just basic as well. I changed to a bone nut, changed pickups to a decent alnico 5 pair, put roller saddes and locking tuners on this guitar, at that point it became a great player! But keeping in mind the price, if you are looking for a quality guitar "out of box" you come up short…you have a nice looking, balanced, decent neck and body but the parts are sub quality for anyone past beginner. I have noticed that gio features 2 different types of tuning machines also, 1 being the 10mm sealed (better) and the other the smaller hole dia. Schaller strat style with the inserts… Neither are very good quality but the 10mm makes for an easy relatively cheap upgrade direct replacement.kbak2353

Bought this guitar for my son for Christmas. He loves it. The color is awesome! I am by no means a guitar expert, but this guitar is very nice. It plays and sounds great. It is affordable and is a genuine Ibanez. It was packaged well and shipped quickly. Would definitely recommend.shadywright10

How could it not get 5 stars. A fantastic guitar at a great price. Plays well,easy to mod if you choose too, and a overall quality that ibanez always producesRich

Overall: Mine was almost returned until I took a chance and installed a different bridge pickup. Stock bridge came in outputting super low volumes. This guitar is more or less for metal but offers some versatility than just that. For starters the 5 way selector gives you some single coil options for chimey cleans. The pickups don't need to be changed out unless you got defective one like I did. The neck pickup is very clear and warm which is more than I can say for stock neck pickups on other brands. Those tend to produce an over bassy muddy tone. The neck itself isn't what I would call s fast neck. It is rather thick and felt really dry (unfinished) out of the box. Currently as I am writing this I hit the back of the neck with a few coatings of lemon oil so I hope this remedies that feel. I'm not to keen on how thick the neck feels with me having smaller hands but I haven't got any cramps playing it. Strangely enough, players advertise this on having a slim neck. It's not. The star of this guitar is it's bridge. The fix bridge is heaven to someone who loves to palm mute. No screws indenting in your palm and more sustain with no tremelo system. To me it's the reason I'm keeping it. So many strat styles for something I don't use. Overall it's a good guitar. Set up was decent out of the box. I had some sharp fret edges that I lightly filed down in a matter of minutes. The guitar comes equipped with extra light gauge strings (.09-.42). If you are wanting to put thicker strings on you're looking at a new set up so your guitar can handle the gauge differences.There's better out there for the price. The grg20 is fifty bucks cheaper and it's around the same quality. Squier makes decent starter guitars around the $200 mark and if Silo3 was still in production that would be my top choice.Matt

Overall: If you handed me this guitar before I knew about it I would assume it costs at least double what it actually does. For only 200$ you get a mahogany body with a beautiful finish, solid hardware, an amazing neck with nice inlays, and overall high quality fit and finish. This thing plays great. It's very comfortable and easy to play. I would say with confidence that this is the best guitar in its price range. It even competes with guitars in the 300-400$ range. The only thing I plan to change are the pickups, literally nothing else needs to be done. It even came setup spot on. I also can't get over how good this thing looks. The finish is a very attractive dark red wood grain and is complimented by the black hardware. I play extreme metal (death, black, thrash, doom, etc.) And I mainly use this one for death and thrash because its great for fast accurate playing. Overall, it's a great addition to my small collection and didn't set me back much. If you can only afford a 200$ guitar, please get this one. You will be glad that you did.Raymond

This guitar is a great value for me, here's what I like; Looks great (and headstock is beautiful) 24 fret (dot inlays, didn't want shark) Upper fret access couldn't be better. Tremolo bar Really dark fretboard (not ebony of course, but super nice) Dot inlays and side inlays are BRIGHT white, easy for me to see. Fingers slide up and down the fretboard with ease, which is not true of some of my other guitars, fingers tend to hang up on some, I could not ask for better frets. Cons/what I don't like: Set up was INCREDIBLY HORRIBLE, really omg, I don't know who was responsible, vendor/ibanez, hard to say, but the neck was BOWED like 1/8th of an inch or so , I mean ackk!! I thought I would need to send it back. The allen key that came with was a sloppy fit, too loose which could have stripped out the tension rod, so I found a tighter one in my tool bin, cranked the neck to about flat, then , NO MORE problems. The pickups seem to be muddy, definition in chording seems weak, single note lead playing is perfect, it's just 'chording' , my other guitars seem to have better clarity for chording, I haven't swapped out the pups yet, I have a set of SD Sat Night Specials, ready to try. I say seems, because, since I haven't chgd' pups yet, I don't know for sure the source/why it feels muddy. This is the only neg thing I would say about the guitar. I have some name brand guitars, and have owned hundreds, this is my main guitar right now, I love it !! Great value.riverstrat

These guitars do not come from Ibanez very well setup,but after i did a proper setup on this guitar wow it sounds and plays great. The finish on this guitar is much better than i expected. It has a little smaller body than i am used to but it is a full 24 fret. I would say for the price i got a very good deal and i am very happy with my new guitar… Thank you American Music Supply.Gary Grey

There is plenty to like about this guitar, and I got it for the features I was looking for: locking tremelo, 24 frets, fast neck, 5 way pickup selector, and nice looks. My first impressions of the guitar was slight disappointment with how sloppy Ibanez was. The tops and bottoms of the frets needed to be beveled as they were pretty sharp, there was a noticeable nick on the fretboard, and there was a black smudge on the back of the neck. None of those was a huge deal. The main two issues I have with the guitar are that the middle pickup, the single coil, has such low output that the middle three positions are much quieter than the neck or bridge pickups alone. I do like the tone of the single coil in conjunction with the humbuckers, but those positions are somewhat useless considering how quiet they are, and I have ordered a humbucker to replace it. The single coil alone (middle position) has too much noise AND is too quiet. Not a big deal to replace a pickup, but why they are selling it this way, I'm not sure. The second issue is the volume control. Instead of a gradual swell, there is a sharp dropoff in volume at one point in the rotation of the dial, making it pretty much useless other than having it full on or all the way off. I am not sure if that is fixable, but if it is, I'll need to have that done as well. All that said, if the guitar had not arrived in such sloppy condition and the two problems were resolved, I'd give this guitar 5 stars.hickory spork

The Ibanez RG 450 or any of the RG's are with the exception of the factory p/u and electronic. capable of becoming one of the best performance guitars to own. The base Ibanez Floyd Rose system is fiddley but, after learning how to adjust/tune quickly becomes appreciated for holding tune no matter the severity of attacks you use with the tremolo. The Wizard(ll or lll ?) You would need to go to custom built to exceed the easy play and comfortable frets you will find on and RG. This recent RG450 I upgraded to equal the higher priced models by adding the De Marzio Tone Zone (B), Air Norton (N). And instead of going with the True Velvet. Added the Seymour Duncan Vintage Hot Stack for the middle position and added better electrics to even out the upgrades.. End result; This guitar plays and sound equal to guitars costing over $1,000.00!! Good bones! Yes this can be played well and many will find happiness with this as stock., and, will perform well against the competition dollar for dollar!ikeus

I used to own an '89 Ibanez VBK JEM that I regrettably sold to buy a gaming pc. I wanted to get a newer entry level RG so I could have a floyd,HSH superstrat in E standard. I've had this RG for long enough to know it's a keeper. This thing has the same feel and vibe of my old JEM! Minus the monkey grip and other features obviously. The neck feels fantastic and I only had to do very minor setup adjustments to my liking. I would have liked a rosewood or ebony fingerboard but of course this is the lower end model. The Jatoba feels good under the fingers, similar to rosewood but with a slightly lighter shade to it. Like most guitars you buy online mine came desperately needing some good oil and cleaning. The Jatoba fingerboard seems to require a bit more lubrication than rosewood. The neck binding is done well, not perfect but to a good standard. I do wish the trem was an Edge lo-pro… But again, this is the lower priced model. There is nothing wrong with the Edge tremolo, it stays in tune well with whammy bar abuse but it is one of the bulkier Original Floyd Rose style bridges. The stock Quantum pickups are among the best stock Ibanez pickups I've tried. They are hot but versatile. However I did swap them out with the classic Dimarzio Air Norton/Steves Special combo and a True Velvet middle. I do believe a higher end Ibanez will obviously sound better than this but for the price it really is hard to beat! Well done Ibanez and AMS!Nevin

First impression?s it looks well made (for the money) plays well, the fret board and action fits me well. I?m not as familiar with other electric guitars of this generation as I was comparing this one with my old Kay electric guitar I had over 50 years ago. I am impressed with the tone from the pickups though my Pevy practice amplifier. Time will tell how in holds up, I suspect it will do well.Fredrick

I am a experienced player who has tried a variety of guitars from all different price ranges and this was the first guitar I was lucky to get. For a guitar this cheap it played amazing. I don't know if I just got lucky but the guitar hasn't had many tuning and electronic issues. As of right now I use this guitar as my main. I am planning on putting in Seymour Duncan blackouts for a more fatter tone and louder and better sound. I really recommend this for any player at any skill level. It's good for any tunings and any gauge strings. I at one time had 13 to 65s and it still played amazing and doesn't take a lot of adjustments.Chase C.

I got this guitar plugged into my Bulgera V22 amp and immediately thought, this is blowing away my Fender Players Strat (MIM)…how can this be? I did have to adjust the string height was easy to do I figured eh? its new thats why I think its so great. Then I get on here and read the other guys review…saying the exact same thing, about his Fender MIM on the Bulgera V22 (which is an incredible amp by the way). I, like him feel it kinda sux my much more expensive Fender can't out do it. I'm gonna dare say after adding good strings? It may well give my EVH Wolfgang Special a run!…thats gonna sting. My first guitar was a Green inexpensive Ibanez, I traded up to the Fender MIM….and was disappointed. Ibanez is no Joke and for the money, you can't beat it.AJ

I received my guitar today. Blue Metal Chameleon. I love it. It sounds great. No flaws, great packaging. Just a great guitar at a great price.John

I received my guitar today. Blue Metal Chameleon. I love it. It sounds great. No flaws, great packaging. Just a great guitar at a great price.John

This guitar has a very beautiful finish! It sounds just as beautiful as it looks! For the price range, I’d highly recommend!Adam

It's an Ibanez. I am a long time Ibanez fan. Even when they started the Artcore series. I own for PRS CU24's; American Fender Strat Deluxe and Tele; Les Paul elegant and Explorer. Except when I'm playing with our group I'm usually on one of my Ibanez. If they are lower end units like this I expect to change the electronics, nut and tuners. I did the tuners and had planned on installing Seth Lovers. Mean while I put some A4 magnets in the pickups and… NO SETH LOVERS! I love the tone, the responsiveness/sensitivity. See can be smooth as silk with the volume back or nice and crunchy @ 10. Pinch harmonics reach out and grab you in a nice way. Other than the tuning pegs, nut and strap locks she'll stay this way for at least a while. I got her for the color (I'm not into green guitars or fade finishes but she caught my eye for some reason) and what a friend "the Pickle" has become.Mondron

This is an extremely nice guitar, especially for the price. Great action, set-up, and play-ability straight out the box. Humbucker pickups are nice and warm, giving a nice "dark" tone to the guitar (strong bass and mid-tones) to my ears. Good variation of range of tone from the bridge and neck pickups and so is quite versatile. Lovely overtones/ harmonics going through a Blues Driver into an Orange Micro Terror — you can rock with this! — and the guitar combined well with a Roland Jazz Chorus 22 cancelling out some of the brightness of this amp. Quality of components and finish is very good. It's also a light guitar in terms of weight, so it's a practical instrument to play on stage, especially if you have a long gig — and are starting to get on a bit, like me. Of course, it's green, which might put people off, I guess… Then again, it's very eye catching and people won't miss it on stage! In summary, a great guitar at a great price that provides a different blues or jazz tone in addition to your other instruments.Damian F.

Great guitar for beginners. Looks better in your hand than in the photo. Quite loud acoustically (without amp). Came tuned with strings provided no extra fee. Delivery as stated next working day. Very satisfied overall.Dean

Received new guitar – fret buzz all over, bridge saddles were touching each other and causing vibration buzz. Originally, I raised action (still buzz) and then adjusted truss rod – still buzzing. Almost returned guitar due to bad buzz. (Utter frustration at this point) Tried one last thing: Loosened strings and started on low E string string (thickest string) – moved bridge saddles so not touching for all strings one by one ( string order E, A, D, G, B, E). Fret buzz or general buzz gone. Lowered string height first — still no buzz and then adjusted truss rod back to original position ( I added more relief originally but not necessary since neck bow was not problem) . Fret buzz still gone and now action is much lower and fast. Great guitar super light in weight – Have Vintage natural finish, finish has no gloss or very low gloss but looks great. Watch bridge saddles that our touching too much, mine had almost no space and jammed next to each other causing buzz or vibration. Watch for this problem on string changes, only need a tiny space.SolarEclipse

I really like everything about this AG75. I was pleasantly surprised. The pickups are very sensitive and responsive, over the full aural range, and with utmost clarity. The slim D neck and finely finished fretboard affords comfort with low and fast action! The overall body integrity is impressive with attention to detail. I have been playing it exclusively for three weeks, and like a good book, it's hard to put down! Makes hours of otherwise monotonous practice FUN and enjoyable again! Just a slight problem with "honking," but it was very easy to adjust it away with the pickup height adjusters. I prefer this over my other two Ibanez Artcore AF types, and they are fine as well. My highest recommendation, especially if you can buy it for under $500.00, total! Sounds and plays like a $2-Grand Gibson when set up and intonated properly.rgwhitlock

Overall: I read some of these negative reviews and can't understand what they're talking about. This guitar is probably the best guitar for $200 I ever played , right out of the box it was setup perfectly. All I did was tune it , I've even got the same strings it came with. Which I normally change whenever I get a new guitar. The tuners are unbelievably tight , this guitar barely goes out of tune even if it has been sitting for weeks. Also I never attached the whammy bar , so I can't speak on that throwing it out of tune. Since I have over a dozen guitars I don't usually play it daily , but when I do it always makes me glad I purchased it. This is a very versatile guitar , I play mostly metal and this thing shreds. But I also play blues and it sounds just as good as my custom strat. I bought an Epiphone SG special in the same price range and let's just say the setup is night and day , the tuners absolutely sucked , "already replaced them" and the intonation was off. It was a mess , I've already put it on Craig's list and bought a G400 Pro instead , 10x better quality and setup , but I digress. I've got many high priced guitars but always go back to the GRX , the playability and neck feels so comfortable to play. The only thing I'm going to do eventually is throw in a Seymour Duncan humbucker and I'm definitely keeping this guitar. I don't know how Ibanez can sell this for $200 and keep the quality , but I'm certainly not going to complain. Whether you're a beginner or experienced this guitar delivers. Definitely will be purchasing another Ibanez down the road.Mike

Sound: Does not have the cleanest sound due to the picks. Putting the right pedals and effects in line and cranking up the distortion makes it an awesome beginner / intermediate metal guitar. Features: For the price the materials feel great. Ease of Use: It sounds great on my Fender Champion 20 or Positive Grid Spark amp. Not the cleanest tone but a great metal sound and extremely easy to play. Quality: It feels made well, especially in the $200 range. I feel like this is one I'll have for years and once I get better definitely see this is a good platform for future mods. Value: This guitar is excellent value and at this price an amazing guitar. Manufacturer Support: I have not dealt with Ibanez. The Wow Factor: I must admit the aesthetic. It's extremely hard to find good looking purple color-based guitars. If I could dream up what I want a guitar to look like this is it. It helps that its quality is awesome. Overall: I love this guitar. Purple is my favorite color and a hard one to find good guitars in. It looks great. It feels great and I have yet to find any significant issues with it. No problems with the frets or fret buzz. Action is easy and low. It sounds great with my Positive Grid Spark amp. The pickups sound great. The HSH setup is very versatile. Not the greatest with clean tones like my Stratocaster, but amazing with the right effects.Josh

Overall: I read some of these negative reviews and can't understand what they're talking about. This guitar is probably the best guitar for $200 I ever played , right out of the box it was setup perfectly. All I did was tune it , I've even got the same strings it came with. Which I normally change whenever I get a new guitar. The tuners are unbelievably tight , this guitar barely goes out of tune even if it has been sitting for weeks. Also I never attached the whammy bar , so I can't speak on that throwing it out of tune. Since I have over a dozen guitars I don't usually play it daily , but when I do it always makes me glad I purchased it. This is a very versatile guitar , I play mostly metal and this thing shreds. But I also play blues and it sounds just as good as my custom strat. I bought an Epiphone SG special in the same price range and let's just say the setup is night and day , the tuners absolutely sucked , "already replaced them" and the intonation was off. It was a mess , I've already put it on Craig's list and bought a G400 Pro instead , 10x better quality and setup , but I digress. I've got many high priced guitars but always go back to the GRX , the playability and neck feels so comfortable to play. The only thing I'm going to do eventually is throw in a Seymour Duncan humbucker and I'm definitely keeping this guitar. I don't know how Ibanez can sell this for $200 and keep the quality , but I'm certainly not going to complain. Whether you're a beginner or experienced this guitar delivers. Definitely will be purchasing another Ibanez down the road.Mike

Sound: Does not have the cleanest sound due to the picks. Putting the right pedals and effects in line and cranking up the distortion makes it an awesome beginner / intermediate metal guitar. Features: For the price the materials feel great. Ease of Use: It sounds great on my Fender Champion 20 or Positive Grid Spark amp. Not the cleanest tone but a great metal sound and extremely easy to play. Quality: It feels made well, especially in the $200 range. I feel like this is one I'll have for years and once I get better definitely see this is a good platform for future mods. Value: This guitar is excellent value and at this price an amazing guitar. Manufacturer Support: I have not dealt with Ibanez. The Wow Factor: I must admit the aesthetic. It's extremely hard to find good looking purple color-based guitars. If I could dream up what I want a guitar to look like this is it. It helps that its quality is awesome. Overall: I love this guitar. Purple is my favorite color and a hard one to find good guitars in. It looks great. It feels great and I have yet to find any significant issues with it. No problems with the frets or fret buzz. Action is easy and low. It sounds great with my Positive Grid Spark amp. The pickups sound great. The HSH setup is very versatile. Not the greatest with clean tones like my Stratocaster, but amazing with the right effects.Josh

I always liked the Ibanez instruments and products. This guitar for the money has a great sound, is light and small, very practical for people with small hands, or for children. Playability is nice, the pickups are good, hardware is good. It's versatile also for all types of genre's. Ideal for rock and metal, shreds real nice. If you're looking for a good but inexpensive guitar, this one is a good purchase. It's not only for beginners, it's for all level players.John

Classic Ibanez body shape, neck, tuners and lightweight, like a scaled down Soundgear (SGR) series only sans the unnecessary active bass junk. Knobs are solid metal, not cheap plastic ones found on other low end Ibanez basses. Only thing bass needed out of box was intonation set. No neck adjustments needed and no significant buzz. Strings are round wound (my pref). Would not recommend this bass if you think you need (tone killing) flat wound. I'm not aware of anyone making flatwound strings for a 28.6" scale bass. Note: scale length of this bass (28.6") is shorter than typical short scale (30"). The strings on it are proprietary (Ibanez). You might be able to make some cut down long scale strings work (pain, wouldn't recommend) but the proprietary Ibanez strings are the way to go. MF doesn't sell them for some reason. You can find them online for a very reasonable price online. Buy a couple of extra sets. Pickups are jazz bass style and config (two volumes + one tone) which is my pref. I had zero issues with tone or volume controls. Pickups are all passive. Yah! And tone sounds great, classic jazz bass tones available including a nice Jaco-ish tone with 100% bridge pickup and tone rolled way down. Be wary of review comments from guitar players that don't play bass and buy this bass and suddenly have a lot of opinions about what this bass should and shouldn't be. This bass does not need the bridge, pickups, tuners or electronics replaced to make it a "pro" instrument. All this bass needs to be a "pro" instrument, is a "pro" player playing it. Tone is in your fingers. I highly recommend for beginners and I think experienced players will dig it as well, especially those that appreciate shorter scale instruments.mark5211

If youre wanting the heavy les Paul sound this doesnt have it. It is for sure an entry level quality. Poplar body maple neck so basically the same woods you find in a squire strat. It is comfortable to play. Lightweight and thinner than a les Paul or PRS. Good for someone just getting into playing but not a stage worthy sound. Ill most likely sell this within a few months of playing with it.chaowe4