View other reviews for this product:
MGR/Jason Hael « Ibanez GAX70 »
Published on 04/10/03 at 15:00$512AUD from Creative Sound Centre Grafton. Walked in and compared this guitar with S Series Ibanez, Squire Tele and Yamaha Pacifica. Chose this guitar because the neck felt just right for me; the fingerboard radius seemed more comfortable and versatile than either that of the Fender or Yamaha necks. Had more character and tone than the Squire, and looked and sound a better quality instrument. The S series Ibanez was a ligher, more comfortable guitar to hold, but also more expensive. And truth be told, I fell in love with this little butterscotch tanned, fat bottomed girl within a few minutes of introduction.
I liked the simple but elegant approach in the design of this guitar - a good quality finish and construction without the un-necessary, tacky cosmetics that are used on other similar style guitars of other brands. I think it is the reason that this is both a cheaper and better quality guitar than some others.
What I like most about this guitar is the neck. The neck scale(24.75), fingerboard radius(305mm) and neck thickness are excellent - I have never played a neck that felt so right until I picked up the GAX and the S series Ibanez models - good for rythym, bar chord playing etc. I am a learner guitarist and the neck also seems great while playing the scale patterns and riffs I am learning at the moment.
Tone and control nobs have a good range - the tone nobs actually do have a considerable effect on the sound, unlike my brothers Squier Strat. The pickups sounded a lot better than I expected for the price; perhaps it is a little hard to adjust to a clean sound, but the sound this guitar puts out through them is miles more satisfying to my ear than that of the Squire Strat and the Fat Tele I tried. It is not hard to get a nice soulful owww coming out of this creature. Also when you plug this into an amp and play, you'll will be suprised at the sustain it has; I would guess that the non-tremolo, set bridge contributes to this, and is perhaps why it takes you by suprise after playing cheap tremelo guitars.
The Bridge/stop tail piece looks neat, strong and undaunting to adjust and service.
Inspite of the awkwardness of holding this guitar while sitting down, and getting it balanced on the strap when standing, the guitar itself contours really nicely and sits reassuringly against the body, and I think it is actually a lot more ergonomic in that regard to a lot of other guitars; the chamfer on the body under where your right forearm rests makes it very comfortable in that area.
The major difficulty I have with this instrument is that it is a bit awkward to hold while sitting down. As for standing with it, I have read a lot about it being top heavy, but actually don't think this is correct. I think this impression is due to the centre of gravity being off centre due to the short body of this guitar and the subsequent location of the peg. It is actually a very ergonomic and comfortable guitar while standing once you get it to sit right.
I have only had this guitar for a few weeks now, but nothing has come loose on it yet. The construction seems solid and everything seems fitted together neatly. The only cosmetic flaws are perhaps some knots in the grain of the maple neck, but that is a very minor aesthetic thing that some people seem to think is important - if that is the only compromise for the rest of the quality and value of this guitar, then they have made the right decision. The trasparent gloss finish on the body of the guitar is durable and I cannot find any faults in the finish. The fish-eyed tone and volume nobs looks nice and actually work!
I hear a lot about how Ibanez guitars going out of tune and complaints about the tuners. The tuners on this guitar look and seem to work just fine. Between practise sessions this guitar only went out of tune a couple of times due to temperature change, but the only time it has gone out of tune while playing was after practising a lot of note bends - that was one string that went out of tune, not the whole guitar.
To me, this guitar is great value. All other brand SG and Les Paul style guitars that I researched in the $500 to $800AUD range were more expensive, had no better hardware, and didn't look as solid or as well finished.
In my mind, the Yamaha Pacifica, as a quality and good sounding instrument, was the only competition in its price range. The GAX70 won me over due to its personality, playablitiy and wonderful neck.
I have been very satisfied and motivated by this instrument as a learning guitarist. If you want a guitar with the same dimension neck as this, but want a lighter, easier to hold, or higher level instrument, I reconmend you check out the S-series by Ibanez.
This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com
I liked the simple but elegant approach in the design of this guitar - a good quality finish and construction without the un-necessary, tacky cosmetics that are used on other similar style guitars of other brands. I think it is the reason that this is both a cheaper and better quality guitar than some others.
What I like most about this guitar is the neck. The neck scale(24.75), fingerboard radius(305mm) and neck thickness are excellent - I have never played a neck that felt so right until I picked up the GAX and the S series Ibanez models - good for rythym, bar chord playing etc. I am a learner guitarist and the neck also seems great while playing the scale patterns and riffs I am learning at the moment.
Tone and control nobs have a good range - the tone nobs actually do have a considerable effect on the sound, unlike my brothers Squier Strat. The pickups sounded a lot better than I expected for the price; perhaps it is a little hard to adjust to a clean sound, but the sound this guitar puts out through them is miles more satisfying to my ear than that of the Squire Strat and the Fat Tele I tried. It is not hard to get a nice soulful owww coming out of this creature. Also when you plug this into an amp and play, you'll will be suprised at the sustain it has; I would guess that the non-tremolo, set bridge contributes to this, and is perhaps why it takes you by suprise after playing cheap tremelo guitars.
The Bridge/stop tail piece looks neat, strong and undaunting to adjust and service.
Inspite of the awkwardness of holding this guitar while sitting down, and getting it balanced on the strap when standing, the guitar itself contours really nicely and sits reassuringly against the body, and I think it is actually a lot more ergonomic in that regard to a lot of other guitars; the chamfer on the body under where your right forearm rests makes it very comfortable in that area.
The major difficulty I have with this instrument is that it is a bit awkward to hold while sitting down. As for standing with it, I have read a lot about it being top heavy, but actually don't think this is correct. I think this impression is due to the centre of gravity being off centre due to the short body of this guitar and the subsequent location of the peg. It is actually a very ergonomic and comfortable guitar while standing once you get it to sit right.
I have only had this guitar for a few weeks now, but nothing has come loose on it yet. The construction seems solid and everything seems fitted together neatly. The only cosmetic flaws are perhaps some knots in the grain of the maple neck, but that is a very minor aesthetic thing that some people seem to think is important - if that is the only compromise for the rest of the quality and value of this guitar, then they have made the right decision. The trasparent gloss finish on the body of the guitar is durable and I cannot find any faults in the finish. The fish-eyed tone and volume nobs looks nice and actually work!
I hear a lot about how Ibanez guitars going out of tune and complaints about the tuners. The tuners on this guitar look and seem to work just fine. Between practise sessions this guitar only went out of tune a couple of times due to temperature change, but the only time it has gone out of tune while playing was after practising a lot of note bends - that was one string that went out of tune, not the whole guitar.
To me, this guitar is great value. All other brand SG and Les Paul style guitars that I researched in the $500 to $800AUD range were more expensive, had no better hardware, and didn't look as solid or as well finished.
In my mind, the Yamaha Pacifica, as a quality and good sounding instrument, was the only competition in its price range. The GAX70 won me over due to its personality, playablitiy and wonderful neck.
I have been very satisfied and motivated by this instrument as a learning guitarist. If you want a guitar with the same dimension neck as this, but want a lighter, easier to hold, or higher level instrument, I reconmend you check out the S-series by Ibanez.
This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com