Ibanez GAX70 Guitar Review

The Ibanez GAX70 is part of a series in which the brand drifted from its normal modus operandi. While they usually make guitars designed for metal, this series is designed to be different and more versatile. Not only do they look different, but they play and feel different as well. Let's take a closer look at the GAX70 to see if these differences are a good thing.

Features: The body of the GAX70, unlike most other Ibanez guitars, is made of agathis wood. This is a stark contrast in both sound and feel from the normal basswood. The body shape can best be described as a Les Paul style with a cutaways on both the top and bottom, instead of just the latter. The fretboard, meanwhile, is made of rosewood. It has twenty one frets total with pearloid dot inlays as position markers. There are several finishes available, including white, green, silver, and black. None are particularly eye-catching, but they are decent for the price range of the instrument. Unfortunately, no model comes with a pickguard. The bridge is a Full Tune II, and comes complete with a stopbar tailpiece toward the back of the body. It does a nice job of keeping the strings in tune and is easy to adjust the string height with. The rest of the hardware, including the tuning heads and control knobs, is chrome. Electronically, the GAX70 has two Powersound humbucking pickups, two volume and two tone control knobs, and a three way selector switch.

Playability: As you could probably expect, the design of the GAX70 makes it very different to play than many other Ibanez lines. The body, though comfortable, is a little heavy and shallow cutaways. This means that high fret access can at times be difficult. Also, the neck is on the thicker side, which makes long reaches and awkward chording formations somewhat hard. All in all, this guitar is best if you're looking to play rhythm instead of lead.

Sound: The sound of the GAX70, surprisingly, is not all that different from other Ibanez guitars. It can really scream power chords and leads alike. If you're going to be playing hard rock and don't need all of the technical metal features, it is great.

Overall: The Ibanez GAX70 is essentially a throwback with some added edge in the sound department. It plays well, much like an old Gibson or Epiphone, and it can really shake some windows. If you're going to be playing rhythm in a hard rock band, it's an excellent choice and a great value. You can find the GAX70 in music stores for about $200.