GRGR221PA-AQB : Great for the price

I was guitar shopping, as an intermediate non-professional player, for an electric guitar, mid-price range, meaning under a 1000eu. I play at home with a 15watt Vox and/or a DAW. I am happy to own a Ibanez AS 120 vintage. But it’s hard to get to the high frets and i was looking for something with 24 frets. I was able to have shipped a number of guitars, that i could easily return, thanks to this site and other similar sites. I went through a Epiphone SG; a Fender Player Lead III; a Yamaha Revstar standard (the $800 version): an Epiphone ES 335 (came with a busted tuner!); a Charvel Pro-mod DK 24; a Sire Larry Carlton S7; I also played in a shop all the Fender Players, Squires and imports that you could shake a stick at; and a PRS SE; and from a private person a Gibson SG (used for 700eu).

All of theses guitars were stiff, without personality, expensive for what they could and could not do and just did not feel like my guitar. Then I tried in a shop this Ibanez GRGR221PA. It’s cheap; plays damn well for the price and the neck is player friendly for me. I stripped off the ugly fake Poplar Burl paint down to it’s original wood. The layer of Poplar was so thin the Okoume started coming through as I sanded away the fakes Burl spots but i am leaving it rough like this. The Okoume is quite lovely on the sides and back. Maybe I will upgrade the electronics later: the switch, pickups and wiring are all quite cheap and so I am having to learn how to solder now. The tuners holds tune well and bridge hardware is fine; the intonation is easy to set-up and the fret and neck action is OK for this price range.

So my point is: why pay a thousand euro for a mediocre guitar when I can have a decent guitar for a third of the price of all those I tried? (esp. given today’s guitar technology.) Sure i would like a $3000 custom/high end guitar but I am not even sure that would be worth it. All in all I am happy with this budget guitar that i can adapt, change and switch out the parts. Highly recommend as a first guitar or something to have as an alternative.