Ibanez GRG170DX Review – Affordable RG Design

Hello there and welcome back to the review series with another killer value-for-money electric guitar of many years also I believe it will stay the same in the following years, Ibanez GRG170DX electric guitar review!

As you know, Ibanez has been well known for its edgy, modern and super-strat style electric guitars for decades. For most people, the Ibanez brand equals RG model electric guitars which are very unique in the guitarists’ world.

If you like to have a look at what Ibanez can make even aimed at entry-level hollow body lovers, please click here to go to my Ibanez Artcore AF55 review.

Even though its price range is a bit higher for the lowest budget electric guitars, it’s been the best-selling electric guitar in my country and I witnessed this during my service in the musical instruments industry!

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I believe this has been due to its price being not so higher than a not-so-well-known guitar brand and its value for money.

I would say it comes in 99.5% perfect condition and does not require much initial care and set-up, plus it provides a wide variety of sounds thanks to its humbucker – single-humbucker + 5-way switch RG wiring.

Before we have a look at the tech specs and review the instrument, let’s hear the sound it can produce. This short video was one of the first videos that we made back in the day. Then I’ll be sharing a longer, standard video below.

Ibanez GRG170DX Test Room Video (no talking)

It is reported that Ibanez’s RG model was released in 1987 and it is one of the best-selling super strat guitars in the world. It is shaped in a classic RG body form and comes with an HSH pickup combination. It also features a basswood body with a maple GRG style neck and bound rosewood fingerboard with bindings.

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Ibanez GRG170DX Review & Sound Demo (no talking)

Let’s have a look at the tech specs and then talk about the guitar.

Ibanez GRG170DX Tech Specs

As mentioned above, this guitar has been always every time ready to play out of the box. It comes with a D’addario 9-42 string set on a 24-fret fretboard which makes this a natural shred machine.

Bending is so easy and overall performance is without any hassle. As you can see from the table above, I have marked the body material with question marks because Ibanez’s website tells us it has a mahogany body. To be honest, I don’t believe it has a mahogany body, instead, it has been always a basswood body.

I suspect that not many people can just spot the body wood of an electric guitar just by hearing it. It mostly occurs to us that using mahogany in the body makes the guitars a lot heavier than basswood ones, most of the time. So I also can not be 100% sure. Maybe you can contact Ibanez and ask. But I remember having seen basswood written on Ibanez’s website.

If you’re into hard rock, metal and shred stuff and want to start playing right away, I would definitely recommend Ibanez GRG170DX electric guitar. I would not like to encourage you to use its standard tremolo as if it was a Floyd Rose bridge tough 🙂

Tremolo bars on most entry to mid-budget electric guitars are not so useful and will cause tuning problems in my opinion. So don’t need to comment on that much. Instead, I would just tighten the springs on the back of the guitar and make it almost like a fixed bridge guitar.

Hopefully, it’s been a clear, open review for you and helps you make up your mind about one of the best value-for-money RG-style Ibanez electric guitars. Any questions? Reach out to me via the contact section. See you in the next review!

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