Before You Trade or Sell Your Ibañez GIO

I admit to having been disturbed by a pseudo article posted by one jerk or group of jerks known individually or collectively as Kenvai.  What a stupid name — sounds like “Can Buy,” further insulting people from a lower rung of the social ladder who must put their money elsewhere than splurge on a single guitar.  This person or group insisted that if you can’t afford an Ibañez MIJ (Made in Japan, for those of you who don’t know yet), better buy something else. I almost believed their distorted logic.

We’re talking price range here, and if you have $300 to spare, Ibañez guitars — albeit being MII (Made in Indonesia) or MIC (Made in China) — win hands down (at least that’s the way I assess it) over their counterparts Squire, Epiphone, Peavey, et cetera.  Having owned an MIA (Made in America) Gibson, a number of MIJ axes (about 10 or so, mostly 70s and 80s models, including a yellow S540 that really took a beating), a pair of MIJ classical guitars, a 1989 Made in Taiwan Yamaha CG-110 classical that I own to this very day (but now modded), my two current MIC GSA370QM-TB and Artcore AF75-TBS, some China-made electrics and a couple of locally made guitars (RJ and Pampanga, I guess), I more or less can tell quality from crap with one look and touch. OK, so I was bragging, but don’t take me literally though.  I do need to make a careful inspection and play a guitar up and down the neck to come up with a fairly accurate evaluation.

Now here’s a more credible Web site.  It’s Rich Harris’ Ibañez Rules!!  If you’re wondering how the GIOs were priced at the 2008 NAMM, check this link out and look for the GIOs at the bottom of the page.

http://www.ibanezrules.com/namm/2008/fr_jtk_gio.htm

Just be wary of the fretwork as some of the Ibbys I’ve tried, including my own AF75-TBS, have sharp, unfinished frets on the high E string side.  I got around the problem by first researching on the ‘Net to make sure I knew what I was doing, then carefully filing the fret ends myself.  I don’t know if the Quality Assurance folks missed out on it or it was done intentionally to save on labor costs and give work to expert luthiers.  Still, I love my Ibbys.  Ibañez rules!!!  Hehehe.  Don’t get me wrong.  I love all guitars.  I’m polygamous.

So before you trade or sell your non-MIJ (or even non-MIK) Ibañez, make sure you know what your guitar is really worth rather than succumb to those narrow-minded MIJ-only jerks or opportunists who would want to snag your GIO for a freaking Peavey Tele that costs roughly $100.  After all, value is really subjective.  Remember, it’s those sick speculators that set the price of a barrel of oil soaring sky-high.  So, a $3,000 axe could be worthless to someone who knows nothing about guitars.  Besides, I’d rather take pride in the fact that I can play a guitar instead of the fact that I can pay for a guitar.  ‘Nuff said.