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Pros:
- Improbably Affordable
- Part of a Bundle
- Decent Sound
Cons:
- Derivative Design
- Agathis Body
- Cheap Nut
- Tuning Stability Issues
Who does not love themselves a nice bundle, full of things that they could start using from the very first day they get the bundle? I mean I love myself a nice bundle just like the next guy, though not all bundles are worth your time. Some bundles are full of things that are not really that useful or quality. This is why I spend some time every other week and look at some bundles available on the market. Let us take a look at the Ibanez GSRM20BWK GIO 4-String Mikro Electric Bass and see if it’s the best beginner bass guitar.
Body Quality
The body of the Ibanez GSRM20BWK GIO is something you get used to seeing on the bass guitar market soon after you start looking for a new bass guitar. It is a pretty much standard double cutaway design that neither introduces anything new nor takes away from the already existing design. Unexciting and derivative, it is still an enjoyable design that, while not unique, does the job of looking decent enough. It is a simple, comfortable design that works and nothing more.
The body of the guitar is built out of Agathis. This tonewood is not seen too much on the market but is a cheap and sometimes quite valuable tonewood for the manufacturer. The hardwood is cheap to acquire and work with, but it is also not the best in terms of tone or sturdiness. Agathis is known to have similar qualities to basswood in terms of tone, though the effect is not as powerful or pronounced. This makes the tonewood seemingly less useful than bass, especially since it is just as soft and light as the other, more popular tonewood.
The neck of the guitar is made out of maple, which is a traditional choice of hardwood for this part of the guitar. The sturdiness of the maple means that your guitar will be highly resistant to warping, denting, and breaking. The neck is bolted onto the body of the guitar and there have been reports of the alignment not being done entirely right. Still, the neck is trustworthy. The fretboard of the guitar is made out of rosewood.
Hardware
The guitar comes with a B10 bridge system. This system is known to have rather nice string stability, as well as some nice action.
The nut of the guitar is unfortunately made out of cheaper synthetic material. This results in the sound of the guitar having some noise in it.
The tuning machine of the guitar looks good, but it does not perform as well. The guitar has a hard time keeping its tuning in line for long periods of time.
Electronics
The guitar comes with a double pickup setup, with one pickup located at the middle of the body and the other located at the bridge. One of the pickups is a split-coil style, meaning you get a flexible sound out of your guitar. The other pickup is a single-coil style. The combination allows the guitar a bright, nuanced sound. Though the pickups are not too adept at filtering out the string noise.
The bass guitar comes with a simplistic control system, with a master volume knob and two individual tone knobs.
Ibanez Short Scale Bass Sound
The sound of the guitar is much better than you would expect out of an instrument this cheap. Providing some nice flexibility thanks to the pickup configurations, the sound of the guitar can range from deep and grungy to bright and energetic, depending on what the musician is looking for. The only problem the sound might have is the string noise that seeps into the sound of the guitar.
Conclusion
Overall, the best part of this guitar is the fact that it comes in a bundle. Though even the bundle is limited. It has decent sound and is incredibly affordable, which should make it viable for most beginner players out there.
