Ibanez GAX70

I'm guessing that mine was probably made around 2002 or so. It's one of the Indonesian models and it comes in a Transparent Red finish and has 2 powersound Humbuckers, a 3 way switch and 2 sets of volume and tone controls along with a tune o matic bridge and stopbar tailpiece. The neck has 22 frets but I'm not sure what scale it is although it is thicker than my Fender strat. I won this on E-Bay so a heavy duty Ibanez gigbag was also part of the deal.

It took me quite a while to get adjusted to the sound of these pickups only because when I got this guitar, I had to do a lot of maintenance on it, which I'll get to later. These pups seem very trebly when you're playing on the clean channel of your amp, at least to me they do, and that's only because I have my amp set up for my Fender Strat. Once I kicked in the distortion, it was obvious that this guitar was made for Nu-Metal, but I could definately throw down some serious lead riffs with it. These pups put out some nice sustain I must say.

I won this on E-Bay through a power seller, so it was obvious to me that the prior owner didn't give two shits about guitar care. When I got this,the neck was extremely bowed, along with a lot of grime and dirt all over the body and inside the electronics. Luckily I do know how to do proper guitar set ups and care, so I was able to restore this at pratically no cost at all. I did a truss rod adjustment,a intonation set up, fret cleaning,cleaned the electronics, changed the strings,polished and buffed the body along with tightening up the tuners and all the hardware. Once that was all done,it looked like it just came out of the box. Now I have to say that it's a keeper.

Considering all the work that I put into it,I think that this guitar will last me a long time. I'm pretty sure that I could use it at a gig without a backup but I wouldn't, only for the reason that I bought it to use as a backup for my Strat. I baby all of my equipment so this will be with me a long time.

Ibanez's customer support pretty much sucks. They don't have any way of contacting them as far as I could tell when I went on their website.

I've been playing over 36 years and besides this,I also own a 2006 MIM Sunburst Standard Strat and a 2007 Crate GTD120 combo amp. I should've asked the guy who sold me this guitar, just exactly if there was anything wrong with it. According to his posting on E-Bay, there wasn't any issues with it. Oh well, live and learn. Next time I buy another guitar,I'll go and buy one in person, no more E-Bay.

All of the features have been covered numerous times. Mine was purchased in early Feb, 2004. I used it as my starter guitar after a bad purchase a couple months prior of a different brand. I give it an average feature rating because it does not have any extras or anything. It's.......average.

My music style is mostly classic rock ranging from soft Neil Young to hard Led Zep. I did change the stock pickups out after a year or so and used some crunchy GFS from guitar-fetish. I'll break out my review to before and after the switch.

Before: I felt at the time that I was not getting enough bite out of the stock pick-ups for harder rock. While that may be true, I'm actually thinking now that it was probably more of an amp issue than anything. What was good about the stock was it's stunningly beautiful sound. Everyone who ever picked it up remarked to that end.

After: I got a lot more bite out of the replacement pickups than I had before. It actually jumps out when you hop on it. I can still coax a nice sweet tone out of it with the proper right hand technique. Ended up making this quite a flexible guitar.

Over All: Maybe it's the Agathis body or the fretboard. I really don't know, but this guitar does have it's own tone and it's quite nice. I'm thinking of experimenting if I see another one floating around for dirt cheap used. Snatch it up and put some of those flat wound strings on it and see what it does for Jazz.

My rating is based on stock pickups, and the bridge was kind of weak before the swap come to think of it. Remember, I'm also amde the rating based on the music I got it for.

The set-up form the factory was fairly decent. I make all my own adjustments every year now, but I didn't do a whole lot to this. The finish is kind of a plain ol' transparent red stain thing. No frills at all, but not ugly. Again, call it average.

Here's it's weakness. The tuners are poor, the neck bolts come loose and the pick-up switch is iffy at best. However, this darned thing stays in tune as good as anything I have. It defies logic. I'd give it a low mark, but in the end, everything boils down to how well it stays in tune. 2 points off for pick-up switch.

never dealt with support.

I own 9 guitars, been playing 5 years and play mostly rhythm. The real benefit to this guitar is that it's nut width was wide enough for my stubby fingers as a beginner. It's the sole reason I bought it. I can play any guitar I want to now, but as a beginner, it kept me playing.

This guitar will probably be with me until I can no longer play. I just keep tightening things up on it from time to time and it keeps on playing and playing. They're $200 now, I paid $190. I play it almost every day. It's easy to play, easy to adjust, easy to maintain and it sounds great (and more versitile with the pick ups I added). For the money, I give it a 7. I do think that better tuners and switch should be required for a higher score.

Ibanez GAX70, purchased in 2008. Manufactured in Indoesia. 22 fret, maple/rosewood unfinished neck, clear cherry red finish, Mahogany double cutaway body. 2 Ibanez Powersound humbuckers w/dual volume/tone, 3-way switch, fixed bridge, pretty smooth standard tuners.

The sound was pretty decent for a <$200 guitar. Pickups were kind of noisy and harsh, but at this price...I play through a Diezel Einstein, which unfortunately, will make any POS guitar sound good. After changing the pups to a Duncan JB-bridge and Pearly Gates-neck, it sounded amazing, even for the Diezel. I prefer a pretty straight guitar sound most of the time, with little use for effects, except for some reverb and a little delay on leads. This guitar can do blues, hard rock, or metal without missing a beat, has a very warm, full sound now with the rosewood board and Duncan pups. I normally prefer ebony fretboards, but this one won me over at the GC store, sounding better than other $400-500 guitars, mostly because of the playability of the neck and wide, flat fretboard. One thing, the neck being maple with a thin and light mahogany body makes it kind of neck heavy-something to consider for gigging as it isn't balanced very well for playing standing.

The setup was remarkable at the pricepoint, with nice low action. Truss rod needed a little loosening, as the neck was slightly bowed, although nearly straight. Pups were a little low. The cherry red finish is very nice, showing the excellent mahoghany grain. Couldn't find any manufacturing defects, all hardware properly tightened.

This would be a good backup for playing out, no plans to at this time. I wouldn't expect the hardware to last under constant playing, but probably good for bedroom usage.

Been playing for about 25 years. Current stable includes 87 Gibson LP Custom, 91 LP Studio, 06 Jackson Dinky (for shredding/whammy bar stuff), and a Yamaha 12-string. Running a Lexicon rack unit and Morley wah through a Diezel Einstein. If the Ibanez got stolen, I'd buy another one for $200. Love the neck and sound with the Duncan pups. I've tried some higher-end Ibanez RG guitars in the past, but didn't like the sound. Guess I lucked out with this one.

The features have already been covered.

The sound of this guitar is just a typical modern double humbucker sound. There is not much more to say than that. The quality of the picups are more than adequate for the average player. The picups are about the best you are going to find on a $200 dollar guitar.

Ibanez in general is king of the "out of the box" instrument setup. There are very few low priced Ibanez guitars I played on that did not play well out of the box. This one is no exception.

I have played several gigs with this guitar, and never had any trouble with it.

I have had nothing but good dealings with Ibanez overall. Even though I have never had a problem with any of their guitars.

I have read through alot of these reviews. A lot of these reviews are based on preference instead of about the guitar itself. Frankly, there are very few guitars that can compete with this one in this price range. I saw a few comments about Squiers. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! If you are just into "Fender Style" guitars, you may not like this guitar. However, unless you do some work on a Squier(anything), there is no way you can compare this guitar to those. They are not even in the same class in my book. Ibanez gives you a REAL guitar, with decent hardware, that stays in tune. You may find a nice Squier every so often, but most of the time this is not the case with them. Consistency in quality is where Ibanez beats other companies who put out budget guitars.

I have been playing 30+ years. Right now I own an Artcore AF75D, Ibanez ART100, Yamaha RGX-A2, Dean Stylist, Aria ProII CS-400, Austin 762BK(Tele), Fender(Mex)Telecaster and a Yamaha CG-BN. I mostly play through a Fender Princeton Chorus, and a 100watt Kustom. I have owned 2 GAX 70s, but decided to move up to the ART100. The last one GAX70 I had, I kept it for 6 years.

I would recommend this guitar to anyone. Nothing spectacular, just a good dependable and economical axe!

Green shadow flat finish on an agathis SG/LP double cut style body. kind of reminds me of the thicker bodied Tony Iommi SG that Epiphone makes now, but a bit more contoured. 2 vol and 2 tone with a 3-way toggle. TOM type bridge, which suits me fine as i HATE Floyd Rose trem units and such. sometimes simple is better. 21 fret maple neck/rosewood board, with nice medium sized (almost jumbo, but not quite) frets, and (shock of all shocks!) pretty decent factory tuning machines. Would of preferred a set neck over a bolt on, but for under $200, what more could you ask for?

I had to part with a '77 Gibson SG a few years ago, and have been looking for a replacement in my price range for a while now. This fit the bill and then some. Nice, full sound unplugged. And that neck. OMFG!!!
As for plugged in, i really don't understand all the hatred for the Powersound pickups? Maybe it's the whole "just throw some Seymore Duncans/EMGs like <insert famous axe-slinger here> uses" attitude everyone seems to have these days. I like these pickups just fine. They remind me of a higher output Gibson 490T/R. True, they're a bit muddy at high gain. well guess what? High gain means roll your tone knobs back a bit, people. Besides, other than the wood's natural tone, the only other tone should really be coming from your amp anyway.
I'm currently using this with a Behringer Big Muff clone and a Boss Super OD through a little 10 watt BC rich practice amp an old roommate left behind. I hope to change the amp situation soon (C'mon, tax return...lol!). However, if a guitar can still sound good through a crappy amp, you know you've struck gold.

I'm not sure if the Guitar Center where i bought it, or Ibanez themselves, should get credit for an excellent setup. I've been playing for 15 years, so I know a thing or two about a good setup. Everything appears (as well as sounds) fine. I'm pretty sure GC should get the props though, as most factory setups blow the long donkey, and i doubt Ibanez would take the time to do an above average one on a "budget" axe.
When it comes to the finish, ZERO complaints. I never was too crazy about this guitar in the black night or white finishes, and EVERYONE has it in the trans red. It seems like it will hold up pretty well, and may even have a nicer look to it when it starts to fade over time.

I've yet to play out with it. Besides, how could I even consider gigging with a little 10 watt practice amp? LOL! However, if, and when I finally do start playing out again, I doubt there'll be much need for a backup. This thing seems just as solid as my old SG, and i never used a backup for that. An extra set of strings for those unfortunate breakages is all I'll probably need.

Can't say. Never dealt with them. However, they are a big corporation, so it's probably about as pleasant as a full body cavity search.

I think this thing's a definite "sleeper axe." In other words, when they quit making these, people will be selling them for ridiculous amounts on e(vil)bay, and talking about how great they were. Like most of Ibanez's late 70's/early 80's output. If it were lost or stolen, big YES on buying another one. Even if I do have to pay a ridiculous amount to some ebay bandit in the future.

A Trans-red, agathis sg/lps double cutaway body. It's got two humbuckers, both really low output and quiet. Two tone two volume pots, and a three way selector switch. It's got a stop tail style bridge. The neck is a three peice maple/cheap rosewood with a satin finish. It's made in indonesia, which at first I was skeptical about. However after playing many guitars in the shop ranging from $350 and down, this was by far the easiest to play, and the most comfortable.

I'll give it an 8 for features, it could have a lot more junk on it. In this case, being only an 8 is a good thing, because it's nice and simple and not trying to be anything it's not.

Now here is where people will agree to disagree. I personally LOVE the sound this guitar puts out. It can do a really lovely clean sound and handles high gain pretty well also.

The first thing that surprised me was the fact that it put out such a warm tone from the neck pickup, despite it being a low output humbucker. Usually when a company puts a cheap pick up in their guitars, you don't expect much, but after running this thing through a couple tube amps (fenders and a beat up old vox) and then through an older vintage solidstate (yamaha g50-112II, circa 78) the sounds it puts out just on the neck pick up is very nice. It's hard to explain things like tone or color, but to my picky ears, it's pretty sweet. It gets really nice cleans.

I won't even bring up the line6 guitarport I play it through when I'm praticing because well that's over modulated and usually a pretty false sound. Digital amp modeling and effects are nice for practice and what not, but you should never judge a guitar by one, unless that is your 100% sound. I use mostly old amps and like the classic organic sound they produce, but I will admit that this guitar sounds great no matter what I run it through haha.

Now the bridge pickup. This isn't your typical treble based pickup. It's quiet just like the neck, but one thing I like about it, it gives a nice twangy sound. Excellent for chickin' pickin' or tweedy blues. And if you overdrive it or have a good distortion going on with some delay/verb it does a VERY good imitation of that laney paul gilbert sound. Not fat at all, but very thin and fast.

Some shredders like that, I personally think it's fun for playing around with leads, but honestly, I'm more into the fatter sounds.

Basically if you want a pretty versitle guitar and don't want to spend a whole lot, this guitar has a wide range of sounds and tones you can get. I just wish the pickups had a little more output. Nothing a quick pickup swap couldn't fix though =) I'm planning on putting a vintage dimarzio SD-1 in the bridge and maybe a humbucker from hell in the neck, see if that gives a fatter sound.

I give it an 8 for sound, because while it's not perfection, it's definatly very smooth. I've played live with it a few times, and people kinda do the "wtf a cheap ibanez is doing that?" thing afterwards, and all you can really do is just smile.

The action is low with only a small amount of fret buzz from the factory settings. Took only a few seconds to weed it out and correct. The finish was amazing! For a cheap guitar the transred finish was probably nicer than that $999.99 gibson sg hanging on the wall haha. Don't get me wrong, I love gibson products, but come on now, a 10 year old in indonesia is putting a nicer finish than our boys in montana? The world is coming to an end! haha.

The only flaw I saw in this guitar was the nut on the input jack was a little loose, so I threw on a lockwasher and tightened it up, and wala, she's ready to go.

For this, I give the Ibanez a 9. Fret buzz is common on all new guitars from the factory, unless it's a custom shop item that goes direct to player, so I'm not too picky about that. The input jack quality is really the only reason I'm grading a 9.

Reliability? Durability? Well, it hasn't failed me yet live, though I only use it sparingly. Would I have a back up? Well honestly this isn't my guitar, it's the wife's haha, and much to her dismay I use it as a back up.

The electronics are solid and haven't given me a reason to worry. The neck seems a little fragile, but I'm not a thrasher, and I don't abuse my equipment. If you are into jumping around and throwing your equipment around, well then this guitar probably won't last a night. However, if you are going to use it in a studio situation, or gently on stage, it should last you a long long time.

This guitar really isn't made for the stage, it's basically a beginners guitar, for practicing and learning. That being said, use it right and she'll last forever.

I'm going with an 8 for this catagory. The neck just feels a bit too weak, and honestly I don't think it'll hold up if you abuse it; however if you treat it like it's your baby, it'll last a life time.

Ibanez? Customer support? This would be only the second Ibanez I've put my hands on in about 15 years, and in both cases I really don't think I'll ever need to talk to them, unless it's to say "thanks for the great product at an affordable price." =)

Overall I really love this guitar, even though it's not quite my cup of tea. That makes me sad, because I had such high opinions of the other brands of guitars I played before I decided that the wife would like that one the best. I even went a few hundred dollars up in range to make sure I wasn't playing a bunch of bad lots. Compared to the Gibsons in the $1000 range, I was not impressed at all. You'd think with all the money they make, they'd give a better product.

I never thought I'd ever choose a $199.99 Ibanez, (made in Indonesia at that!) over a Les Paul Studio. The LP studio has been the in shop guitar I've used to base off almost all of my purchases of equipment, guitars, amps, ect for YEARS.

I played this little red thing through 6 amps at the store. A fender delux reverb reissue, a fender gdec(what garbage lol), a peavey valveking(holy cow peavey wtf is with making nice amps all of a sudden haha), marshall dsl100, marshall jvm something or another, and a beat up used vox from the 70s that was waaaay over priced haha.

This guitar sang through every amp except for the gdec. I didn't try the line6's, because I never base a guitar off of a digital sound. I'm kinda sad that I played through the gdec. After about a minute with that garbage I gave the salesman a really dirty look for even suggesting I try it out haha.

Anyways, back to the guitar in question. I give this guitar a 9 overall. It's not the axe of legends, no mystics fortold of it's creation, and it's not the best thing under the sun. What it is, is one of the BEST practice/learning guitars you can get for under $350.

There is not one thing about this guitar I would change. It does what it's ment to do very well. It didn't hurt the bank either. If it were lost or stolen, I'd seriously consider another one.

2 humbuckers, 3 way switch, 2 volume and tone knobs, cool finish. Good features for the money, nothing amazing though.

I like the way it sounds, it has been played with a line 6 spiderII 15w, and an old peavey tube amp at my friends house. This was my first guitar, and I enjoy the way it sounds. Admittedly, it doesnt sound as good as the Jackson that my previously mentioned friend just had fixed up sounds, I'm thinking that I should take it in to a shop and have a pro make sure the inotation and such is good. I get a little fret buzz, goes away once I replace the strings.

Overall, I love the finish of the guitar. The wood grain really pops on it.

Not too many problems with durability. One of the pots came loose, but that is more my fault for trying to figure out how to take the knob off instead of looking it up first. Also replaced the strap buttons with straplocks, very nice to have. Otherwise, havent had any troubles, mine also stays in tune quite well.

Havent gone through tech support. Nifty book came with it though. Very explanatory, lots of pictures.

Overall, for a first guitar I love it. Seems like a much better guitar then the squier strat or fat strat that I looked at, and I might wind up simply upgrading it instead of getting a new guitar.

Others have described the components of this instrument. It is built as a standard 2 pickup humbucker guitar, with Gibson style configuration.

As shipped, the guitar does not sound very good when plugged in, since the stock pickups are poor quality. Acoustically, it has reasonably good sustain and the sound of the instrument unplugged led me to believe that it could be made into a great guitar. Please read on, as this review focuses on the modifiability of this guitar.

For the price range of this instrument, they are built very well. I have played 4 of them, and I have bought 2 of them. Of the four, 3 of them were well setup when I first got my hands on them. This is what attracted me to the instrument. One of the four had some issues fretting out at the top of the neck, but this was addressed and resolved in a setup. Two of them had some bridge issues - one of them had slight spurring in the bridge notches that made some of the strings a little prone to breakage - but this was repaired. Another one has some issues with string alignment over the magnet pole pieces. But this is probably resolvable as well. The neck feels very good, and the body feels good too when playing it. The tuners need to be replaced for this instrument to be gig-worthy.

I use this guitar (in its modified state) as my main gigging and recording guitar. If the tuners are replaced, it is reliable. Also, I should note, I replaced ALL of the wiring, controls, and electronics (see below). In the original configuration, I'd be a bit worried about the pickup selector switch and output jack failing due to poor quality.

I own a Gretsch Firebird, Fender Telecaster, a Heritage 535, G&L Legacy, and 2 of these Ibanez GAX-70's. And right now, the Ibanez is the best sounding guitar of the bunch. I bought this instrument as a "project" guitar because I wouldn't care if I messed it up.

The first one, I replaced the pickups with SD JB bridge and 59 neck. Replaced tuners with Grover tuners with the locking cam. Removed and replaced ALL the wiring, pots, and jacks, and switches with high quality components, and added a 3-position series/split/parallel switch for the bridge pickup. After doing all this, and having a pro-setup, this is a phenomenal guitar.

I bought the first one for $150. And I bought the second one for $93. The second one is in the process of being modified (it will have SD Phat Cat P-90 in neck and Stag Mag in bridge). This one will use push-pull for coil tap on a tone control instead of the mini-switch, since I cracked the finish on the first one drilling the hole for the mini-switch. The entire set of upgrades that I did, including setup, cost me $250 (in both cases, these guitars came to me with one good pickup, and I replaced the other). So for about $350 I have a guitar that I choose OVER instruments that cost me up to four times that amount.

Straight forward features, dual humbuckers, dual tone & volume, three way pickup switch. The guitar is simply bread & butter.

With the right strings and setup it sounds better than anything elso in its class and then some. If you want a 335 type sound go with a light guage (8-9s) if you want a warm Les Paul sound go with 11 half rounds, this is what is currently on mine. I can go from a juicy clean to a nice dirty with a flip of the pickup switch. Thats a big plus not having to rely on a stomp box for your sound. The guitar is dead quiet unless you've got the gain turned up to the max, but then everything will make noise. As far as amps, I run two different one a Rolland micro cube and a Marathon. The little tweed Marathon gets miked and sounds better than a whole room full of gear. The Rolland is a blast to take out on motorcycle runs and play at camp, no extra effects are needed, it fits in the saddlebag. There isn't anything that I really dislike about the red beastie, it runs the full spectrum of music from folk to blues to classic rock to metal.

Not sure how it was set up from the factory, I got this one used. I stripped the strings that came on it off first thing. Put a set of half wound 9s on it set the bridge for height and intonation and was off and running. I read others reviews about how bad a guitar was set up this one good or this one bad. There is no perfect factory set up unless you are the one doing it. Think of it as the seat and mirrors when you buy a new car. Its adjustable for a reason people. Fit and finish were good no complaints.

YES it will stand up to live playing, its a solid built guitar. It will be around a long time. It will be able to take the abuse that any other guitar will take. I take good care of my guitars, this one isn't babied but it ain't abused either.
YES, I would gig with it without a backup.

This is my second Ibanez and I've never had to have warranty work or had any major problems either of them.

Been playing for a while, played Bass in two different band with one CD cut and now after a 16 year lay off trying to relearn everything. This guitar has its own shape and sound though it can mimic most others. It plays better than most give it credit for. Maybe they just hate the fact that something this inexpensive plays and sounds this good. Their squires and a dozen more don't, what they are jellous of they put down. I love the looks on poeples faces when I crank up the "little red monster"

Pretty standard guitar: Transparent red finish, SG 'horns' with the area around the bridge wider, kinda like a Les Paul. No pickguard, and it's made of agathis, with a 22-fret rosewood fingerboard, two (shitty) Ibanez stock pickups, plastic nut and a stoptail bridge.

As far as electronics go, you have the standard three way selector, two volume, and two tone knobs, so as far as dual humbucker guitars go, it's as versatile as it can get.

Manufactured in Indonesia in 2001, as best I can figure.

Overall, the guitar looks and feels a bit cheap. To play, it's neck heavy so you'll have to hoist it around a bit, and there's no body contours worth mentioning, so it feels like you're holding a slab.

I play through a Fender FM212R 100 watt amp and a Roland DS-1 pedal, and the sound is distinctly average. The stock pickups are horrific, don't even think about playing clean on this thing, it just won't work. Dirty is slightly more tolerable, powerchordy type rhythms sound good, but leads sound thin and lifeless. I play alternative rock (Dinosaur Jr. style), so I'm pretty reliant on some grunt, which this guitar can deliver, if only just.

The pickups as I mentioned earlier are terrible, the bridge sounds thin and horrible (even with the mid's on the amp turned up) and the neck is muddy and indistinct (even with the treble up at 10). If you wanted to, I suppose you could change the pickups, but it really wouldn't be worth it.

If you want a sound comparision, it sounds pretty much like a cut-rate SG, without the characteristic 'nasal' qualities or growl. It's fairly unremarkable, but you can get some decent Jimmy Page-esque classic rock tones out of it, and if you're a heavily distorted rhythm player, you'll be satisfied enough.

Finally, I have to mention this thing feedbacks horribly at any sort of non-practice volume, so you'll have to roll off a bit of distortion, which is a bit of a catch-22, as that's all this guitar is really capable of.

I bought mine second hand about 6 months ago, and so far the hardware is slightly rusted, especially the frets which look quite dead, and all the screws around the pickup covers have rusted and stripped.

The finish is okay, it looks kinda lifeless, but the paint's quite thick, theres a few big dings in it that don't show any wood.

However, there are a few big bones to pick with this guitars hardware: One, the input jack is awful, it kept coming loose until eventually my attempts to tighten it snapped the wires inside, second, the knobs on the pots have an annoying tendency to come loose and lose their alignment, and the tuners generally become loose and rattly after a few weeks.

You'll also need to give it a proper setup, as there was significant fret buzz when I first got it.

In its defence, the stoptail bridge seems solid, and overall the whole package is pretty sturdy, I've accidentally had a few falls with it, and it still looks the same as when I bought it. The tuners are okay, they do the job fine, mine stays roughly in tune for at least a few days, unless I bang the tuners, and I'm quite vigourous with it.

This guitar is just under 6 years old, and is showing signs of deterioration, as I mentioned earlier, there is a bit of mould on the back of the neck, but it doesn't seem to be growing or affect the balance in anyway.

Personally, I would buy another guitar before I decided to gig, the aboveforementioned feedback problems being my main concern, as well as the general 'cheap' feel of it. Perhaps as a backup, if the situation was dire enough, I'd use it as a backup.

The strap buttons are small and tiny, although metal, and have a tendency to slip out of the strap. I wouldn't try any Angus Young style theatrics with it because it'll probably fall to the ground.

Never dealt with them. It was second-hand.

Overall, this is a distinctly average, intermediate guitar. It's lack of versatility and overall uninspiring sound doesn't really make you want to grab it and play, and it's feedback problem vetoes it from ever playing anything bigger than a garage.

If I could turn back, I would of kept my money, and saved up for a better guitar (possibly an Eastwood) or something. I bought it on account of my like for SG style guitars and the fact I needed something better than my old plywood Strat-copy.

If someone stole it, I'd be overjoyed, because it would give me a guilt-free consciounce to buy something better. Blow for blow, I'd say it's comparable to budget Epiphones or mid-range Squiers, new, it's a good 200 AUD cheaper than a Epi Les Paul, and is free of any 'wannabe' connotations around it, which is definately a good thing.

Overall, for a beginner guitar it's not terrible, it's just really, really, really average.