Ibanez GB20

[silvertonebetty]

If it’s anything like the mij lr10 I played it’s worth every penny. Ibanez is one of those companies every penny maters .a good Ibanez really starts between $1000-$1500. The necks are amazing. And don’t forget about the gripped knobs!

[Gitfiddler]

I almost bought a GB20 last year. It was in fantastic, all original condition. It played well and was very comfortable playing sitting or standing. However, since it only had a volume control and no tone pot, it was difficult to dial in a tone that I liked. Some folks ad a tone control to solve this issue, but I decided to pass. I eventually found a GB200 that ticked all the GB boxes.

[Max405]

This is a GREAT Jazz guitar.
I (like Gitfiddler) almost bought one myself. I tried buying it, but before that, I made the mistake of telling a friend about it and He ended up buying it. He didnt know I was very serious about buying it, but I certainly was.
Even though the Insanely large pickguard is an eye sore, it is effective at getting the volume control out of the way. If I did buy that one, I would have replaced the pickguard with an L5 size PG and replaced the volume only knob with a hidden volume/tone control such as a Schatten.
JD

[skiboyny]

I owned one for a good many years along with a gb-10 and gb-12. They all have the same personality sound wise. The gb-20 sounds the same only bigger . All those guitars play top notch right from the factory. If you like the Ibanez sound,you won’t be disappointed with the gb-20.

[gitman]

Twice I've owned one , first in the mid 90ies and again in the early 2000's , both were about 10 years old or so. Found them very easy to handle and play (like most Ibanez guitars I have tried) , not quite as comfortable as the GB10 but still. However, they were just as overbuilt and stiff as the smaller version and I could not get them to sound the way I had hoped they would. I couldn't get the "thunk" of a good 175 or ES150/350 etc, the tone was always kind of bland and without character, regardless of string gauge etc. , no outboard eq could really help me in that respect. Luckily these models were not so sought after back then and still quite affordable and I passed them along again without losing any money. Then I got my first Borys B120 and I stopped searching for a gigging guitar.

[silverfoxx]

I've had a number of Ibanez guitars, all of them very good GB10, GB100, JP20, etc., and we all like gripped knobs.

[violao]

Yikes, I too had a little off-gassing on my early '80s Ibanez GB10. Only the pickguard was affected so I ordered a replacement from Chesbro Music, Ibanez parts distributor. My problem was the binding came apart from the main body of the scratch plate. While I was waiting for the order I ended up supergluing it back together. It's not perfect, but not too bad. I was gigging it pretty hard at the time, so I just left the repaired plate on and kept the replacement for the future.

In my old Brasilian Jazz group, my GB10NT was pretty much my No.1 Ibanez, and like the other 2 classic era Ibanez's that I own, it soon enough needed a refret. My BFF was managing Gryphon Strings back in the day, and he encouraged me to have his amazing in-house luthier to refret with stainless steel. I loved the idea of never needing another fret job again. I am not sure I would do it again though because it came back sounding brighter which I didn't like as much as the original fret wire. The feel of the frets are also slinkier which felt a little strange as first. Standard fret wire gives a little more gripping resistance particularly for bends. [Yes, even with Thomastik Infeld 14's I bend fairly easily. Man up! ] I am generally fairly used to the feel and sound now, but initially I was not aware of the effects of stainless. I just wanted to share a moderately cautionary tale.

[citizenk74]

Yikes, I too had a little off-gassing on my early '80s Ibanez GB10. Only the pickguard was affected so I ordered a replacement from Chesbro Music, Ibanez parts distributor. My problem was the binding came apart from the main body of the scratch plate. While I was waiting for the order I ended up supergluing it back together. It's not perfect, but not too bad. I was gigging it pretty hard at the time, so I just left the repaired plate on and kept the replacement for the future.

In my old Brasilian Jazz group, my GB10NT was pretty much my No.1 Ibanez, and like the other 2 classic era Ibanez's that I own, it soon enough needed a refret. My BFF was managing Gryphon Strings back in the day, and he encouraged me to have his amazing in-house luthier to refret with stainless steel. I loved the idea of never needing another fret job again. I am not sure I would do it again though because it came back sounding brighter which I didn't like as much as the original fret wire. The feel of the frets are also slinkier which felt a little strange as first. Standard fret wire gives a little more gripping resistance particularly for bends. [Yes, even with Thomastik Infeld 14's I bend fairly easily. Man up! ] I am generally fairly used to the feel and sound now, but initially I was not aware of the effects of stainless. I just wanted to share a moderately cautionary tale.