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Hi everyone,
It’s been a few years since I’ve used an archtop on a regular basis and have had a real itch for one the past couple of months. After remembering how amazing an Ibanez PM100 played that I had years ago I started searching for the 120, as I didn’t care too much for the sound of the 100 and the 120 would be a more comfortable depth for me. Well, I didn’t find one, but while scouring the web last night I stumbled onto a GB-20 that just so happened to be at a Guitar Center a little over an hour away. The price was quite a bit below everything I’ve been seeing on Reverb so I pretty much decided I would get it so long as it wasn’t trashed as I would be able to flip it and make a few dollars if it didn’t work out. Well I must say it is quite an amazing guitar!
I don’t know what it is about high end Ibanezes, though admittedly I’ve only owned two of them, but good lord the two I’ve had basically played themselves. I knew as soon as I had it in my hands it would be a winner. The neck is dead straight with even low action. The frets are still surprisingly tall for a guitar it’s age. Taller than plenty of brand new guitars. The neck is a comfortable medium-slim shape and has my preferred 24.75” scale. The guitar is pretty heavy for an archtop and acoustically kinda dead. A lot of people might think yuck when they feel and hear that but my immediate response was “this thing is probably going to sound great plugged in”. Playing through a Deluxe Reverb it’s got all the late sixties Benson and KB type sounds you could ask for. I’ll probably get another pickguard made so I can add a tone knob. Kind of a shame it doesn’t have one. I typically don’t play with the tone on 10, especially solo, but this particular guitar is not overly bright and it pretty close to my sweet spot wide open so I’m not missing it too much yet. The strings that are on it are pretty light, I’m guessing 10’s. Somehow it still sounds full with them. I’ll be ordering a set of Thomastiks as soon as I’m done with this post and I’ll fully set her up when they come in.
I also didn’t expect the original case to be nearly as nice as it is. Still in excellent condition. Heavy duty with dark brown leather and thick white plush interior.
The sales person told me this is a one owner guitar and that the widow of the original owner sold it to them last week. He certainly kept good care of it. Aside from a few dings the only issue I can find is that the plastic cap to the heel is gone. Judging by pics I’ve seen of other Ibanezes from this era I’m assuming it deteriorated and crumbled off as most of the one I’ve seen online were pretty cracked up. Might have to get that fixed at some point, but since it has no effect on anything so I’m in no rush.
I honestly didn’t expect to be as taken by this guitar as I am. I wasn’t in the market for a 17” full depth guitar and yet here it is. I typically don’t like floating mini’s either, but this one sounds great. I’m still keeping an eye out for a PM120 at a reasonable price but I don’t see this one going anywhere soon. It really is top notch.
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01-11-2022 06:46 PM
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Gorgeous GB20NT you got there. Instead of getting another pickguard, why not have a Schatten style tone control installed under the current guard?
Volume Controls & Thumbwheel Controls — Schatten Pickups
Schatten Thumbwheel Controls - StewMac
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Congrats on your new guitar. Very few blondes were made of the gb-20 you did good!
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Congratulations! Beautiful. I love Ibanez GBs.
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wow lovely!
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I had that in mind before I actually saw the guitar, but I’m not sure there’s actually room for it because the input jack is strangely mounted to the underside of the pickguard. I’d also like to keep the pickguard in its original condition so that any mods I do could be reversed being that the blonde is seemingly rare. There would be room for the two thumb wheel pots if the volume pot was not there. I really do wish they would have put the jack in a different location. Aside from it not being particularly secure, you could have fit two knobs on that pickguard without it, which I think would have been ideal.
Originally Posted by Gitfiddler
I’m still surprised by the price I got. I was honestly expecting it to be in rough shape or with mods or without the case at least. I just saw a post here a few days ago mentioning a PM100 recently being at a Guitar Center for $1499. They really don’t respect the value of Japanese archtops.
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Saw the dark areas of the finish on the front and back near the edges on their site a few days ago, looked like gas off the original dreaded green lined cases. GC is really one of those places you want to see the guitar in person. Glad the price and condition were acceptable to you. For sure GBs are meant to be plugged in, they are built heavy to raise the feedback threshold.
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I was thinking the darker areas had to do with some kind of reaction between the finish and binding material? It’s dark around the bound f holes as well. Pretty much all the blondes I saw pictures of from that era have those spots. Originally Posted by Cavalier
I was told the case is original, but maybe not? I just did an image search for GB20’s to try to see what kind of cases they had and there are different cases in almost every picture. I did see two different types of green lined cases, one in the normal shape and one rectangular. I also saw one that looks just like mine on the outside but is lined with a reddish type material. That listing claimed the case was original. There’s also an ‘81 GB20 on Ishibashi right now that from the outside appears to be the same case as mine but there are no pictures of the interior or mention of the case in the description. Mine fits so perfectly snug I figured it had to be made for it, but I guess it may not be original. Either that or they weren’t incredibly consistent with cases for this model.
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Wow buddy you really scored blonde GB 20s are very rare they did not make that many of them. I also have a 79 GB 20 in natural and I lucked out, there’s no binding rot, no issues with the plastic heel cap
I really lucked out
I really think the GB 20 needs a Schatten tone pot someplace under that pickguard - and then you have that added advantage of being able to fatten the tone up a little bit by dialing that tone control down
There used to be a video of George Benson an earl Klugh playing live on the today show playing the tune Mimosa and George is playing a beautiful blonde GB 20 And just showing his absolute brilliance
Anyway young man congratulations you really scored
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Hey Big Mike, you would probably know better than anyone about the Ibanez case models. Did they have the buyer pick from a selection? I imagine most GB20s we're special ordered versus dealer stock. Originally Posted by Crm114
Most of the off gasing issues I've seen looked like the case was the catalyst to set off the reaction with the binding etc...
A month or so ago I saw GC selling a GB20 as an acoustic because the pickguard and pickup had been removed. This seems crazy as they are built too heavy for acoustic only use.
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Nice guitar. You know that if you just back-off the volume slightly (like 8 or 9) you take off the treble also a little bit? That may do it for you so you don't need to modify anything.
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The problem with those earlier GB models is outgassing of the pickguard not the case. don’t confuse the problems that people had with cases Previously used by builders such as Campellone that stained the lacquer on the guitar - not cause the decomposition of the binding.
I have a wonderful 79 GB 10 where the pickguard outgassed so bad the previous owner had to replace the neck pickup and had a custom Ebony bound pick guard made for it, Luckily the pickguard didn’t do anything to the binding but just caused the heel cap damage that we talked about earlier. Those GB20s were made to be played loud on stage. Like this
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in later years Ibanez has worked feverishly to make George models that weren’t so heavy yet had a fatter tone, The GB 12 for instance and the GB 15. And then they built guitars with set in pick ups such as the GB5 snd then the GB 200 and so on. The Japanese build GB models have such exquisite workmanship for a manufactured Guitar, One of my favorite models is the GBY2K. The best Ibanez I ever seen them make
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Thanks Big Mike! They are great guitars. Love them all, haven't played a GB12 or 15 yet.
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These really are wonderful instruments. I would be carefull not to leave that one in the case for extended periods of time since the binding is in the early stages of decomposition. I've seen the binding go away on examples that already had the pickguard removed for years, so I don't think the pickguard is the only culprit. The binding will do it on its own. I'm not suggesting the case itself, or the materials it is made of, are at fault either. They just fair better in the open air environment.
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That's a real beauty! congratulations, and play it in good health! 
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beautiful...
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Thanks! Originally Posted by Crm114
It looks like Schatten no longer makes the single pot but I found on similar styles on eBay from China. How do you attach the pot? Some kind of adhesive?
I’m contemplating moving the jack to the side of the guitar. It’s a good mod that I hope wouldn’t effect the collectibility of it too much.
This thing really has be wanting a GB10 as well for the smaller body. Can anyone comment on how deep the GB10 is at the rims? All I can find is the maximum depth which isn’t really helpful since that measurement is pretty much always given at the sides. I’m assuming it’s a little thinner than the 20, which is 3” at the rims.
Also does anyone know if there were any major changes to the neck profile or fret size over the years? This one is just the perfect contour and the jumbo frets are amazing.
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Don’t buy the ones from China on eBay they are cheap and nowhere near as good as a shatten
you can buy the twin set and only use one of the two pieces that’s what my guitar tech has done for me many times
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I figured they probably weren’t as good, but space seems to be the issue. There’s just not all that much room in there with the placement of the volume knob and input jack. Do you have a GB20? If so, where did you put it? Also, since you’ve got a GB10, and chance you could measure the thickness at the sides of the body for me? Originally Posted by Crm114
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I have so many GB model guitars it’s a little scary I know I have three GB10s: a .79, a pristine ‘81 and a 2007 GB toured with snd donated at the North Sea Jazz Festival in 2008, signed and donated / A former member here bought it from a shop in the Netherlands and then sold it to me
The body on the GB 10 is 2 1/2 inches deep the body on the GB12, GB100 and GB15 is 3 inches deep
as is the body on the GBY2K, three inches deep
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