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Ibanez GA5TCE Classical Cutaway Acoustic-Electric Guitar

Mahogany neck, back, and sides. Spuce top.

Overall User Ratings

Overall:
           9 out of 10
Features:
           8 out of 10
Quality:
           8 out of 10
Value:
           9 out of 10
I Want It:
           9 out of 10
Sound:
           8 out of 10
Ease of Use:
           7 out of 10
Support:
           8 out of 10
 
 

"Thin Looks And Fat Hooks"

Overall:
          9 out of 10
Features:
          9 out of 10
Quality:
          9 out of 10
Value:
          9 out of 10
I Want It:
          10 out of 10
Sound:
          9 out of 10
Support:
          6 out of 10
User: a customer from swri.org
Submitted: 1/18/2005
Style of Music: Folk, Country, Jazz, Light Rock
Musical Experience: Active Musician, Band Director, Recording Engineer
Location: San Antonio, Texas, USA

 

 
Feature:
Combining spruce for the top and mohogany for the back and sides for a thinline guitar is a good combination. Exceptional tone when eq'd and amplified.

Quality:
It's made well. Clean finish, good color, nice design. The mohogany wood grain on the back and sides look as good as higher priced classicals. Don't believe I need a backup for it. Lightweight and easy to pack for the road. The only problem I had was on the rosette. It bubbled slightly the first year I had it, but has since flattened (shrank) down to the face of the guitar. It's perfect now. Has not bubbled since.

Value:
Absolutly worth the price paid!

Desirability:
Many people I played for enjoyed the looks, sounds, and wanted to know what make it was.

Sound:
Good, rich sound for a thinline classical! Louder than I expected unplugged. Great response. Works with any style I choose. Sounds best when eq'd with a lot of bass. Currently I plug it into a Digitech GNX4 processor, then main out in stereo to two Canadian made Yorkville 50 watt powered amps. Bass up a bit and add a little reverb and your in business! Sounds as good or better then the high-end big boys. Can you tell I love this guitar?

Support:
No repairs or adjustments needed since I bought it 4 years ago. The rosette bubble problem solved itself. The Ibanez web site doesn't do justice to this guitar (not enough pictures).

Overall:
Great Sound, Great Value- I own some high-end classicals, and have found some good ones, but the GA5TCE is the one I most enjoy. Why? Because the neck is just right for intricate passages and all types of strumming. From folk to light rock, country to flamenco, it works! My chord hand doesn't get as tired when I play it. I play it hours at a time. It produces very good acoustic tones. A fun guitar to play.

14 of 14 people (100%) found this review helpful. Did you?    
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"Terrific value and performance."

Overall:
          10 out of 10
Features:
          8 out of 10
Quality:
          9 out of 10
Value:
          10 out of 10
I Want It:
          10 out of 10
Sound:
          9 out of 10
Support:
          9 out of 10
User: a customer from hotmail.com
Submitted: 5/11/2004
Style of Music: Rock, Pop, Misc.
Location: Buffalo, NY

 

 
zZounds has verified that this customer bought this product from us.
Feature:
I wish it came with strap holders, but they were easy enough to install.

Quality:
Seems very solidly built, and everything works well.

Value:
For the price, this is a terrific buy. I tried out several nylon-electrics at a music store, most much higher priced than this, and regardless of price, this was the one I liked the feel and sound of the most. Well, there were a couple guitars in the $1,000+ range that were really sweet, but still, this was comparable for me.

Desirability:
I play a lot of coffeeshop gigs, which can go three or four hours, and I wanted an electric-nylon which would be easier on my fingers after a few hours, and also because I like to fingerpick and like the feel of nylon strings. The thinner neck on this model is a particularly good feature, and the sound is really nice.

Sound:
This sounds great through a PA, but is quieter than a typical nylon without the pickup.

Support:
n/a so far

Overall:
I love this guitar and wish I'd have picked it up a couple years ago when I first saw it available. The only thing I didn't like about it was that there were no strap holders, but that was easily remedied.

5 of 6 people (83.33%) found this review helpful. Did you?    
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"Great value"

Overall:
          9 out of 10
Features:
          8 out of 10
Quality:
          8 out of 10
Value:
          10 out of 10
Submitted: 7/11/2002

 

 
The neck is far more playable than conventional classical guitars,
the electronics are surprisingly good, and the unplugged sound, although
greatly compromised by the shallow body depth, is of good quality.
1 of 1 people (100%) found this review helpful. Did you?    
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Ibanez GA5TCE Classical Customer Review

Overall:
          9 out of 10
Features:
          8 out of 10
Quality:
          8 out of 10
Value:
          10 out of 10
I Want It:
          10 out of 10
Sound:
          8 out of 10
User: a customer from hotmail.com
Submitted: 9/12/2004
Style of Music: world
Musical Experience: international music producer
Location: canada europe india

 

 
Quality:
some finish flaws

Sound:
i purchased this as a travel guitar am happy with it it plays well sounds great but beware of weird hight pitched squeels from the g string

1 of 1 people (100%) found this review helpful. Did you?    
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"Not good for those pursuing classical guitar either as a hobby or a serious interest"

Overall:
          6 out of 10
Features:
          7 out of 10
Quality:
          8 out of 10
Value:
          8 out of 10
I Want It:
          7 out of 10
Sound:
          7 out of 10
Support:
          5 out of 10
User: a customer from verizon.net
Submitted: 2/9/2004
Style of Music: Rock, Classical, Jazz, Blues
Location: NJ

 

 
Feature:
Not much features here... I don't like the pickup that much.. It doesn't sound that good at all. The tuners are horrible! they never stay in tune and kept creaking when I turned them.

Quality:
It's not badly made, except there were a lot of fret buzzes after a few weeks of use. The frets appeared to be uneven in length and height (fret buzzes, some were sticking out of the fretboard just a tad)

Value:
It's an average guitar for its price range... doesn't exceed the expecations of a guitar under 300

Desirability:
It looks good... but when I play it I do get second thoughts

Sound:
For the sound, I would rate it a 6 when unplugged and an 8 when plugged in. It's just not that good enough for what I thought was a reasonably priced guitar. I've owned it for almost a year now and the sound has changed into a deeper more mellow tone but the volume when unplugged has decreased too (Probably due to the smaller thin body.)

Support:
Never had to contact them, It's only a $250 guitar. Cheaper to go to your local shop.

Overall:
I wouldn't replace this one if stolen... I'd probably get a better, higher priced guitar. After a few months I outgrew it already so i'ts not a good guitar for those beginning classical.

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"you get what you pay for"

Overall:
          3 out of 10
Features:
          4 out of 10
Quality:
          6 out of 10
Value:
          5 out of 10
I Want It:
          3 out of 10
Sound:
          6 out of 10
Ease of Use:
          4 out of 10
Support:
          7 out of 10
User: a customer from cox.net
Submitted: 5/5/2008
Style of Music: rock to classical spanish
Musical Experience: musician/collector
Location: San Diego

 

 
Feature:
Tuners are junk. I've now replaced them after 1 month. The tuner buttons are non resin plastic and gears have few teeth compared to quality tuners.

Quality:
Put together OK, decent finish. But, in now way in the class as any of my middle/high end boxes.

Value:
Depends on what you expect for your dollar

Desirability:
It's a step above a toy. must be realistic and understand your expectations. Good boxes are expensive. these are not. So, what would you think ?

Sound:
OK sound for as cheap box. A mit muted when playing higher frets, and loss of sustain. It does have a solid spruce top which helps.

Ease of Use:
Though it has an adjustable truss rod, still difficult to get a nice action. The on board tuner/eq is OK, but not a Fishman.

Support:
Hard to find parts for. You must upgrade anyway though. But, new decent tuners are almost as much as I paid for the guitar. Why put $200 tuners on a 100 guitar? I would have returned it had I not kept it to long.

Overall:
Looking already. I bought this cheap box to see if it was really a guitar I could play, and have around the house and not worry asbout it. I gace it to my kids. Though, neck width at nut is too wide for most. needs to be 2" OR less.

1 of 3 people (33.33%) found this review helpful. Did you?    
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