Used Ibanez musical instruments in Islamabad & Rawalpindi
Is a used Ibanez musical instrument worth buying?
Ibanez is chosen for its thin, fast necks, and its used market here divides between the entry GIO and GRG instruments and the higher RG and AZ lines. The other Ibanez-specific issue is the tremolo: locking systems bring parts, springs and knife edges that no local shop stocks, so the bridge deserves as much inspection as the neck.
Imported
Parts usually have to be imported or sourced from the grey market, so a repair takes longer and costs more — which matters more on an older unit than the build quality does.
Ibanez tremolo components and locking nut parts are not stocked in Islamabad or Rawalpindi and generally have to be imported. Pickups, pots and jacks are standard sizes and are fitted locally without trouble.
Checking a used Ibanez musical instrument
These are specific to Ibanez. The general musical instruments checks apply too and are on the musical instruments page.
Find the exact model number
Ibanez marks the model on the headstock or on a label, and the number distinguishes entry GIO instruments from higher RG builds that look similar in photographs. Ask for it before discussing price.
Examine the tremolo knife edges
On locking tremolos the knife edges wear where the bridge pivots on its posts, causing tuning to drift after bends. Look at the pivot contact points closely, because worn edges are not fixable with an adjustment.
Count the locking nut parts
Locking nuts use small clamping pads and screws that get lost during string changes. Confirm all three pads and their screws are present, since these are model-specific and awkward to source locally.
Test the thin neck for relief
Ibanez necks are thin and respond quickly to humidity swings. Check relief with a capo at the first fret, and confirm the truss rod moves freely rather than assuming a bow can be dialled out.
Check pickup route condition
Ibanez guitars are often modified with aftermarket pickups. Look inside the cavity for enlarged routing or poor soldering, which suggests amateur work and affects both reliability and resale.
What Ibanez musical instruments are worth
- Higher RG and AZ instruments hold value considerably better than the entry GIO and GRG lines, so accurate model identification determines the bracket.
- Locking tremolo hardware cannot be replaced locally, so missing pads, screws or saddles cut value out of proportion to their size.
- Worn tremolo knife edges cause permanent tuning instability, which informed buyers price for because there is no local repair path.
- Thin necks make the instrument attractive to fast players, sustaining demand and keeping clean examples moving quickly.
Model lines you will see second-hand
- RG
- GRG / GIO
- AZ
- Artcore
General musical instruments checks
These apply whatever the badge on the front says — the musical instruments page covers them in full.
Sight down the guitar neck
Hold the guitar at eye level and look along the fretboard from the headstock. A slight forward bow is normal and adjusts out, but a twist that lifts one edge of the fretboard, or a truss rod nut that is already tight or spins without tensioning, is fingerboard work worth more than most used guitars.
Check the frets for grooves
Fret wear shows as flat spots and pits in the first five frets, where most chords are played. Light marks are fine, but deep grooves cause buzzing and dead notes, and a refret is skilled labour that outruns the value of an ordinary second-hand guitar.
Press every keyboard key
Work up the whole keyboard one note at a time, black keys included, softly and then firmly. Scattered dead notes usually mean dirty contact strips, which clean up; a block of adjacent notes failing together, or notes that sound at full volume however lightly you press, points at the main board instead.
Pump the harmonium bellows
Hold each key down while pumping steadily: every reed should speak cleanly and hold its pitch, so a wheeze, a silence, or a note that sags flat means a bent or corroded reed. Close the bellows afterwards and listen along the folds and corners for escaping air, which is a recovering job rather than a reed job.
Inspect the tabla skins
Look closely where the black syahi meets the goat skin, and at the braided rim. Hairline cracks, syahi lifting at its edge, or skin that has gone hard and shiny mean a re-skin, and the skins are the larger part of what a set is worth.
Work every control and jack
Through an amplifier or the instrument's own speakers, turn each knob slowly through its travel and flick the pickup or voice selector. Crackle that tracks the knob is a dirty potentiometer and cleans up, but a dead pickup position, or a jack that cuts out when the lead is moved, means wiring inside.
Ibanez musical instruments — questions
What should I check on a used Ibanez with a locking tremolo?
Is an Ibanez GIO the same as a full RG?
Other musical instruments brands
Selling one instead? We buy used Ibanez musical instruments for cash.