Ibanez GSR205SMNGT - Spalted Maple Top Natural Grey Burst

This guitar is some serious bang for the buck! It came a little dried out and with a high action so I would recommend a professional setup but this guitar far exceeded my expectations in both quality and tone-crafting.

I bought this for our bass player at church. He really likes it and it sounds great when played. I'm really glad we bought it.

First bass I’ve ever owned for myself, love it! The low B string sounds great, couldn’t do without it. I play a lotta jazz; with some tone adjustments this bass is perfect, although it’s great for playing metal as well. It’s solid, but lightweight enough where it won’t completely kill my back during gigs. Smooth handling on the back of the neck, and a clean fretboard. The frets are a tad sharp on the ends, but it hasn’t proven to be an issue during playing. They can easily be sanded down. I recommend this product to any beginner and intermediate bassists.

The saun is good but is to hard tune the 5 string

Life long dream to play the bass. I always wanted a five string bass guitar.

Poorly constructed.

As a guitar player, I don't know what makes a great bass. I don't know the subtleties in tone and sustain that distinguish this from a thousand dollar bass. I do know that it came to me with fresh strings. Dent free. Beautiful paint with no blemishes. Action is fantastic. Pots are smooth and crackle free. Frets are comfortable with no jagged edges. Neck is smooth and needs no adjustment.How does it sound? Once again, not a seasoned bassist. Coming from my previous bass guitar, which was quite mediocre in every way, this sounds like a gift from above. The amount of tone control is jaw dropping. The smoothness of the notes as it flows from my amp is a thing of beauty. I tuned the bottom string down to G for my djenty goodness and it hasn't moved a millimeter since then.

The one that was originally sent to me was wrong. Although all of the labeling and documentation showed that it was the GSR205SMGNT (natural grey), it was clearly the GSR205SMCNB (brown). Amazon was quick to address the issue and put in for a replacement. Unfortunately, it ended up on backorder and I didn't receive it for another 2 months (it's a popular model). Oh, boy...I gotta say, the wait was worth it! Not only was it right this time, but instead of just the basic spalted maple top, it is also partially quilted maple. It looks absolutely beautiful. The attached photos really don't do it justice.Anywho, on to the bass itself. As I have stated in some of my other reviews, Ibanez gets it right. They really know how to make a top quality budget instrument. Setup was near perfect, and after I threw a new set of strings on, she was thumpin' like a boss. It was definitely worth the wait. Highly recommend.