Ibanez

Ibanez
Type Private
Industry Musical instruments
Founded Nagoya, Japan 1957
Headquarters Japan
Products Ibanez Guitars and Basses, Amplifiers, Effects
Website ibanez.com

Ibanez (アイバニーズ Aibanīzu?) is a Japanese guitar brand owned by Hoshino Gakki. Based in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan, Hoshino Gakki were one of the first Japanese musical instrument companies to gain a significant foothold in import guitar sales in the United States and Europe, as well as the first brand of guitars to mass produce the Seven-string guitar.

Contents

History

The Hoshino Gakki company began in 1908 as the musical instrument sales division of the Hoshino Shoten, a bookstore company. The Ibanez brand name dates back to 1929 when Hoshino Gakki began importing Salvador Ibáñez guitars from Spain. When the "Salvador Ibáñez" workshop was destroyed during the Spanish Civil War, the "Ibanez Salvador" guitars were no longer available, so Hoshino Gakki bought the "Ibanez Salvador" brand name rights and started making Spanish acoustic guitars in 1935, at first using the "Ibanez Salvador" brand name, and then later using the "Ibanez" brand name.[1]

The modern era of Ibanez guitars began in 1957 [2] and the late 1950s and 1960s Ibanez catalogues [1] show guitars with some wild looking designs [2]. Japanese guitar makers in the 1960s were mostly copying European guitar designs and some of the late 1960s Ibanez designs were similar to Hagström and EKO guitar designs. Hoshino Gakki used the Teisco and FujiGen Gakki guitar factories to manufacture Ibanez guitars after they stopped manufacturing their own guitars in 1966 and after the Teisco guitar factory closed down in 1969/1970 Hoshino Gakki used the FujiGen Gakki guitar factory to make most Ibanez guitars.

In the 1960s Japanese guitar makers started to mainly copy American guitar designs and Ibanez branded copies of Gibson, Fender and Rickenbacker models started to appear. This resulted in the so called Ibanez lawsuit period. After the lawsuit period Hoshino Gakki introduced Ibanez models that were not copies of the Gibson or Fender designs such as the Iceman and Ibanez Roadstar. The company has produced its own guitar designs ever since. The late 1980s and early 1990s were an important period for the Ibanez brand. Hoshino Gakki's relationship with Frank Zappa's former guitarist Steve Vai resulted in the introduction of the Ibanez JEM and the Ibanez Universe models and after the earlier successes of the Roadstar and Iceman models in the late 1970s/early 1980s, Hoshino Gakki entered the superstrat market with the RG series which were a lower priced version of the Ibanez JEM model.

Hoshino Gakki also had semi acoustic, nylon and steel stringed acoustic guitars manufactured under the Ibanez name. Most Ibanez guitars were made for Hoshino Gakki by the FujiGen guitar factory in Japan up until the mid to late 1980s and from then on Ibanez guitars have also been made in other Asian countries such as Korea, China and Indonesia. During the early 1980s the FujiGen guitar factory also produced most of the Roland guitar synthesizers, including the Stratocaster-style Roland G-505, the twin-humbucker Roland G-202 (endorsed by Eric Clapton, Dean Brown, Jeff Baxter, Yannis Spathas, Steve Howe, Mike Rutherford, Andy Summers and Steve Hackett) and the Ibanez X-ING IMG-2010.

Cimar and Starfield were guitar brands owned by Hoshino Gakki. In the 1970s, Hoshino Gakki and Kanda Shokai shared some guitar designs and so some Ibanez and Greco guitars have the same features. The Kanda Shokai Greco guitars were sold in Japan and the Hoshino Gakki Ibanez guitars were sold outside of Japan. From 1982, Ibanez guitars have also been sold in Japan as well as being sold outside of Japan [3].

Guitar brands such as Antoria shared some Ibanez guitar designs. The Antoria guitar brand was managed by JT Coppock Leeds Ltd England. CSL was a brand name managed by Charles Summerfield Ltd England. Maurice Summerfield of the Charles Summerfield Ltd company contributed some design ideas to Hoshino Gakki and also imported Ibanez and CSL guitars into the UK with Hoshino Gakki cooperation from 1964-1987.[3] The Maxxas brand name came about because Hoshino Gakki thought that the guitar did not fit in with the Ibanez model range and was therefore named Maxxas by Rich Lasner from Hoshino USA.[4]

Lawsuit

Harry Rosenbloom, founder of the (now-bankrupt) Medley Music of Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, was manufacturing handmade guitars under the name "Elger." By 1965 Rosenbloom had decided to stop manufacturing guitars and chose to become the exclusive North American distributor for Ibanez guitars. In September 1972 Hoshino began a partnership with Elger Guitars to import guitars from Japan. In September 1981, Elger was renamed "Hoshino U.S.A.", retaining the company headquarters in Bensalem, Pennsylvania as a distribution and quality-control center.

The lawsuit was brought by the Norlin Corporation, the parent company of Gibson guitars against Elger/Hoshino U.S.A. on June 28, 1977 in the Philadelphia Federal District Court, and was based on the Gibson headstock design. Hoshino settled out of court in early 1978 and the case was officially closed on February 2, 1978.[5]

After the lawsuit Hoshino Gakki abandoned the strategy of copying "classic" USA electric guitar designs having already introduced a plethora of original designs. They were producing Artist models of their own design from 1974, introducing a set neck model in 1975. In 1977 they upgraded and extended their Artist range and introduced a number of other top quality original designs made to match or surpass famous american brands; the Performer and short-lived Concert ranges which competed with the Les Paul; through neck Musicians; Studios in fixed and through neck construction; the radically shaped Iceman and the Roadster which morphed into the Roadstar range, precursor to the popular superstrat era in the mid-1980s. The newer Ibanez models began incorporating more modern elements into their design such as radical body shapes, slimmer necks, 2-octave fingerboards, slim pointed headstocks, higher-output electronics, humbucker/single-coil/humbucker (H/S/H) pickup configurations, locking tremolo bridges and different finishes.

Guitars

Electric Guitar Models
  • Ibanez Artcore series are semi-hollow and full hollow bodied electric guitars.
  • Ibanez GIO series are budget priced Ibanez guitars.
  • Ibanez R series, also known as the Radius series, are famous for having lightweight aerofoil-profiled basswood bodies. The main endorser was the world famous Joe Satriani before he was given his own Signature JS series. The Radius series is now discontinued.
  • Ibanez RG series (previously named Roadstar Guitar, hence the name RG), are the Ibanez superstrat guitars, all featuring 24-fret slim neck.
  • Ibanez S series, also known as the Saber series, are famous for having ergonomic, super thin, and lightweight mahogany bodies.
  • RT series - Superstrat design with 24 frets. Discontinued in 1994.
  • RX series - Superstrat design but with 22 frets instead. Discontinued in 1998, and currently only exists as GRX (budget model of RX series).
  • AX series - Extreme version of the artist model, aimed towards metal players - currently only exist as GAX model and Guitar Center exclusive model.
  • Axstar (aka Axstar by Ibanez) - discontinued
  • EDR/EXR - Ergodyne series - discontinued
  • Artist Series - In the mid-70's Ibanez started producing a line of double cutaway solid body guitars [4]. Some of these featured tri-sound switches which enabled the player to alter the humbucking pickups to single coil or out of phase modes. There were various models, the best known of which, produced in the 1980s, are the AR100, AR105, AR150 (all without the tri-sound) and AR300, AR305, AR350 (all featuring the tri-sound). The artist series established the company as manufacturers of high quality original instruments. Early endorsers included Bob Weir and Steve Miller. The AR300 has since been reissued as a cheaper, downgraded model.
  • MC - Musician series - Discontinued - Neck-through construction (except for MC-100, which has a bolt-on neck), with 24 frets (two octaves) - As with the Artist models of the late 1970s, some of these guitars were equipped with trisound switches, and some models (MC 400 and MC 500) were equipped with active electronics (on-board EQ/preamplifiers)
  • PF - Performer series 1977-82 with a pair of Super 70s humbuckers mahogany body and maple neck with rosewood fingerboard - Pf 100, bolt on neck; PF 200 bolt on neck with curved maple top; PF 300 with set neck, curved maple top and tri sound; PF 400 as 300 but with carved maple cap. This last being equal in quality to the artist.
  • ST - Studio series 1977-82 offset double cutaway ranging from bolt on to fixed and through necks with pairs of V2 distortion humbuckers. 24 frets and 25.5" scale.
  • CN - Concert range 1977-79 like a bolt on neck Artist with slightly offset cutaways.
  • IC - Iceman a radical shape endorsed and used bt Paul Stanley, Various pickup combinations.
  • BL - Blazer series 1980-82 - fixed bridge strat-like with maple necks and mahogany or ash bodies sporting 3 single coil pickups (Super 6 or BL) or 2 Super 70 humbuckers.
  • ARC-100/300 (Retro Series)
  • ARX-100/300 (Retro Series)
  • AR-100/200 (black vintage top)
  • V Series - Flying V's - discontinued
  • Artcore Series - Ibanez's full and semi-hollow guitar line.
  • Ibanez Jet King 2 and Jet King 1 - A modern remake of the Ibanez Rhythm maker, vintage looking and sounding guitars.
  • Radius series - discontinued, a modified version is now taken over by the Joe Satriani signature series which features a multi-radius neck.
  • RS First the Roadster series of fixed bridge strat types with Super 6 single coil pickups then the longlives Roadstar Series with many variants including the Talman, Radius and Saber series
  • EX Series - Manufactured in Korea.
  • X Series - Various X-shaped and star-shaped instruments geared towards metal players.
  • PL - Pro Line series
  • RR - Rocket Roll
  • DT - Destroyer
  • IC - Iceman
  • Talman Series - discontinued
  • CN Concert Series - This was a short lived series produced in 1978 then discontinued soon afterwards. It features an [Asymmetric|asymmetric] double cutaway body with two humbuckers, a hard tail bridge and a bolt on neck. The top end model (the CN250) was one of the earliest guitars to feature "half vine" fingerboard inlays.
  • Ibanez j.custom - Previously an exclusive custom range available in Japan only. Now available worldwide
  • U.S.A. custom - USA custom range
  • AFD - Artfield
  • (M)GR - Ghostrider
  • DN Series - Also known as the Darkstone series. Introduced in 2009, a totally new model featuring Sapele wood body, set in neck, PP1 Humbucking Pickups, and new "Tight Tune" Bridge and Tailpiece.
  • Cimar by Ibanez
Production Signature Models
Discontinued Signature Models
New Guitar & Bass Models for 2008
  • Xiphos 7-String - XPT707 (X-Series)
  • S-Series Prestige - 24-fret
  • SV-Series Prestige - 24-fret, vintage tremolo
  • Iceman - ICT700 (return to the Ibanez catalogue - IC-Series)
  • E-Gen - Herman Li Signature - EGEN18 (derivate of the S-Series)
  • STM - Sam Totman Signature - STM1 (derivate of the IC-Series)
  • NDM - Noodles Signature - NDM2 (return to the Ibanez catalogue - derivate of the Talman Series)
  • ORM - Omar Rodriguez Signature - ORM1 (derivate of the JTK-Series)
  • SZR - 22-fret, new version of the SZ series, SZR520 and SZR720 (with vine inlay & gold hardware)
  • Montage Hybrid Guitar
  • ICB 305 - 5 String Iceman Bass
Bass Guitar Models
  • ARTCORE Series- Archtop Basses
    • AFB200 - Hollow-body bass guitar
    • AGB200 - Semihollow-body bass guitar
  • ATK 300 and 305, 4 and 5 string models, upon which Paul Gray's signature PGB bass is modeled.
  • Blazer
  • BTB (Boutique Bass) Series
    • BTB 400QM (discontinued)
    • BTB Prestige - High-end range which are made in Japan.
  • DWB (Doug Wimbish) Series
  • EDA (Ergodyne) Series
  • EDB (Ergodyne) Series
  • EDC (Ergodyne) Series
  • EWB Series
  • GARTB 20
  • GATK 20 - More affordable version of the ATK.
  • GAXB Series(discontinued)
  • GSR Series- A lower-cost version of the Soundgear Series
    • GSR 100 EX
    • GSR 105 EX
    • GSRM 20
    • GSR 250 M
    • GSR 200 - The original GSR bass guitar
    • GSR 200 FM - The GSR but with different color designs such as sunburst.
    • GSR 205 - Nominated for Ibanez's "Best of Model" award
    • GSR 205 FM
  • GWB (Gary Willis) Series
  • ICB (Iceman) Series
  • JTK (Jet King) Series
  • JUMPSTART Series- Similar to the GSR Series, named for the Jumpstart Pack which comes with amp and other accessories.
  • K5 Fieldy- A custom 5-string Soundgear w/ "K5" Inlay centered on 12th fret
  • Musician Series
  • ROADGEAR Series
  • SR (Soundgear) Series
    • SR Prestige - High-end versions of the Ibanez Soundgear (SR-5004/5/6 & SR-4004/5) Bass Guitars made in Japan using exotic woods and high-quality custom Bartolini pickups & new "PWC-III" Power Curve III 3-band EQ with EQ bypass switch to bypass the electronics and take the bass signal directly from the pickups to the output jack.
  • SRX (Soundgear) Series
  • SDGR Series
  • ATK Series
  • EX series
  • Roadstar Series
  • Roadster Series
  • S series
  • TR Series
Acoustic Guitar Models
  • AE Series
    • AE5LG
  • AES Series
  • AW Series
  • DT Series
  • EP9 Series
  • EW Series
  • GA Series
  • JAMPACK Series
  • MANDOLIN Series
  • MANN Series (Canadian distribution only)
  • MASA Series
  • PF Series
  • PC series
  • TALMAN Series
  • V Series
  • Concord
  • SAGE Series

Ibanez endorsers: past and present

Main article: List of Ibanez players

Effect pedals

See: list of Ibanez products

In the 1970s, the Nisshin Onpa company, who owned the Maxon brand name, developed and began selling a series of effect pedals in Japan. Hoshino Gakki licensed these for sale using the name Ibanez outside of Japan. These two companies eventually began doing less and less business together until Nisshin Onpa ceased manufacting the TS-9 reissue for Hoshino Gakki in 2002.

Tube Screamer

Main article: Ibanez Tube Screamer

Serial numbers

References

  1. ^ Hoshino Gakki History
  2. ^ Ibanez, The Untold Story by Paul Specht (Michael Wright, Jim Donahue) ISBN 0-9764277-0-2
  3. ^ a b Ibanez: The Untold Story, 2005 Hoshino, USA
  4. ^ Rich Lasner interview
  5. ^ Blue Book of Acoustic Guitars by Zachary R. Fjestad page 331. Alfred Music Publishing 2008. ISBN 1886768749, 9781886768741

External links