Ibanez Jet King

Ibanez Jet King
Manufacturer Ibanez
Construction
Body type Solid
Neck joint Bolt-on
Woods
Body Basswood(JTK1) Mahogany(JTK2,3,4)
Neck Maple
Hardware
Bridge Tune-o-matic
Colors available
Varies with Model
Jet King 1 (JTK1BR) resembles 1960s Teisco in position markers and pickup selectors.

The Ibanez Jet King is the term for a family of electric guitars made by Ibanez, essentially a modern remake of the FujiGen EJ-2-T and Ibanez Rhythm Maker. In appearance, the Jet King is similar to a Fender Jazzmaster. The family includes:

EJ-2-T (1960s) by FujiGen
Zim-Gar EJ-2-T by FujiGen
Teisco MJ-2L (1965)

Jet King 1

According to the Harmony Central press release the original JTK1 had the following pickups: Neck Pickup: Powersound PSND1 Humbucker, Bridge Pickup: Powersound PSND2 Humbucker. It had a different body compared to later versions, with a smaller upper horn and the tuners were 3-a-side. It was available in Butterscotch Transparent, Ivory, Metallic Light Blue, and Black Red Sunburst.

Jet King 2

StageMaster in 1960s (Ibanez model 904) was slightly similar to Rhythm Maker [4]
Teisco SS-4L (1962) might be possibly influenced by Rhythm Maker.
Jet King Bass (JTKB200), bass version of Jet King 2, resembles Ibanez Rhythm Maker in 1960s.[4]

The Jet King 2 (Also, Jet King II, Jetking II, JTK2) was essentially an upgrade of the original. The machine heads now were on one side, and the body was changed to its current shape.

The first and discontinued edition of the Jet King II is probably the most collectible of all the range. The body is finished in brown sunburst with tortoise pickguard and has two Ibanez Super 58 pickups for neck and bridge. The Jet King II models made from 2003/11 to 2004/10 features a 1-piece maple bolt-on neck with rosewood fingerboard and the body is mahogany. The second and most popular edition of the JTK 2 (black and white and red and white) has only one Super 58 pickup for the neck, one Axis pickup for the bridge and a 3-piece neck like most Ibanez guitars. Standard colors for the Jet King II second edition were black or red with white pickguards, though examples of a white body and black pickguards have been seen. The Ibanez Super 58 pickup has a warm vintage sound while the Axis has a brighter and more aggressive sound. It has one volume knob, one tone knob, "rocker switches" used for coil splitting (for even more versatility), a fixed Full Tune III bridge and a string-thru body construction, providing fair sustain. The "rocker switches" allow this guitar to be very versatile. Some players claim it can imitate a Fender Jazzmaster or a Gibson Les Paul.

Jet King 3 and 4

At the NAMM 2007 show, two new Jet Kings were revealed. The "retro-style" mahogany body remained the same; however, unlike its predecessors, no rocker coil splits were included on the new models.

The Jet King 3 features two P-90 style soapbar pickups, the IBZ HFS1, and IBZ HFS2. Standard colors are "Roadster Orange Metallic" and "Bluestone." "Turquoise", and "Red Bean" colors are available in limited markets.

The Jet King 4 featured a Bigsby-style tremolo and two humbuckers, the ACH3 neck pickup and ACH4 bridge pickup.

Other related Ibanez guitars are:

Notable Jet King players

David Lowery (Cracker) with JTK1

Tree chart

Following chart shows the relationships between ancestral models mentioned on the "Notes", includes: official-relationship including supply-chains (solid line), unofficial-copy (dotted line), and uncertain design-similarity (dashed line).

1952Gibson
Les Paul
Kay K-125/141 /
Harmony Stratotone
1953
1954Teisco
J-1/J-2/TG-54/TN-54[6]		Fender
Stratocaster
1955Teisco J-5[6]Resonet Grazioso
1956
1957Supro Dual Tone
1958Teisco
J-4/J-5[A][7][2]		Selmer FuturamaFender
Jazzmaster
1959Guyatone LG-40/50/60
/ Star 1580/1590/1800/1810		Guyatone /
Regent EG-90[3][4]		Guyatone /
Marco Polo TL-59[2]
1960Guyatone
LG-70[8]		Eko 400
Ekomaster
1961Teisco J-3[6]Teisco
J-4B[9]/J-5[B][6]		Ibanez
Rhythm Maker[3]
1962FujiGen EJ-2-TTeisco SS-4L
1963Kawai S-80Teisco MJ-2[10]Zim-Gar EJ-2-TKawai S-180
1964Guyatone
LG-55W/65T[11]		Matsumoku
EJ-2-T		FujiGen S-180
1965JVC SG-12
1966Legend
1967officialIbanez S-80[4]
copy
2000ssimilarityIbanez JTK1Ibanez JTK2, 3, 4

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ EJ-2-T was manufactured by FujiGen during c.1962–c.1965, and exported under several brands including: St George, Zim-Gar, etc.. Note: similar model but with slightly broaden left-horn, seems later also manufactured by Matsumoku and exported as: Palmer, Tempo, Nivco (JVC), etc..
  2. 1 2 3 Mark Cole (2006-12-12). "MJ-2L (1965), WG-2L (1963) - My Teiscos". Teisco Twanger's Paradise.
    Note1: the design origin (including side-block fret marker on JTK1) might can be dated back to 1959 Marco Polo "TL-59", produced by Guyatone, built by Kiso Suzuki Violin:
    • "1959 Guyatone Marco Polo "TL-59"". PulseBeatGuitars.com. The story of this rare Marco Polo guitar started as a production design under the direction of Guyatone House-Brands in 1958. It was built at the Suzuki [i.e. Kiso Suzuki Violin] ... The Marco Polo was styled, more-or-less, after the Fender Jazzmaster-shape with its offset guitars waist. ... extended upper horn and backward sloped lower cut-way. ... Guyatone was also particularly known for their "Gold Screen" pickups. Featuring a Rosewood Fingerboard with Side-Block Fret Markers ...
     Later, this model seems evolved into Guyatone LG-55W and LG-65T (Kent 530 Las Vegas) which designs were more sophisticated than FujiGen EJ-2 (1962): Note2: similar design was also shared on the later Kawai S-80 with half pickguard model in 1960s, as seen on: 60's Bizarre Guitars 1993, p. 32
  3. 1 2 3 "Guyatone Gallery". GuyatoneGuitars.com. DeMont Guitars. Bill Menting (oncevlectrum-undervlectrum.com) Left to right, EG-90, Model 1840 large body, extra volume and tone, set neck model 1202 bass, 1830 small body, 1830 large body/headstock, set neck model 1860. Note: model 18xx series seem corresponding to "Ibanez Rhythm Maker".
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Hoshino Gakki Ten: IBANEZ and related brands....". OnceVlectrum-UnderVlectrum.com. {top} Here we have a '57-'59 Guyatone made model EG-90, sold to Hoshino, and exported to Canada under the Regent name. ... No picture exists in any Hoshino literature or website. ...", "{Middle} A rare one here, an Ibanez model 1860 large body set neck, circa 1960. This old girls claim to fame is that one of these models was owned by the late Jimi Hendrix. ... It is also Guyatone made.”, "{Bottom} Here we have a much later Ibanez, made after the closing of the Tama plant in 1967. Most likely Teisco made, ... A rare bird under the Ibanez brand name.", “Model 1830 bolt on neck .
    All models introduced on this page are:
    • [Top] model EG-90 under Regent brand (1957-59), model 1860 large body setneck (c.1960), [Kawai S-80 type] later model (after 1967)
    • [Left] Burns influenced model 1802 (early 1960s), model 883 (1962) and model 882 (1963), model 1943 very rare set neck (late 1950s), earlier version of model 994 (1963), and model 1830 bolt on neck (relative of model 1860 in early 1960s)
    • [Right] model 901 under Goldentone label and 902 under Continental label (1962-63), model 1201 under Hy-Lo label (1962) and model 1502 (1962-63), Burns Bison Copy Era first model 995 under Maxitone (1963) and last [Tama] manufactured model 3902x (1966), Jaguar styling model 882 (1963-64) and another Burns Bison influenced model 3903 under Goldentone label.
    Note: Kawai S180 (c.1964) used by Hound Dog Taylor, a similar model with slightly different pickguard, is said to be a copy of the Guyatone model indicated by the trade buyer, according to: 60's Bizarre Guitars 1993, p. 32. And, according to the "Genesis of FujiGen" site, several of Kawai models at that time were also sometimes manufactured by FujiGen (with the request of trade buyer), to fill the shortage of production of Kawai, and these models are seen on the 1965 photograph of FujiGen office.
  5. 1 2 Ibanez Electric Guitars (catalog), Hoshino Gakki Ten, Ltd., 1961, p. 1, 2
    "No.1830 [2pu] ... / No.1850 [3pu] ... / No.1860 [2pu with tremolo] ... / No.1880 [3pu with tremolo] ... / No.1950 [bass] ..."
  6. 1 2 3 4 Mark Cole (12 December 2006). "Teisco timeline". Teisco Twanger's Paradice. 1954 - The first solid body Teisco electric guitar were produced - the J-1, J-2, TG-54 and TN-54 - which copied the popular Les Paul design of that year. / 1955 - Hollow bodies available this year included the EP-... The J-5, a single-cutaway solidbody a la Les Paul, was introduced around this time. / 1961 - J3 and EB-2 introduced. J-5 changes to the now more popular Fender style. ...
  7. ↑ "“Guitar Mike” - 1960 Teisco J5 Electric Guitar". DrowningInGuitars.com. 1 March 2015. These “J” models were built in the late 50s and lasted until around 1961. Probably 1958-61. ... There was also a one pickup variation of this model called the J4.
  8. ↑ DrowningInGuitars (17 July 2013). "1960 Guyatone LG-70 Demo "Kingston" Model" (video). YouTube. So how about this... a Guyatone with a Kingston label. Westheimer imported a lot more than Teisco and Kawai folks! Oh, and the sweetest pickups ever placed on a Guyatone guitar in my opinion. If you love the neck position, you'd be in hog heaven with this guitar!
  9. ↑ DrowningInGuitars (2 April 2015). "1961 Teisco Royal J4-B Guitar Demo" (video). YouTube.
  10. ↑ DrowningInGuitars (25 January 2014). "Humble Pie - 1963 St. George MJ2 (Teisco) Guitar". DrowningInGuitar.com.
  11. ↑ Related model Guyatone LG-50A (ca.1965) is seen on a Selmer catalog in the 1960s.

References

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