guitar ibanez

The History Of Ibanez Guitars.

The History Of Ibanez Guitars dates back to 1929 when Hoshino Gakki, a Japanese musical instruments company started importing Salvador Ibanez guitars from Spain. The Spanish company was completely destroyed in the Spanish civil war and couldn’t continue production.

As a result, Hoshino Gakki bought the rights to the brand name Ibanez Salvador and in 1935, started the production of Ibanez Salvador Spanish acoustic guitars in Nagoya, Japan. Later the brand name was shortened to just Ibanez.

In the fifties and the sixties, the rock revolution brought the electric guitar into the limelight. At this time most Japanese guitar makers were copying European guitar designs. Ibanez guitars of this period were imitations of Hagstrom and EKO guitar designs.

In the seventies, Hoshino Gakki shifted focus to American guitar designs and issued a number of Ibanez guitar models that were blatant copies of classic Gibson, Fender and even Rickenbacker models. Some of the really well-executed copies were of the Gibson range, which could easily pass off as originals. Notable examples are the 2347, a close copy of the Gibson SG Les Paul Junior, the 2351, a pefect copy of the Gibson Les Paul and the 2348, which was the best imitation of the non-reverse Gibson Firebird you could find.

In order to get a foothold in the American market, Hoshino Gakki bought out a guitar company called Big Guitars, renamed it and thus was born Hoshino U.S.A. Although these guitars were obvious copies, they were technically quite sound and had a clear, bright tone. Gibson saw red, and its parent company Norlin Corporation sued Hoshino USA for copyright infringement in 1977. The matter was finally settled out of court in 1978.

Ibanez Design

Hoshino decided to digress from its original modus operandi of duplicating classic guitar models and introduced its own designs after much research and development. These designs turned out to be very innovative and radical, with unique features like sleeker body shapes, flatter fingerboards, slim pointed headstocks, slimmer necks, locking tremolo system, pick-ups in various options and available in a variety of colorful finishes.

The company teamed up with celebrity guitarists to develop the Artist series guitars for George Benson, the Iceman for Paul Stanley of KISS and the Destroyer for Adrian Smith of Iron Maiden. Around this time, the world of music was in the throes of a revolution and had been taken over by heavy metal/punk rock bands. The new, innovative Ibanez Guitars entered the market at the same time and swiftly found their niche clientele in the new-wave guitarists. Ibanez had finally arrived!

The Ibanez Superstrat

The late 1980s saw Ibanez forge ahead with its Superstrat range of guitars which were even more innovative in design. It was a pioneering effort from a company keen to consolidate its position in a fast-changing world.

The Superstrat is visually like a Fender Stratocaster but with longer pointed horns, no scratchplate and deeper cutaways. It has a 24-fret slim neck, a Floyd Rose locking tremolo system, and a unique three pickup layout with a humbucker at the neck, a single coil in the middle and a humbucker at the bridge. But the star of the show is definitely the RG series of the Superstrat. It has all the aforementioned features and in addition has a very thin, lightweight body which is perfect for heavy metal guitarists to strut their stuff.

The Ibanez Saber Series

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Another beauty from the Ibanez stable is the Saber or S series guitar which has a light-weight mahogany body and a curved back. It has a ‘zero resistance’ floating tremolo which helps the strings stay more in tune.

Ibanez has also developed a seven-string guitar in collaboration with famous guitarist Steve Vai who in the past has played for Frank Zappa, The Whitesnake and now has a flourishing solo career. This guitar is called The Universe. The company is constantly innovating and coming up with newer models every few years. They also have a range of bass and jazz guitars which are some of the best in the business.

The Ibanez Signature Series



The range of a guitar company of the highest caliber would be incomplete without a celebrity signature series. Ibanez has developed a Signature series carefully over the years, keeping in mind the eclectic tastes of its clients.

It has a Joe Satriani series of guitars with the JS signature, Paul Gilbert line with the PGM signature, Herman Li and Sam Totman, guitaristsof the heavy metal band Dragonforce have the E-Gen and STM models respectively and Munky, guitarist of the metal band KoRN has the Apex signature model. The JEM is the model developed in collaboration with Steve Vai and has his stamp of approval.

Ibanez Guitars score in appearance as well as in quality. The tone is clear, lush and warm. The guitars are designed keeping in mind that the dominant genres today are hard rock/heavy metal, punk rock and grunge. Along with these attributes, the Ibanez guitar is also very economical and is the right choice for beginners.

Guitarists Who Prefer Ibanez Guitars

Other than the aforementioned worlds great guitarists, notable players who prefer an Ibanez guitar are:

• Chris Broderick, lead guitarist of the band Megadeth

• Phil Collen, lead guitarist of the band Def Leppard.

• Rocky George, lead guitarist of the band Suicidal Tendencies.

• Paul Gilbert, lead guitarist of the band Racer X.

• Pat Metheny, an influential American jazz guitarist.

• Mike Mushok, lead guitarist of the band Staind.

• Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, lead guitarist and songwriter for the band The Mars Volta.

• Mick Thomson, lead guitarist of the band Slipknot.

Ibanez guitars have already made deep inroads into the market for quality guitars and the only way from here is up!

Hoping you have enjoyed this post on the History Of Ibanez Guitars, our next post will cover another of the Top Guitarists Of All Time.

Scotty Smith
Guitarist Rock ©2008-2009
Photos by Photobucket