Faders Five Fascinating Facts: Ibanez Guitars
Lime green shred machines from the 80’s? Legendary Hollowbody Jazz guitars? Translucent Black Spalted Maple Top Multi-Scale Djent Generators?
When someone mentions Ibanez guitars what do you think of first? You aren’t wrong. Ibanez is a pretty diverse guitar manufacturer - more diverse than many people think.
Presenting:
Faders Five Fascinating Facts about Ibanez Guitars
1. Although known today as the World's #1 Japanese guitar manufacturer, Ibanez was originally a classical guitar company founded by Salvador Ibañez in 1890's Spain. Hoshino (est 1929) was the Japanese importer of these guitars and eventually acquired the name "Ibanez" in the late 1930's.
2. Lawsuit Guitars. Many guitars have been called "Lawsuit Guitars" referring to the legal action taken by Gibson in the late 1970's to stop offshore manufacturers from making high quality replicas of their designs (and taking a bite out of their business). During this period Ibanez had developed a reputation for making some of the best on the market. The matter was settled out of court and Ibanez soon embarked on a long & innovative journey focussing on their own designs.
3. In 1970, the now legendary Fujigen guitar plant became the primary supplier of guitars for Ibanez. This is the same factory that produced (the now) highly sought after Japanese Fender guitars from the 1980's that are often touted as better than the USA Fenders.
As a matter of fact for a short period of time Fender stopped all production of USA made guitars and relied on the Japanese manufacturer to supply virtually all their guitars. But that is a story for another time..
4. Ibanez' parent company Hoshino Gakki (Hoshino Musical Instruments) first established their North American offices in 1972 with the formation of Hoshino USA.
2022 marks Hoshino USA's 50th Anniversary and to commemorate this anniversary they commissioned the Ibanez LA Custom Shop and Japan Custom Shop to create 50 one of a kind Ibanez guitars to be sold through their North American Dealer network. Dealers were selected by a lottery system to get access to these guitars.
Much to our delight, Faders was selected as one of these lucky dealers and received LACS11 "Amethyst" from the LA Custom Shop in March of 2022.
5. In the summer of 1987, in a warehouse in Philadelphia, a young guitarist by the name of Steve Vai - David Lee Roth's hot shot guitarist - personally numbered and autographed 777 of his brand new signature guitars - the Jem.
Bright "Loch Ness" Green with yellow knobs, pink pickups and a handle-hole in the body - these radical new guitars and the models they inspired effectively launched the modern era of Ibanez guitars.