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This article is about the guitar manufacturer. For people named Ibáñez, see Ibáñez.
Ibanez (pronounced /ˈaɪbænɛz/ or /aɪˈbænɛz/) is a guitar brand owned by Hoshino Gakki and based in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan. Hoshino Gakki were one of the first Japanese musical instrument companies to gain a significant foothold in the United States and Europe.
[edit] HistoryThe 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, Jeff Baxter, Yannis Spathas, Mike Rutherford, Andy Summers and Steve Hackett) and the Ibanez X-ING IMG-2010. Sometimes stencil (template) guitar designs were shared by Japanese guitar companies and distributors so an early Hoshino Ibanez branded guitar might look the same as another brand name guitar produced by a different Japanese distributor but only Ibanez, Cimar by Ibanez and Maxxas branded guitars were made for Hoshino Gakki and are the only guitar brand names that have appeared in Hoshino Gakki catalogues. Cimar guitars were not produced by Hoshino Gakki but "Cimar by Ibanez" guitars were produced for Hoshino Gakki by Cimar [3]. The Starfield guitar brand was also 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 [4]. 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. 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 [3]. [4]===Lawsuit=== Harry's Rosenbloom, of Medley Music, based in Ardmore, 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 of 1972 Hoshino began a partnership with Elger Guitars to import guitars from Japan. In September of 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. in 1977, and was based on an Ibanez headstock design that had been discontinued by 1976. Hoshino settled out of court, and by 1978 had begun making Ibanez guitars from their own designs [5]. After the so-called lawsuit Hoshino Gakki abandoned the strategy of copying "classic" USA electric guitar designs and moved 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 pickups, locking tremolo bridges and more colourful finishes. [edit] Guitars[edit] Electric guitars
[edit] Production Signature Models
[edit] Discontinued Signature models
[edit] New Guitars & Basses for 2008
[edit] Bass guitars
[edit] Acoustic guitars
[edit] Ibanez endorsers, past and presentMain article: List of Ibanez players [edit] Effect pedals  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. [edit] Tube ScreamersMain article: Ibanez Tube Screamer Based on the earlier Overdrive I and II pedals, Hoshino Gakki began releasing the first Ibanez Tube Screamer, the TS-808 in the late 1970s. These contained the famed JRC4558D integrated circuit (IC). Many players consider this one of the best solid state pedals to emulate the sound produced by an overdriven vacuum tube guitar amplifier. Over the years, Hoshino Gakki released many different kinds of pedals bearing the Ibanez Tube Screamer name. The first was the TS-9 Tube Screamer, which included only a few component changes and often, but not always, different ICs. In 1985 the Master or L series were introduced and sold only for a year. Many claim that in this series, there's no Tubescreamer. Looking closer circuitwise shows that there is one but in the disguise of the Metal Screamer with slightly changed component values. The name change was most likely for marketing reasons. Based on the Master series but with slight changes in housing in 1986, the Power Series were introduced, which included the TS-10. Like many of the Master and Power Series pedals, there were not many differences in the circuitry between these and their 9-series counterparts. To make production cheaper, these pedals used circuit board-mounted potentiometers (pots) and jacks. In 1992, Hoshino Gakki began re-issuing the Ibanez TS-9. Then in 1996, Hoshino Gakki added a CE mark to the back of the Ibanez pedal, which is required for it to be sold in Europe. In the early 1990s, Hoshino Gakki released the Ibanez Soundtank series, which, except for the first run which was metal, had cheap plastic enclosures and like the Power Series before it, used less expensive parts. Around 2000 came the Tone Lok series, and the TS-7, which included a switch for added gain. In 1998, the new TS-9DX was introduced, which included a 4-way switch for capacitor changes and changes in the clipping section. Then in 2002, Nisshin Onpa stopped production of the TS-9 for Hoshino Gakki. Post-2002 circuit boards say Ibanez instead of Maxon. Due to popular demand, Hoshino Gakki reissued the Ibanez TS-808 in 2004, complete with the JRC4558D chip. Original TS-808's, and to a lesser extent, TS-9s, have become highly collectible. Many overdrive pedals in production, especially those by "boutique" manufacturers, are a modified version of the Tube Screamer circuit. One of many companies or people that specialize in Tube Screamer modifications is Robert Keeley Electronics. [edit] Serial NumbersApproximate Ibanez Serial Numbers (non Acoustic) Japanese Ibanez Serial Numbers 1997 and after (CE logo designation)
1987-1997
1975-1986
Most Ibanez models with this serial number format were made by FujiGen Gakki. Exceptions are the Ibanez Blazer models which were made by Dyna Gakki and the Axstar by Ibanez models AX40, AX45, AX48, AXB50, AXB60, AXB65, AX70, AX75 which were made by Chushin Gakki. The Ibanez Axstar AXB1000 model was made by FujiGen Gakki. Korean Ibanez Serial Numbers C = Cor-Tek (Cort), S = Samick(1990-1995), S/SQ = Saehan(Sunghan), P = Peerless (Iida), Y = Yoojin, A = Sae-In.
E = Sung-Eum
W = World
Indonesian Ibanez Serial Numbers I = Cor-Tek (Cort) Indonesia, K = KWO
Chinese Ibanez Serial Numbers Z = Yeou Chern, J=Sejung
Odd Ibanez Serial Numbers
Older Acoustic
Silver Cadet model
[edit] Pickup Serial NumbersIbanez and Greco Nisshin Onpa (Maxon) pickup serial number format consisting of 5 numbers up to and including 1977. Ibanez Super 70 pickups have the same serial number format.
Ibanez and Greco Nisshin Onpa (Maxon) pickup serial number format consisting of 6 numbers from 1977 to 1982.
Ibanez "Super 70" pickups made by Nisshin Onpa (Maxon) had a alnico 8 magnet. Ibanez "Super 58" pickups made by Nisshin Onpa (Maxon) had a alnico 3 magnet. Ibanez "Super 80" pickups made by Nisshin Onpa (Maxon) had a ceramic magnet. All of the above pickups DC resistance is approximately 7.5-8.0 kilohms. [edit] References
[edit] External links
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