Ibanez (アイバニーズ) is a Japanese guitar brand owned by Hoshino Gakki.[1] Based in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan, Hoshino Gakki was 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 seven-string and eight-string guitars. Ibanez manufactures effects, accessories, amps, and instruments in Japan, China, Indonesia, and the United States (at a Los Angeles-based custom shop). As of 2017 they marketed nearly 165 models of bass guitar, 130 acoustic guitars, and more than 300 electric guitars. As of 2024, after Gibson, Fender, and PRS, Ibanez is among the world's most popular and bestselling guitar brands.[2][3]
Daryl Robertson of Guitar World conferred the title of "the shredder's weapon of choice" on the Ibanez.[4]
History
The Hoshino Gakki company began in 1908 as the musical instrument sales division of the Hoshino Shoten, a bookstore chain. Hoshino Gakki decided in 1935 to make Spanish-style acoustic guitars, at first using the "Ibanez Salvador" brand name in reference to Spanish luthier Salvador Ibáñez, and later simply "Ibanez".[5] Accordingly, the brand originally was pronounced e-banyesu/e-baniizu (イバニェス/イバニーズ) in Japan, reflecting the Spanish pronunciation, before changing its pronunciation in 1986 to the current name, which represents an English pronunciation of Ibanez.
The modern era of Ibanez guitars began in 1957.[6] The late 1950s and 1960s Ibanez catalogues show guitars with some wild-looking designs,[7] manufactured by Kiso Suzuki Violin,[8] Guyatone,[9][10] and their own Tama factory established in 1962.[5][11] After the Tama factory stopped manufacturing guitars in 1966, Hoshino Gakki contracted the Teisco String Instruments Company to make Ibanez guitars. After the Teisco String Instrument factory closed in 1970, Hoshino Gakki contracted with
In the 1960s, Japanese guitar makers mainly copied American guitar designs, and Ibanez-branded copies of Gibson, Fender, and Rickenbacker models appeared. This resulted in the so-called lawsuit period.
As a result of the lawsuit, Hoshino Gakki introduced Ibanez models based on unique designs, such as the Iceman and the Roadstar series. 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 guitarist Steve Vai resulted in the introduction of the Ibanez JEM and the Ibanez Universe models; 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, a lower-priced version of their JEM series.
Hoshino Gakki also had semi-acoustic, nylon- and steel-stringed acoustic guitars manufactured under the Ibanez name. Most Ibanez guitars were made 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 Adrian Belew, Eric Clapton, Dean Brown, Jeff Baxter, Yannis Spathas, Christoforos Krokidis, Steve Howe, Mike Rutherford, Andy Summers, Neal Schon and Steve Hackett) and the Ibanez X-ING IMG-2010.
Cimar and Starfield were guitar and bass 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 Greco versions were sold in Japan and the Ibanez versions were sold outside Japan. From 1982, Ibanez guitars have also been sold in Japan as well.[12]
Guitar brands such as Antoria and Mann 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 United Kingdom from 1964 to 1987.[6] 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.[13]
The "lawsuit" guitars
Harry Rosenbloom, founder of the (now-closed) 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 Township, Pennsylvania as a distribution and quality-control center.
On June 28, 1977, in the Philadelphia Federal District Court, a lawsuit was filed by the Norlin Corporation, the parent company of Gibson Guitars, against Elger/Hoshino U.S.A.'s use of the Gibson headstock design and logo. Hoshino settled out of court in early 1978 and the case was officially closed on February 2, 1978.[14][15]
After the lawsuit, Hoshino Gakki abandoned the strategy of copying "classic" electric guitar designs, having already introduced a plethora of original designs. Hoshino was producing their original Artist models 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
Guitars
Sub-brands
Ibanez J. Custom
The J. Custom series are the most exclusive and expensive guitars Ibanez offers. They are "envisioned to be the finest Japanese-made guitar in history". Built by some of the most skilled luthiers in Japan, they "represent every advance in design and technology Ibanez has developed over the last 20 years". As of 2022, they feature Dimarzio pickups, 5 piece maple/wenge necks with Titanium reinforcement rods, ebony fingerboard with a tree of life fret board inlay, and Edge Zero tremolo systems. Even among J. Customs there are two tiers: most of the standard production J. Customs (the ones that appear in catalogs) are produced by FujiGen Gakki while the more limited production models are produced by Sugi Guitars. The Sugi-made models are typically produced in very limited numbers from one-offs to maybe a dozen copies of a single design.
Ibanez Prestige
The Prestige guitars are Ibanez's top-of-the-line models that are built in Japan. They feature higher quality materials, high craftsmanship, and higher quality bridges compared to other models.
Ibanez Premium
The Premium guitars are similar to other models but are built in Ibanez's Indonesian premium factory to premium quality standards.
Bass guitars
SR (Soundgear) Series
Middle-class model range in the new millennium, though it included expensive high-end and top-of-the-line Japanese models in the late 1980s and 1990s. Later top offerings were branded as Signature and SR Prestige models for clearer segmentation, and all non-Prestige model production moved outside Japan. Current models from the SR250 and up feature soap bar-style humbuckers with active EQ.
SR Prestige
High-end versions of the Ibanez Soundgear (SR-5004/5/6 & SR-4004/5/6) 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. All Japanese-built current production models are in the Prestige series.
SR Premium
Nordstrand pickups. Indonesian-built.
SR Prestige
High-end versions of the Ibanez Soundgear (SR-5004/5/6 & SR-4004/5/6) Bass Guitars made in Japan using exotic woods and high-quality custom Bartolini
Amplifiers
Guitar amplifiers
- IBZ
- IBZ15GR
- IBZ10G
- TBX Tone Blaster Series
- TSA
- TSA15/TSA15H
- TSA30/TSA30H
Bass amplifiers
- Promethean
- IBZ
- Sound Wave
Acoustic amplifiers
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 Japan. These two companies eventually began doing less and less business together until Nisshin Onpa ceased manufacturing the TS-9 reissue for Hoshino Gakki in 2002.
- ToneLok Series
- AP7 Analog Phaser
- AW7 Autowah
- CF7 Stereo Chorus/Flanger
- DE7 Stereo Delay/Echo
- DS7 Distortion
- FZ7 Fuzz
- LF7 Lo-Fi
- PD7 Phat Hed Bass Overdrive
- SB7 Synthesizer Bass
- SH7 Seventh Heaven
- SM7 Smashbox
- TC7 Tri Mode Chorus
- TS7 Tube Screamer
Ibanez endorsers: past and present
Serial numbers
External links
References
- HOSHINO GAKKI CO. LTD. Ibanez guitars retrieved 2017-05-17^
- Ibanez at AMS American Musical Supply, retrieved 2017-06-20^
- Reverb's Best Selling Guitars of 2024 retrieved 2025-07-16^