Ibanez Electric Guitars

In 1908 the Hoshino Gakki Company was established as the musical instrument sales division of the Hoshino Shoten Company. “Shoten” is the Japanese word for book store and Gakki is the Japanese word for musical instrument.

By 1929 Hoshino Gakki was importing guitars from Spain that were made by Salvador Ibáñez.

1905 Salvador Ibanez

In 1933 the company was purchased by Telésforo Julve. He was a classical and flamenco guitar builder from Valencia Spain. His specialty was guitars with a “tomavoz”, which was a sound tube that sat inside the instruments sound hole and extended to the back of the guitar. This was an idea from the 1930’s to increase the sound of the guitar. It was briefly in vogue, but was abandoned by the end of WWII, much like the internal resonator was abandoned on the early Selmer Maccaferri guitars.

By 1935 Hoshino changed the guitars brand name to Ibanez Salvador and eventually it became just Ibanez. These guitars were imported for the Japanese market.

1950's Ibanez electric guitar

In 1957 that Hoshino Gakki got into the electric guitar market. These early electric guitars were sold under the Ibanez name but were mostly manufactured by other Japanese companies. Some were manufactured by the Tama Company, which Hoshino owned, while others were manufactured by the the Kiso Suzuki Violin Company and others produced by Guyatone.

1960's Ibanez electric guitars (Teisco)

By 1966 Hoshino Gakki was subcontracting exclusively through the FujiGen Gakki factory and the Teisco factory. Teisco stopped making guitars by the end of the 1960’s so Hoshino depended on FujiGen to make Ibanez guitars.

Mann Les Paul

It was during the 1970’s that Hoshino and other Japanese guitar manufacturers were building “replicas” of well-known US made instruments. Hoshino built these electric guitar replicas under the brand name Mann, Antoria, as well as Ibanez. The Norlin Company which owned Gibson Guitars saw these replicas as trademark infringement.

Though many guitars of that era are referred to as Lawsuit models, only Ibanez guitars of the mid 1970’s would fall into that category. The story behind the lawsuit is rather interesting.

This is where it all started

Harry Rosenblum owned Medley Music in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. He has opened the store in 1954 and was hoping to eventually become a Martin Guitar franchisee, however the waiting list was over three years.

Vintage Elger Guitar

Around 1964 he decided to hire a German violin builder named Karl Muller and Karl’s brother Georg to build handmade guitars to sell at his store that would rival the quality of a Martin guitar. Rosenblum chose the name Elger Guitars, and they were very high quality instruments.

However Mr. Rosenblum soon discovered this venture would be very expensive. Within a year Harry Rosenblum shut down manufacturing and decided to import guitars using the Elger brand name. He partnered  with Hoshino Gakki and gave them the exclusive North American distribution rights. During the 1960's “made in Japan” denoted a product of lesser quality, so Rosenblum decided to add the brand name Ibanez. This seemed to suggest a product of Spain.

1971 Ibanez 335's - bolt-on neck

By 1971 the Hoshino Gakki Company purchased Elger Guitars and changed the name to Ibanez USA. They used Medley Music as their point to receive shipments and correct damaged product. However these Ibanez guitars looked remarkably like Gibson guitars, but were built of cheaper and inferior materials. Many even had bolt-on necks and were made of plywood.

1974-75 Ibanez Artist - bolt-on neck

By 1975 Ibanez had begun coming up with a few original designs, but much of their catalog was devoted to copies of USA made instruments, which included not just electric guitars, but acoustic guitars as well. 1975 was the first year the model No. 2663 with the triple coil pickup was offered. It would later be named The Iceman.

Letter to Gibson Dealers

On June 28th of 1977 the Norlin Company (Gibson Guitars) filed a lawsuit against Elger in Federal District Court alleging Trademark Infringement based on the “open-book/mustache headstock design of Ibanez guitars. Ironically Ibanez had changed the headstock design a year earlier to resemble Guild Guitar headstocks. Gibson and Elger/Hoshino settled out of court in early 1978 and the case was officially closed on February 2, 1978.

Cover of 1978 Ibanez catalog

By 1978 Ibanez had stopped making copies and begun designing their own unique instruments and came out with some very nice original guitar designs which were encompassed in their Artist Series, their Musician Series, their concert series and their Professional Series instruments.

Through the years many of these guitars have become very collectible.

The Artist Series included the solid body series that was made up of models 2618, the 2618-12 the 2619. All featured mahogany bodies with carved maple tops.

2618

The bound rock maple necks were topped with rosewood fret-boards on the 2618 models. These came with abalone dot inlay [position markers.

2619

While the fancier 2619 came with an ebony fretboard and pearl/abalone/pearl block position marker.

2619-12

All of these instruments came with twin Ibanez Super 80 humbucking pickups, an Ibanez Gibraltar tune-o-matic style locking bridge unit and a Ibanez Gibraltar slotted tailpiece that had a triangular gold-plated decoration behind it. Underneath this a sustain block was built into the body. All metallic parts were gold-plate.

The tuners on the six string models featured pearloid buttons, while the 12 string 2618 had gold-plated metal buttons.

The electronics on these guitars featured the usual twin volume and tone controls and a 3-way pickup selector switch.

2622

The Artist Series also featured the model 2622 which came with the same features found on the model 2619, but the 2622 featured two volume controls for each pickup and an EQ section that came with a bass, mid-range and treble boost potentiometers and a 3-way pickup selector switch. The machine heads were topped with pearloid buttons.

2640

The next guitar in the Artist Solid body series in the model 2640 double neck 6/12 string guitar.

The features on this guitar are similar to the model 2619, however the controls were quite different. Each neck had an individual master volume and tone control that were shared for the two pickups on the separate necks (4 pickups total). The guitar came with a master volume control. Each neck had a 3 position pickup selector switch. Each neck also featured two Tri-Sound switches. The machine heads for this guitar were gold-plated Ibanez Velvet Tune II models.

2617

The last in the solid body Artists series was the model 2617. This instrument featured a natural wood book-matched solid ash body (it was also available with an antique violin brown finish) with decorative binding around the bodies upper edge. All other accouterments were the same as the model 2619. The 2617’s hardware was all gold-plated.

Ibanez models 2629 and 2630 were Ibanez’ semi-hollow body models. The bodies appearance was very similar to a Gibson ES-335, although the horns might be placed slightly differently.

2629

The 2629 guitar featured twin Ibanez Super 80 pickups, an arched birch top and back and birch was used for the sides. The neck was made of rock maple topped with an ebony fretboard. The position marker were dots, made of abalone. The electronics were controlled by twin volume and tone controls and a 3 way selector switch placed on the bottom horn. Hardware was gold-plated and included the Ibanez Gibraltar locking bridge unit and Gibraltar tailpiece. It was only available in one colour; antique violin brown.

2630

The model 2630’s body was similar in appearance, however it used curly maple for the top, back and sides. The neck, once again was rock maple topped with an ebony fretboard. The position marker were pearl/abalone/pearl blocks. The electronics were similar to the 2629 with the exception of a Tri-Sound switch for the neck pickup. It too came only in antique violin brown.

The Ibanez Musician Series featured 6 solid body instruments constructed by sandwiching different types of wood together. Five of these guitars featured a neck-thru-body design with either a 5-ply or 7-ply neck. All guitars featured Ibanez Super 88 or Super 77 high output pickups.

The only difference in the MC400 and 500 was the choice of wood used on the outer portion of the instruments bodies.

MC400

The MC400 was constructed out of ash wood for the body topped with a sheet of mahogany. In the center of the 2 body “wings” was the 7 piece laminated rock maple neck that ran the length of the guitar.

MC500

The MC500 also used an ash body, but topped it with a sheet of maple. The fretboard on both guitars was fashioned out of ebony with abalone dot position markers and came with 24 frets.

Both guitars had twin Super 88 Ibanez pickups. The tunable bridge was an Ibanez Gibraltar model while the strings attached to the Ibanez Gibraltar slotted tailpiece. The controls were what made these guitars special.

Each pickup had a volume control and a 3-position Tri-Sound switch, but these guitars cam with pre-amp EQ controls; bass, midrange and treble boost potentiometers. The headstock had a natural wood finish and topped with gold-plated machine heads with pearloid button tuners.

MC300DS

The MC300NT and DS models came with a 5-ply through-the-body neck. The body was made of ash with a mahogany veneer. The NT had a natural finish while the DS had a dark stain on the wood finish. The main difference in this model from the former is that the EQ has been replaced by twin tone potentiometers and this guitar did not have a preamp. Each Super 88 pickup had a 3 position Tri-Sound switch that provided 15 different tone options.

MC200

The MC200 was similar to the MC300, however the hardware was chrome plated instead of gold-plated. The MC200's electronics featured individual volume and tone controls for each pickup.

MC100

The MC100 was similar to the MC200, however it came with a bolt-on neck.

The pickups on both the MC200 and MC100 were Ibanez Super 77's.

The Ibanez Concert series included three beautiful uniquely designed double cutaway solid body guitars that each came with a an arched mahogany body with an arched maple cap. The most exquisite was the CN250 model. It was available in a variety of colours including black (BK), antique violin (AV) which was sort of a burst finish, cherry wine (CW), midnight olive (MO) and cherry sunburst (CS).

CN250 AV

The CN250 featured a detachable laminated rock maple neck that was capped with a bound ebonized 22 fret rosewood fretboard. This fretboard came with gorgeous detached-vine inlay designs. The body came with 7-layer binding.

CN250 MO

This guitar sported twin Ibanez Super 80 Tri-Sound pickups. Each had an individual volume and tone control. There was a Tri-Sound selector switch for the bass pickup. All hardware was gold-plated.

CN200 WH and CS

The model CN200 was a very similar instrument, except the neck included block inlays on its ebonized rosewood fret board.

There was no Tri-Sound selector switch that came on this model. It was a gorgeous guitar.

CN100  BS and CW

The final guitar in this series is the CN100. The changes in this model from the prior include dot inlays, a single layer body binding a chrome hardware.

The Ibanez Performer Series of guitars were similar in appearance to a Gibson Les Paul, however some of the bodies features were modified. This instrument had a more pronounced, almost cut-a-way feature in the bodies upper bout and the opposite sides cut-a-way was thinner. The Ibanez Performer guitars came with a mahogany body topped with a maple cap.

PF400

The top of the line PF 400 featured 7 layer black and white binding around the guitars body. The neck was made of laminated rock maple with 22 frets and capped with an ebony fret board and pearloid block inlays. The electronics featured one Super 70 humbucker in the bridge position and one Super 70 Tri-Sound humbucker in the neck position. The neck pickup featured the Tri-Sound control that allowed it to be used in the humbucking mode, the single coil mode or a reverse phased/series mode.

Both pickups were capped with a gold plated cover. The Gibraltar adjustable lock-down bridge and saddles were also gold-plated as was the Quick-Change slotted tailpiece. The headstock was topped with a unique design and bore six-on-a-side gold-plated tuners.

PF300 AW(amber)

The Performer PF 300 series was similar in all ways except the body construction made it a lighter instrument. This guitar was available in nine different finish options.

PF230 AV

The Performer PF 230 series did not include the Tri-Sound switch that provided nine different pickup combinations, but it did come with three Ibanez Super 70 humbucking pickups. It was available with four different finish combinations.

The PF 200 was an extraordinary instrument. The accouterments were similar to the previous instruments. The PF 200 had two Ibanez Super 70 pickups and basic electronics; two volume and two tone controls.

PF100 WN

The final instrument in the Performer series was the PF 100, which was the basic model. Instead of 7 layer binding, this guitar had a single layer of binding around the body. Instead of gold-plated hardware, all the hardware was chrome finished. The ebonized rosewood neck had dot inlays instead of fancy block inlays and there was no design on the headstock. It came with five different finish options.

1975 Ibanez model 2663SL and model 2663

One of the most unique guitars of all time, the Ibanez Iceman, came out of this era. This guitar was first introduced in 1975 under the Ibanez Artists Series 2663 and Artist Series 2663SL and updated in 1978 by Ibanez under the Iceman brand. Depending on the model, the body of this guitar was made of several types of wood, including mahogany, ash and curly maple. The large body was made thin to help with the weight.

Gibraltar bridge - Quik-Lock Tailpiece

The Iceman came with the Ibanez Gibraltar lockable and adjustable bridge. Some models included a sustain block embedded in the body, that was positioned underneath this bridge.

Ibanez Triple Coil Pickup

The Iceman featured either Ibaneez Super 80 pickups or a specially designed triple-coil pickup that was controlled by a 4-position splitter switch.

Half and Half Nut

A special nut that was half brass and half bone gave the Iceman a unique tone.

Iceman Cutaway

Perhaps the most unique feature on this guitar was the lower cutaway. It was deep and uniquely sculpted.

This guitar design is also unique in that it was sold under the Ibanez logo as The Iceman and under the Greco logo as The Mirage.

Greco Mirage

The Greco Mirage was meant for distribution only in the Japanese market. These guitars were made at a factory in Korea called Kanda Shokai.

Ibanez guitar were distributed by Hoshino Gakki of Japan, which outsourced its production to other companies and branded the instruments as Ibanez with the intent of being distributed in the USA. Subsequently many Ibanez Iceman guitar were actually made by Kanda Shokai, while others were made by the Fugi-Gen Gakki manufacturing plant of Japan. In the 1970's Hoshino was not selling its guitars in Japan. This changed in 1981.

Greco Dry Z pickup and Ibanez Super 80 pickup

Some of the Greco Mirages were distributed in the European market. The Iceman and the Mirage guitars were essentially the same guitar except for the pickups. The Greco model used Greco Dry pickups and DiMarzio Super II pickups.

IC400

The Ibanez Iceman IC 400 featured a mahogany body with a solid maple top. The body included a heavy metal sustain block under the Gibraltar bridge. The guitars neck was laminated rock maple with a built-in smooth heel. The neck was topped with an ebonized rosewood fretboard that had parallelogram fret markers inlaid in a pearloid material. It was topped with the Ibanez half and half (brass and bone) nut. This guitar had 22 frets. It included twin Ibanez Super 80 pickups and each had their own volume and tone control. A 3-way selector switch controlled the pickups. The hardware was all gold-plated. The machine heads were capped with white plastic buttons.

The body, neck and elongated headstock were all beautifully bound. This instrument came with either and antique violin finish (2 colour sunburst) or a midnight olive finish, which in my opinion looks black.

IC300

The IC 300 version came with a solid ash body that was only available with a natural korina finish. This guitar was a stripped down model of the JC 400 in that the basic features were similar, but the body, neck and headstock were not bound and the fretboard had pearloid dot inlays. The neck was built-in and all the hardware was all finished in chrome. It came with a sustain block under the Gibraltar bridge.

IC210

The Ibanez Iceman IC 210 was the guitar Steve Miller played on “Fly Like An Eagle.” The body was made out of solid mahogany.  Once again the neck was laminated rock maple with the same parallelogram inlays on the fretboard as the JC 300. In fact most of the features were similar to the JC 300 with the exception of the pickup and electronics. This guitar came with one Ibanez Special Design Triple Coil pickup in the neck position. The pickup was connected to a four-way rotary coil splitter control and then to a volume and tone potentiometer. It was available only in brown sunburst.

IC200

The Ibanez Iceman IC 200 was a step down from the previous versions, but was still an excellent guitar. The IC 200 body was made of solid mahogany with ivoroid binding on the top. The neck was built-in and made of laminate rock maple and was topped with a bound ebonized fretboard. The fretboard had pearloid parallelogram inlaid position markers and 22 VelvetTouch frets. At the necks top was the half and half nut. The elongated headstock was bound and had six chrome plated machine heads. The hardware was chrome plated, which included the Gibraltar locking bridge and the Ibanez Quick-Change slotted tailpiece.

This instrument featured twin Ibanez Super 80 humbucking pickups and a 3 position selector switch on the bodie upper bout. The lower bout bore volume and tone controls for each pickup. This instrument was only available in brown sunburst.

IC100 BK and WH

Ibanez offered two versions of the IC 100; the IC 100Bk (black) and the IC 100Wh (white). Both were very nice instruments and each featured solid mahogany bodies bound on the top. The neck was made of rock maple, however on this model it was detachable. The neck was bound and topped with an ebonized rosewood fretboard. The neck came with 22 frets and dot inlay position markers. The headstock was bound and the machine heads were chrome-plated. The electronics were the same as the JC 200 model right down to the Ibanez Super 80 pickups.

PS10

Perhaps the best version of the Iceman and certainly the most collectible is the PS-10/ Paul Stanley model.

While KISS was touring Japan in the winter of 1977 Stanley was approached by representatives of Ibanez that wanted to create a signature guitar for him. They sought his input in the design. Stanley was impressed with the Artist 2663SL model, but wanted some modifications and upgrades.

His version of the Paul Stanley PS-10 model was offered to the public in 1978 for $695.

Stanley contrasts the PS-10 to the standard Iceman by comparing a Rolls Royce to a Chevrolet. He goes on to say, that he sat down with Ibanez designers and came up with a guitar: construction, frets, inlays, wiring, the type of tail block that has a sustain block built into it, the half-brass/half-bone nut, and so on. In other words, we took the Artist 2663 shape and made a new guitar. This guitar was offered by Ibanez through 1981.

1995 PS10 II

By 1995 the demand was still great and Ibanez unveiled the PS 10-ll and the following year the PS 10-LTD. By 1997 Ibanez offered the PS 10-CL (classic).

During 1978 Ibanez introduced some jazz boxes that they called “Acoustic Electric Models”. These were based on the Gibson L-5CES and the ES-175.

FA700

The FA 700 was a beautiful instrument. It had a hand-carved solid spruce top with a curly maple back and sides. The body was bound on the top and back as were the twin F-holes. The set-in neck was made of hard laminated maple and topped with a polished ebony fretboard with pearl rectangular inlaid position markers. The headstock was also bound and topped with ebony veneer with an inlaid design and the logo was also inlaid. The machine heads were Ibanez gold-plated Velve-Tune models.

This guitar came with twin Ibanez Super 70 humbucking pickups each with their own volume and tone potentiometers. The wooden bridge appears to be compensated rosewood. The strings were secured to a fancy gold-plated trapeze tailpiece.

FA300

The FA 300 was identical except the arched top was made of laminated spruce and not handcarved and the machine heads were Ibanez Smooth Tuner II models.

The model FA 500 featured an arched spruce top and curly maple back and sides. The body was bound on top and bottom. Most of its features were very similar to the previously mentioned instruments but the pickups were different. This guitar featured two Super 70 humbucking pickups both floating above the guitars body.

The neck pickup was attached to the end of the guitars neck while the other was attached to the lower end of the guitars pickguard. Two volume and tone tone knobs were attached to the guitars pickguard along with a 3-way selector switch. There must not have been many FA 500's made as I can find no photographs of this guitar.

FA510

The FA 510 was a very similar instrument, but came with only one floating Super 70 humbucker that was attached to the pickguard and mounted near the neck. It had only a volume control that was mounted on the pickguard. . All models were of a 24.5” scale. This guitar was available in a natural finish (NT) or brown sunburst (BS).

FA100NT

The FA 100 BS (brown sunburst) and the FA 100NT (natural) were the Ibanez equivalent of a Gibson ES-175. This instrument featured an arched birch top with birch back and sides. The neck were laminated hard maple and were set-in. The fretboards were ebonized rosewood with pearloid block inlaid position markers. Both the body and the neck were bound. The headstock had Ibanez inlaid at its peak.

FA100BS

These guitars came with twin Super 70 humbucking pickups, each with a volume and tone control. The hardware was chrome-plated. The FA 100 models featured a rosewood bridge topped with an adjustable saddle. Strings were secured to a trapeze tailpiece.

SA400

The SA 400 was the Ibanez equivalent of a Gibson ES-355 right down to the 6 position (varitone) control which they called the LC Tone Network. The body on this instrument was arched birch for the top, back and sides. The set-in neck was made of laminated maple. The double cutaway body was bound on the top and bottom and the F-holes were also bound.

The bound neck was topped with an ebonized rosewood fretboard and had pearloid block position markers inlaid. The headstock was also bound and the Ibanez logo was inlaid in pearloid on the ebony headstock veneer along with a design.This guitar featured twin Ibanez Super 80 pickups each with individual volume and tone controls. One very interesting feature was the stereo option that came as a standard feature. The bridge and saddle were the Ibanez Gibraltar locking model and the strings attached to their Quik-Change slotted tailpiece. All hardware was gold-plated. The SA 400 came in either a cherry or walnut finish.

SA100

The SA 100 was Ibanez’ answer to the Gibson ES-335. This instrument also had a birch body that was bound on the top and bottom. The F-holes did not have binding. The set-in neck was made of laminated maple and topped with an ebonized rosewood fretboard that had pearloid dot fret markers. It had 22 frets. The body had twin Ibanez Super 80 pickups each with a volume and tone control. All hardware was chrome-plated. It came in brown sunburst or cherry.

FA800BS

Possibly the finest archtop model that Ibanez offered was the FA 800. It came in either brown sunburst or a natural finish. This was not an electric guitar. It was a hand-carved archtop instrument made with a solid spruce top. The back and sides were made of curly maple. The set-in neck was hard laminated maple. This was topped with a highly polished ebony fretboard that had block pearl inlays.

The headstock, body and neck were all bound as was the pickguard. The logo “Ibanez” was inlaid into the ebony veneer on the headstock along with Ibanez’ special design. All hardware was gold-plated. The compensated bridge was made of rosewood and the strings attached to a trapeze tailpiece. This guitar came with a brown sunburst or natural finish.

Possibly the best guitars that Ibanez made were the George Benson models. Ibanez created two of them; the GB10 and the GB20. The fit and finish on these guitars are top notch with a surprising attention to detail. The f-hole bindings were clean, without the plastic shavings on the edges. The binding around the body was flawless and the neck joint was perfect. The frets were smoothed and polished.

The inlays (mother-of-pearl and abalone) were perfectly placed, without black glue to cover up mistakes. The headstock inlays were immaculate and the body and neck finish are smoothly applied. Inside, you won't see wood shavings or paint spots on the back. The quality and craftsmanship was excellent.

GB10 (NT)  & (BS)

The GB10 featured a smaller body that had a spruce top, with maple back and sides. The three piece set-in maple neck. The 22 fret finger board was made of ebony and topped with pearl and abalone block inlaid position markers. The twin humbucking floating pickups were attached to the pickguard. The controls, two volume, two tone and a 3-way selector switch, were mounted on the instruments body.

The body, neck and headstock were all bound. Inlaid in the ebony headstock veneer was the Ibanez logo and a sort of modified flowerpot design with the initials “GB” included.

The GB 10 came with a stylized and compensated dense ebony bridge that sat on top of the body. This guitar was thinner than the GB 20. One of the most interesting features was the tailpiece. It was in two sections; one for the three treble strings and one section for the three bass strings. It was adjustable to set the tension for each section. All hardware was deluxe and gold-plated. The truss rod cover was bound and had George Bensons’ name etched into it. The GB 10 is still in production. Average street price is around $3500.00 USD.

GB20

The model GB 20 was a handcrafted instrument in the style of the Ibanez FA 800. This guitar featured a carved and arched spruce top with Birdseye maple back and side. The neck was made of three pieces of hard rock maple and topped with an ebony fretboard. The fretboard had pearl and abalone block position markers and was topped with a bone nut. The body had 7-ply biding on the top and 3-ply on the back, neck and headstock. The neck featured a zero fret.


The headstock was inlaid with the Ibanez logo and a modified flowerpot design with the initials “GB” above. All hardware was gold-plated. This guitar featured a single Johnny Smith style floating humbucker pickup that was attached to the triple bound tortoise shell style pickguard. There was a single volume knob mounted on the pickguard. The bridge/saddle was adjustable and made of ebony with inlaid designs. And this model included the split die-cast tailpiece that came with adjustable knobs for the strings tension. The GB 20 was only produced through 1982.

In addtion to the Paul Stanley PS 10 Iceman and the George Benson model guitars, Ibanez built signature models for a couple of other well known artists.

Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead brought his ideas to Ibanez; the result was the creation of two instruments.

The body of the Bob Weir model 2681 was based on a double neck guitar designed by luthier Rex Bogue. At one time Weir used a single neck version of The Bogue guitar. The body shape also bore some resemblance to the Yamaha SG that was introduced in 1973. 

2681NT

The Ibanez 2681 has two symmetrical upper cut-a-ways on its upper bouts. The guitars body was carved from a solid piece of ash and featured a German carve on its upper portion. The upper section of the body was double bound with a strip of cream binding, another strip of abalone and an outer strip of cream binding. The cream binding from the cutaway going into the neck was wider to accommodate the slant of the neck.


The guitars neck was made of hard laminated maple. There was a reddish strip (possibly walnut) between three sections of maple. This strip extended to the rear of the headstock. The guitars neck was topped with a highly polished ebony fretboard and the neck and headstock were bound. On the fretboard and extending through the headstock was a beautifully inlaid vine design. The headstock was a work of art and wonderfully carved on the top and sides. The vine design was inlaid in the headstock with pearl.

The machine heads were gold-plated and top-of-the-line Velve-Tune Ibanez models. The nut was the Ibanez half bone/half brass model.

The model 2681 strings passed over a gold-plated Ibanez Gibraltar locking bridge and were secured to an Ibanez Quik-Release gold-plated tailpiece that had a brass “cloud” design behind it. This was also gold-plated. Under the bridge was a sustain block.

This model 2681 was topped with twin Ibanez Super 70 humbucking pickups with gold-plated covers. This guitar was available in a natural wood finish (NT) or a antique violin finish (AV).

2680AV

A less expensive version of this guitar was created called the model 2680. The body was made of ash, but the binding did not include the abalone. The neck was made of hard maple laminate, but the ebony fretboard came with pearloid dot inlays.

The headstock was of a similar carved shape, but was unbound.

Fast forward to 2005 and Ibanez revealed another Bob Weir model called the Cowboy Fancy model BWM1. The ash body was similar to the 2681, however this was a completely different beast.

Bob Weir Cowboy Fancy

The guitars body was bound with vine lnlays on the perimeter of its upper side and bottom. The upper portion of the body was bound. The through-the-body neck was a 5 piece laminate of maple/walnut topped with an ebony fretboard that had vine inlay.

The headstock on this guitar was larger than the 1978 version at Bob Weir’s request. He believed it would add sustain. It was also elaborately inlaid. All hardware was gold-plated.

This guitar featured two DiMarzio Virtual PAF humbuckers in the bridge and neck position and a DiMarzio Virtual Vintage single coil pickup in the center postion.

The electronics and controls on this guitar were quite unusual. On the guitars upper bout are four toggle switches. The first three are on/off switches for each pickup. The fourth switch controls the humbuckers. In the up position they are in humbucking mode and the down position is a coil tap.

On the lower bout are three large knobs. The first is a master volume. Next to it is a master tone control and the third is an EQ level control. Below these knobs are three smaller knobs which are the Ibanez EQ tone system. They are center notched and provide 15db + or - in three frequency bands, Bass/Middle/Treble. The BWM1 was reissued in 2016.

Gerry Beckley of America

The Ibanez Artwood Twin to its queue from the Rex Bogue double neck guitar that John McCLaughlin played and Gerry Beckley of America played and also from the Bob Weir model 2681NT. This guitar was indeed a double neck version of the model 2681NT and was known as the model 2670.


This instruments body was made of book matched and hand sculpted ash. The upper side of the body was designed with the distinctive German carve.

2670

Both necks were made of laminated hard maple and topped with a polished ebony fretboard that was capped with 22 frets per neck. The guitars body was bound with cream/abalone/cream binding on the top.

Inlaid on the fretboards were vine inlay designs. Both necks came with the Ibanez half and half nuts.

The headstock was sculpted and a vine inlay designs were embedded in the ebony veneer. The headstocks were bound with cream binding. The machine heads were capped with fancy plastic buttons. All hardware was gold-plated.

This guitar came with two sets of twin Ibanez Super 80 pickups. Each pickup had an Ibanez Tri-Sound tone selector switch that was mounted below them along with a pickup selector switch. Each neck had a master volume and tone control. It also had a three way throw switch to select which neck was to be played.

The strings on the Artwood went over an Ibanez Gibraltar locking adjustable bridge/saddle that had sustain blocks under each neck. The strings were them secured by Ibanez Quik-Release tailpiece. It was a gorgeous guitar.

Stanley Clarke Ibanez

By 1986 Ibanez had secured some more artist endorsements and created instruments for guitarists such as Stanley Clarke, Allan Holdsworth, Lee Retinour, Joe Pass, and Steve Lukather. These included the Roadstar series, the Artists series and the Musician Series. By 1987 Ibanez struck gold by building the JEM guitar for Steve Vai.

The JEM 777 designed for Steve Vai was an ingenious invention. Beneath the Ibanez Edge Tremolo, which was licensed by Floyd Rose, were what was called The Lions Claw Tremolo Cavity, which was so named as it appeared that a large beast had scratch six deep marks into the instruments body. These divots allowed the tremolo to pull up over 7 semitones on the 3rd string.

The tremolo unit was completely adjustable and had fine tuning knobs. Below it was a locking block.

The Guitar came with two DiMarzio DP151 humbucking pickups in the neck and bridge position and one DiMarzio DP110 pickup in the center position.

The five-way lever switch that controlled the pickups was unique as the first position was the neck pickup, the second position was the front side coil and the middle pickup, the third position was the middle pick up, the fourth position was the middle pickup and the bridge side coil and the fifth position was the rear pickup. This was one of the original super strats that had pointy horns and a deep cutaway for access to its 24 frets. The last four frets were scalloped. The guitars headstock was slanted at an angle.

The JEM 777 featured 6100 Jim Dunlop fretwire. The neck was made of solid maple and had “disappearing pyramid” position markers. The nut was a Floyd Rose locking nut.

This was the guitar with the “Monkey Grip.” It originally came in green, pink and yellow (desert sun). Within a year new colour options were adding including a dark floral pattern (with vine inlay on the neck) and a root beer model with a rosewood fretboard and a larger monkey grip. In 1989 a black finish was added. Through the years new colours and pickup options were added.

UV77MC and UV7BK

By 1993 Ibanez had come out with a new Steve Vai model known as the UV 777 and UV 7P. The pickups were two DiMarzio Blaze II E humbucking models for the bridge and neck and a DiMarzio Blaze II single coil in the center. This was the seven string version of the JEM 777.

In 1991 Ibanez built the PGM guitar for Paul Gilbert, guitarist for Racer X and Mr. Big. These were the days of the super-strat and Ibanez came out with their RG Series. Gilbert went on to help in designing the Reverse Iceman.

The PGM guitar was another super-strat, with a different shape than the JEM 777. The body of the PGM was made of basswood. The neck was made of solid maple with a bound rosewood fretboard. The position markers were pearloid inlay and had a shark’s tooth shape. The neck featured the Ibanez six-on-a-side shape for the headstock.




This guitar had the Ibanez Edge Tremolo with the Toplock III locking nut (both by Floyd Rose). The PGM came with two DiMarzio PAF Pro humbuckers in the bridge and neck position and a DiMarzio FS-1 single coil pickup in the center position.

The electronics were similar to those on the JEM 777 and were control by the 5-way blade lever switch. This guitar came with a blue finish and two pink graphic F-holes (painted on). The volume control was the only potentiometer and was located at the bottom on the lower F-hole.

PGM300 and PGM500

Through the years the PGM series was updated. By 1996 it came in different colours and the the machine heads were moved to the bottom of the headstock.

Ibanez PMGFRM1

In 2009 Paul Gilbert used Photoshop to reverse a picture of an Ibanez Iceman. Ibanez built this guitar to Gilbert's specifications.


The PGMFMR1 guitar used Korina wood for the body. The neck was set-in to the body.

Instead of the Edge tailpiece, this guitar used the Gibraltar bridge/saddle and a Quik Change stop tail piece.

The instruments neck was laminated in three pieces, korina/bubinga/korina and topped with a rosewood fretboard with pearl dot position markers.

The body featured a tortoise shell style pickguard topped with three DiMarzio Area 67 single coil pickups. The guitar came with one volume control, one tone control and a five-way blade switch. Only 45 units were made.

Ibanez PMGFMR2

The PGMFMR2 was also made in 2009. The body on this guitar was made of mahogany with a cherry top.


The set-in neck was laminated in three pieces and made of mahogany/bubinga/mahogany and topped with a rosewood fretboard with pearl dot position markers. Hardware was the same as on the first model, but this guitar came with two DiMarzio Air Classic humbucking pickups.

1994 Ibanez Talman

In 1994 Ibanez came out with the Talman series of electric guitars. These were original in their body design, but they were oviously based on a Fender Stratocaster.

This guitar came with three lipstick pickups that were called Sky lipstick pickups and looked a lot like those on a Danelectro guitar. The Sky pickups were created by Kent Armstrong, the son of Dan Armstrong.

Most instruments in this series came with three single coil Sky lipstick pickups, however the deluxe version of the Talman came with two gold-plated mini humbucking Sky pickups and a gold-plated Sky lipstick pickup in the center position.

Example of Photoflame

One very unusual feature of this guitar was that the models that looked like their bodies were made of an exquisite piece of flamed maple, were actually created by a process called “photoflame” wherein a picture of a piece of gorgeous piece of wood is artfully glued onto the guitars body.

Talman TCM50

In 1996 the Ibanez Artist Series of “acoustic-electric" guitars, which were actually either hollow-body electrics or semi-hollow-body electrics were renamed the Artstar series. This series survives today.

PM1000

That same year Ibanez designed the Pat Metheny model, PM1000. This guitar was designed by Metheny but is a tribute to “The Black Guitar” that Howard Roberts played. Roberts had a Gibson ES-150 (Charlie Christian model) redesigned with a Florentine cutaway on the lower bout and a very small cutaway on the upper bout. Methany's model retains this shape and has a single humbucking pickup. .

In 1991 Ibanez also created the RBM guitar for Reb Beach. Reb took to playing it in concerts. At th time this guitar was called the Ibanez Voyager. By 1994 it was renamed The Reb Beach Model. It is recognizable by the pie-shaped divot at the distal end of the guitar and the Edge tremolo.

In 1989 the 430S and 540S guitar were guitarists Frank Gambale’s choice of instruments. By 1991 Ibanez renamed these the FGM guitar after Gambales’ endorsement.

As far back as 1983, guitarist Joe Pass was an Ibanez endorser. The company created his model based on the style of his D’Aquisto model.

1983 JP20

The Ibanez JP 20 came with only one Ibanez Super 58 humbucking pickup in the neck position. The pickup was controlled by a single volume and tone control. The guitar had a laminated spruce top and maple back and sides. The body was bound on the top and bottom. The guitars neck was made of three ply laminated maple and topped with an ebony fretboard. The neck was bound and featured abalone and pearl block inlaid position markers.

The headstock was exquisitely bound and featured the Ibanez logo and Mr. Pass’s initials inlaid on the veneer.

The strings went over a rosewood adjustable bridge and attached to a trapeze tailpiece that was covered with a block of ebony.

1988 Ibanez JP20

Ibanez offered this guitar through 1988. It was dropped the following year. In reading about the JP 20 I have discovered that Joe Pass was not particularly fond of this instrument because the pickup was not close enough to the neck. He went back to playing a custom made Gibson ES-175 that was thinner than his original model. I've seen JP 20 guitars claiming to be from 1980, but I cannot find evidence of models of that vintage.

Guitarist Joe Satriani also became an endorser in 1988. His model was first given the numbr 540R. By 1990 the guitar was updated with dual pickups and renamed the JS model.

Guitarist John Scofield became the first endorser of the Ibanez Artstar series back in 1988. The Artstar Series went on to become one of Ibanez’ main lines.

Many of the Ibanez series created in 1978 and mid 1980’s still remain in the line up today and are too numerous to mention. The current Ibanez catalog is 75 pages long.
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