Ibanez
About the manufacturer : The Hoshino Gakki company began in 1908 as a musical instrument sales division of the Hoshino Shoten
bookstore company. In 1935 they began manufacturing their own stringed instruments.
In 1954, Harry Rosenbloom opened a music store in Ardmore, Pennsylvania.
By 1965 Rosenbloom had decided to stop manufacturing guitars and chose to become the exclusive
North American distributor for Hoshino Gakki instruments. At the time, the phrase "made in Japan" was considered
to have negative connotations of low quality, so Hoshino Gakki and Rosenbloom wanted to distribute the
instruments under a "non-Japanese" name. Hoshino had recently acquired a small Spanish guitar company named
Ibanez, and it was decided to market the instruments under this brand name.
In the early 1970s Ibanez began making guitars that were almost exact copies of popular models by Gibson,
Fender and Rickenbacker. These guitars have become known as "lawsuit" guitars and
have become somewhat collectible.
In 1978, abandoning the strategy of copying "classic" electric guitar designs, the newer models began incorporating
more modern elements into their design. The company also began an extensive program of consulting with well-known
guitar players, such as Joe Satriani and Steve Vai and creating signature models made to the players'
specifications.
The models:
