Ibanez Guitars

Ibanez is a brand of guitars (both electric and acoustic) and basses.The origin of the brand is due to the Spanish luthier Salvador Ibáñez, born in Valencia (1854 - 1920), whose excellent guitars were distributed in Japan by the company of Hoshino Gakki. The recession of 1929 affects the firm, which in 1933 closes. The Japanese market is left unsupplied, so the importer decides in 1935 to start making Spanish guitars on their own and distributes them with the name "Ibanez Salvador". Then he changed the name to "Ibanez".

In the 1960s, he bought the rights to the Ibanez name and began selling them in the United States. The majority of those first guitars were versions copied from other more famous brands. This was known as the "Lawsuit" period (demand for rights), by other companies. After this period, Ibanez created his own designs, such as the "Iceman" and the "Ibanez Roadstar". From that moment Ibanez began to design original guitars, appropriating the American market.

Finally, in the mid-80s, when the interest for electric guitars used in rock increased, Ibanez managed to open a gap with respect to many of its competitors, with new more specialized guitars, offering new technical improvements, unlike its competitors The company reached agreements with many rock stars of that time such as Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Paul Gilbert, The Edge, Phil Collen, John Petrucci and Sting, and this led to another big rise in sales.

Abandoning the strategy of the "classic" designs of copying the electric guitar, the new models began to incorporate more modern elements in their design, such as radical forms of the body, thinner necks and flatter tuning forks (allowing to play more quickly), high power electronics and colorful finishes. This led to an increasing popularity with heavy metal musicians. The company also started an extensive program for new music stars such as Paul Gilbert, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Noodles (The Offspring), Sam Totman, Herman Li (both from Dragonforce), Munky (Korn), Daron Malakian (System of a Down), Dino Cazares (Fear Factory) and Mick Thompson (Slipknot), Kiko Loureiro (Angra / Megadeth), Andy Timmons, Paul Wagoner (Between the buried and Me), among others, will use their instruments, creating the models of the signature made to the specifications of the same.

Today, Ibanez is considered one of the best and most versatile guitar companies, with instruments ranging from typically American acoustic guitars to electric bass guitars. [Citation needed] Using the famous DiMarzio pickups on most of their guitars ( single coil or Humbucker), and their new EDGE and ZR (zero resistance) bridges, which give them the possibility of performing acute vibrato. Many of their models have micro tuning and fixators for the strings that give it a sharpness and important precision. In addition, it is also responsible for selling amplifiers and other accessories for electric guitars and basses.