I have fond memories of Ibanez Guitars from very early on in my own guitar playing history, so I thought I’d do a bit of research and write about the history of Ibanez guitars to learn a bit more myself about this great Japanese guitar manufacturer that has and still produces great music equipment for musicians all over the world.
I still own two Ibanez Guitars, my second guitar was an Ibanez 540s and I have a 59’er Deluxe too from the 70’s as I’m a hoarder in regards to music equipment and don’t tend to throw out or sell off gear even if it doesn’t work anymore.
I can remember going into a guitar shop in Rotorua (In New Zealand’s North Island) and seeing this Ibanez 540s guitar for the first time, as I think things over a lot before acting when it comes to these types of things I think I went back quite a few times over, played it, looked at it, played Stairway to Heaven on it, whammy dived bombed it, played Smoke on the Water on it and finally purchased it for a tidy sum back in those days, $550 from memory.
So from that day onwards I have always had a soft spot for Ibanez guitars and have been keeping a bit of an eye on them.
So here is a brief history of the Ibanez story, with so much data on their history around it would be easy to write a 1000+ page novel but I have kept it relatively simple so you can see where they have come from and what they are today.