Conference napalm::guitar

    
    Ibanez was formed sometime in the early seventies.  The first Ibanez
    guitars I saw were in the 1973 time frame.  As far as I know, the name
    was thought up the importer, originally the Elger Co. which was located
    in Pennsylvania.  I forget the name of the factory in Japan, but like
    most such plants they also make guitars for export under names other
    than Ibanez (they also built the Roland GR guitar synth axes, for
    instance).
    
    The earliest Ibanezes were all copies, and good ones too, of vintage
    Gibsons and various Fenders.  I once had a catalog (circa 1975) that
    showed copies of Rickenbackers (!!!) and Dan Armstrongs (!!??!!) as
    well.  By the late seventies they had been sued by Gibson over their
    Les Paul copies (still highly prized by Paul lovers on a budget) and
    started cranking out some original designs.  They also made some things
    that looked like vintage pieces that never actually existed (like their
    "Rocket Roll" bass, it would have been a perfect copy of a 1958 Flying
    V bass, except that there was such a beast ....).
    
    								Brian

    Brian, While we are on the subject of Gibson suing Ibanez, I have a 
    question for you. If the Les Paul was introduced in ~1950, how long
    does Gibson hold the exclusive patent rights to the style ?? It seems
    to me most patents are only good for 15-20 years. 
    
    The same goes for Fender's patents on the Strats and Telecasters. Both
    were introduced in the late 40's/early fifties, and one would think 
    the patent would have run out by now. I have heard that Fender sued
    Fernandez a few years back, for importing Strat copies that were too
    close to the original 1957 Strats. As the story goes, Fender people,
    accompanied by US customs officers, sawed off the headstocks on a large
    shipment of Fernandez strats because they were built to the original
    Fender dimensional specs. Fernandez has since altered the headstock
    and a few other details of their copies to meet the criteia of the
    patent laws.
    
    I don't understand how a manufacturer can hold the patents rights
    to a design indefinately.
    
    
    	Mark Jacques
    

    
    I don't think it had anything to do with patents, but rather with
    trademarks.  

    The company that makes Ibanez guitars is Fuji Gen Gakki (I won't swear
    that this spelling is correct). During the '70's, their US technical
    head was Jeff Hasselberg (also can't remember spelling), with whom I
    often spoke. I was amazed at some of the obscure Gibsons that Ibanez
    copied, like the Crest and the Lo-z Les Pauls, and I liked the fantasy
    Gibsons--maple fretboard LP's (which Gibson actually made some time
    later), the afore-mentioned Flying V bass and Byrdlands with
    decent-size necks. Most of these were Jeff's doing.
    
    They also made copies of vintage instruments that were more faithful
    than Gibson was doing at the time. I did ask why they didn't have any
    Gretsch copies and Jeff told me that there was no demand for them!!!
    Times certainly have changed.
    
    One correction to the previous reply. It is a myth that Gibson sued
    Ibanez. They did threaten legal action, but no lawsuit was ever filed.
    There is some feeling that this proves how good the Ibanez copies were,
    but it only showed that Gibson's parent company at the time, Norlin,
    had some lawyers with nothing to do. It was also seen as the big guy
    being a bully, but Ibanez' parent was bigger than Gibson (or Norlin)
    ever will be.
    
    Patents are good for 17 years. Gibson's original LP design patent
    expired in 1971, but Ibanez was already an infringer. Gibson also had
    copyrights and trademark protection, which Ibanez was also infringing.
    
    It is common for companies to wait until patents are about to expire to
    start legal actions.
     
    Danny W. 
    
    
    

    
    
    
    	I remember that their Rick 4001 bass copies were *hot* basses.
    I mean *exact* duplicates, right down to the stereo wiring. 
    
    	Excellent basses. Too bad I didn't have the smarts to buy
    one then! :-(
    
    -Tom
    

    I have an Ibanez that's a copy of a Gibson Hummingbird (has fancy
    cowboy looking pickguard) the body lifted just like yours..I had
    it glued and they removed the adjustable saddle and replaced it
    with a chunk of rosewood for better sound coupling from strings
    to body. It cost $50.00 and sounds alot louder. Then I put in a
    martin thinline transducer and built an active preamp with bass
    treble and midrange which really sounds great.

    re .1
    
    The name must come from the manufacturer and not from the importer.
    
          Why ?? 
    
    I got an early piece from the mid 60's. It's a F-hole pice.
    A standard looking orcestral guitar like Gretch etc.
    Does anyone know when they might have started in Japan ??
    Here in Sweden I know other people with Ibanez from the 60's.
    
    		reg. Joel   DRO Sweden.