Ibanez
Japanese guitar brand
Ibanez (アイバニーズ, Aibanīzu) is a Japanese guitar brand owned by Hoshino Gakki. Based in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan, Hoshino Gakki was one of the first Japanese musical instrument companies to sell guitars in the United States and Europe, and the first manufacturer to mass-produce seven-string and eight-string guitars. Ibanez manufactures effects, accessories, amps, and instruments in Japan, China, Indonesia, and the United States (at a Los Angeles-based custom shop). As of 2017, the company sold nearly 165 models of bass guitar, 130 acoustic guitars, and more than 300 electric guitars. In 2024, Ibanez sold more guitars than any manufacturer except Gibson, Fender, and PRS.
Daryl Robertson of Guitar World conferred the title of "the shredder's weapon of choice" on the Ibanez.
History
The Hoshino Gakki company began in 1908 as the musical instrument sales division of the Hoshino Shoten, a bookstore chain. Hoshino Gakki decided in 1935 to make Spanish-style acoustic guitars, at first using the "Ibanez Salvador" brand name in reference to Spanish luthier Salvador Ibáñez, and later simply "Ibanez". Accordingly, the brand originally was pronounced i-banyesu/i-baniizu (イバニェス/イバニーズ) in Japan, reflecting the Spanish pronunciation, before changing its pronunciation in 1986 to the current name, which represents an English pronunciation of Ibanez.
The modern era of Ibanez guitars began in 1957. The late 1950s and 1960s Ibanez catalogues show guitars with some wild-looking designs, manufactured by Kiso Suzuki Violin, Guyatone, and their own Tama factory established in 1962.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Ibanez” is japanese guitar brand. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Ibanez, Japanese and guitar, not as a finished interpretation.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q320458. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2017, 2024, 1908 and 1935.
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This entry incorporates text from “Ibanez” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.