A Short History of Ibanez Guitars
We all know the big two guitar companies are Fender and Gibson. Many of us who play guitar also have our smaller favorite companies: Godin, G&L — heck, even Harley Benton.
There is one company, however, that is often overlooked, even though it has a “seat at the big boy table.” In fact, Ibanez is the third-largest guitar manufacturer on the planet, and yet (in my opinion) they don’t get the love they deserve.
Let’s do our part to fix that.
The Hoshino Gakki company
Ibanez didn’t start out life as Ibanez. The company began in 1908 as Hoshino Gakki. Initially Hoshino Gakki was a division of the larger Hoshino Shoten, a bookstore chain headquartered in Nagoya, Japan.
Hoshino Gakki sold sheet music but soon began importing Spanish-style acoustic guitars as well. One of the most popular imported guitar brands during this pre-WWII era were those designed and built by Spanish luthier Salvador Ibáñez.
In 1935, Hoshino Gakki decided that an even better plan than importing guitars would be making their own. It’s a bit unclear if the company imported Ibáñez’s guitars or just knew about them, but in any event the company was soon manufacturing their own “Ibanez Salvador” acoustic guitars. (It does not appear the actual Ibáñez had any awareness of this.)…
