Ibanez Bass Guitars

Ibanez is one of several Japanese brands, including Yamaha, Takamine, and Alvarez, that emerged from the 1970′s “lawsuit era” of making copies of popular US designs to become original brands in their own right. While their guitars have been endorsed by a wide range of artists, such as George Benson, Joni Mitchell, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, to name just a few, their basses have many features that have found favor with heavy rock, metal, and fusion artists around the globe.

Ibanez’ Fujigen-gakki factory started creating their own designs in the mid 70′s. One of their first models was the Artist series, which is still in production as a guitar. Their 2615b bass model, which is almost as rare as the ’58 Gibson Explorer (barely 100 made), shared the same headstock and bound double cutaway body shape as its sister guitar. The electronics were leftover from their Gibson EB-3 clones, and the hardware from their Rickenbacker 4003 clones. The 2615b has become a collector’s item.

As original Ibanez guitar designs, such as the Iceman, began to find favor with Paul Stanley of KISS and Steve Miller, a bass model also was released. The Iceman shape has been revived several times over the last 30 years, most recently in the form of the Sharlee D’Angelo Signature Model.

Ibanez Bass Guitars exploded as shred and metal music became popular in the 1980′s. The SR series of basses, both in 4 and 5 string configurations, were durable, reliable, sounded excellent, and had a very ergonomic neck design, which made playing complicated 16th and 32th notes much easier than on comparable factory made basses. Playability of this level could previously only be obtained on high priced custom basses from boutique manufacturers like Alembic or Sadowsky.

The SR line has now expanded to include different pickup choices and other options. The ATK has more of an RnB old school vibe, and their Indonesian made bare bones GIO models combine SR neck playability in a budget price package without scrimping on sound or quality.