I had asked a question in alt.banjo when the subject of the Ibanez mastertone copy cropped up. The reply I got had was dropping of my list. I had another look and thought it may be of interest to some people here. I hope copying from one group to another is not a breach of ettiquite... Anyway, here goes...Jon
Hi, Jon... The Ibanez-Gibson lawsuit was very interesting. Gibson sued Ibanez for patent and copyright infringement around 1977. The suit was eventually dropped, but Ibanez decided that they no longer needed or wanted to produce Gibson clones; their products were well known by then, and they saw the advantages of developing products which looked distinctly Ibanez. This was a wise decision for them, as time has proven. Although Ibanez no longer makes banjos, it is a major electric guitar maker these days, and the Ibanez line of 7 string guitars is one of the most popular with the current rock trend of low tuning and deep tones.
The Joe Satriani and Steve Vail rock guitars are sought after and demand good prices, and the company is making a John Scofield reissue of one of their best jazz models from the early 80's, which is renewing interest in their jazz guitars, which were a lot like their banjos; very good, and a lot of bang for the buck. (Personally, I think the company will get back into making the jazz guitars long before they ever start rebuilding their banjo market, and I bought a 1981 Ibanez FB100 this year because I think the value is going to go up a lot in the next year or two.)
The suit came about at a low time in Gibson's history. By 1970, the Gibsons were really starting to go to hell in quality, and the management, who were mostly Norlin scrubs who knew nothing of the company's heritage or products, knew they had problems but didn't know how to fix them. Norlin was the parent company of Gibson at the time, and was a division of Coca-Cola.
Ibanez started importing guitars into the U.S. in the early 60's or slightly before. At first, Ibanez was on par with Teisco and the other Jap-crap instruments- cheesy woodwork, questionable electronics, lotsa plywood, etc., but Hoshino, Ibanez' parent company, saw the decline of U.S. workmanship in Fender and Gibson products, and gradually kicked their product quality up, as well as their prices. They decided to take advantage of the cheap Yen vs. Dollar, and put out as good a product as they were capable of making. This was gradual and evolutional; there were a lot of false starts and funky stuff that came and went (this is still happening, too). The first good Hoshino products went to Europe, where brand loyalty was not as strong as it was here.
By about 1974, Ibanez was kickin' butt here, though. If you look at their electric guitars, which have always been their mainstay, Ibanez consistantly produced a better playing, better looking and better sounding instrument than either Fender or Gibson during that time, and did it for half to 2/3 of the price of the competition. A lot of their guitars were close copies, but just as many were original designs, and just as many (or more) Fenders were copied as were the Gibsons.
Ibanez also copied Rickenbacker, Kramer, Gretsch, and other U.S. companies, too, but only Gibson tried a lawsuit. Gibson found out to their distress, though, that they didn't have much they could sue on! Most of the Gibson patents had either expired or were easily gotten around by minor changes, and most of the elements that clearly identified Gibsons, such as the body proportions and shape, finish, setup, etc. were not patentable. Of the guitars that Gibson had strong patents on- the Explorer, Flying V, and Moderne- none had been produced for almost 20 years and couldn't be easily enforced.
The Ibanez Flying V electric guitar was the instrument that brought the fight to a head. Ibanez made a better and more faithful copy of the famous and rare guitar- limed mahogany finish, shape, the rubber grip strip, etc.- than Gibson made when it tried to re-introduce the Flying V in 1975. Nobody bought the Gibsons, and the Ibanez were going for more than list price and flying off the shelves! Gibson sued about 4 months after they reissued their Flying V.
Ibanez agreed to quit making guitars with a Gibson shaped peghead (the only thing Gibson could clearly enforce copyright on), and that was that. Within a year or so, Ace Freehly of Kiss quit using his Les Paul and adopted an Ibanez Iceman guitar, and Ibanez came out with a Freehly model, which started the artist endorsements for Ibanez that continues to this day. They have a big and effective artist relations dept. in the company.
Ibanez banjos were more of an afterthought than anything, and were never sold in the quantities of their electric guitars. Even more Ibanez mandolins than banjos were sold, because there was a rather healthy U.S. band of banjo makers which took much of the market. OME, Stelling, Great Lakes, Martin-Vega, Fender, ODE, Liberty, and many other makers started about the same time Ibanez banjos were imported. There were very few mandolins available at that time, though, and Ibanez made a killing with theirs- they were good, cheap, well made, solid wood, etc.... typical Ibanez success stuff, and on par with contemporary products. Bill Monroe endorsed them, although he never used them, except for his appearances in Japan, where he kept one on stage as a second instrument. I asked him about the endorsement deal, and he said "they was pretty good for their time." After Gibson finally realized their mando market depended mostly on him and did the good overhaul on his old Loar, that was the end of Monroe and Ibanez. I'm sure he gave his Ibanez mandos away.
Regards, Stanger