Ibanez is a guitar brand owned by Hoshino Gakki based in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan. Hoshino Gakki was one of the first Japanese guitar companies to gain a significant foothold in the United States and Europe with their Ibanez branded guitars and were later followed by other Japanese guitar companies such as ESP. Founded in Nagoya, Japan, by Hoshino Gakki. The headquarters has remained in Japan since the company was founded in 1957. Ibanez's slogan is "Anything But Traditional".

RG SERIES

The RG series was first introduced in 1987 as a derivative to the Ibanez JEM and Universe series by Steve Vai, contrary to the more popular opinion that Rocky George, former lead guitarist for the California based hardcore punk/thrash metal outfit Suicidal Tendencies and current lead guitarist for Fishbone was its designer^{[citation needed]} (Rocky however was one of the first famous users of the RG model). This was believed because Rocky's initials are the same as the model. The RG in the Ibanez RG name does not mean Rocky George, in reality they mean Roadstar Guitar, although these instruments differ significantly from the original Roadstar II series, introduced in the early 1980s. One of the first guitars in the RG series was the RG570 with a Floyd Rose tremolo. It became one of the most popular guitars ever made by Ibanez and made the RG name known internationally. While professional musicians use the RG Prestige Series, newcomers often start playing on the RG Tremolo series, which are budget-priced high quality instruments. These guitars are made in Japan, China, Korea or Indonesia and generally considered to have a high quality to price ratio (even The Prestige series) in comparison to other manufacturers like Gibson, Fender, Rickenbacker and PRS. Only the first NAMM prototypes have an original Floyd Rose. All of the RG550s, 560s, 565s, 570s, 750s, 760s and 770s have an Ibanez Edge tremolo. The Edge tremolo incorporated several manufacturing changes as opposed to the original Floyd Rose, including increased mass, relocated fine tuners and improved locking posts.

S SERIES

The Ibanez S Series (also known as the Ibanez Saber Series) is a guitar series produced by Hoshino Gakki. This series was introduced in the late 1980s. Despite the fact that it uses Mahogany (known for being very heavy and dense), it was touted as an extremely thin and comfortably designed guitar, that still packed a punch visually and tone-wise, retaining the resonence of mahogany. Like the RG series, it also has prestige models, as well as derivatives, namely the SZ, SV, and SA series.

ICEMAN SERIES

The Iceman is an Ibanez guitar produced by Hoshino Gakki. Hoshino Gakki exported copies of American electric and acoustic guitars in the 1970s, and by the mid 1970s the Ibanez guitars had reached a level of quality comparable to American guitars. Lower labor rates at the time, plus efficient manufacturing meant that Ibanez guitars could be sold for almost half (or less) of the cost of a Gibson Les Paul or Fender Stratocaster.

Paul Stanley of KISS favored the Iceman throughout the 1970s. Ibanez made limited-edition copies of the artist's Iceman guitars from 1995 to 1997; the set-neck PS10LTD featuring a carved maple top, the moderately-priced PS10II and PS10CL, as well as the glued-neck ICJ100 WZ with fancy abalone binding.

In the mid 1970s Hoshino Gakki wanted to make a distinctly Japanese guitar and to start breaking away from the Ibanez replicas of Fender and Gibson models. The idea was to build a guitar with an appealing original design, like a Les Paul or Stratocaster. A meeting between Hoshino (Ibanez), Kanda Shokai (Greco) and one of the main guitar factories in Japan (FujiGen) resulted in the Iceman/Mirage design. Each distribution company had distribution rights to it in different global markets. Hoshino Gakki (Ibanez) had the rights outside of Japan and Kanda Shokai (Greco) had the rights for Japan.

The Ibanez model was named the Iceman and the Greco model was named the Mirage and they are basically the same except for the pickup types that were used. Super 80, Triple Coil and V2 pickups were used for the Ibanez Iceman, depending on the model number. Greco Dry and DiMarzio Super II pickups were used for the Greco Mirage. Body wood, pickups and neck joint construction varied with the Iceman/Mirage model price. The original Ibanez Iceman production was from 1975 to 1982/1983 with different models having set neck and bolt-on necks.

Early Ibanez Iceman models were called Ibanez Artist models and were changed to the Ibanez Iceman name in 1978. The Ibanez Iceman II that was released in 1982/1983 had a different headstock with 6 in line tuners instead of the 3 a side tuners the original Ibanez Iceman had.

DESTROYER

The Ibanez Destroyer is an Ibanez guitar model produced by Hoshino Gakki which was based on the Gibson Explorer design. The Ibanez Destroyer was introduced by Hoshino Gakki in the mid 1970s.

In the mid 1970s Hoshino Gakki (Ibanez) and Kanda Shokai (Greco) cooperated with each other to produce shared Ibanez and Greco guitar models. The guitar models were the Ibanez Iceman or Greco Mirage and the Ibanez Destroyer or Greco Destroyer. Hoshino Gakki had the distribution rights outside of Japan and Kanda Shokai had the distribution rights for Japan.

The main difference between the Ibanez and Greco Destroyer was the type of pickups that were used. The Ibanez Destroyer had Ibanez Super 70 pickups and the Greco Destroyer had Greco U-2000 pickups. The Ibanez and Greco Destroyers were made by FujiGen Gakki in Japan and featured set necks and bolt-on necks.

According to Ibanez catalogues, the body wood that was used for the original Ibanez Destroyers was Ash which was finished with an African Korina wood colour. Notable guitarists such as Eddie Van Halen, Paul Gilbert, Phil Collen and Adrian Smith have used various Destroyer models. Eddie Van Halen used an Ibanez Destroyer on the Van Halen 1 album.