Guitar
guitarz.blogspot.com:
Another term that gets bandied about in the guitars section on eBay is "lawsuit", used when describing early Japanese "copy" guitars.
Despite the seller labelling this 70s-era Ibanez as a "lawsuit" guitar, I'd have thought it would have been extremely churlish for Fender to have filed a lawsuit because of this particular model; I appreciate that it is very Fender Stratocaster-like in silhouette but the similarities end there. Surely no-one with any knowledge of guitars would confuse this Ibanez for a Fender?
The guitar features two P90-style pickups, controls and output jack on a separate Mustang-like plate, a vaguely tune-o-matic styled bridge and a top mounted vibrato (arm sadly missing on this example) - a kind of el cheapo Bigsby if you will - behind the bridge. The neck, although it has a Fender-like 70s large headstock, is bound and features block inlay position markers. Looking at the photos I wonder too if the scale length might be nearer to 24" than a Fender-esque 25.5".
This is potentially a great guitar, depending on its current condition, set-up and playability but I can't help thinking that the eBay seller's starting bid of £750 and Buy It Now price of £1250 are optimistic. Perhaps this is the Holy Grail to some Ibanez/vintage guitar collectors, but I doubt it's going to sell with those prices. As to whether it could be considered a "lawsuit" model or not, I personally don't think that it qualifies but if you know differently please explain how and why in the comments below.
G L Wilson
© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - 10 years and counting!
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Guitar
Ibanez Strat-ish 1970s electric guitar, but is it a "lawsuit" guitar?
guitarz.blogspot.com:
Despite the seller labelling this 70s-era Ibanez as a "lawsuit" guitar, I'd have thought it would have been extremely churlish for Fender to have filed a lawsuit because of this particular model; I appreciate that it is very Fender Stratocaster-like in silhouette but the similarities end there. Surely no-one with any knowledge of guitars would confuse this Ibanez for a Fender?
The guitar features two P90-style pickups, controls and output jack on a separate Mustang-like plate, a vaguely tune-o-matic styled bridge and a top mounted vibrato (arm sadly missing on this example) - a kind of el cheapo Bigsby if you will - behind the bridge. The neck, although it has a Fender-like 70s large headstock, is bound and features block inlay position markers. Looking at the photos I wonder too if the scale length might be nearer to 24" than a Fender-esque 25.5".
This is potentially a great guitar, depending on its current condition, set-up and playability but I can't help thinking that the eBay seller's starting bid of £750 and Buy It Now price of £1250 are optimistic. Perhaps this is the Holy Grail to some Ibanez/vintage guitar collectors, but I doubt it's going to sell with those prices. As to whether it could be considered a "lawsuit" model or not, I personally don't think that it qualifies but if you know differently please explain how and why in the comments below.
G L Wilson
© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - 10 years and counting!
- 1960s Ibanez "handcrafted By Goldentone" Model 5902 Bison Bass
guitarz.blogspot.com: It seems funny to think that Ibanez - now a high prestige guitar manufacturer - were once just yet another Japanese brand churning out "copy" guitars. Here we see Ibanez copy a British manufacturer with this 1960s-era Ibanez Model...
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guitarz.blogspot.com: Fender have produced various doubleneck guitars over the years, either as prototypes or as Custom Shop guitars, but as far as I am aware they have never made available a production model instrument in the doubleneck format. Until...
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guitarz.blogspot.com: Francis writes: I'm glad to see that the Guitarz crew take the time to listen to their readership. Thank you for featuring the Grass Roots bass, by the way. I was finally able to identify it thanks to a comment by a fellow reader!...
- Bc Rich Nj Series Made In Japan Electro-acoustic Jazz Guitar
guitarz.blogspot.com: B.C. Rich's NJ Series replaced the B.C. Rico brandname that originally appeared on their Japanese-made instruments and which had been the subject of a lawsuit from the Rico Reed Company. Although the initials NJ stood for "Nagoya,...
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