Guitar
guitarz.blogspot.com:
With a starting price of €600, this silver sparkle Greco Mirage Bass with two split P-Bass style pickups is currently listed on eBay by a seller in France; which is interesting because it's quite unusual indeed to see these guitars outside of Japan.
But I know what you're thinking... "Surely, it's a copy of an Ibanez Iceman?"
Well, no, it isn't. The Mirage/Iceman was designed in the mid 1970s by a committee consisting of Hoshino (Ibanez), Kanda Shokai (Greco) and leading Japanese guitar manufacturer FujiGen. The resulting guitar was marketed by the different distribution companies in different global markets, and so the guitar we think of as the Ibanez Iceman was marketed outside of Japan, but within Japan the same guitar was marketed as the Greco Mirage.
To confuse the story a little further, early Ibanez examples were known as the Ibanez Artist 2663, the name being changed to Iceman in 1978, so this guitar has legitimately appeared under three different guises none of which can be said to be a derivative of the other.
G L Wilson
© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!
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Guitar
No, it's NOT an Ibanez Iceman, it's a Greco Mirage Bass
With a starting price of €600, this silver sparkle Greco Mirage Bass with two split P-Bass style pickups is currently listed on eBay by a seller in France; which is interesting because it's quite unusual indeed to see these guitars outside of Japan.
But I know what you're thinking... "Surely, it's a copy of an Ibanez Iceman?"
Well, no, it isn't. The Mirage/Iceman was designed in the mid 1970s by a committee consisting of Hoshino (Ibanez), Kanda Shokai (Greco) and leading Japanese guitar manufacturer FujiGen. The resulting guitar was marketed by the different distribution companies in different global markets, and so the guitar we think of as the Ibanez Iceman was marketed outside of Japan, but within Japan the same guitar was marketed as the Greco Mirage.
To confuse the story a little further, early Ibanez examples were known as the Ibanez Artist 2663, the name being changed to Iceman in 1978, so this guitar has legitimately appeared under three different guises none of which can be said to be a derivative of the other.
G L Wilson
© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!
- 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...
- Ibanez Strat-ish 1970s Electric Guitar, But Is It A "lawsuit" 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...
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guitarz.blogspot.com: Made in Japan by Hoshino Gakki Co. in 1981, this Ibanez Blazer bass is finished in red/black swirl. I'd always thought that those swirl finishes began in the 1990s with Steve Vai and his Ibanez JEM and Universe guitars, but I...
- Quest Manhattan M-3x - Another 1980s Guitar From Legendary Japanese Makers Matsumoku
guitarz.blogspot.com: Here is a Quest Manhattan M-3X, looking as if it fused together design references from Rickenbacker and the Ibanez Iceman. Alongside Aria, Vantage, Westone and others, Quest was another brandname used on guitars made by the highly...
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Aria RB550, I think! Anyone would like to correct me, no worries - Jon?? Anyway, that's what I think it is. I have another Aria "Ricalike", neck thru and I think that is a 750? They made RE and RB Rickenbacker copies, so it's one of them. :) ...