I think the origin of some of the designs is still quite speculative - I doubt if, for example, the Custom Agent & Black Eagle designs were specifically owned by Ibanez/Hoshino, these appear as several other brands in different parts of the world, Antoria in the UK & Electa (not to be confused with SLM's Electra) in Australia are two I can think of.
There was a Greco Musician lookalike too - but I don't think there's enough clarity or recorded history to be able to say with any certainty if these designs originated from Hoshino or were just factory models. I'd be inclined to think the latter, but that's just because it makes more sense to my way of thinking. I do think this was how they operated in the early days, through the copy era & at the beginning of the introduction of original designs - but this certainly hasn't been the case for the better part of 3 decades.
I'm not aware of any known connection between Ibanez & Matsumoku - all of the 70s output that I've seen does appear to be Fujigen.
I think the Ibanez "oddities" are one of the things that makes the brand so fascinating - over on ICW, a bolt-neck CA model has appeared, and also a set-neck 2388 Ricky guitar copy - neither of these have ever been seen before & don't appear in any known catalogue.
Jon.
Statistics: Posted by Bassassin — Thu Dec 20, 2007 10:37 am
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One of the oddities in collecting Ibanez guitars is the fairly high number of "non-catalog" guitars, sometimes transitional models using up the last of the stock of parts, customs made for shows, etc. There are even models that are in the catalogs, but of which there are no known examples "in the wild." For some reason, production just never happened, or some other thing interfered.
This is not to disagree with anything that you've said before, but rather to point out that the arguments about what is or isn't an Ibanez can get really confusing!
Statistics: Posted by mrblanche — Mon Dec 17, 2007 6:40 am
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From the late 70s onward, it seems Hoshino started to commission specific designs which were sold only as Ibanez, but most of the 60s & 70s guitars were factory designs, sold to a variety of customers under numerous brands, of which Ibanez was just one.
Jon.
Statistics: Posted by Bassassin — Sun Dec 16, 2007 10:42 am
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Statistics: Posted by Big Beat — Wed Dec 12, 2007 6:07 pm
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Statistics: Posted by mrblanche — Fri Apr 06, 2007 2:10 pm
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What I find fascinating is the brand name.
According to earlier posts on this site and elsewhere "maxitone" is a house brand of the New York importer "Bruno" like the Ventura brand...
This quote is from; http://www.angelfire.com/blues/rockinjo ... bruno.html
"My personal observation and experience tell me that Ventura guitars were sometimes feature by feature the same as the 60's to 70's Aria, Univox, Conrad, and many other "house brand" guitars that were reputedly made in the Japanese Aria and Matsumoku factories. They often share identical hardware and design, with the biggest difference being the name on the headstock.
I surmise that most, if not all, Ventura models were manufactured by the Aria / Matsumoku factories, who were also responsible for making other imported guitars such as: Aria, Aria Pro II, Diamond, Maxitone, Univox, Lyle, Conrad, Electra, Epiphone-Japan, Westone, Westbury, and many others."
Note this assumption that Ventura were made by Aria/Matsumoku may be incorrect. Your discovery may indicate that Bruno also rebadged Ibanez made instruments....
cool find!
www.jedistar.com
Statistics: Posted by jedistar — Thu Apr 05, 2007 5:32 pm
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Looks to me like you have picked up a really nice guitar
. I think it is a 1962-63 Ibanez. Below is a catalog excerpt from a 1962 Ibanez catalog. Unless I am mistaken, your guitar is almost exactly like the guitar on the right on the front row.I have one of these early Ibanez instruments and mine is badged Montclair. Looks like they were being distributed under the Maxitone badge as well.
Looks like you've got a good eye for pawnshop guitars, keep huntin'. sb
Statistics: Posted by VintAxe — Thu Apr 05, 2007 11:10 am
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Statistics: Posted by pawnshopjunkie — Thu Apr 05, 2007 9:04 am
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