Recently I was
lucky enough to get chatting with Brian about a number of things. One thing that
came up was his recent visit to the offices of Hoshino USA.
They have a reception area with some rather nice examples of Ibanez guitars and
basses from across the years including (for all you Steve Vai fans) the very
first Jem777LNG, signed and numbered by Steve Vai as Number 1.
My thanks to Brian for his pictures and details.
Brian writes.....
I
have a friend who works there who's son I am giving guitar lessons to. Since I
started coming ICW website (Ibanez Collectors World) I began to ask questions
about the workings of the company. one of my questions was about the vintage
guitars. Are their any on display at Hoshino? I thought that the guitars would
be in glass case displays but when I heard that they were on the wall and could
be taken down I was excited. So we set up a time I could come down after most of
the employees had left for the day and see the place.
Me and my daughter drove to Bensalem and found Hoshino. We went in the reception
area and that's where I shot the 1st picture of the 2001 company of the year
plaque. There were a lot of awards in that room from different music industry
organizations. Some for Tama drums and others for Ibanez products guitars,
effects etc. There was also a drum skin on the wall signed by a band I never
heard of. And some miniature African type drum awards that actually could be
played. The reason I didn't photograph those was because I didn't want to waste
pictures on non guitar subjects.
Well the boxes that are in the 1st picture are Artcore guitars AF85VLS's all
checked and ready to be shipped to dealers.
The 2nd picture is a stack of RG' something's on the bottom topped off with 10
Prestige guitars (model unknown to me). These were taken on my walk through the
warehouse to the sales conference room. I also saw the checking stations where
each guitar is inspected played and set up by the techs. It was really amazing
seeing such a large quantity of guitars in one place.
When we got to the conference room which was locked I ran right over to the wall
displaying the guitars that you see pictured above. I was like a kid in a toy
store. The 1st guitar I grabbed was the professional series with the vine. I
gave my daughter the camera and told her to take a picture of me holding this
piece of Ibanez history. The expression on my face is of disappointment because
the guitar was in poor playing condition. The strings were buzzing like mad and
the neck felt like it was twisted. I made a comment to my friend that this poor
guitar needs some serious attention. She said its been hanging there for over 25
years. It was a 78 I think.
The rest of the guitars were pretty decent.
The Flying V was my 2nd choice and that guitar was a beauty. Its condition was
pretty good considering the fact that's its been hanging there for almost 30
years. It played very nice. I looked for a serial number but this one didn't
have one. As you can see in the photo's this baby is mint. The frets were brand
new.
The Basses were next...
The Old one reminds me of the Jetkings but I have no knowledge of that one
except that its probably from the mid to late sixties. I t was missing the G
tuning key but otherwise it was sweet. It played nice and had flat wound strings
on it.
The SG copy bass was awesome. that looked like it had just come out of the box.
That had no number on it. The steel neck plate says Made in Japan I think.
The GB10 I didn't take down because it was getting late And I knew my friend
wanted to go home to her family so I just shot photo and moved on. Actually that
was one of the last pics I took of the guitars, They are out of order here.
The iceman picture is missing I guess I forgot to send it to FG100. I'll get it
to him ASAP. But that guitar looks like it went through some finish
experimentation in its past. That serial number stated that it was made in 1982.
The JEM guitar was sweet. I don't care to much for the green finish but when I
played it it was nice. I didn't even see the Steve Vai autograph until my friend
pointed it out to me. The scalloped frets were weird. I couldn't figure out the
purpose of them.
The 10th anniversary model Gem was a real beauty. I left that one on wall and
didn't play it. I was amazed at its beauty.
The Satriani model I took down but didn't play. I just took a pic of the control
cavity plate because of it's engraving and serial stamping.
The silver record is A Joe Satriani award for the sale of 500'000 Cd's records
and tapes. I guess he gave it to the folks at Hoshino.
The last guitar I saw was that blue and pink model unknown to me. I didn't like
this one so I just snapped the pic and left.
So the whole experience was quick but fun.
Well enjoy the photo's!
Brian
UPDATE
I was at Hoshino yesterday and took some photos while in the
repair shop. This pic here is of a guitar made by JEM, the company that made
them for Vai prior to Ibanez. I was to9ld this particular guitar was given to
them by Steve to use as a basis for what he wanted from them.
These are big files, but worth it.
.jpg)
Jem777lng #1
Jem10th
JS10th (Chrome Boy)
SG Style Bass
2354 Probably
Iceman II IC50
in Regal Blue
2387 Custom flying V
PGM100JB
GB10th
Randy Scruggs 2671
Early 1960's Talman Bass?
Lots of lovely boxed guitars ready to ship
