stupid thread but I had to say it

Maybe like many of you guys I tend to surf a lot on manufacturers web pages and noticed one thing over the Ibanez page...

A counterfit warning...

I'm not saying that's wrong to protect a bussines that has been built over a lot of hard work (as I read on a GUITAR WORLD article bout the ibanez history), but in the same article they tell that Ibanez got a law suit from Gibson cause the first bet of Ibanez guitars on america was almost exact replicas of well known models as SG's, Les pauls and that sort of models.

It's ironic, but it's true.

Don't get me wrong I don't have any Ibanez but I respect the company's work (and they do have some pretty sexy 7 strings) but I had to say it.

Even then, it's two different situations. Ibanez way back did make very close copies to Gibson and Fender guitars - as did (and many still do) most manufacturers. [U]BUT[/U] they always said 'Ibanez' on the headstock, and didn't pretend to be Gibsons etc.

The Ibanez guitars (mostly from China) on ebay more often than not are total rip offs - they even have the J Craft decal on the back of the headstock and a fake serial number that fits the Ibanez convention. They say Ibanez on the headstock - making them counterfeit as opposed to derivative....

A friend of mine bought a Paul Gilbert copy, and when he got it home the fake 'f' holes came off - they were bad stickers... and the fret edges were sharp enough to injure... and loads of people never get them at all - $5 guitar with $300 shipping... they only have to refund the purchase price, so make money conning people out of the shipping.

:mad:

Originally Posted by: zreynoldspEven then, it's two different situations. Ibanez way back did make very close copies to Gibson and Fender guitars - as did (and many still do) most manufacturers. [U]BUT[/U] they always said 'Ibanez' on the headstock, and didn't pretend to be Gibsons etc.
:mad:

That sounds like a pretty reasonable argument, and I agree, the article I talked about said that sometimes the Ibanez "counterfits" matched the quality of the real deal, that gives the story another perspective wich to be honest I didn't notice before, in the end, Ibanez argued that the situation was some sort of "tribute" to the original models.

:rolleyes: mmmm, a tribute series... sounds like a nice idea sort of what happened with washburn when they signed with Dimebag and replicated his Dean (and never built a nice looking guitar again... damn they had such good looking axes and now they are just awful).

My first real electric was an early 70's Ibanez "lawsuit les paul". Cosmetically, it was exactly like my friends gibson standard, but the gibson was a tad heavier, and the gibson's neck was a tad bigger in diameter and definetly sounded better than my "lawsuit".

Originally Posted by: Bluesman JackMy first real electric was an early 70's Ibanez "lawsuit les paul".

Damn, that's a killer name LawsuitLesPaul, you should get a vinil sticker with that on your guitar.