'70s Ibanez "lawsuit" Les Paul anyone?

[Bob Womack]

Originally Posted by Sombras

Around 1984 I bought a late-70s Ibanez Rocket Roll flying V--spitting image of the 50s-era Gibson korina V's. I remember it being an extremely well made guitar that sounded fantastic and was a dream to play. I unearthed it from a closet in 2007 and used it to fund my re-entry to electric playing. I wish I still had it!

My brother had a Rocket Roll and I loved it.

Bob

[guitardoc64]

My first electric guitar was a '76 Ibanez LP copy. Cherry sunburst. I still have it. Fantastic guitar.

[Dru Edwards]

Originally Posted by guitardoc64

My first electric guitar was a '76 Ibanez LP copy. Cherry sunburst. I still have it. Fantastic guitar.

Cool. Did you get it back in '76 or did you acquire it years later? Do you know what model? 2351, 2651, etc?

[redir]

'Made in China' has definitely come a long way in the last ten years but I doubt it will ever equal 'Made in Japan'. The Japanese quality is off the charts. I love those old lawsuit guitars but I too remember the stigma that came with them. You can find them for a song on the used marked sometimes and they are well worth it.

[Dru Edwards]

Originally Posted by redir

'Made in China' has definitely come a long way in the last ten years but I doubt it will ever equal 'Made in Japan'. The Japanese quality is off the charts. I love those old lawsuit guitars but I too remember the stigma that came with them. You can find them for a song on the used marked sometimes and they are well worth it.

The one I was looking at is already gone. Only lasted a few days.

[guitardoc64]

Originally Posted by Dru Edwards

Cool. Did you get it back in '76 or did you acquire it years later? Do you know what model? 2351, 2651, etc?

I got it in 1979 used. No idea what model, but it's a bolt on. Right now I have it stored at a friend's house.

[LSemmens]

It's not a lawsuit, but my Ibanez Blazer was a gift from a friend in the 90s, it's not a guitar that I would willingly part with. It plays beautifully and, if I get to the stage where I don't like the sound, I'll just replace the (original) pickups.

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by blue

There was a turning point where good Japanese guitars became better than the big 2 in America. We just didn't realize it for 5 or 10 years. I think around '81 or so people started noticing how good they were. I remember playing every bass in a Guitar Center around '81 or so, and the single stand out was a Yamaha. I "got it" then...Before that time we were raised to believe the words "made in Japan" meant crap. And for a long while it was accurate as most of what we saw, not just instruments, was bad "made in China" level today...

When I was shopping for my first electric in late-'63/early-'64, I had occasion to try some of the first-wave MIJ imports; having had a succession of five-and-ten-store toy guitars during my early childhood, I found the quality to be on a comparable level...

The inside joke at the junior-high some of my friends attended (there were two in our district) was the Datsun sedan that the English teacher drove...

A couple years later, I came across the Domino copies of the Vox Phantom and some of the better Kent models - definitely a step or two up...

Shortly thereafter my dad and I went to the New York Auto Show, where he was seriously checking out a then-new, then top-of-the-line Toyota Crown, with its then-cutting-edge OHC-6 engine (Pontiac was touting a similar powerplant), for potential purchase; as we walked away he said, "If they ever start bringing those over here in quantity the American makers are in real trouble..."

I was in college at the beginning of the "lawsuit" era - had a student who owned one of those LP Customs (fully competitive with the crap Gibson was producing at the time), a bandmate who bought herself a red-label Yamaha 12-string (very impressive - and which she still owns TMK), and a bud who nailed a MIJ Favilla solid-BRW/spruce D-28 copy for $150 (also very impressive - and I'm still kicking myself for turning him on to it and not buying it myself )...

Shortly after the evil celestial juxtaposition of the oil "crisis," the height of the Norlin era, the Fender/CBS debacle, and a downturn in Martin's QC I took a ride with a bud in his new Mazda over to Sam Ash, where I sat down to an extended workout on the aforementioned Ibanez Johnny Smith...

I never looked at Japanese guitars - or cars - the same way again...