
The story behind Ibanez-lawsuit era guitars, and how much this Les Paul-style is worth.
Hey Zach, I have owned this Ibanez "lawsuit" guitar for over 25 years and I'd like to know a little more about it. The serial number on the neck plate is K7709XX and as far as I know, it is all original except for the missing pickup cover. Can you tell me more about Ibanez's lawsuit guitars and how much this is worth today?
Thanks,
Chris Natale ā NYC
Many Japanese-copied "lawsuit era" guitars under names like Greco, Aria, Tokai, and Ibanez have taken on an almost cult-like status today among many guitar collectors. While most readers understand what a "lawsuit era" guitar refers to, others may not and I'll try to summarize the term.
In the early 1970s, American guitar manufacturers (particularly Gibson, Fender, and Martin) were experiencing a steady decline in production quality while more Japanese- built guitars were showing up in the American market. By the mid-'70s, these Japanese guitars consisted of mostly blatant copies of popular American designs and the quality was much better than people wanted to admit. In 1977, Gibson sued the Elger Company (the distributor of Ibanez instruments in the U.S. at the time) and demanded they stop producing copies of their instruments, specifically their headstocks. Japanese-built guitars that are copies of American designs before the Gibson lawsuit are commonly referred to as "lawsuit era" guitars today.
Ibanez was certainly guilty of copying Gibson, Fender, and Martin models, among others, but they were also one of the most proactive companies when it came to introducing original designs. Between 1975 and 1977, Ibanez introduced several original designs including the popular Iceman and the Artist Series. In fact, by 1977 when Elger signed an agreement to stop building copies, their entire line consisted of almost all original instruments anyway.
Your guitar appears to be a Les Paul Custom copy that Ibanez labeled Model 2391. According to the serial number, it was built in November 1977, which is considered a transitional period. The Gibson/Elger lawsuit was filed on June 28, 1977, and was resolved not too long after. By September 1977, Ibanez was ready with their entire new line of instruments and copies were essentially a thing of the past. However, there was a transitional period where models were still produced with both copied and original designs. Your guitar clearly has a Les Paul body shape, but it has Ibanez's original headstock design, a large adjustable bridge, and an elaborate tailpiece, which are all original Ibanez designs.
The Model 2391 was loosely based on a Les Paul Custom and featured a mahogany body, maple top, and clear "See-Thru" finish. Just like a Les Paul Custom, this guitar has multiply body and headstock binding, fancy headstock pearl inlays (another Ibanez original design), and a "Custom" truss rod cover. However, the most notable difference between this guitar and a real Gibson is the bolt-on neck. The pickguard has been removed, as well as the bridge pickup cover. The volume and tone knobs have rubber inserts around them for a better grip, which Ibanez called Sure-Grip knobs. There is some belt buckle wear on the back along with some hardware oxidation, but overall the guitar appears to be in excellent condition.
Based on the condition and missing original parts, your Ibanez Model 2391 is worth between $475 and $550 today. If this guitar was in mint condition with all original parts in place, it would be worth between $600 and $700. In comparison, a mid-'70s Les Paul Custom is currently worth between $2500 and $3000. The Model 2391 probably retailed between $300 and $400 originally while the Gibson Les Paul retailed for between $850 and $950 in 1978. Other Ibanez Les Paul Custom-based guitars include the Model 2335, Model 2341, Model 2350, Model 2386, Model 2393, and Model 2398.
The question many of you may be asking is why the disparity in value between a real Les Paul Custom and a copy if the quality is comparable? No question, there is a lot of value in a name and Gibson is the most valuable name in the guitar world. Bolt-on neck guitars are usually considered inferior to set necks, which also attributes to a lesser value on the copy. For most copy, budget, and value instruments from the 1960s and 1970s, I've noticed that they raise and lower in value proportionally to vintage and collectible instruments, which is the case for this Ibanez.
Copies of American guitars propelled Ibanez as a guitar company in the 1970s, but Ibanez really established their own trademark with unique designs, a commitment to quality, and their relationships with artists. While not very expensive, I challenge you to find an Ibanez that isn't a treasure!
Source: Ibanez, The Untold Story by Paul Specht, Michael Wright, Jim Donahue, and Pat Lefferts.
[Updated 10/29/21]
Do you overuse vibrato? Could you survive without it?
Vibrato is a powerful tool, but it should be used intentionally. Different players have different stylesāB.B. Kingās shake, Claptonās subtle touchābut the key is control. Tom Butwin suggests a few exercises to build awareness, tone, and touch.
The goal? Find a balanceādonāt overdo it, but donāt avoid it completely. Try it out and see how it changes your playing!
The author dials in one of his 20-watt Sonzera amps, with an extension cabinet.
Knowing how guitar amplifiers were developed and have evolved is important to understanding why they sound the way they do when youāre plugged in.
Letās talk about guitar amp history. I think itās important for guitar players to have a general overview of amplifiers, so the sound makes more sense when they plug in. As far as I can figure out, guitar amps originally came from radiosāalthough Iāve never had the opportunity to interview the inventors of the original amps. Early tube amps looked like radio boxes, and once there was an AM signal, it needed to be amplified through a speaker so you could hear it. Iām reasonably certain that other people know more about this than I do.
For me, the story of guitar amps picks up with early Fenders and Marshalls. If you look at the schematics, amplifier input, and tone control layout of an early tweed Fender Bassman, itās clear thatās where the original Marshall JTM45 amps came from. Also, Iāve heard secondhand that the early Marshall cabinets were 8x12s, and the roadies requested that Marshall cut them in half so they became 4x12s. Similarly, 8x10 SVT cabinets were cut in half to make the now-industry-standard 4x10 bass cabinets. Our amp designer Doug Sewell and I understand that, for the early Fender amps we love, the design directed the guitar signal into half a tube, into a tone stack, into another half a tube, and the reverb would join it with another half a tube, and then there would be a phase splitter and output tubes and a transformer. (All 12AX7 tubes are really two tubes in one, so when I say a half-tube, Iām saying weāre using only the first half.) The tone stack and layout of these amps is an industry standard and have a beautiful, clean way of removing low midrange to clear up the sound of the guitar. I believe all but the first Marshalls came from a high-powered tweed Twin preamp (which was a 80-watt combo amp) and a Bassman power amp. The schematic was a little different. It was one half-tube into a full-tube cathode follower, into a more midrange-y tone stack, into the phase splitter and power tubes and output transformer. Both of these circuits have different kinds of sounds. Whatās interesting is Marshall kept modifying their amps for less bass, more high midrange and treble, and more gain. In addition, master volume controls started being added by Fender and Marshall around 1976. The goal was to give more gain at less volume. Understanding these circuits has been a lifelong event for Doug and me.
Then, another designer came along by the name of Alexander Dumble. He modified the tone stack in Fender amps so you could get more bass and a different kind of midrange. Then, after the preamp, he put in a distortion circuit in a switchable in and out āloop.ā In this arrangement, the distortion was like putting a distortion pedal in a loop after the tone controls. In a Fender amp, most of the distortion comes from the output section, so turning the tone controls changes the sound of the guitar, not the distortion. In a Marshall, the distortion comes before the tone controls, so when you turn the tone controls, the distortion changes. The way these amps compress and add harmonics as you turn up the gain is the game. All of these designs have real merit and are the basis of our modern tubeāand then modelingāamplifiers.
Everything in these amps makes a difference. The circuits, the capacitor values and types, the resistor values and types, the power and output transformers, and the power suppliesāincluding all those capacitor values and capacitor manufacturers.
I give you this truncated, general history to let you know that the amp business is just as complicated as the guitar business. I didnāt even mention the speakers or speaker cabinets and the artform behind those. But whatās most important is: When you plug into the amp, do you like it? And how much do you like it? Most guitar players have not played through a real Dumble or even a real blackface Deluxe Reverb or a 1966 Marshall plexi head. In a way, youāre trusting the amp designers to understand all the highly complex variations from this history, and then make a product that you love playing through. Itās daunting, but I love it. There is a complicated, deep, and rich history that has influenced and shaped how amps are made today.
Lenny Kravitzās lead-guitar maestro shares how his scorching hit solo came together.
Hold onto your hatsāShred With Shifty is back! This time, Chris Shiflett sits down with fellow west coaster Craig Ross, who calls in from Madrid equipped with a lawsuit-era Ibanez 2393. The two buddies kick things off commiserating over an increasingly common tragedy for guitarists: losing precious gear in natural disasters. The takeaway? Donāt leave your gear in storage! Take it on the road!
Ross started out in the Los Angeles band Broken Homes, influenced by Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, and the Beatles, but his big break came when he auditioned for Lenny Kravitz. Kravitz phoned him up the next day to tell him to be at rehearsal that evening. In 1993, they cut one of their biggest hits ever, āAre You Gonna Go My Way?ā Ross explains that it came together from a loose, improvisatory jam in the studioātestament to the magic that can be found off-leash during studio time.
Ross recalls his rig for recording the solo, which consisted of just two items: Kravitzās goldtop Les Paul and a tiny Gibson combo. (No fuzz or drive pedals, sorry Chris.) As Ross remembers, he was going for a Cream-era Clapton sound with the solo, which jumps between pentatonic and pentatonic major scales.
Tune in to learn how he frets and plays the songās blistering lead bits, plus learn about what amps Ross is leaning on these days.
If youāre able to help, here are some charities aimed at assisting musicians affected by the fires in L.A:
https://guitarcenterfoundation.org
https://www.cciarts.org/relief.html
https://www.musiciansfoundation.org
https://fireaidla.org
https://www.musicares.org
https://www.sweetrelief.org
Credits
Producer: Jason Shadrick
Executive Producers: Brady Sadler and Jake Brennan for Double Elvis
Engineering Support by Matt Tahaney and Matt Beaudion
Video Editor: Addison Sauvan
Graphic Design: Megan Pralle
Special thanks to Chris Peterson, Greg Nacron, and the entire Volume.com crew.
Tobias bass guitars, beloved by bass players for nearly half a century, are back with the all-new Tobias Original Collection.
Built for unrivaled articulation, low-end punch, and exceptional ergonomics, the all-new Tobias Original Collection comprises an array of six four and five-string bass models all offered in both right and left-handed orientations. The Tobias range features Classic, Killer B, and Growler models, and each is equipped with high-quality hardware from Babicz and Gotoh, active electronics from Bartolini, and the iconic Tobias asymmetrical neck design. Crafted from the finest tonewoods, Tobias Original Collection bass guitars are now available worldwide on Gibson.com, at the Gibson Garage locations, and at authorized Gibson dealers.
The bass world has been clamoring for the return of the authentic, high-end Tobias basses, and now, Tobias has returned. Combining the look and tone of the finest exotic tonewoods, such as quilted maple, royal paulownia, purpleheart, sapele, walnut, ebony, and wenge, with the feel of the famous Tobias Asym asymmetrical neck and the eye-catching shapes of the perfectly balanced contoured bodies, Tobias basses are attractive in look and exceptional in playing feel. However, their sonic versatility is what makes them so well suited to the needs of modern bassists. The superior tone from the exotic hardwoods, premium hardware, and active BartoliniĀ® pickups and preamps results in basses with the tonal flexibility that todayās players require. Donāt settle for less than a bass that delivers everything you want and need āthe look, the feel, and the sound, Tobias.
āIām thrilled to release Tobias basses, emphasizing the use of exotic woods, ergonomics, and authenticity to the original Tobias basses,ā says Aljon Go, Product Development Manager for Tobias, Epiphone, and Kramer. āThis revival is a dream come true, blending modern craftsmanship with the timeless essence of Tobias.ā
āItās amazing to see this icon of the bass world return,ā adds Andrew Ladner, Brand Manager for Epiphone and Kramer. āThese models are truly a bass playerās bass, and true to the DNA that makes Tobias world-classāthe ace up the sleeve of bass players around the globe since 1978. Todayās players can find that unique voice and feel that only Tobias can offer.ā
For more information, please visit gibson.com.