The Ibanez Destroyer

The Ibanez Destroyer

Imitation is The Surest Form of Flattery. And Lawsuits!

When you hear the name” Ibanez Destroyer” a lot of famous players come to mind. So does the word “lawsuit”. Here’s why. In (date?), a Californian named Hosino bought a small Spanish guitar company called “Ibanez”. He moved the company toJapanand began to make copies of famous Gibson, Fender and Rickenbacker models. They were great copies, and were very affordable. Among the copies was the Ibanez Destroyer, created in 1976 as a copy of the 1958 Gibson Explorer. The major difference between the two was that the Destroyer was made of Ash, and the Explorer was made of Korina. (The idea of copying another model is not unlike the Epiphones and Squires of today.) The real difference between the two was that the Ibanez copies were not licensed. This, of course, left them open to lawsuits. In 1977, Gibson was the first to file suit claiming trademark infringement, specifically for the head stock designs and logos on all the copied Gibson models. Hoshino settled out of court in early 1978 and the case was officially closed.

The Copies that Became Classics

The initial pre-lawsuit line of Ibanez Guitars produced some classics, but none more famous than the original Destroyer. The most famous user of this model is by far Edward Van Halen who used Destroyers live in L.A.clubs pre-VH, in the studio on the first three Van Halen records and most famously on the front album photo of the 3rd record, Van Halen’s “Woman and Children First.” And Eddie was not the exclusive rocker of the day to play a “Lawsuit” Destroyer. Ace Freeley played one during the “Kiss Alive” era of the mid to late 70s, and is said to have used one in studio on the original “Black Diamond” tracks.

Life Beyond Lawsuit

After the Ibanez out-of-court settlement, a whole new line of Ibanez Guitars were developed, including two new designer models. First, the “Ibanez Iceman” was a radical new design, immediately embraced by Steve Miller and Paul Stanley of Kiss. The second innovative new model was an all new Destroyer II, with a new headstock and a modified body shape. The new Destroyers earned immediate fame with two metal bands that had a new ground breaking sound in theUSat the time – the “New Wave of Heavy Metal” from the UK’s Def Leppard and Iron Maiden. At the time, Iron Maiden had just wrapped up “The Number of the Beast,” which went on to become one of the most legendary metal albums of all time. Rhythm guitarist, Adrian Smith, not only played the guitar, but openly endorsed it in some famous advertisements from the time in Guitar Magazines. The Destroyer’s second high visibility endorser was Phil Collen of Def Leppard. After replacing Pete Willis following the “High ‘n Dry” record, Collen recorded the pop-metal masterpiece of the generation, “Pyromania”. Collen’s Destroyer, customized to include a third pickup and a Kahler Tremelo, was soon available as a production model. Following its time in the spotlight in the 80’s, the Ibanez Destroyer largely maintained its popularity. With its unique history, and the fact that it went out of production in Japan in 1998, and ceased subsequent production in Korea, the Destroyer is now a highly collectible vintage guitar.