This is my Guitar!! I can't say enough good things about how the Guitar plays and sounds but more importantly Ted graciously took the time to repair the Guitar and completely understood why it was so important to me. Dad would have loved this, thank you so much Ted.
Hey Ted, I used to be the shop production manager for PBC Guitar Technology in Pa. We built the Ibanez USA RG Series guitars and bass with our “Tension Free neck “ patented by one of our owners David Bunker. If you ever run across one of either of those and have any questions, let me know! Or if you run into a Ken Smith bass, I also worked there. Thanks so much for your expertise and effort on the videos.
@@ayeapprove Well, it was the early 90's and Ibanez/Hoshino was in S.E. Pa. and we were in Coopersburg, Pa. Jim ( last name long forgotten) contacted us to discuss the joint building. we had just got a CNC and at the time, quite busy with our own models. We embarked on the venture with me as Prod. Eng. and Custom shop. I remember Satriani and the damn purple on quilt..and he wanted the pots located differently, LOL. I left not too long after that for other adventures, but I still have in my shop now the blueprints for the "Ghost Rider" that I was making the templates for at the time. I do not know if that ever went into production. PBC was Pearse ( John Pearse, also local) Dave Bunker AKA The whacky professor and my best mentor. Has the patent on headless, before you know who, the "touch guitar" , the "tension free neck" and many others. Google him. He passed a few yrs ago back home in Wa. state, and the C was Paul Chernay of Chernay Printing , he was one of the only printers that could print musical notation then. Hand drawn by Japanese artists, for Mel Bay books and similar. He was the financial backer. I felt the waves of ship sinking early on, we had too much stale inventory, too little advert and sales $, we got too big too fast and Paul C was gonna pull the plug. He did not long after I left. Bunker went back to Wa. I don't know what John did other than strings and such. I went on to building Dano copies in my shop before moving to the Great Smokies and promptly losing my shop in a fire. Now I am in in Ky. and just last year cloned a Ken Smith Bass for a fellow with a sad story that works for the big music store place in Indiana ;) . if you need more to know, I might recall some, but it has been a long time, and I still get a bit emotional about those years.
@@Spheramid Thanks for sharing that info. I'm just a casual observer and Ibanez fan from '77, due to Paul Stanley and of course, the Iceman. I always enjoy reading history, backstory and recollections from people that worked for or with Ibanez in the U.S. :) Take care friend!
I used to work at a guitar store in Nazareth. I remember Francis coming in all the time and telling me about the tension free necks. I finally came across one that I had to set up and I had no clue how to adjust the thing! Luckily Francis happened to stop in a day or two later and schooled me on the finer points of the design. Very interesting concept, but probably a little too far from the norm for your average guitar player to accept it. Old habits die hard, especially in guitars
The store I worked at in the 60's-80's sold some of the earliest Ibanez imports. We bought them through JM Sahlein Distributors of San Francisco who distributed musical instruments and accessories. (Jack Steinberg was our representative. RIP) They later lost the Ibanez arrangement but took on Yamaha. The early guitars were electrics and were very crudely made. The basses has necks like baseball bats but they sounded decent. I believe that our cost in the instruments was around $30.00 in 1964.
Your finishing of the cleats is just one more shining example of elegance of your work. Most luthiers wouldn't have taken the time to dress the edges you took the time to make them aesteticly pleasing as well as functional. Well done sir
I have to give all the credit to Mr. Ted. Over lockdown I learned to repair and build guitars. And almost all of my skills are from watching his channel. I’ve built several electrics, modified ALL of my electrics successfully, and repaired a cracked acoustic by inlaying wood into the sound board and back. My two finest were an electric that I built as a gift for a Christian heavy metal band, and a cheap electric twelve 12 that was given to me by a guy who didn’t have time. I fully restored/upgrade it and gave it back to him (he didn’t intend for me to give it back but was overjoyed that I finished his abandoned project.). His thoughts were that I made it into a unique great playing guitar that one couldn’t even buy for ten times the list price of a couple hundred USD. And I told him that Mr. Ted is where I learned.
You may be an exceptional case... but I think it's rare a youtube watcher will ever rise to level of luthiery quality building. Good job on your diligence, I admire it
What i love the most about this channel is not just the repair action. That's cool by itslef. It's the context you get. Short, right and just nicely narrated.
@@Expedient_Mensch True. Bad part is the Chinese are making crap and not awesome things like the Japanese did then. My “good Les Paul” is a 77 Yamaha SL-380.
@@richsackett3423 Yes true, the Japanese motto was like "make it better, the best we can", the Chinese motto is "make it look like the real thing, but for as cheap as possible" and that is why China will never rule the world.
Love old Ibanez... and your channel! I found a beautiful old Ibanez tobacco-burst steelstring in a pawn shop in Australia many years ago for < A$200 and it cleaned up like Alladins lamp! Near perfect action, intonation, playing from rusty cruddiness. In fact a string broke on detuning it.
Just started doing git fiddle work and setup. Your vids are really cool and helpful. Especially that tuning machine and guitar string trick to bring the layers back together. Wow what a beast!
Sir, I am not a musician but, I found and have been watching your channel since Nov. 22'. I enjoy and appreciate the mechanics and skill of your work. Thank-you!! Happy Holidays!!
Regarding the 'Ibanez' name used by Hoshino, there was a relatively famous guitar maker in Spain the early 1900's called Salvador Ibáñez. Hoshino Gakki first started making acoustic guitars, and would have studied these earlier examples. They started producing replicas, with the label "Ibanez Salvadore" (apparently without any agreement), and eventually just adopted the brand 'Ibanez'. There was many attempts at using established names to get name recognition in western markets. I once fixed up a copy of the Gibson 'Les Paul Recording' model, with a brandname "Franpton"
I have read another account that said they actually acquired the Spanish guitar company. And that Gibson's claims against Ibanez were settled out of court.
I have a 70s Alvarez J200 copy. It is that exact guitar in every way except for the name in the headstock. Love it, would not trade it for anything. It has been a reliable mainstay for me for over 20 year!
Always, thanks for your insightful sessions! I've got a "lawsuit" era Ibanez (1976-ish) which Guild also sued over, although I didn't know it at the time. It's also a remarkable headstock copy, well, except for the honest name. Slight "belly" after 40+ years. Still plays really sweet. :)
I look forward to your videos every week. Even my wife is familiar with everything Ted Woodford because whenever I see a you've uploaded I take 30 minutes and put you on the TV. Nobody interrupts Ted time! I've been casually late to things because I can't stop a video once I've started. Congrats on 100k subs by the way! Cheers.
Regarding the classical guitar purfling back stripe on the Ibanez Gibson copy, the 1960s/1970s Japanese copiers were a bit confused about classical vs western guitar decoration. My first steel string guitar bought in the early 1970s was a plywood Antoria which was a Japanese copy of a Japanese Yamaha which for some reason had a classical guitar rosette.
I had an early 70's Ibanez 335 copy that was absolutely amazing. Should have never traded that one off. I was a kid, it was a hollow body. You understand. Great episode man! Love your videos!
I must say: back in 2007 I bought a 70's Ibanez Les Paul Copy for around 50 bucks (In Brazilian Currency at the time was 150 reais) And that guitar was just great. Sounded like a proper Les Paul, played very well and the set up was a breeze. Very well made guitar despite being a Bolt on Neck. It was the second best Les Paul Style guitar I ever owned just after a Real Gibson Studio standard from the 80's that I used to own. I regret deeply of Selling that Ibanez.
If the scale was the same and HB Pickups in the same position then any guitar will sound like a Les Paul, got nothing to do with Bolt on Necks or body shape....It's all about the PU's and where they are! (It's called engineering)
I own that very same guitar which I am working on so your edition this week is welcome - the condidtion of mine is very good except it has been dropped and there is some material missing from the lower righthand side of the top which someone had tried to repair with "plastic wood", The poly coating is very tick on the top which hampers repair. I plugged and re-cut the bridge for a conventional saddle which improved the sound- It actually sounds quite good and looks impressive as seeing as I got it at a low price it is something to practice my skills on. Next the frets
I had a Penco SJ copy that had the same type of adjustable bridge. I did the same thing that you did. It just didn't make sense to not have the entire bridge saddle in contact with the top.
This brand in Bensalem PA before Hoshino bought it was called Elger for Ellen and Gertrude Rosenblaum who were importing guitars from Japan. They are now called Acoustic Roots and Medley Music in Ardmore Pa. I have toured the Bensalem place in the past. Anyway thank you for another great video! I learn so much watching.
It’s worth clarifying that there was no actual court case. Gibson sent a cease & desist letter and Hoshino-Gakki complied, stopped using the “open book” headstock design, and began to manufacture their own original designs.
But many of the designs just after the cease and desist were very Les Paul and 330/335 like - only the headstock changed The Ibanez Artist AS2000 (ggogle ) is just a very good guitar and the looks - In the late 70's early 80's Ibanez signed a number of famous guitarists as ambassadors.
@@mbontekoe3358 Yes, the point of contention at that time was the open book headstock. It is only more recently Gibson has been using its position in the market to bully other makers into abandoning certain body shapes. Many people have this idea a lawsuit was formally filed and a case was heard. Not the case.
@@MuscleDad420 yeah, no one cares about the actual litigation. If I say an ibanez "lawsuit-era" SG... people know(or have a good idea of) the make, model, and time frame of the guitar. Enough said.
@@TimTrOn3000 Yes, that is fair and I agree that for ease of communication “lawsuit guitar” is a sensible choice, but there are folks out there that legit believe law representatives from Gibson and Hoshino-Gakki were present in a court room and a legal judgement was made. Not the case.
I had a '77 Ibanez 'lawsuit' Les Paul Custom. Copy of the Gibson '57 "Black Beauty" with gold hardware and three paf-style humbuckers. It was a very good guitar that was beautiful, well-constructed, and sounded and played great. For many years it was my main electric axe and I performed and recorded with it. The one that got away.
They are good. Cheap and cheerful and in your face. I like em. Some of the finest acoustics are lminated now. Some even make a virtue or being lminated..
in the early 70s, my first good bass was a new Ibanez P-Bass copy with the head stock script that Ted had on an instrument in another one of his vids....great bass. Wish I had kept it, but traded it in on a Rickenbaker 4001
Rickenbacker has been the only to vigorously defend their patents. Fender and Gibson have tried a few times thru the years but never consistently. I feel like alot of times the copies don't hurt the business if their product is as good as it claims. If the copy is better, maybe it's time to reevaluate. Plus sometimes we may really like a guitar but can't afford it so we get a copy until we can Not really a bad thing. Absolutely love the channel!
Honestly, I think he should edit together several of his "after" playing clips and the next time he's sick, or just swamped to get a video out, post it and say "sorry, new 'real' video next week." I think we'd watch just to support.
That really did have a good solid sound once it was all back together. I have an 81 Ibanez acoustic, all solid wood hand made in Japan. Beautiful instrument.
Surely the saddle is supported by the shoulder/head of the screws, not the bottom tip. And presumably the length of the screw is about as deep as the saddle slot so as to not have to poke into the top.
That is my understanding too. I have a 1975 Ibanez Concord (same J200 type but with mahogany back and sides) which is set up like that. Fortunately mine is in a lot better shape than the maple one here.
I have a lawsuit era les paul. Needs a bit of work if I ever get the urge. Tuning machines mostly. Back in it's day someone installed a double humbucker in the rear position which has a nice appropriate sound. Front original. Switch squeaks. Fun guitar. Bought from a singer around 1984 for 100 bucks.
In Britain we were supplied with guitars from Japan under the name "Antoria" and I once owned a used Les Paul Custom with that name ! Apparently this was the same factory that produced Ibanez guitars but for some weird reason they used the name Antoria for a short while in the 70's for Guitars intended for the British market. I was very impressed with it when I was a teenager and was incredibly surprised at how little I paid for it, I sold it a few years later for about 4 times what it cost me but I wish I could have kept it ! I only found out many years later that the quality of these guitars was considered to be exceptional and good ones now fetch a really good price, roughly 10 times what I sold it for !
I have an open book lawsuit era leftie Antoria Les Paul Custom I bought in 1996 for £90. It's a great guitar and plays super nice but it's a heavy one. Although I don't play it as much as I used to I won't part with it as it was my first ever electric guitar. Well worth getting one if they come up at the right money.
Brilliant work yet again. In honour of the era that this guitar was made, you should have installed a brass shim under the bridge and told the owner it had more sustain! 🙂
I have this guitar and it is quite amazingly well done because the flame maple veneer on the out side of the plywood back actually matches with the flame maple veneer on the inner side - so it is quite easy to mistake it for solid
I have 4 so-called pre-lawsuit Ibanez Concord guitars. In the best one, I also put an improvised belly doctor that works well; it sounds great, but I have to get rid of some rattling in the sound because of low action. Maybe the strings are too close to the bridge, or maybe the frets closest to the body have to be lowered. They are great guitars for experimental use, Nashville, or other tunings for instance.
"Magnets simply aren't strong enough." I don't know if you're willing to pay for them, or if you're willing to deal with the danger, but you can get, for example 2" diameter by 1" thick N52 magnets that would create over 90lbs of force between them from ½" apart (like what I imagine the thickness of a couple layers of cork and a guitar back would be). And those are definitely not the biggest you could get by any means.
Hi Ted. Love your channel and have learned so much from watching you. Question - Why didn't you apply heat to the crack on the back to get the glue to release first? Thanks
Interested that you re-crowned the frets without seeming to level them first. Can you share any pros and cons for this approach vs levelling before crowning?
I remember getting Ibanez catalogs back in the 70s, and even at the time I was amazed at the range of acoustics available. I almost bought a Martin D-35 clone, which looked to be a very close replica. Mainly what I recall is that many models had extensive choices for woods, down to whether you wanted the maple in the center or outsides for three piece backs. The bridge screws to nowhere were a bit of a surprise... even to idiot me. Those things always have the extra hardware underneath that makes other things more difficult. I always associate the SJ-200 with Rev. Gary Davis, whose recorded tone was always underwhelming for some reason. There was a strangled quality to his playing, barely on the edge of being in tune, with his left hand not always holding things in place. His sound is the opposite of what you'd expect the guitar to sound like, which is big and boomy.
I have a question so I just grabbed the first Woodford vid I could find; please forgive the context. We prefer our acoustic braces to be quarter-sawn, does that mean the growth rings are perpendicular to the sound board or parallel? I'm cutting some of my own out of "3/4" quarter-sawn wood and need to know if the rips will be better standing up or if they should be on their sides, as braces.
Very nice for an over sized bloated guitar! My favorite is my Taylor CE214 then My Uncle Tom's Martin D28, 1973. My wife's guitar is the latest for her Temple gig. So hers is another Taylor like mine but is Koa guitar complete like a CE-24k, I think? Anyway, I have a Breedlov a J250. Which has great tone and pretty good looking, well balanced tone and volume. Really looks great with green abs did this to that guitar was luck that we pulled off a great shopping day for me! Yeah he Yeah he!
The bridge screws lower the bridge as you “loosen” them, and raise the bridge as they are tightened, no? I own an Ibanez GIO electric, and a Yari Alvarez acoustic, as well as a couple older fender acoustics, one I found in a trash can in front of someone’s house. It has a piece of duct tape covering a huge hole on the sound board, but plays and sounds pretty decent for being in the trash lol. Thanks for the videos, I’ve learned a lot about guitars over the years.
This is my Guitar!! I can't say enough good things about how the Guitar plays and sounds but more importantly Ted graciously took the time to repair the Guitar and completely understood why it was so important to me. Dad would have loved this, thank you so much Ted.
Nigelv - you understand the "Inbox the telegram channel" message is a scam, OK? I had one too, but Ted has confirmed it's fake.
@@kitmoore9969 Feel free to report those as spam - I just did so.
@@imagiro1 Good idea, thanks: done.
I have a lawsuit martin copy. Mine is by cortez. Made in japan. It has a really neat 3 piece rosewood back with abalone inlays.
@@imagiro1 me too just to be safe.
Hey Ted, I used to be the shop production manager for PBC Guitar Technology in Pa. We built the Ibanez USA RG Series guitars and bass with our “Tension Free neck “ patented by one of our owners David Bunker.
If you ever run across one of either of those and have any questions, let me know! Or if you run into a Ken Smith bass, I also worked there.
Thanks so much for your expertise and effort on the videos.
That's a nice part of ibanez history that I'd like to hear in more detail!
My first proper electric was an RG440. Loved it.
@@ayeapprove Well, it was the early 90's and Ibanez/Hoshino was in S.E. Pa. and we were in Coopersburg, Pa. Jim ( last name long forgotten) contacted us to discuss the joint building. we had just got a CNC and at the time, quite busy with our own models. We embarked on the venture with me as Prod. Eng. and Custom shop. I remember Satriani and the damn purple on quilt..and he wanted the pots located differently, LOL.
I left not too long after that for other adventures, but I still have in my shop now the blueprints for the "Ghost Rider" that I was making the templates for at the time. I do not know if that ever went into production.
PBC was Pearse ( John Pearse, also local) Dave Bunker AKA The whacky professor and my best mentor. Has the patent on headless, before you know who, the "touch guitar" , the "tension free neck" and many others. Google him. He passed a few yrs ago back home in Wa. state, and the C was Paul Chernay of Chernay Printing , he was one of the only printers that could print musical notation then. Hand drawn by Japanese artists, for Mel Bay books and similar. He was the financial backer.
I felt the waves of ship sinking early on, we had too much stale inventory, too little advert and sales $, we got too big too fast and Paul C was gonna pull the plug. He did not long after I left. Bunker went back to Wa. I don't know what John did other than strings and such. I went on to building Dano copies in my shop before moving to the Great Smokies and promptly losing my shop in a fire.
Now I am in in Ky. and just last year cloned a Ken Smith Bass for a fellow with a sad story that works for the big music store place in Indiana ;) .
if you need more to know, I might recall some, but it has been a long time, and I still get a bit emotional about those years.
@@Spheramid Thanks for sharing that info. I'm just a casual observer and Ibanez fan from '77, due to Paul Stanley and of course, the Iceman. I always enjoy reading history, backstory and recollections from people that worked for or with Ibanez in the U.S. :) Take care friend!
I used to work at a guitar store in Nazareth. I remember Francis coming in all the time and telling me about the tension free necks. I finally came across one that I had to set up and I had no clue how to adjust the thing! Luckily Francis happened to stop in a day or two later and schooled me on the finer points of the design. Very interesting concept, but probably a little too far from the norm for your average guitar player to accept it. Old habits die hard, especially in guitars
Why do I love that little guitar tuner clamp so much?
Another fine repair with a lovely bit of history. This is such a great channel!!
Damn you really undersold this guitar at the end, it plays so nicely! I can hear the soul of the guitar
It's definitely been around the block a time or two. It plays amazing and sounds great. I'm planning on getting 50 plus more years out of it :)
The store I worked at in the 60's-80's sold some of the earliest Ibanez imports. We bought them through JM Sahlein Distributors of San Francisco who distributed musical instruments and accessories. (Jack Steinberg was our representative. RIP) They later lost the Ibanez arrangement but took on Yamaha. The early guitars were electrics and were very crudely made. The basses has necks like baseball bats but they sounded decent. I believe that our cost in the instruments was around $30.00 in 1964.
I love Ted's indepth analysis of the different eras and techniques of guitar building - keep on going !
Hello from Belgium ! Quel plaisir de vous regarder travailler et de vous écouter. Merci beaucoup :-)
Your finishing of the cleats is just one more shining example of elegance of your work. Most luthiers wouldn't have taken the time to dress the edges you took the time to make them aesteticly pleasing as well as functional. Well done sir
Exquisite installment but too too short!! Congrats on reaching the first 100k subscribers
Ahhh this will make a fine addition to my Saturday. Thank you sir!
I have to give all the credit to Mr. Ted. Over lockdown I learned to repair and build guitars. And almost all of my skills are from watching his channel. I’ve built several electrics, modified ALL of my electrics successfully, and repaired a cracked acoustic by inlaying wood into the sound board and back. My two finest were an electric that I built as a gift for a Christian heavy metal band, and a cheap electric twelve 12 that was given to me by a guy who didn’t have time. I fully restored/upgrade it and gave it back to him (he didn’t intend for me to give it back but was overjoyed that I finished his abandoned project.). His thoughts were that I made it into a unique great playing guitar that one couldn’t even buy for ten times the list price of a couple hundred USD. And I told him that Mr. Ted is where I learned.
You may be an exceptional case... but I think it's rare a youtube watcher will ever rise to level of luthiery quality building. Good job on your diligence, I admire it
I built two electric mandolins from watching RUclipsr folks. And a lot of StewMac supplies. The first one I recently sold for 16 hundred bucks.
I hope you at least bought a couple tee-shirts from Ted to show support for your free education
Yes!! my favorite weekly installment....
What i love the most about this channel is not just the repair action. That's cool by itslef. It's the context you get. Short, right and just nicely narrated.
if that said gibson on the headstock, everybody would be saying how sweet it sounded. it sounded really nice, great work too.
Maybe you would. Anyone who played a real J200 .. sheesh 🤕
Instead we are marveling at how much the Japanese openly ripped Gibson off.
@@richsackett3423 ...and these days it's the Chinese openly ripping off anybody and everybody's patents.
@@Expedient_Mensch True. Bad part is the Chinese are making crap and not awesome things like the Japanese did then. My “good Les Paul” is a 77 Yamaha SL-380.
@@richsackett3423 Yes true, the Japanese motto was like "make it better, the best we can", the Chinese motto is "make it look like the real thing, but for as cheap as possible" and that is why China will never rule the world.
100K 🙌 congratulations!
100K congrats!🙌🙌
Love old Ibanez... and your channel! I found a beautiful old Ibanez tobacco-burst steelstring in a pawn shop in Australia many years ago for < A$200 and it cleaned up like Alladins lamp! Near perfect action, intonation, playing from rusty cruddiness. In fact a string broke on detuning it.
Every video a real treat. Such a great channel. Thanks twoodfrd.
Wow! I kind of like that loud hollerin' sound!
Just started doing git fiddle work and setup. Your vids are really cool and helpful. Especially that tuning machine and guitar string trick to bring the layers back together. Wow what a beast!
1080p60 looks great! Thanks for the upgrade.
Thank you for the program, I find it very informative!
Before and after playing would have been amazing but! What a cool sounding guitar, I love that clarity with the metal bridge.
Having the same guitar I replaced mine with a conventional saddle - and it is an improvement
Thank you for another historical insight. The guitar actually sounds pretty awesome, at least via RUclips.
Sounds surprisingly good! Nice job once again! 👍🏼
Holy crap! Congratulations on 100k subs!
That thing is an absolute Beater! I understand it’s sentimental value and the challenge of fixing it. Happy holidays! Thanks! 🌞🎅🏻🎉🎉🎉🎉
i guess most guitars are a beater for a prince 🤣 sorry your highness 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Thanks Ted! Your skills are the best!
That's a beautiful guitar...imo
Congratulations on the 100k Subscribers!
wow 101k subs! thats GREAT, your videos are worth watching!
Be still my little heart! About 10 minutes in Ted measures the bridge depth in mm instead of 64ths. Now he is talking my language!
been living in US for decades ,still can't except that stupid inches over metric system
Next, "solder" instead of "sodder" and "ee - BAN - yeth " instead of "EYE - burr - nez" :))
Sir, I am not a musician but, I found and have been watching your channel since Nov. 22'. I enjoy and appreciate the mechanics and skill of your work. Thank-you!! Happy Holidays!!
I'm connected to any of these, i am a retired Roof Truss Draftsman, I would love to talk to you, but how?
great vid as always. loved the playing, sounds fantastic!
Regarding the 'Ibanez' name used by Hoshino, there was a relatively famous guitar maker in Spain the early 1900's called Salvador Ibáñez. Hoshino Gakki first started making acoustic guitars, and would have studied these earlier examples. They started producing replicas, with the label "Ibanez Salvadore" (apparently without any agreement), and eventually just adopted the brand 'Ibanez'.
There was many attempts at using established names to get name recognition in western markets. I once fixed up a copy of the Gibson 'Les Paul Recording' model, with a brandname "Franpton"
LOL! "Franpton" - really? :) that's just funny! 😂😂
@@SEVNTIGERS yeah right? When I fixed it got it working for the owner, I told him that Franpton comes alive. He didn't get it.
@@TaralgaBushAdventure - LOL!!
I have read another account that said they actually acquired the Spanish guitar company. And that Gibson's claims against Ibanez were settled out of court.
@@TaralgaBushAdventure Maybe he didn't get it, but baby, I love your way.
tee hee
Yay! A new Twoodfrd video ... and a day early, to boot! Thanks,Ted!
I have a 70s Alvarez J200 copy. It is that exact guitar in every way except for the name in the headstock. Love it, would not trade it for anything. It has been a reliable mainstay for me for over 20 year!
Always, thanks for your insightful sessions! I've got a "lawsuit" era Ibanez (1976-ish) which Guild also sued over, although I didn't know it at the time. It's also a remarkable headstock copy, well, except for the honest name. Slight "belly" after 40+ years. Still plays really sweet. :)
First I've heard of any suit brought by Guild. Do you have any details or sources you can share?
I look forward to your videos every week. Even my wife is familiar with everything Ted Woodford because whenever I see a you've uploaded I take 30 minutes and put you on the TV. Nobody interrupts Ted time! I've been casually late to things because I can't stop a video once I've started.
Congrats on 100k subs by the way! Cheers.
Just realized I’ve binge watched 5 videos past this one- came back here and looked through the transcript,and sure enough- “ pang of regret” was there
Ted, your skills and knowledge … simply amazing.
Regarding the classical guitar purfling back stripe on the Ibanez Gibson copy, the 1960s/1970s Japanese copiers were a bit confused about classical vs western guitar decoration. My first steel string guitar bought in the early 1970s was a plywood Antoria which was a Japanese copy of a Japanese Yamaha which for some reason had a classical guitar rosette.
I had an early 70's Ibanez 335 copy that was absolutely amazing. Should have never traded that one off. I was a kid, it was a hollow body.
You understand.
Great episode man!
Love your videos!
I have an Ibanez SR600 E bass here. Amazing bass. Out of the box it was a joy to play.
I must say: back in 2007 I bought a 70's Ibanez Les Paul Copy for around 50 bucks (In Brazilian Currency at the time was 150 reais) And that guitar was just great. Sounded like a proper Les Paul, played very well and the set up was a breeze. Very well made guitar despite being a Bolt on Neck. It was the second best Les Paul Style guitar I ever owned just after a Real Gibson Studio standard from the 80's that I used to own. I regret deeply of Selling that Ibanez.
If the scale was the same and HB Pickups in the same position then any guitar will sound like a Les Paul, got nothing to do with Bolt on Necks or body shape....It's all about the PU's and where they are! (It's called engineering)
I own that very same guitar which I am working on so your edition this week is welcome - the condidtion of mine is very good except it has been dropped and there is some material missing from the lower righthand side of the top which someone had tried to repair with "plastic wood", The poly coating is very tick on the top which hampers repair. I plugged and re-cut the bridge for a conventional saddle which improved the sound- It actually sounds quite good and looks impressive as seeing as I got it at a low price it is something to practice my skills on. Next the frets
Congratulations on 100K subs!
I just noticed, congrats with the 100k subs!
Well deserved, still very informative videos! 👍
I like the sound!
The cleat setting tool using a block of wood and an open tuning key is brilliant.
Congrats for the 100k!
I had a Penco SJ copy that had the same type of adjustable bridge. I did the same thing that you did. It just didn't make sense to not have the entire bridge saddle in contact with the top.
Thanks for playing them for us Ted!
Perfect timing.
This brand in Bensalem PA before Hoshino bought it was called Elger for Ellen and Gertrude Rosenblaum who were importing guitars from Japan. They are now called Acoustic Roots and Medley Music in Ardmore Pa. I have toured the Bensalem place in the past. Anyway thank you for another great video! I learn so much watching.
Hey Brian, that was a VERY cool day we had touring Hoshino USA HQ. Thanks for letting me tag along.
It’s worth clarifying that there was no actual court case. Gibson sent a cease & desist letter and Hoshino-Gakki complied, stopped using the “open book” headstock design, and began to manufacture their own original designs.
But many of the designs just after the cease and desist were very Les Paul and 330/335 like - only the headstock changed The Ibanez Artist AS2000 (ggogle ) is just a very good guitar and the looks - In the late 70's early 80's Ibanez signed a number of famous guitarists as ambassadors.
@@mbontekoe3358 Yes, the point of contention at that time was the open book headstock. It is only more recently Gibson has been using its position in the market to bully other makers into abandoning certain body shapes. Many people have this idea a lawsuit was formally filed and a case was heard. Not the case.
Thank you.... so much bs online regarding this subject.
@@MuscleDad420 yeah, no one cares about the actual litigation. If I say an ibanez "lawsuit-era" SG... people know(or have a good idea of) the make, model, and time frame of the guitar. Enough said.
@@TimTrOn3000 Yes, that is fair and I agree that for ease of communication “lawsuit guitar” is a sensible choice, but there are folks out there that legit believe law representatives from Gibson and Hoshino-Gakki were present in a court room and a legal judgement was made. Not the case.
This guitar sounds great!
I think it would fit perfect for “House of the rising sun”.
I had a '77 Ibanez 'lawsuit' Les Paul Custom. Copy of the Gibson '57 "Black Beauty" with gold hardware and three paf-style humbuckers. It was a very good guitar that was beautiful, well-constructed, and sounded and played great. For many years it was my main electric axe and I performed and recorded with it. The one that got away.
I like the sound very much, surely improved by your decision to plug the bridge saddle slot. Beautiful problem solving.
They are good. Cheap and cheerful and in your face. I like em. Some of the finest acoustics are lminated now. Some even make a virtue or being lminated..
in the early 70s, my first good bass was a new Ibanez P-Bass copy with the head stock script that Ted had on an instrument in another one of his vids....great bass. Wish I had kept it, but traded it in on a Rickenbaker 4001
I had a Roadstar II bass for my first one. It was cool.
Beautiful sound.
I have an Ibanez Deluxe 59'er Lawsuit era guitar I estimate being made around 1976...wicked guitar
Hey man. Happy 100k day it’s prolly been around there a while. Best gang ever. Please share all yer wisdom
Rickenbacker has been the only to vigorously defend their patents. Fender and Gibson have tried a few times thru the years but never consistently. I feel like alot of times the copies don't hurt the business if their product is as good as it claims. If the copy is better, maybe it's time to reevaluate. Plus sometimes we may really like a guitar but can't afford it so we get a copy until we can
Not really a bad thing. Absolutely love the channel!
Funnily, Ibanez had a budget line called Cimar... Their line included very durable and stable Rickenbacker bass and guitar copies.
@@seanpop2886 yea I've seen em, they've actually gotten pretty expensive too.
I love the history behind instruments like that beautifully gituar
Wonderful work, logical and intelligent from a wall-hanger to a playable guitar, masterful
I think the humble Ted is a better guitarist than he gives himself credit for ....anyone else think so ?
Honestly, I think he should edit together several of his "after" playing clips and the next time he's sick, or just swamped to get a video out, post it and say "sorry, new 'real' video next week." I think we'd watch just to support.
Agree.
Better than me.
Sounds like he's listened to Django Reinhardt in the intro
I bet Ted has a nice collection of old guitars to make a video of him playing them all!
Sounds fantastic.
That really did have a good solid sound once it was all back together. I have an 81 Ibanez acoustic, all solid wood hand made in Japan. Beautiful instrument.
Awesome. And it sounded great too.
Surely the saddle is supported by the shoulder/head of the screws, not the bottom tip. And presumably the length of the screw is about as deep as the saddle slot so as to not have to poke into the top.
That is my understanding too. I have a 1975 Ibanez Concord (same J200 type but with mahogany back and sides) which is set up like that. Fortunately mine is in a lot better shape than the maple one here.
I had one of those bridges on an alverez that I refretted for a customer. I just made a shim under it and used the screws and nuts to hold it in place
I have a lawsuit era les paul. Needs a bit of work if I ever get the urge. Tuning machines mostly. Back in it's day someone installed a double humbucker in the rear position which has a nice appropriate sound. Front original. Switch squeaks. Fun guitar. Bought from a singer around 1984 for 100 bucks.
Your videos are great. Thanks!
In Britain we were supplied with guitars from Japan under the name "Antoria" and I once owned a used Les Paul Custom with that name !
Apparently this was the same factory that produced Ibanez guitars but for some weird reason they used the name Antoria for a short while in the 70's for Guitars intended for the British market. I was very impressed with it when I was a teenager and was incredibly surprised at how little I paid for it, I sold it a few years later for about 4 times what it cost me but I wish I could have kept it !
I only found out many years later that the quality of these guitars was considered to be exceptional and good ones now fetch a really good price, roughly 10 times what I sold it for !
I think Hank Marvin used an Antoria on some of the early Shadows records.
I have an open book lawsuit era leftie Antoria Les Paul Custom I bought in 1996 for £90. It's a great guitar and plays super nice but it's a heavy one. Although I don't play it as much as I used to I won't part with it as it was my first ever electric guitar. Well worth getting one if they come up at the right money.
Brilliant work yet again. In honour of the era that this guitar was made, you should have installed a brass shim under the bridge and told the owner it had more sustain! 🙂
Surprised it's laminated. Great episode! Thanks!
i was surprised some gibsons are laminate
I have this guitar and it is quite amazingly well done because the flame maple veneer on the out side of the plywood back actually matches with the flame maple veneer on the inner side - so it is quite easy to mistake it for solid
I wonder if, with the bass strings switched, it was tuned and played as a re-entry style, like a banjo?
Listening to Mr. Woodford (Ted?) is therapeutic, soothing. He is good for the soul (and good for the guitars he touches of course).
I have 4 so-called pre-lawsuit Ibanez Concord guitars. In the best one, I also put an improvised belly doctor that works well; it sounds great, but I have to get rid of some rattling in the sound because of low action. Maybe the strings are too close to the bridge, or maybe the frets closest to the body have to be lowered. They are great guitars for experimental use, Nashville, or other tunings for instance.
The saviour of busted guitars knocks it out the park again. Thanks for your time and sharing Ted. 👍👍👍👍🥃Respect to you mate.
Nice work. I only do electrics as I don't have the knowledge or tools for acoustics. It sounded pretty good also. Nice playing.
"Magnets simply aren't strong enough."
I don't know if you're willing to pay for them, or if you're willing to deal with the danger, but you can get, for example 2" diameter by 1" thick N52 magnets that would create over 90lbs of force between them from ½" apart (like what I imagine the thickness of a couple layers of cork and a guitar back would be). And those are definitely not the biggest you could get by any means.
Good video Ted, keep them coming.
Hi Ted. Love your channel and have learned so much from watching you. Question - Why didn't you apply heat to the crack on the back to get the glue to release first? Thanks
I have a '79 Jazz bass made by Kiso Suzuki. Great copy of a Fender J-bass. I've always loved Japan made instruments for their quality.
Definitely not a J200 headstock. Nice looking guitar. Happy to see it is loved, cared for and cherished.
That is a decent sounding guitar.
Nah, it was the guy playing it...))
Did sound better than I thought it would, though.
Daion acoustics, Aria also very good quality, especially Daion! I've come across 3 all incredibly badass.
I take advantage of the wide bridge route to replace it with a compensated saddle recently on my MORRIS same style bridge..
Great guitar sound for country.
Interested that you re-crowned the frets without seeming to level them first. Can you share any pros and cons for this approach vs levelling before crowning?
I remember getting Ibanez catalogs back in the 70s, and even at the time I was amazed at the range of acoustics available. I almost bought a Martin D-35 clone, which looked to be a very close replica. Mainly what I recall is that many models had extensive choices for woods, down to whether you wanted the maple in the center or outsides for three piece backs.
The bridge screws to nowhere were a bit of a surprise... even to idiot me. Those things always have the extra hardware underneath that makes other things more difficult.
I always associate the SJ-200 with Rev. Gary Davis, whose recorded tone was always underwhelming for some reason. There was a strangled quality to his playing, barely on the edge of being in tune, with his left hand not always holding things in place. His sound is the opposite of what you'd expect the guitar to sound like, which is big and boomy.
I have a question so I just grabbed the first Woodford vid I could find; please forgive the context.
We prefer our acoustic braces to be quarter-sawn, does that mean the growth rings are perpendicular to the sound board or parallel? I'm cutting some of my own out of "3/4" quarter-sawn wood and need to know if the rips will be better standing up or if they should be on their sides, as braces.
It sounds very nice, and as long as it's structurally sound than that's a win. she plays that's the point
Congrats on 100k subscribers
Very nice for an over sized bloated guitar! My favorite is my Taylor CE214 then My Uncle Tom's Martin D28, 1973. My wife's guitar is the latest for her Temple gig. So hers is another Taylor like mine but is Koa guitar complete like a CE-24k, I think? Anyway, I have a Breedlov a J250. Which has great tone and pretty good looking, well balanced tone and volume. Really looks great with green abs did this to that guitar was luck that we pulled off a great shopping day for me! Yeah he Yeah he!
The bridge screws lower the bridge as you “loosen” them, and raise the bridge as they are tightened, no?
I own an Ibanez GIO electric, and a Yari Alvarez acoustic, as well as a couple older fender acoustics, one I found in a trash can in front of someone’s house. It has a piece of duct tape covering a huge hole on the sound board, but plays and sounds pretty decent for being in the trash lol.
Thanks for the videos, I’ve learned a lot about guitars over the years.
What is good my hood? Best gang ever