1940’s Ibanez Salvador Archtop – £699

NEW ARRIVAL  This is an early Japanese made Ibanez Salvador, before they became simply Ibanez in 1957. In the early 1900’s they had been made in Spain, mainly making classical guitars. Then in the 1970’ and 80’s Ibanez became a hugely successful company making electric guitars. This guitar is a bit of an oddity. It bares no relation to the earlier Spanish made guitars, or to the later Japanese guitars. My guess is that they were trying to pick up on the archtop boom of the 30’s and 40’s. What they came up with is an unusual, highly curved archtop, with a soundhole. The top is tightly grained Spruce, and the back and sides are Birch. The body has multiple bindings, the rosette is quite intricate, the art deco tailpiece is very eye catching, and the fingerboard has a marble effect. Possibly a precursor of the George Benson jazz classic? Either way, it’s a unique design, great sounding guitar, with very good playability right along the neck. The guitar is in very good condition for it’s age, with just one top crack running down from the soundhole. To an Ibanez collector, it could be a missing part of the puzzle. To the rest of us, it’s just a cool archtop, with great vintage tone and vibe.