| GB10 Natural 1980 (more images) | .jpg){kind=small}
|
The GB10 is a hollow body electric guitar model introduced by Ibanez in 1977. It is a signature model for American jazz guitarist George Benson. It is made in Japan by FujiGen except for a brief period in the late 1980s when production was moved to Terada.
The GB10 was Ibanez's first hollow body artist signature guitar. It is the longest running guitar model in the company's history. It debuted at the NAMM Show in Atlanta, Georgia on June 11, 1977.[1]
The GB10 features a smallish, single cutaway, full hollow body design with a spruce top with ƒ holes and multi-layer binding and maple back and sides mated to a set-in three-piece maple neck with a large headstock and a 22-fret ebony fingerboard with binding and pearl/acrylic and abalone split block position markers. Components include dual, floating Ibanez GB special humbucking pickups with individual volume and tone controls; a height-adjustable ebony bridge with special adjustable split trapeze tailpiece; a bone and brass nut; and a tortoise pickguard.
The design inspiration for the GB10 was to create an arched-top, hollow-bodied guitar with the lines of a Gibson Les Paul crossed with a Gibson Johnny Smith signature model. Hoshino USA designer Jeff Hasselberg traced copies of each of those guitars and designed a shape that split the difference between the two. That initial sketch was the basis for the GB10 model.[2]
Early examples had 21 frets; the change to 22 frets occurred in 1979.
The GB15 is a similar model without the bridge pickup. The GB100 is a related model with a ½" thicker flamed maple body and different fretboard inlays. The GB20 is a related model with a larger (though slightly thinner) body and a single pickup. The GB200 is a related model with a slightly larger body, a maple and mahogany neck and non-floating Super 58 pickups. The GBSP10 is a related model introduced in mid-2022 with flamed maple top, back and sides; a special ebony bridge; and inlaid tailpiece.
Several other special variations on the GB10 have been introduced over the forty plus years it's been in production. These include the Chinese-made GB10SE introduced in 2016.
Specifications
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Images
Sources
- ↑ 1982 Japan catalog (back cover)
- ↑ Prown, Pete.; Vintage Visionary: The First Golden Age of Ibanez 1973–1982; July 2011; Vintage Guitar; archived from the original August 2020
- ↑ 1994 parts catalog (page 23)
- 1978 George Benson & Concert series guitar brochure (page 2)
- GB10 product page, Ibanez USA, archived July 2019
- GB10 product page, Ibanez Europe, archived January 2020
- GB10 product page, Ibanez China, archived January 2021
- GB10 product page, Ibanez North & South America and Oceania, archived June 2022
