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The JP20 is a hollow body electric guitar model introduced by Ibanez for 1981. It is a signature model for American jazz guitarist Joe Pass. It was made in Japan initially by FujiGen; production moved to Terada sometime in 1986. The JP20 was the first and only signature guitar made for Pass by Ibanez.
The JP20 features a full-sized, single cutaway, full hollow body design with an arched spruce top with ƒ holes and multi-layer binding on maple back and sides mated to a set-in three-piece maple neck with a 22-fret ebony fingerboard with binding and pearl and abalone split block position markers. Components include a single Ibanez Super 58 humbucking pickup with a gold cover mounted in a black pickup ring between the neck and bridge; a height-adjustable ebony bridge with ebony tailpiece; a bone nut; a tortoise pickguard; Sure Grip knobs; and VelveTune tuning machines with pearloid acrylic buttons.
For 1983 the tuners were replaced with the new VelveTune II models and the Sure Grip II knobs were introduced. For 1985 the Smooth Tuner II machine heads were introduced. For 1988 the tuners were replaced with Gotoh SG38 models.
The relationship between Pass and Ibanez was initiated by Maurice Summerfield of Ibanez's UK distributor CSL. Summerfield also shepherded the JP20's development along with Hoshino USA's Jeff Hasselberger and Hoshino's Fritz Katoh. The guitar debuted in the UK in 1981 and was introduced to the US market shortly thereafter.[1]
Pass wanted a guitar that would accommodate his finger-style playing habits. To that end the JP20 has a 25½" scale and a fretboard with 22 frets instead of the more common 20 fret neck on a typical jazz box. This fretboard change means that the pickup is situated closer to the bridge by 3–4 cm compared to a "typical" jazz guitar like the AF200, which can cause the JP20s electric sound to be a bit thinner.[2]
The JP20 was discontinued after 1990.
Specifications
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Images
Sources
- ↑ Specht, Paul; Wright, Michael; Donahue, Jim (2005). Ibanez : the Untold Story. Bensalem, Penn.: Hoshino (U.S.A.), p. 96-97, ISBN 0976427702
- ↑ JP20 review, Erik te Kamp on YouTube, accessed October 2020
