Salvador Ibáñez (1854–1920) was a Spanish

luthier A luthier ( ; AmE also ) is a craftsperson who builds or repairs string instruments that have a neck and a sound box. The word "luthier" is originally French and comes from the French word for lute. The term was originally used for makers o ...

. He made

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

ukulele The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings. The tone and volume of the instrumen ...

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

s and other stringed instruments. These instruments were prized for their excellent quality and impeccable workmanship.

Ibáñez's career

At eleven years of age Ibáñez became an apprentice in guitar construction at Calle Muela,

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

. In 1870 he was registered as a guitar maker at Calle Cubells. Also working in the shop were ten-year-old José Ibáñez and Magdalena Albiñana y Magraner from

L'Olleria L'Olleria is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of Vall d'Albaida in the Valencian Community The Valencian Community ( ca-valencia, Comunitat Valenciana, es, Comunidad Valenciana) is an autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most p ...

, Valencia. In 1888 he first appeared in the trade guides at Calle Jordana and shortly after that at Calle Ruzafa; from 1896 to 1927 his shop was located at Calle Bajada de San Francisco. He made bandurrias,

lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lute" can ref ...

s, six and twelve-string guitars, and also guitars with detachable necks. In 1897 he made the world's first double-necked guitar. In the period 1915-1920 Salvador Ibáñez e Hijos (Salvador Ibáñez and Sons) was located at Calle Bajada de San Francisco and at Calle Padre Rico Valencia. When he died in 1920 his workshop continued to be managed by his two sons until it was sold in 1933 to Telesforo Julve, also of Valencia. Julve bought the Salvador Ibáñez name, personnel and machinery and incorporated it in its own enterprise. In 1944 Julve was still using Salvador Ibáñez e Hijos labels.

Ibanez as a brand

Before

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, there were four importers/distributors in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

for Ibáñez's guitars, of which

Yamaha Yamaha may refer to: * Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services, established in 1887. The company is the largest shareholder of Yamaha Motor Company (below). ** Yamaha Music Foundation, an organization estab ...

is the most known. Just before or just after this Second World War, the Japanese firm Hoshino Gakki began production of its own acoustic guitars for the home market. Although it did not have a business relationship with either Ibáñez or Julve, Hoshino Gakki marketed their acoustic guitars first under the brand name "Ibanez Salvador" and later simply as "Ibanez". These guitars attained great market success in the 1970s and 1980s. Hoshino Gakki currently produces both acoustic and electric guitars using the

Ibanez is a Japanese guitar brand owned by Hoshino Gakki. Based in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan, Hoshino Gakki were one of the first Japanese musical instrument companies to gain a significant foothold in import guitar sales in the United States and Europe, as ...

brand name, but is mostly oriented to producing electric guitars.

Original Ibáñez players

Julian Bream has played a Salvador Ibáñez guitar.

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is often regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s list of ...

has owned several original guitars of Ibáñez, one of which was sold at a benefit auction in 1999 obtaining a final price of US$42,000.

References

Sources

Historic Guitar Markers of the Valencia School
at www.zavaletas-guitarras.com
Telesforo Julve
at http://members.upc.nl/a.bogaard241/ José L. Romanillos Vega & Marian Harris Winspear, ''The vihuela de mano and the Spanish guitar'', 2002, Guijosa. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ibanez 1854 births 1917 deaths Spanish luthiers