From copies to innovations – the origin and rise of Japanese electric guitars (and the truth about ‘lawsuit’ guitars)

In the late ’70s, Paul Stanley of KISS praised Japanese guitar makers for their superior craftsmanship, suggesting that Japan was “the country of the future” for guitar manufacturing. The Japanese guitar industry evolved from imitating Western designs to producing innovative instruments, with brands like Ibanez emerging from Hoshino’s origins in the early 1900s. By the 1960s, Japanese firms not only catered to domestic markets but also exported guitars worldwide, often under various brand names due to OEM practices, reflecting a complex manufacturing landscape.