Hoshino Gakki


Hoshino Gakki Co., Ltd. is a Japanese manufacturer of musical instruments. It is the owner of the Ibanez guitar and Tama drum brand names.

History

The Hoshino company was founded in 1908 by Matsujiro Hoshino originally as the Hoshino Shoten bookstore which mostly sold books and sheet music and then gradually over the years also began to import musical instruments into Japan. Matsujiro was succeeded by Yoshitaro Hoshino. From 1929 Hoshino imported Spanish guitars of Salvador Ibáñez e Hijos, resident in Valencia, which company was bought in 1933 by Telesforo Julve, also from Valencia. In 1935, Hoshino began manufacturing their own stringed instruments, using the name Ibanez Salvador, later shortened as "Ibanez". The company had little presence in the Western world until the mid-1960s.
In 1957 Hoshino Gakki manufactured what would be considered the first of the modern era Ibanez guitars.
In 1962, Junpei Hoshino, Yoshitaro's son, opened the Tama Seisakusho factory to manufacture electric guitars and amplifiers. The Tama Seisakusho factory produced a line of guitars that included clones of several popular guitars, including the Martin Dreadnought. At the time they were also manufacturing Star Drums, available in either the Imperial or Royal models.
Hoshino Gakki stopped making guitars at the Tama Seisakusho factory in 1966 and from then on contracted outside guitar factories which in the mid 1960s mainly consisted of Guyatone. Beginning in the 70's guitars were almost exclusively manufactured by FujiGen which remains one of the main sources for Japanese Ibanez guitars.

Timeline