“I told Ibanez, ‘You make wonderful instruments, but you have nothing original.’ They said, ‘That’s why we’re here’”: How George Benson helped take Ibanez to the next level in the late-’70s

George Benson and Ibanez go way back. Having worked together on a range of signature guitars across a four-decades-long relationship, the Breezin' guitarist and the Japan-turned-global guitar brand have become inextricably linked.

However, before partnering with Ibanez, Benson was mostly using Guild guitars. But after his deal turned sour and he couldn't get any guitar brand on the phone, it was Ibanez who recognized his talent and potential knack for innovative ideas that would go on to transform the brand forever.

“I remember recording the album Weekend In LA, [released in 1978] and these Japanese gentlemen came to my dressing room,” Benson tells Guitarist. “They knocked on the door, and I said, ‘Come on in.’ They came in and said, ‘We’re from Ibanez…’

“I said, ‘Oh, I just played your guitar. You make wonderful instruments, but you have nothing original.’ They said, ‘That’s why we’re here. Do you have any ideas?’ I said, ‘Oh, yeah…’”

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Benson shared his ideas, and about a year later, while playing a concert in Japan, the Ibanez representatives ushered him to a theater. While he was onstage, they took photos of him holding his new signature guitars. This proved to be a surreal moment for the guitarist, who had never truly believed that something like this could happen to someone like him.

“Can you imagine a little kid, George Benson, ever thinking he would have a guitar named after him? As a kid, I couldn’t even think that far ahead or about anything that prestigious.

“But there I was, with a guitar that had my name on it. It was the beginning of a new career, and I’ve been with Ibanez ever since. It’s wonderful.”

Benson is currently selling some of his most prized gear – including some of his Ibanez guitars – on his freshly-opened official Reverb shop.

For more from George Benson, plus new interviews with Marcus King and Myles Kennedy, pick up issue 518 of Guitarist at Magazines Direct.