1970's "Kopy Kat", A Gibson F-5 duplicate

[sides7]

I purchased a mandolin in the 1970's, the sales person called a "kopy kat".It's an exact duplicate of the Gibson F-5 of the 1970's, except no logo on the headstock or tailpiece.It does have the Gibson Flowerpot inlay on the head. It also has the fancy fret board inlays just like the Ibanez 524. It is a well made instrument with a wonderful sound.It looks like the Ibanez 524 in the catalog, except for having a black headstock and flower pot like the Gibson. The case it came in looks exactly like the Ibanez 524 case in the catelog. I've been told it was made by Ibanez before they started putting their own logo's on the mandolins. Can you confirm it's an Ibanez or tell me anything else about my mandolin? /image{overview}/image{back}/image{sideview}

[gemberbier]

Welcome Sides7,

It is a misunderstanding that Ibanez produced instruments.
Ibanez is a trademark owned by a trading company called Hoshino, which orders, buys and sells guitars from different manufacturers. The most famous one is Fuji Gen Gakki.

Fuji Gen Gakki and the other suppliers also made instruments for other companies. Sometimes they got a well known brand, sometimes a pretty obscure one, and sometimes no brand at all.

A copy cat without the Ibanez brand (or even any brand at all) is NOT an Ibanez, which doesn't mean that the quality can't be excellent. That's all a matter of materials and craftsmanship. So the players value might be the same as that of an Ibanez (if it's made by the same manufacturer). The collector's value however is significantly lower.

Oh, about uploading pictures. Your mistake is just a small one: you should use backslash instead of slash.


Ginger