Turnabout is fair play? Gibson's "Ibanez Artist"...

[aliensporebomb]

I was looking at the Pat Travers website (guitarist of bluesy/rock persuasion)
and saw THIS:

http://www.pattravers.com/pt/misc/misc_7.html
(see guitar at top of page)

And:
http://www.pattravers.com/pt/misc/misc.html
(second picture)

It looks like a double-cut Les Paul with a cherryburst finish and a Kahler.
Ala a certain Ibanez Artist...

http://www.pattravers.com/pt/discog/magnet.htm
That's a good picture on the cover of his "Blues Magnet" CD from 1994.

And:
http://www.pattravers.com/dw/tahoe_rbf/imagepages/image20.html

What a strange deal.  You have an American company imitating a
Japanese companies' variation on an American guitar design.

Anyone else see one of these?  I've seen TONS of double cut Les Pauls
but those are asymmetrical, this is the first symmetric doublecut ala the
Artist I've seen.

Wild!

[Roland_G303]

That guitar actually reminds me more of a double cutaway Gretsch Duo Jet than an Artist...but heck, doesn't Ibanez owe Gibson at least one copy?

Patrick

[aliensporebomb]

Checked Wikipedia and check this out:

"Gibson guitars produced a special edition sunburst Les Paul double cutaway guitar for Travers in 1983. It would become his main guitar for nearly twenty years and the one he was most often associated with in photos. Gibson produced only one other guitar of this type, which was made for Joe Walsh. Travers finally decided to get rid of the guitar in 2006 since he no longer used it, and sold it on EBAY for $10,000"

He could have just got an Artist!

[gemberbier]

Checked Wikipedia and check this out:

"Gibson guitars produced a special edition sunburst Les Paul double cutaway guitar for Travers in 1983. It would become his main guitar for nearly twenty years and the one he was most often associated with in photos. Gibson produced only one other guitar of this type, which was made for Joe Walsh. Travers finally decided to get rid of the guitar in 2006 since he no longer used it, and sold it on EBAY for $10,000"

He could have just got an Artist!

This is of course about contracts. He likes the shape of the Ibanez Artist, but they weren't willing to pay what he wanted. Then Gibson was willing to contract him and built what he ordered.

This P.T. Signature Model is a "one of". That explains the high value. I think that it is worth more now it has reached the age of 25. Now it is a "one of real vintage" Gibson axe, played by the man himself.


Ginger

[JohnS]

This is pretty interesting history about PT and this double cutaway Gibson. I always associated PT with the Melody Maker. Of courxe, now he's endorsing PRS. That's who's booth I've seen him at for the last three NAMM shows in LA.

Here's the the really interesting part. I'm standing in Ibanez's booth this past Jan. and guess who walks in looking for someone to talk to? Yes, PT himself. He starts up a conversation with two Hoshino employees who are very polite and inform him that whoever he needs to talk to is not there and maybe he could come back later. After he walks away, they both looked at each other and said: "who's Pat Travers?" I almost fell over!

[ibanezfreak1960]

I always assumed that the Artist was born from the Les Paul design.

[aliensporebomb]

I always assumed that the Artist was born from the Les Paul design.

I think it's a pretty safe assumption, I just never thought I'd see that familiar
shape actually produced by the "Big G".

Come to think of it, they've done stranger things - why not mass sell them?

I did talk to a guitar store employee (at a GC of all places) and they said
that the singlecuts outsold the doubles four to one or something like that.

All it would take is some iconic player like a Slash or someone to play an
AR and the sales would increase.