In 1908, Hoshino Gakki opened a musical division within Hoshino Shoten, a company specialized in the bookshop sector in Japan. From 1929, Hoshino Gakki began importing guitars from the Spanish luthier Salvador Ibáñez, until the workshops of the factory were destroyed during the civil war.

Finding no more guitars to import, Hoshino Gakki then bought the brand and started manufacturing Spanish acoustic guitars in 1935, first under the label Ibanez Salvador then under the Ibanez brand. Handmade, their distribution remained limited.

In 1965, Harry Rosenbloom, who handcrafted guitars in the United States (in Ardmore, Pennsylvania) under the Elger brand, decided to devote himself exclusively to sales and became the exclusive distributor of Ibanez guitars for North America.

It was in the 1970s that Ibanez's growing success began. First with replicas of American Gibson, Fender, and Rickenbacker guitars, then with guitars featuring original bodies, thin-profile necks, and innovative colors. All this allowed Ibanez to establish itself permanently in the musical landscape of the 1980s, simultaneously winning the hearts of the majority of heavy metal musicians.