Many years before he achieved success as a pop singer, George Benson (b.1943) had already been recognized as one of the finest jazz guitarists of his generation.

For his recordings, Benson plays archtop Gibsons, but found these instruments had a tendency to feed back at high sound levels during live appearances. Before long, he was in discussions with Ibanez over the development of a new electric guitar, tailor-made to his requirements, and bearing his name.

The result was the Ibanez GB10, a 2 1/2 inch deep hollow-body, which was launched at the National Association of Music Merchants Association (NAMM) trade show in Chicago in 1977, as has remained in production ever since. The tailpiece (covered with gold like the rest of the GB10’s hardware) features twin knobs that vary the tension of the upper and lower groups of strings.