I’ve been playing guitar for over 35 years. This is the story of how I discovered guitar, how I started, who influenced my playing and how my interest in Ibanez was shaped to what it is today.
My Father’s Guitar
I discovered my passion for the guitar at age ten, when I found my father’s Troubadour jazz guitar in the attic of our house. I liked it and started strumming it. I certainly wasn’t a regular player — or even a ‘player’ at all. I had no clue what I was doing, but I still clearly remember trying to play along with this guitar record by Francis Goya that my mother and father had – yes, an actual 33 rpm long play record! And I could do that quite well. My parents encouraged me to play, without pushing me to get better or to take lessons. They just wanted me to have fun. Music was always in our house, whether through radio or records, and with my father playing a bit of guitar, my mother singing in an opera society, and my sister playing the flute, I guess it was inevitable that I too started playing music.
I chose guitar because I found it to be a fascinating instrument. What made it even more appealing was that this beautiful guitar I’d found in the attic had been my father’s instrument of choice when he was a young man.
Over the years, I’ve always cherished my father’s guitar. It always stood in the corner of a room. It has mostly served as a decorative piece because it is just too fragile to play anymore and I don’t want to risk damaging it. This guitar has an immeasurable emotional value; I could lose all of my other guitars, but this one will always be with me.
Since the last time I moved, my father’s guitar hangs off the wall on top of the stairs, backlit by a LED. Every time I walk up or down the stairs, I am reminded of how I discovered my love for the guitar. And of course it reminds me of my father 😊
Joe Satriani – Flying in a Blue Dream
A few years after I discovered that guitar and started to play it a bit, a friend of mine – Rinaldo, who also played a bit of guitar – gave me a TDK tape. “Listen to this. You’ll like it.” I was blown away by what I had just heard and I exclaimed: “I want to learn how to play like that!”
The year was 1989. The tape was ‘Flying in a Blue Dream’ by Joe Satriani.
The Cyclone – My First Electric Guitar
Because my father saw how I upped my practicing and how serious I had become about learning to play the guitar properly, he bought me my first electric guitar and a small MG10-like amplifier after only a week or two. The guitar I chose was a black guitar with a ‘monkey grip’. Just like the Ibanez JEM. But back then, I had no knowledge of electric guitars or guitars at all, nor did I know that the Ibanez JEM even existed. I picked it simply because the handlebar looked cool. The guitar was a Cyclone by EKS Technologies, a guitar company – like Hoshino – based in Nagoya, Japan.
I loved that guitar. I spent hours a day practicing on that guitar, only to come down for dinner. It was with that guitar that I learned how to properly play.
To actually learn what I was doing, I took guitar lessons at the local music school. But only for a couple of months, because I had to learn how to sight read and I had to play simple songs from a simple book. That just wasn’t for me. A few weeks in, I brought the aforementioned TDK tape with ‘Flying in a Blue Dream’ to my teacher. “I want to learn how to play like that”, I told him after letting him listen to it. “Sorry mate, but I cannot teach you how to do that.” That day was my last lesson with him …
Gordon – Learning by Listening
Alex, a friend of mine who was a great guitar player, pointed me in the direction of a local jam session. His guitar teacher, Gordon – a well-known teacher in my hometown – was the driving force behind that jam session. I got to know Gordon well and every Thursday evening after dinner, I would come to his house, we would jam a little bit and would go to the venue together to set up the backline of the jam session.
Although I never took actual guitar lessons from Gordon, I learned a lot from him; every Thursday evening he would show me a cool guitar trick or educated me about some music theory. Above all he taught me to really listen to my own playing: “Hear the melody in your head first”, “Not playing anything can be more musical, than just playing to play something” and “When you’re playing with other musicians, learn by listening”.
That advice resonated and has stuck with me to this day.
At these jam sessions I was fortunate to play with a lot of different musicians. Some of them were just starting out, while others were (near) professional. The jam sessions in my hometown were pretty popular; quite a few musicians from other cities would come to Zutphen to jam with us. Those were some amazing times. I learned so much from playing with other musicians. I still find that beneficial today.
Bas – Alternate Picking
In 1990, I played in a graduation party school band. Although I vividly remember the names of the people in the band (Rachel & Harro – vocals, Lennard – keyboards, Daan – drums, Jochem – bass and Bas and myself on guitars), unfortunately after 30+ years, my memory doesn’t serve me that well for the repertoire. But I clearly remember playing Cuddly Toy by Roachford; a pretty cool and guitar-intensive song.
It was in this school band where I met Bas, who would be starting his education at the Dutch College of Music in Amsterdam the next year. When we got together to practice for that school band, he taught me about playing guitar. Nothing really fancy – maybe because these lessons weren’t actually lessons but practice sessions or Bas was just sort of measuring his own knowledge? – but his teachings made a lasting impression. And they’ve stuck with me to this day.
The most valuable thing I remember being taught by Bas, is alternate picking. Because “it just makes sense from an economical point of view.” At that time I was quite the metalhead; I played a lot of down strokes. And Bas told me “In the time it takes to move your pick back up over the string, you can also hit the string. And if you learn how to do that properly, you can play faster and easier.”
Steve Vai – Passion & Warfare
In those days, I was like a sponge – I soaked up everything I could find about guitars and playing guitars. I spent hours reading books and every month I would buy the newest edition of Guitar World and learn all the guitar licks featured in that magazine. I sat in front of the TV for hours, watching Headbangers Ball. I clearly remember being blown away by Steve Vai when he hosted an episode of the show in May of 1990, when he had just released his new album ‘Passion and Warfare‘.
After seeing that episode of Headbangers Ball, of course I checked out Passion and Warfare and needless to say, I had never heard anything like it before. I became a big fan of Steve Vai and it took quite a few years before I would hear an instrumental guitar album that was so impressive and so different; that probably was ‘Erotic Cakes’ by Guthrie Govan in 2006.
I also watched a lot of episodes of ‘Talking Jazz‘ which featured interviews with, and performances by some of the greatest jazz artists on the planet. I loved those broadcasts and often I would record them on a VHS tape to be able to watch them again and learn from them. This sparked my interest in jazz and fusion and all these beautiful harmonies. Plus, it exposed me to amazing musicians and guitar players like Pat Metheny, George Benson and John Scofield (who didn’t become Ibanez endorsed artists by accident).
Guitar Legends Sevilla
In October 1991 I watched the ‘The Rock Night’ from Guitar Legends in Seville on TV. It was the first time I ever saw Joe Satriani and Steve Vai perform live. Together with an all-star-band. My jaw dropped to the floor. I knew that I had chosen wisely to start learning how to play the guitar.
Guitar World Magazine
Through all the Guitar World magazines, I was introduced amazing guitar players; Greg Howe, Paul Gilbert, Eric Johnson, Steve Morse, Richie Kotzen, Frank Gambale, Al DiMeola, Pat Metheny and many, many more. Every month I would go to my local record store and listen to their music. Most of times I bought a CD from one of those players. Back home, I would try my best to learn the guitar solos by ear, sometimes with the help of a transcription in Guitar World.
John Petrucci & Dream Theater
In the summer of 1992 I first heard John Petrucci play on ‘Pull me under‘ from Dream Theater’s second album ‘Images & Words’ on Headbangers Ball. And again, I was completely blown away by a guitar player. Especially his lightning-fast, alternate picking technique. He pretty much had a similar effect on me as Joe Satriani and Steve Vai did a few years before him.
Never before had I heard anything like Dream Theater. And I had never heard anyone play like John Petrucci. Although they were influenced by bands with a similar, progressive rock style such as Rush, Genesis and Yes, in 1992 those bands were not yet on my musical radar.
In 1995 John Petrucci released his instructional video ‘Rock Discipline‘. Alex – my aforementioned, guitar-playing friend – bought a copy of that video on VHS. We must have watched that video dozens of times and each time we would rewind the video. Difficult? Absolutely. But more than anything, it inspired us to become better guitar players. Moreover, John Petrucci introduced me to players who had influenced him, players like Steve Morse and Al DiMeola. Since they too used alternate picking in their playing, I was again captivated by the way they mastered their instrument. And of course I bought their music.
Around the time that Rock Discipline was released, John Petrucci started writing monthly columns in Guitar World called ‘Wild Stringdom’, where he would write something that I would try to figure out how to play. A book by the same name would later be released as a collection of the lessons featured in the magazine. And of course I had to have that too.
Steve Morse – Coast to Coast
After learning that John Petrucci was heavily influenced by Steve Morse, I went to my local music store to listen to ‘Coast to Coast’, which Steve had just release a few months earlier. And again … I was completely blown away. The opening track ‘User Friendly‘ floored me from the first notes on.
Never before had I heard such an immensely powerful yet highly melodic first few bars. I didn’t even needed to listen to the whole album; I bought it immediately, brought it home and started to figure out how to play all these amazing tracks. And that endeavour took quite a while. Of course, I also bought the earlier albums by The Steve Morse Band and the ones they released later.
Luckily Steve had released his instructional video ‘Power Lines‘ in 1989 and ‘The Complete Styles of Steve Morse‘ in 1991. I devoured those videos. I must have watched them dozens of times. And I learned so much from them. Luckily, nowadays they are on YouTube, because unfortunately I have no idea where those VHS tapes are …
Although it’s not an Ibanez, the Music Man Steve Morse – Steve’s signature guitar that he has been playing since 1985/1986 – had always been my ‘dream guitar’. But, because I certainly couldn’t play like Steve Morse, I always felt like I didn’t deserve a guitar of such grandeur.
Luckily, my mindset changed and in 2021 I bought myself my dream guitar for my birthday.
Modifying Guitars
Besides learning how to actually play the guitar on my first electric guitar – the Cyclone – I learned a lot about how a guitar worked from that first guitar. I learned about guitar construction, how electronics were wired and how pickups worked. And – of course – I learned how to modify a guitar. I took the guitar apart, sanded the paint off it, filled the holes of the single coils, chiselled a new cavity for a humbucker in it and even made the neck a bit thinner. After that, my father and I refinished it. Because my father was a teacher in professional decorating and painting, he had a spray booth in his classroom, so under the guidance of my father the refinish was done professionally. And because I had some purple metallic paint left over from my moped, that black Cyclone turned purple. You can see the result in the two black & white photos.
I installed a DiMarzio FRED in the bridge position and a DiMarzio PAF Pro in the neck position. Because those were the pick-ups that Joe Satriani used. In all my naivety I figured “If I put in these pickups, I will sound like Satriani.” Little did I know back then …
A year – or maybe two – later, I modified that Cyclone a bit more. Because I became influenced by Steve Morse, of course I had to modify my guitar to be similar to the one Steve Morse was playing. Unfortunately I don’t have any photos of the guitar with all the modifications I made, but back then it had two humbuckers + two single coils and a transparent pickguard with structured purple paper underneath. Back then I thought it was the coolest thing ever. Still … little did I know back then. But at least it was a cool guitar.
Unfortunately, that first electric guitar didn’t survive all my experiments. Luckily, a couple of years ago I discovered that exact same guitar on the local Dutch eBay for €60. I bought it immediately. Without hesitation. Without trying it first. Without knowing if it was any good. I bought it because of sentimental reasons. Because I’ve always regretted losing my first electric guitar. Surprisingly, the guitar was in very good shape after 30+ years. Of course, it had some ‘wear and tear’, but the guitar was good and everything was still original. The only difference was that this guitar was white, while my first guitar was black. Hopefully, I will find a black one in the years to come.
After a couple of years of playing Ibanez guitars, it occurred to me that it couldn’t have been a coincidence that I was captivated by them. It was because I was influenced by all these great players that I admired; Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, John Petrucci and all the other amazing players whom I had seen on television and of whom I had read so much about in guitar magazines. So I guess that before I bought my first Ibanez, I had been unconsciously indoctrinated. And I believe that was a good thing.
Ibanez RG570FM – My First Ibanez
My first Ibanez was an ’91 RG570FM. I bought that guitar in early 1992. It was a spot model, made by Fujigen (F serial) to commemorate the 70th anniversary in 1991 of Serlui – the Dutch distributor of Ibanez, Tama and Mesa Boogie, who later became Hoshino Europe.
70 of these guitars were finished in a transparent purple and black burst (actually called ‘Amethyst Burst’) and 70 of these guitars were finished in transparent red. 35 of each of these purple and red guitars, had gold hardware and block fretboard inlays (like this one and this one), while the other 35 had chrome hardware and offset dot inlays. The dot inlays and the chrome hardware on the purple guitar was more appealing to me and I considered myself very fortunate to get my hands on one of these purple Ibanez guitars. And the purple one probably wasn’t by accident; my Cyclone was purple too.
Unfortunately, I lost that guitar in early 1994 😥
Ibanez RG470FM – The Lesser Successor
Because I really liked my 570, it just made sense to me to buy a similar guitar. So, to replace the 570 I bought an RG470FM in transparent blue with gold hardware. It wasn’t quite as nice as its predecessor – because that one was unique – but it was still a great guitar. When I went to Bosnia as a United Nations Peacekeeper in May ‘94, I unscrewed the neck from the body and packed both in my suitcase, together with my Digitech RP1. This way, I could keep playing guitar while serving in the military abroad.
When I returned home from military service in November, I had a lot of money in my bank account, something like 18.000 Dutch guilders. In 1994. As a 21-year-old. That was because we were paid really well (about 1.500 army salary + 1.500 as a UN ‘danger bonus’), but we couldn’t actually spend any money, because we were in a war zone. I was fortunate enough to be a truck driver for our camp’s logistics company; in the weekends of nearly every week I got to drive in a convoy from our base in Busovača in Bosnia to our logistical base in the port city of Split in Croatia – which was a war-free province. While there, me and my army colleagues were able to have pizza and beers in a restaurant and we could even go out to a bar in the evenings. But we never went out shopping. And certainly not for guitars. Besides that, in 1994 I hadn’t yet experienced the infamous Guitar Acquisition Syndrome 😁
So, after I returned home, I went shopping for some good things. Good guitars. Good amplifiers. Good effects. I remember telling Kaj – the guy in my guitar shop, who currently is located at kajsguitarstore.nl: “Money is not a problem!” I still remember that big smile on his face.
Ibanez UV7P Universe – Signed by Steve
I kept the RG470 and I bought a second-hand, white 1990 Ibanez Universe. Because ever since I got a copy of ‘Passion and Warfare’ I really wanted one of Steve’s guitars. Preferably, ‘that white one on the inside of the CD booklet’. Because it looked cool. Because I could afford one now. “Money is not a problem.”
Steve Vai signed my 7-string monster when I met him in 1997 after the G3 concert in Rotterdam. Of course he signed it. Although apparently Steve would sign anything, even if it wasn’t an Ibanez. But I still found it to be a big honor and very cool to have an Ibanez Universe with Steve Vai’s signature on it.
Unfortunately, the photo of Steve signing my Universe taken by my then girlfriend, developed too dark. But I vividly remember that moment and also the short conversation with Steve (and with Mike Keneally in the 10 or so minutes before Steve arrived) about the guitar; how I played it and how I liked it.
The Universe served as a backup guitar for many years. I didn’t play it a lot, although I did occasionally venture out to play some seven-string melodies with my bass player. That extra low end growl was quite moving. Literally, because all that low end moved air through our pants like crazy.
That day in november 1994, I walked out of the guitar shop with not only that Universe, but also with a Digitech GSP2101 preamp & processor, a Marshall 9100 power amp and a Marshall 1960A cabinet; basically the rig below. Looking at the receipt, I apparently traded in a Yamaha VR4000 – an amplifier that I completely forgot about for years until I wrote this article.
In the photo below, you can also see a second 2101 and a GSP2120 plus a Marshall JMP-1 MIDI-controlled tube preamp, which I added to my rig at later times. The second 2101 has served as a donor for spare parts. The purple 2120 – that I was lucky enough to be able to buy for €80; a complete bargain – replaced the 2101 in around 2020.
On the floor is a Johnson J12; a foot controller which has a much better and sturdy design than the rather cheap, plastic foot controllers that came with the 2101 and 2120. Plus it has two continuous controller pedals, with which you can effortlessly manipulate any parameter in the Digitech.
On top of the rig, you see an Axe I/O that I sometimes use to connect my guitar to Amplitube software on my computer.
In the photo you see – besides later additions – the original equipment that I bought in 1994. And today, I still play through all of these.
Ibanez AE60 – My First Ibanez Acoustic
Around that time (late 1994 / early 1995) I also wanted to get a good acoustic guitar. One that I could plug into an amplifier. And of course that just had to be an Ibanez AE series. Because Paul Gilbert played one in the video of ‘To be with you‘ and John Petrucci played one in the video of ‘Another Day‘. So it was obvious to me that I had to get one and Ibanez AE as well.
Although I tried a couple of different acoustic guitars and the Yamaha APX came really close, I chose the Ibanez AE60 in a matte natural finish as the guitar that was allowed to come home with me (according to the receipt).
Ibanez RG540PII – Still Modifying Guitars
In 1997 (according to the receipt), I also bought a second-hand, 1989 RG540PII – the guitar made famous by Alex Skolnick of Testament. I played it for quite some time, before I decided to customize it. I guess my modding days still weren’t over. Little did I know that this would become quite a rare, sought-after and valuable guitar. Oh well.
My 540PII was configured with a humbucker in the bridge and a single coil in the neck position and was Desert Yellow, before I sanded the top off and I made the neck pickup cavity bigger to fit a humbucker. I added a nice tiger-stripe, maple veneer on the top and finished it with eight layers of forest green and eight coats of clear lacquer. The back and sides were finished in gloss black.
I replaced the stock IBZ/USA with a DiMarzio Air Norton in the neck and the FRED that came out of my Cyclone in the bridge position. The stock pickups were ‘decent’ pickups (produced by DiMarzio), but I wanted something with a bit more air and a bit more bite – The FRED was Joe Satriani’s signature bridge pickup; it was basically a PAF Pro with a boosted mid-range, so that it would sit a bit nicer in the mix. The combination with the aptly named Air Norton – which had a more open, ‘airy’ kind of tone – was surprisingly pleasant to my ears. As if the 540 became a guitar with a completely different character.
I called Patrick Koopman – who in those days did all the official repair work on Ibanez guitars for Serlui, the Dutch Ibanez distributor – and I asked him if I could buy an official chrome Ibanez headstock decal from him. Although email did exist back then, I had to send a letter (!) with photos of the guitar including one that clearly showed its serial number. Fortunately Patrick agreed to send me the decal that I wanted to complete the guitar.
I remember learning the ‘tricks of the trade’ of finishing a guitar from Huub – a local luthier. He taught me how to get rid of the orange peel in the finish, by wet sanding the lacquer with 1000 grit sandpaper and polishing it with Commandant and after polishing to buff it with Turtle Wax. A process that probably every luthier knew, but as a young man I had no idea. And the result on my 540PII was pretty amazing.
When I performed with my band, this Ibanez RG540PII was the backup for my Ibanez RG620BM (see further down) for many years
Ibanez RG620BM – ‘Number One’
In November 1996 (according to the receipt), I traded in my RG470FM for the Limited Edition RG620BM, which was featured in the 1996 Ibanez Supplementary Limited Edition catalogue (below). Apparently, I made a good deal on trading in the 470, because the reipt shows that I paid 1395 Dutch guilders, while the retail price of the 620 was 1995. That means that I traded in my nearly three year old 470 for 600 guilders. I bought the 470 in early 1994 for around 1350 (the US pricelist shows the 470 for $700 and the exchange rate for the Dutch guilder in 1994 was roughly 1.92). The 620 became my ‘Number One’ and stayed my ‘Number One’ for many years.
The RG620BM is also known as the ‘Mahogany JPM’, because it has the same control layout as the guitar that was made famous by John Petrucci. Compared to the JPM – which is made out of basswood – I believe that the 620 is a bit nicer guitar, because they are built out of mahogany, which is known for its warmer and more subtle tone quality. Moreover, although I really like the JPM and its uniqueness, I like transparent (sunburst) finishes that show the wood underneath. And my 620 has a so-called ‘stained oil’ (SOL) finish which makes the guitar not only look beautiful, but it makes you feel the grain of the beautiful burl mahogany top. Because the 620 has a Wizard II (19mm) neck, it feels a bit more ‘beefy’ than my other RG’s with the older Wizard (17mm) neck. The difference in size seems only minor, but it adds to a bit more sturdy overall feel of the guitar. And the difference is definitely noticeable.
The 620 is equipped with first series Ibanez Quantum (QM1 & QM2) pickups, which – instead of the apparently not so popular QM6 pickups that were introduced in 2013 – sound amazing! Tonewise, they’re very close to the DiMarzio Steve’s Special and Air Norton that are in the JPM. I believe that they’re so good, that I’ve never even felt the need to do the ceramic/alnico swap. And not only the pickups were really good, the whole guitar was amazing. Apart from the strings, I’ve never felt the need to change anything on it.
Retiring From Playing Live
I ‘retired’ from playing live in around 2006, after my son Arthur was born. Getting back home on a Saturday night around 03:00 – 04:00 and waking up at 06:00 in the morning just wasn’t sustainable for me. And that was alright. I would rather spend time with my newborn son, than performing or practicing. It was something that I had done for quite a long time and that was enough. It was good. But it was enough.
I did however keep playing guitar; I always had a guitar in the living room that I could grab and noodle on. And although I didn’t need them, I did buy another guitar every now and then. And sold a couple of them too.
Although I always had a guitar near and I would occasionally play acoustics with friends, I didn’t play a lot for 10-15 years. That changed, when Corona hit us in early 2020. I started playing more. Besides that, I became interested in the history of my guitars. I became interested in the Ibanez brand; where they actually came from, how they started and how the Ibanez brand could have become such a big name. Needless to say, I went down quite the rabbit hole. I discovered the amazing history of the Ibanez brand, the artists who played them through the years – starting in the early ’60s – and Hoshino Gakki, the company behind all of this success.
My First Vintage Ibanez
It was in those times that I bought my first true vintage (from the ’70s) Ibanez. A 1975 model 2351M. I bought that guitar from an older man who could not play anymore because of his arthritis. He was the first owner and the guitar had led quite an interesting life. I promised him that I would take good care of his guitar.
After buying that 2351M, I became victim of the infamous Guitar Acquisition Syndrome and because of that, quite a few other vintage Ibanez followed – although not all of them were true vintage models. I also bought some ‘bargains’ – the ones that were just too good to pass on; like the AFS75 with a broken-off headstock that I bought for only €60 and repaired to a playable condition. Or ‘project guitars’ that would cost me only a couple of bills; like the quite rare SB70 (also see this Ibanez Wiki article) with an easy-to-fix, break through the top of the control cavity for only €100.
Plus a few guitars from Ibanez’ (more budget-friendly) sister brand Cimar who were relatively short-lived, between 1973 and 1984. Like my pristine 1975 1940WH or my 1975 LP-2G with a beautiful story, that I will write later.
Or guitars from another sister brand of Ibanez, like my beautiful, vintage Gerrinez (great story, more later) or the slightly less vintage but still gorgeous 1994 Starfield Altair AL330.
In the photo here above you can see part of my vintage Ibanez (and Cimar) collection in my guitar room (and guest room / home office). From left to right: 360 (1968), 2372 (1974), 2375 (1973), 884 (1963), 992 (1963), 994 (1962), 2342 (1975), LP-2G (1975), 1904S (1975), 2351M (1975). The acoustics are a 647 and a 647-12, the latter was in restoration at the time I took this photo.
And that is – as they say – how it all started. Thanks for reading 😊🤘🏻