The Roadster series, launched by Hoshino Gakki under the Ibanez brand in 1979, was a line of solid-body electric guitars and basses that ran for about four years. This series aimed to offer an alternative to Fender Stratocasters without directly copying their design. Roadster guitars featured a body shape with rounded contours and edges, similar to the Stratocaster, but lacked its iconic pickguard and angled output jack. They came equipped with single-coil pickups and a 5-way selector switch. Roadster basses, on the other hand, drew inspiration from Fender bass designs.
This series marked Ibanez’s initial foray into Strat-style guitars while avoiding outright imitation. The Roadster guitar lineup, consisting of only a few models, was eventually succeeded by the Blazer series, which offered a similar aesthetic.
