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| Now here's an interesting guitar! Just compare it to the Ibanez Concord 698 we sold recently; it's IDENTICAL! Not just similar. Ibanez guitars were never made in an 'Ibanez factory' as such, but were made by various manufacturers for the owner of the Ibanez brand name, Hoshino Gakki, based in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan. One of the main manufacturers used by Hoshino Gakki was FujiGen Gakki, and it is from this factory that this guitar would have originated back in the very early 1970s. FujiGen Gakki made very high quality guitars for various companies, including the Ibanez example already mentioned, Yamaha, Greco, Fender Japan (yes, all those lovely made-in-Japan Fenders!), Orville by Gibson (until 1998), Gretsch...you get the picture! Who knows who owned the 'Mendez' brand name at the time. Many Japanese instruments were exported to various distributors around the globe, each of whom used a different brand name to sell their stock. The many guises of Teisco guitars is a prime example. So it is with this guitar. While being made side-by-side in the factory with the Ibanez Concord 698, this guitar got a 'Mendez' label (still bearing the same model number!) and headstock badge. I can't help wondering whether an 'Ibanez' inlay lurks under the headstock badge... Timbers, bindings, bridge, pickguard, neck and headstock inlays, tuners...you name it; it's exactly the same guitar. Top is Spruce, back, sides and neck are Mahogany, and fretboard is Rosewood. And it looks and sounds just as great! And bang in the true vintage 'lawsuit' era, with its unashamed copying of the Gibson® 'open book' headstock shape. A fantastic vintage Japanese lawsuit copy of the top of the acoustic guitar food chain, the Gibson® J-200®. This guitar is virtually as-new, with only a couple of minor chips and marks. The frets display absolutely no wear at all, probably largely due to the fact that the black nylon (easy on the fingers!) strings fitted by the previous owner 36 years ago were still on the guitar! The new bronze/steel acoustic strings I've just fitted sound a LOT better. Neck is gunbarrel straight, with 3mm action at the 12th fret on the bass side, and about 2.5mm on the treble side. The guitar came in the original '70s vintage vinyl gig bag. We can source a suitable hard shell case at cost if necessary. Sold to Stephen in Geelong
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