Ibanez L5

Allan Holdsworth (Beat Instrumental 1979)

Of course, in addition to being a very fine electric guitarist, Allan is quite at home on acoustic. Here he favours an Ibanez.

"The Ibanez Cello was my first really good acoustic guitar and I really do like it. I also have an old Gibson now, a 1938 Kalamazoo but it was a cheap one when it was made and although it’s still in absolutely perfect condition I have to admit that I prefer the sound of the Ibanez."

Allan Holdsworth (International Musician 1981)

Dick Knight is making me a spurce (sic) solid at the moment, I wonder what the experts make of that. My reason for trying it is because the timber is very light and I tend to get a better sound when I start with a light body. One day I’d like to get a guitar made like a Gibson L7, something that’s smaller than a Gibson Super 400, lighter with a larger scale. I like the clearer sound from a cello (‘f’ hole) guitar - Charlie Christian was my hero. Round hole guitars sound a little on the boomy side to my ears. I’ve used an Ibanez L5 type cello guitar for recording that wasn’t bad.

Any Key In The U.K. (Unknown publication 1978)

Any other guitars?

I’ve got a Gibson 12-string. It’s like the 335 but it’s really narrow at the nut so I don’t like it much. Unfortunately, there isn’t much choice with 12-strings because I’ve looked around and I couldn’t find one electric 12-String. Nobody seems to stock them. It’s OK apart from the narrow neck. It’s narrower than my Strat and it’s got twice the number of strings! I don’t suppose I’ll be playing it that much. I have an Ovation acoustic guitar. The only reason I bought that was because it’s amplified with that bridge thing. It’s much better than the Barcus Berry. You can get more volume without feedback. I’ve also got an Ibanez L5 copy and that’s beautiful. It’s the best acoustic I’ve ever heard. I used it on the album. I’ve finally found a guitar that I can play my own way. It’s not very loud but it’s really nice for recording.