A custom pink Ibanez, which was made for Paul Gilbert back in 1987 and dubbed the ‘Ice-Stroyer’, is on sale on Reverb.com.
The instrument, which has an asking price of $18,500 (approx. £15,900), is the unique result of a brief from Gilbert for a custom pink Ibanez Destroyer.
The story runs that, having become acquainted with Gilbert’s eye-popping playing style, the Ibanez builders realised that the Destroyer would not offer the necessary upper-fret access and so incorporated a bottom horn in the style of the brand’s Iceman build. The result? The ‘Ice-Stroyer’.
Built in Ibanez’s Bensalem, PA Custom Shop, it is one of only two guitars and the only one in pink (the other being an orange model built for Racer X bandmate Bruce Bouillet).
Gilbert’s Ice-Stroyer subsequently saw extensive use for Racer X shows, and later with Mr Big – both on tour and in the studio.
”I changed the bridge to a fixed bridge, moved the location of the toggle switch, and had a DiMarzio Tone Zone and a DiMarzio single coil pickup installed,” Gilbert explained in 2020.
”The back of the guitar has sushi stickers that I got on my first tour of Japan with Mr. Big back in 1989. And my signature on the headstock is back when I was still signing in script. The tall frets are in excellent condition, and the guitar plays and sounds great.”
The instrument remained in Gilbert’s personal collection until December 2020 when it went up for sale (again, on Reverb) for an asking price of $16,000.
At that point it was sold in order to raise funds for Gilbert’s Racer X bandmate (and Mars Volta bassist) Juan Alderete, who had sustained a serious brain injury as the result of a cycling accident.
Now the guitar has returned to the market for a slightly increased price, via Nashville dealers Rumble Seat Music. Head over to the Reverb page to check out the full listing.
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