About Mann guitars. Originally, they were made in the Fuji Gen Gakki factory, which is where Ibanez guitars were made. Some say Ibanez made their “lawsuit” guitars under the MANN name to avoid the lawsuit from Norlin (Gibson’s parent company), or having them siezed at the US border, but apparently Mann’s were released in Canada. Others say that Mann was just another company who ordered the exact same products that Ibanez made, & had their own brand on it. Either way, the guitars were as good as the Ibanez’s & identical in every way, and MANN guitars were very decent quality & I have a Mann Howard Roberts copy that is excellently crafted, very close to the original Gibson, plays & sounds great, & no, it doesn’t have tuning issues, even with the original tuners. Mann eventually started making guitars in Korea in a different factory, and that was where they made the really cheap Mann guitars, which were basically junk. Today, Mann guitars are quite hard to find & the good ones are worth a fair bit of money, depending on their condition, but the Korean made ones are not worth much at all, they never were.. Was Mann originally Ibanez? Who really knows for sure, but the guitars are identical & came from the same factory. The 2 different Manns, are easily identifiable by their font, quality, and the use of the mother of pearl on the good ones, rather than decals on the cheap ones.