Lower labor rates at the time, plus efficient manufacturing meant that Ibanez guitars could be sold for almost half (or less) of the cost of a Gibson Les Paul or Fender Stratocaster.

In the mid-1970s Hoshino Gakki wanted to make a distinctly Japanese guitar and to start breaking away from the Ibanez replicas of Fender and Gibson models.

A meeting between Hoshino (Ibanez), Kanda Shokai (Greco) and one of the main guitar factories in Japan (FujiGen) resulted in the Iceman/Mirage design.

Paul Stanley of KISS favored the Iceman from 1977 to 1980 and again used it primarily from 1992 to 1997 until he started endorsing his own model by Washburn guitars, but in 2016 he returned to Ibanez.

A photo of him performing with the Iceman appears inside the album cover of KISS Alive II.

Hardware equipped on it was Lo Pro Edge tremolo, two humbucking pickups, 3 knob control and 3 way toggle with coil split.

It was a limited edition run based on the Ibanez Iceman ICX shape and features a special graphic design painted by Daron’s father, Vartan Malakian.

Paul Gilbert's model was released at a 2009 Guitar show as the "Ibanez Fireman", with a set 3-piece korina/bubinga neck, 22 frets, and a 24-3/4" scale length.

It also contained a fixed Gibraltar II bridge, (with a Quick Charge tailpeice) and Dimarzio Area 67 hum-cancelling single coil pickups.

It comes with a hard Ibanez case, (authenticated by Paul Gilbert) and additional accessories, limited edition.

"[3] This 8-string signature model for Meshuggah guitarist Fredrik Thordendal is essentially a hybrid design blending the Iceman body shape with a reverse Gibson Firebird, featuring an ash wing body, 7-piece maple/walnut neck-through construction with KTS™ TITANIUM reinforcement rods, 27" scale length, jatoba fretboard (as of 2018), 24 jumbo frets, FX Edge III-8 locking fixed bridge and a pair of Lundgren M8P ceramic humbucking pickups.