BOGUE, REX

Designer Rex Bogue was an independent luthier perhaps best known for his association with jazz guitarist Mahavishnu John McLaughlin, and the heavily inlaid doubleneck Double Rainbow guitar that Bogue created for him. Bogue credited the inlay work from S.S. Stewart banjo inlays and the French art nouveau painted Alphonse Mucha as inspiration for the "Tree of Life" fingerboard inlay design on McLaughlin's guitar.
Luthier Bogue was associated with the Ren Ferguson Guitar Company in Venice, CA when the Double Rainbow was created; he later formed his own Rex Bogue Guitars in San Gabriel. Bogue created a number of other custom inlay commissioned works during the early 1970s, including a four-string bass/six-string guitar doubleneck for bassist Miraslav Vitous (ex-Weather Report).
In 1971, Rex developed the first commercially-sold internal (onboard) preamp for electric guitars and basses, selling "The Balz™" preamps through trade shows and magazine advertisements and in 1973 offered professional guitar and amplifier modifications from his retail shop.
McLaughlin's doubleneck also attracted the attention of Jeff Hasselberger at Ibanez, who copied a near-resemblance of the Bogue guitar for the Ibanez Artist line of single and doubleneck instruments. Ibanez' vaguely SG-shaped doubleneck recreation debuted in the 1975 Ibanez catalog as the model 2670, under the Professional or Artist Autograph series. While the model 2670 was available from 1975 through 1980, it is estimated that only a dozen were actually produced and the 1970s retail list was $1,500. Sources: Ron Williams, Rex Bogue Guitars and Michael Wright, Guitar Stories, Volume One.