Dumb Question! Where are the Japanese Guitars?

MoodyBlue

MoodyBlue

New member
Ok I'm sure everyone else knows whats going on but I'm mostly a nose to the grindstone kind of guy and don't get out much. Why can I go to the big guitar stores and there are walls of fair to excellent quality (expensive) American guitars, Walls of cheap pounded out korean,Chinese and Indonesian guitars but none of the Japanese guitars that everyone seems to think are really good? Maybe I'm not going to the right places when I do get to go.

Seems to me some competition is in order to get prices back to reality. Look at you folks. You guys have fashioned some pretty killer guitars. Many from what started out as not so great. The world market can put together a $600 computer for your desk that could automate the average nieghborhood (and they're everywhere you look) but we cant make more better guitars?

It's got to have something to do with the greedy powers that be!

Or maybe I've just been woking too much!! Hmmm.

Jim:cool2:
 
Re: Dumb Question! Where are the Japanese Guitars?

Japan. ;)

No seriously, they are. Or ebay. Which are being sold from Japan
 
Re: Dumb Question! Where are the Japanese Guitars?

the thing is, there are really a metric buttload of very happenin' guitars coming from korea .. PRS, Schecter, Brian Moore, etc. ... and some from other places as well ... the really good japanese guitars are too expensive to bring over here ... so you gotta find em used (pawnshops, ebay, craigslist, etc) ...
 
Re: Dumb Question! Where are the Japanese Guitars?

I'm not that clear on exactly what you're asking, but question your gear appraisal.

I spend a lot of time carefully evaluating new instruments and I see a bunch of fair-to-terrible expensive American guitars of declining quality and increasing price and some fair-to-very-good Asian output of increasing quality, which includes some extremely expensive and artificially overpriced Japanese axes, such as Gretsch.

The reason that you're not seeing more Japanese output is that the major American corporations -- particularly FMIC -- don't want the competition and do what they can to stifle it by controlling what comes in from Japan. The few Fender Japan instruments that FMIC imports are made by a different producer than most Fender Japan domestic stock and are made to lower standards in terms of QC, materials and features -- and they're still better and cheaper than Fender US axes. FMIC has fairly constantly harassed Ishibashi for selling top-quality, domestic FJ output to buyers outside Japan via its website. The Japanese-market Fenders are the best production Fenders there are, and you can get them cheaper through personal importation than the comparable US models are here. FMIC owns Gretsch, and maintains a ridiculous MSRP range on them.

So, basically, to answer your question (as far as I understand it), the game is rigged. Did you doubt it?
 
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Re: Dumb Question! Where are the Japanese Guitars?

tone4days said:
the thing is, there are really a metric buttload of very happenin' guitars coming from korea .. PRS, Schecter, Brian Moore, etc. ...
Click to expand...
Virtually all of these, including Fenders, are made by Cor-Tek -- which has made superb guitars comparable to anyone's.

This doesn't mean that all of them are, because QC, materials and features are set to contract standards by the buyers, who usually have an interest in not importing guitars that are better made and less expensive than their own domestic production.

It's a total racket.

There's no trick to making an excellent guitar these days.
 
Re: Dumb Question! Where are the Japanese Guitars?

Fender just forbade just about all the old dealers who would loophole you into getting a Japanese guitar from being able to do so...

There are still a few CIJ Fenders available, (the Mustang, HH Jaguars and baritones, a few others) but say, normal Jaguars and Jazzmasters, which undercut US made Fenders by a good deal, are better made (IMO) and sound just as good (at the same time as offering more finish options) aren't available new now.

Ishibashi is one of those dealers that was asked to stop taking foreign orders. Though from what I've heard, there is NO difference between domestic and import market Japanese guitars... just like there's no difference between MIJ and CIJ. That myth was started most likely by people like GuitarGai on ebay to help them sell their ****. Course you can always do Japan custom shop but that's a whole different story.

Glad I snapped mine up when I did... though it was used anyway.

I think it's a similar story with a lot of the other manufacturers, though the Japanese Ibanez are relatively easy to come by, being that there are no US made guitars. And I dunno... are there lawsuit deals that prevent Tokais and whatnot from coming over?
 
Re: Dumb Question! Where are the Japanese Guitars?

What does CIJ mean?
 
Re: Dumb Question! Where are the Japanese Guitars?

have you seen the japanese jacksons? i think they're the best bang for the buck guitars today.
 
Re: Dumb Question! Where are the Japanese Guitars?

the US fenders have TERRIBLE QC!!! I'm shopping for my first strat and i played a whole bunch of american strats today and the materials are great, but these have to be the most inconsistent guitars i have EVER seen, the frets are stickint out hte sides of the fretboard like $100 guitars and can cut your hands, if you look close there are small hairline cracks and errors in finish!!! I found "1" that was ****ING EXCELLENT out of about 30 i looked at, and its the cheapest one, its a discontinued color from last year and its just a standard american blue with white pickguard maple neck and fretboard $600 new at clearout. The rest including deluxes had CRAP QC. Same with Gibson, i picked up a few upper end Les Pauls and they had terrible QC problems too. Low end schecters are nearly flawless and extremely consistent I'm talking like those damiens and c-1 FR's and stuff that are like $300, they make these $1300-$3000 look like crap. Except they are made out of cheap wood.
 
Re: Dumb Question! Where are the Japanese Guitars?

I can't add anything new to this thread, except to parrot the fact that the best place to get that Japanese goodness is from eBay and Ishibashi.co.jp.

I do want to say, though, that The Moody Blues kick ass.

That is all.
 
Re: Dumb Question! Where are the Japanese Guitars?

Is this what happened to the Charvel Pro series made in 2002 - 2003?

Jackson was making these just prior to the Fender buy out. These guitars were phenomenal both in quality and value (in fact if they had used a OFR, I wouldn't have known the difference from high end US). The Jackson MIJ, while they are exceptional guitars in their own right, don't compare to what these Charvels were. I have 3 Charvel Model As and A Plus' sitting right next to 2 06 Jackson DKS2s. I like the Charvels so much that I have scoured the net looking for any remaining NOS or used....
 
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Re: Dumb Question! Where are the Japanese Guitars?

So, what's he diff between Made and Crafted in Japan?
 
Re: Dumb Question! Where are the Japanese Guitars?

...in 1996, Fender started labling its Japanese guitars CIJ instead of MIJ :)
 
Re: Dumb Question! Where are the Japanese Guitars?

The CIJ guitars are great (I have two and will acquire more, hopefully). They are a bit different than the MIJ guitars that were imported en masse into the US during the 90s; those were excellent, too.
 
Re: Dumb Question! Where are the Japanese Guitars?

CIJ guitars CAN be a lot different than MIJ, but the changes weren't concurrent.

Fender's always made changes in their lineups, and some of the changes that people associate with CIJ/MIJ were made before the name switch, some after.

A late MIJ is exactly the same as an early CIJ.
 
Re: Dumb Question! Where are the Japanese Guitars?

I have a Fender EJ Strat. Excellent quality.

I have a Japanese-made Gretsch. Excellent quality.

I have two US-made Gibsons. Excellent Quality.

I'm currently down to 4 electrics and they're all great. It comes down to choosing carefully.

5th guitar is on the way.
 
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