It's a good time to buy from Japanese retailers

[DesertRose]

Re: It's a good time to buy from Japanese retailers

Here are some links,

http://www.ikebe-gakki.com/ if you see something you like, email overseas@ikebe.co.jp

http://www.ishibashi.co.jp/ send inquiries to intl@ishibashi.co.jp

http://www.guitarplanet.co.jp/ email electric@guitarplanet.co.jp

Then there's the Japanese retail aggregate sites:

http://www.digimart.net/

http://www.j-guitar.com/

http://global.rakuten.com/en/ , be sure to select "Japan" as the shipping country, and if you see something you like, it's often best to contact the shop directly rather than try to buy through the Rakuten purchase system.

I bought my EDS 1275 and R9 from www.digimart.net
Not all music stores accept credit card purchases via that site.
For the above 2 guitars which I bought, I did one with bank transfer on the former and directly from the shop for the latter.
It is something like gbase in the US.

 

[DreX]

Re: It's a good time to buy from Japanese retailers

All the Japanese retailers I've gone through have accepted Paypal without issue.

 

[1b4n3z]

Re: It's a good time to buy from Japanese retailers

It's indeed a great time to buy direct from Japan! I've bought two in the last two months - an Ibanez RG J Custom '06 and an ESP M-II Custom '11, both of which are in impeccable condition - basically unplayed - and great deals to boot. It almost looks like I need to overhaul/upgrade my entire stable

E: And the transaction was as smooth as you could want both times, even though the listing on the latter purchase mentioned 'no overseas shipping', but still they went through it. The store manager even sent me a video clip of his playing and detailed updates on shipping

 

[daan]

Re: It's a good time to buy from Japanese retailers

Can you link to an example? Some vintage Epiphones had Gibson-like head stocks while others had the carved out corners, so I'm curious to see what we're dealing with.

http://store.ishibashi.co.jp/ec/pro/disp/1/05-315163909
Man if I had ANY spare cash, this would already be heading my way...

 

[daan]

Re: It's a good time to buy from Japanese retailers

I also love checking the JP sites out for nutty stuff that never makes it over here (to WIsconsin, anyway) like this:

Well OK I guess I suck at the internet, or they don't let you link directly to the page for the guitar in question. It's inquiry number is Inquiry number : 06-315204609 but still...

 

[daan]

Re: It's a good time to buy from Japanese retailers

Crap I should never have come back to this thread, there's about 17 guitars I HAVE to have now...
http://www.ikebe-gakki.com/ec/pro/disp/1/378467

 

[daan]

Re: It's a good time to buy from Japanese retailers

http://www.ikebe-gakki.com/ec/pro/disp/1/368060

 

[DreX]

Re: It's a good time to buy from Japanese retailers

The color in those photos looks a little strange.

It definitely seems like Japan is more likely to offer the guitar that's "just right", though. Most the the offerings in the US are very traditional and by the numbers in comparison.

The construction quality of the Kanda Shokai stuff is amazing. If I understand correctly, they bought the rights to produce Zemaitis after Tony Zemaitis passed in 2002, and some of those guitars definitely look appealing.

I'd hit this single coil model, it's only $1,750

I've seen Joe Walsh use one of these, but it scream "alligator skin boots" to my eyes... might look better hanging on a wall, rather than in someone's hands.