Who has gone to Japan, bought a guitar and brought it home?

[blakejcan]

Super stoked to be going to Japan for spring break. Definitely a once in a lifetime trip. They have their own version of London's Denmark street where a ton of guitar stores are all on one street which I am for sure going to check out. I know there are some brands and models that you can only find in Japan. In my fantasy land I'd love to buy something I can only find there and bring it or ship it back to the US. I'm wondering if that's even worth it or if I'd get hit with a ton of taxes, import fees, CITES issues or something else.

On the longshot chance that anyone else has tried this, please let me know how it went for you. Thanks!

 

[Chistopher]

I was just having this conversation this week. We didn't decide anything concrete except it would be a lot easier to do if the guitar costs less than $800

 

[blakejcan]

My limited online research seems to show that if you buy online and then have some funky 3rd party person ship it to you then most people get around any import fees but that sounds like something I'd want to learn a lot more about before committing to it.

Why $800? Is that some sort of import threshold?

 

[Chistopher]

It's called the de minimis exemption, any personal items less than $800 fair market value are exempt from duties and other fees​

 

[blakejcan]

Ah yea. Thanks. I just read up on that a bit.

I'd probably ship it home since risking it on an airplane home would be costly and risk it getting snapped in half.

I wonder if there are some shops I can email first and ask questions.

 

[jeremy]

ive never done it, heck, ive never been to japan, but its a thing for sure. im assuming buying then shipping home is fairly common. the japan only models of some guitars are pretty sweet for sure

 

[blakejcan]

looks like there are a lot of awesome floyded shredder guitars to be had

 

[beaubrummels]

Ochanomizu

Look for a Gackt model. There are a number of Gackt models from different makers. You won't see anything like them anywhere else.

 

[blakejcan]

I'm going this week. There are so many crazy brands and models you don't see anywhere. It's gonna be super fun to check it all out.

What I don't have is a shredstick. Something evil-looking like an ESP could be on the horizon. Open to suggestions.

Also pretty crazy it's the only place in the world with a giant Fender store.

 

[ICTGoober]

Have a safe trip and have fun.

 

[jeremy]

thats a hell of a guitar adventure! enjoy!

 

[Securb]

My old boss would go to Japan often and spend a lot of time at Guitar St. From what he told me, the stores are very good at assisting with shipping guitars to the States or elsewhere.

 

[playas]

Sounds like fun! Enjoy your trip

 

[Artie]

I posted a pic in someone else's thread, but their are several cool "girl-group" J/K-POP guitars that are only available in Asia.

 

[Securb]

I have seen amazing pictures of custom shop Ibanez and ESP in Japan that were mind-blowingly beautiful and only available overseas

 

[jeremy]

thats the most blinged out iceman ive seen

 

[blakejcan]

yesssss. this is what I'm talking about!

So there is an appt only Fuji Gen store that looks rad. Good value for the money but a kinda no-name brand in the US. Lots of Ibanez, Edwards, ESP stuff that looks super unique like above.

I'd love a Japan only Gretsch but I'm not seeing much. Some of the stores are so big they have variations/models of US stuff only available through that store too. Cool but I want something fully japan only and as weird as it gets.

 

[Mincer]

Some of the Japan-only Fender models are really cool. This was the Blackmore model:

 

[jeremy]

i couldnt care less about the electronics in that thing, but the neck joint is sweeeet! i remember when they came out, i tried to get my hands on one but it never happened

 

[Mincer]

i couldnt care less about the electronics in that thing, but the neck joint is sweeeet! i remember when they came out, i tried to get my hands on one but it never happened

From what I hear, it is a 2 position switch. And I wonder why Fender never used that neck joint on anything else. It rocks.

Also, Ritchie never used *any* of his signature models.