Fender Japan

[Moustache_Bash]

We've probably already been over this, but why does Fender Japan have all the cool stuff? And, as a USA person, is there a place I can buy new MIJ/CIJ stuff? Maybe from a certain eBay seller or somethings....

[Eivind August]

Rakuten.com? Japan is just generally cooler.

[Holy Schnikes]

I've seen a lot of great reviews about this place here:

http://www.ishibashi.co.jp/eng/

[colin]

Yep Ishibashi seems like the best place to score MIJ guitars. I'm not speaking from personal experience but every time I see this question asked anywhere online Ishibashi gets rave reviews.

[backwardsvoyager]

Yeah Ishibashi has the ninja express shipping and a whole department of people that speak english to deal with international customers. I'm pretty sure they only do international sales on used items though http://www.ishibashi.co.jp/u_box/e/. There are pretty good deals that pop up if you keep your eyes peeled, even after like $150 shipping.

There are ebay sellers that sell the cool stuff but i don't think i've ever seen it priced reasonably, it's always like several hundred dollars more expensive than it should be.

[HorseyBoy]

Yeah, you can't really go wrong with Ishibashi. They have stores all over Japan and know how to pack and ship. I hate buying guitars without playing them first, but the quality of new Japanese Fenders is amazingly consistent so you're unlikely to buy a dud.

[Decibill]

The Japanese pop culture has a different "aesthetic" than we do in the USA. It's extremely trend and fashion forward. A lot of companies test what would be considered "risky" versions of product there prior to bringing them into the USA.

[kbit]

I know this is a fender thread, but Ishibashi has some dope Gibson basses. LPs, Rippers, and an RD.

& the orange mustang bass they have looks dope.