First the Mickey Mouse Strat now this:



Why do they only do this stuff in Japan? This would be the ultimate stage guitar.

Why don't we ever see this stuff?

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I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet.

I'm not crazy about that guitar, but Japan does have a particularly vibrant guitar market.

That's partly because Japan allows logos to be trademarked but not things like headstock shapes -- it's a freer market than here where manufacturers have to compete by having better products rather than legal protections. Fender Japan has to put out amazing things to compete against Fernandes, Tokai, Edwards, etc. (Even though Fender Japan contracts with some of those companies to actually build the Fender Japan guitars, they're still competitors.)

I have to agree- I love this model and it's only avail in Japan:



Now you cannot tell me this wouldn't sell elsewhere in this world!!

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I've always wanted their Candy Apple Red Jazzmaster with the block markers.

One of these days . . .

They definitely sold those in Europe- one of my old friends got one from Thomann when they came out.

And yes, Fender Japan have some crazy awesome instruments... remember they did a '62 RI Telecaster Custom in this amazing sparkle blue that I wanted for, like, ages. Until I remembered I don't like Telecasters very much.

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'01 American Deluxe HSS Strat.
'87 Japan HSS Strat.
'11 Custom Shop FMT HSS Strat.

"Without music, time is just a bunch of boring production deadlines and dates by which bills must be paid."

You're probably right about the prices. I think what we're talking about here isn't quality as much as it is product variety and taking some risks. Unless you're buying the American Standard Strat or Tele there aren't a lot of color choices like there used to be. Fender USA has become kind of . . . conservative?

I understand the economy isn't good and musical instrument sales tend to suffer in times like these and offering fewer choices keeps costs down. I get e-mail from Musician's Friend about every other day and each one sounds more desperate than the last, but . . .

. . . I still want a CAR Jazzmaster with block markers.

Isn't Fender Japan some sort of outlying business that yields little in the way of profit percentage to FMIC. The majority of the profits going to a separate bunch of shareholders. Likely a leftover from the 70's fake guitar manufacturers.

I have a vague recollection of something along those lines being the case. Unable to defeat such an enterprise they work alongside them. Allowing for Fender branded products to be sold in a market that is notoriously hard to crack.
So FMIC want to limit the amount of Japanese products sold abroad, limit the loss of revenue. Keep the Japanese market happy. And finally, negate any resurgence of the 'copy' guitars that threatened them so during the 70's and 80's.

Also I ask you how many of those guitars would actually sell on western shores?
We all like to look at the pictures and think 'thats so great'. But when I see one in person conservatism wins.

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No no and no

I have to agree with him. It seems really cool, but then I'd be like "Why didn't I buy a plain one?" I love the color of the pickguard though.

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1984 Squier Contemporary Stratocaster
1986 Peavey Envoy 110
1967 Kingston Acoustic

Fender Japan was started by CBS in '82. Fender USA owns 51%, the other part is shared by two Japanese wholesale distributors -- Yamano Gakki and Kanda Shokai. Fender Japan isn't a manufacturer -- all of their products are built for them by other companies (Fujigen, Tokai, Dyna). FJ also distributes Fender USA in Japan.

Those manufacturers also make guitars for many other companies. Tokai also sells under their own name -- when they were the main contractor they drastically cut their Tokai-labeled Fender clones because they're a small company and couldn't expand their production line enough to make both Fender and Tokai labeled models. (They continued to make their original designs and their Gibson clones during those periods since those are separate production lines.) Now that Fujigen is the main contractor again Tokai has re-expanded their line of Tokai-labeled Fender clones.

Besides breaking into a closed market, part of it is that the Japanese market wasn't much interested in the crap CBS was putting out in the late '70s and early '80s. The Japanese are crazy about guitars (second biggest guitar market in the world, just slightly behind the USA) and they love the classic American designs. That's why they were the first to start making replicas of the classic '50s Fenders and Gibsons. CBS and Norlin refused to do so but when FMIC took over Fender they paid close attention to what the Japanese were doing and soon introduced the American Vintage Reissue series. They also took close note of Japanese quality and set that as the benchmark for their new production. They didn't just want to be better than CBS, they wanted to be as good as the Japanese clones.

It took Gibson a lot longer to catch on. Even after their buyout they resisted making accurate reissues for another decade or so and they didn't really catch up to the Japanese until the late '90s.

FMIC doesn't make as much profit on the Fender Japan models. Yamano and Kanda get their cut, and the companies that build them some profit them. So there's little incentive for FMIC to import of bunch of them and cannabalize the sales of US models.

If you really want a mint or near mint MIJ Fender check out this site,they are in Tokyo but their prices are reasonable and shipping doesn't cost too much. Here's the site- http://www.guitarsjapan.com/ they have a huge inventory of new and as good as new Fender guitars as well as Burney,Evans,Orville and Orville by Gibson,Ibanez and other top of the line Japanese guitars.BTW some of the copies are so well made(handmade)that they cost considerably more than their American counterparts.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

So I've heard talk on here about Fender Japan before but never really paid much attention. So I see that their inventory is much more varied then US, but is it impossible to buy from Fender Japan? Dumb question maybe, I don't know.

Seems that in today's world almost anything is available online from someone isn't it?

I do understand the desire to "be different" though. My short scales are outside the norm, and my Band of Gypsies Strat is off the beat, and my Montara is a rare oddity too. Not a Spiderman fan at all but can see how someone would want it.

Just wondering about that, and speaking of short scale basses, that Competition Mustang is AWESOME!!

I just had a quick look at the Guitars Japan site and they have some beautiful MIJ Fender Strats,Teles(some with Bigsbys)and Jaguars in the $900-$1,700 price range. The also have some beautiful Tokai,Edwards,Bacchus and Burny copies some more costly than their Fender counterparts-as I stated before.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

"... but is it impossible to buy from Fender Japan?"

Up until a few years ago you could order from several Fender Japan authorized retailers. But then Fender Japan told them they'd drop them as dealers if they continued to ship new Fender Japan guitars to US customers.

So now you can't buy "brand new" Fender Japan from authorized dealers and have them shipped to you. You can go to Japan and buy them in person and bring them home with you of course. Or you can buy from unauthorized dealers -- sellers like guitarsjapan, meestersparkle and others. Those guys buy the guitars from authorized dealers and then resell them, so technically they're "used" guitars even if they've never been taken out of the factory cartons. Because they're second-hand they're not under warranty from Fender Japan (but that doesn't really matter since you're unlikely to ship a guitar back and forth to Japan to a Fender Japan Authorized Service Center.)

Some of those guys also sell used pre-owned guitars so you can often find discontinued models. And some authorized dealers like Ishibashi also sell used guitars -- they're still allowed to ship pre-owned guitars to the US.

An interesting side of the business. I guess Fender US wants to force you to the custom shop if you want something outside the models available. Seems very strange to me but thanx for the info.