I haven't even been there yet, it's on Thursday here in Aus.

I know if will be a good couple of hours watching Greg Koch do his stuff, but I knew there'd be gear to try to. So I got in touch with Fender locally and asked if any LH guitars would be there.

No.

I think that is really, really poor. Course, the care factor for you guys is zero, you can go to these things and check out any stuff, get a good feel for what you like and what you think is good. Just like you can do at any store in the world though.

Not us. Most stores don't even stock left hand, and tell me I need to order one in and then it's considered sold. I'm supposed to make a buying decision based on how an upside down Tele feels, or how it sounds in the hands of a hairy shredmeister?

Really tired of the arument from owners that 'they don't sell.' No, if you don't put em on the wall, or only stock a MIA that's probably got a decent margin on it, they don't. But at $2k locally, they have trouble shifting rightys too.

Really, how hard is it to bring along a CV, A Mex and MIA? That pretty much covers all my choices anyway. They've got enough of them fercryingoutloud.

Now you've done it. Get ready to be hammered.
The good 'ol boys club here will drop you like a dirty pair of shorts.
oy,
Mike

This is the chief reason why I learned righty.

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You dig?

Some can, some can't. I couldn't.

Having access to lots of toys, most of which I can't afford, isn't worth the struggle. I'm natural on guitar LH. RH, I'm all over the place, you can't be taught to be right handed if you don't have some ability to do it to begin with.

I play golf right handed, as that felt natural. But then, If you think about it, most golfers/baseballers/cricketers are left handed too, because the left hand/arm is dominant in the swing.

I feel your pain Drubbing- new American Std Strat sits in my local Rockshop for $2299NZD.

The EXACT guitar in musicians friend? $1199USD.

Blatant rip-off by our local retail chain sellers. Someone tell me why the price would be jacked up that much- not even our exchange rates differ like that.

Bear in mind $1 NZD = $0.85USD. So if anything, that Strat should be considerably cheaper. But no.

Go figure

So when I buy my gear- its either at a very low price on an online trade website by someone who buys new from the USA- new or used, or I buy from Japan.

At my local new prices, I could fly to the USA and buy locally- claim back what I paid on sales tax, visit the Fender visitor centre and be home. At almost the same price- give or take a few hundy. Which I'd be happy to pay if that meant a vacation.

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Well, it starts with the makers too. A Am Std RRP here in $1680. Yet retailers will ticket them at $1995.

How does that happen. You can't buy direct from Fender. so the margins for makers and retailer are built into that RRP already. Most everything else you buy, you bargain down from RRP. I used to think most of the problem was with the high local prices at the makers end, til I saw their price list.

NEWSFLASH.

A Fender rep just sent me a response on the Roadshow topic. Apologising for the oversight and offering to show me what's available and where to get it. Unfortunately, I already know all that. It doesn't take long to find 4 guitars in their catalogue.

It also doesn't change the fact that retailers won't stock them, and you're still buying without trying one out.

Oo, I hope not. Plenty of sympathy for Drubbing's dilemma here on the Forum.

Meantime:

I know it's not the answer to what Drubbing is complaining of, but the Fender Japan thing is a great suggestion. I don't know why but the Japanese company has always looked after left-handed players much better than other makers. A glance at their website shows that while of course they do far more right-handed guitars still they offer lots of models and colour options for left-handers too.

My understanding is that it is much easier to get hold of CIJ guitars in Australia and NZ than for the rest of us, is that right? Man, if I was a left-hander down-under I'd be all over this website:

http://www.fenderjapan.co.jp/st57lh.html

Cheers - C (a left-hander who plays right-handed)

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Yes, I seriously contemplated a Japan, but some of the large online stores were hard to navigate, not easy to get clear instructions on purchasing. But given we have to order blind locally, the $@! option has better prices and more choice - but they have models you'll not see anywhere else, so you can't compare to anything you might have been able to try out locally.

I don't know about easier to get, but there are some big savings. We don't have taxes on personal imports under $1000. Given the high local pricing for most things, a lot of people are buying gear from OS. For those with the budget, even buying $4k+ guitars OS makes sense. Taxes are only around an added 10%, yet the local prices of the same guitar could be $6-7k .

I eventually scored a '87 MIJ Strat locally. Paid far more than they go for in the US, but I got to play it a lot first. Still cost me less than a new MIM here.

Hi again: well, I know several people here have bought from Ishibashi and had success that way:

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

However, I seem to recall Blertles had easier access to Japanese Fenders where he is in NZ - but I don't remember all about it so it's better for him to say.

For what it's worth, I ordered a CIJ ST-57 sight unseen and it was so good the shop owner who had it imported for me couldn't even find any setting up to do on it. He said that in his experience he finds to this day the Japanese product the most consistently reliable of all. Which doesn't guarantee anything, but it maybe improves the odds if you just have to order without trying first. I love my CIJ: and even after importing it all the way here to Europe it still cost more than a MIM but less than a MIA - which seems about right.

Not the ideal answer to your problem, I know. But...

Cheers - C

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I bought a Strat Plus from Ishibashi and all I can say is that I got one of the best service experiences I have had. I dealt with Hiro who was very helpful, the only thing I had to do really when I found what I wanted was call them to put the guitar on hold, and visit my bank to make a money transfer into their account. I called them back and they confirmed the payment, 5 days later I recieved the guitar, very securely packed for international shipping. They made sure I could track my guitar and I recieved email updates as to the location it was at. I paid no tax as the guitar was used. As far as quality goes, they are very descriptive on the condition of their instruments.

Here she is at Ishibashi:



This is what I received:



I recommend you look into this option. As Ceri has pointed out- if you are a lefty then Japan Fenders are the way to go. I can vouch for my MIJ ('91 Fender Heartfield Talon V) that it certainly has the quality of an American instrument.

As for the Availability- I have done a little digging and found that a lot of MIJ guitars made their ways down here throughout the 1990's. More so the Heartfield, HRR, Fotoflame, re-issues and standards. There is a lot of Edwards and Tokais here too. I see them often on our local trade website (we dont use Ebay in NZ). I would say the same for Australia too. I seem to remember a retailer in Melbourne getting in Fender guitars from Japan new a few years ago- may be worth a try huh?

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ive just been on that japanese site, wheres all the amazing guitars listed on Fender Japan ?

they seem to just sell american and mexican guitars ?

for me the whle point of ordering from japan is to get some of that funky stuff fender doesnt release anywhere else, but that website you linked to just seems to have most of the same old same old.

250 Japanese made fenders not enough for you?

http://translate.google.co.jp/translate ... 05%2F3%2F1

The actual Japan page wpn't link, you have to menu select.

ahhhh thanks, i didnt see the translate thing. i just clicked on the first thing i saw that looked like a fender product list, assuming they'd be pushing the MIJ guitars first and foremost. seems i ended up on the 'import' page of US and mex guitars.

now at least ive got some time to kill and some MIJ guitars to look at

Hi moochy: are you looking at www.fenderjapan.co.jp or www.ishibashi.co.jp ? Either way, a nice tip for navigating those sites, assuming your Japanese ain't quite perfect, is that if you hover your mouse cursor over a hyperlink the page name will appear at the bottom left of your browser window - and those links are usually written in English. So you can often find out what you're looking at even on a page full of baffling Japanese script.

Cheers - C

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i was on the store, sorted now thanks. just drooling over countless japanese fenders that i want to buy, and could actually afford. as oppose to just a few US guitars that are too expensive anway

also i found a Spiderman Mustang hahaha