Made-in-Japan Replicas (October 16, 2008)
In the last posting, I talked about the awe that I was struck with when I walked into a Tokyo shop with rows of Les Paul sunbursts and two-tone Strats. I had thought more about this and just realised how all of this might have started. I was first introduced to vintage guitars in 1973 by columns written by Tomiaki “Tommy” Hidaka (1950-1986), the singer-songwriter-guitarist of a Japanese band, Garo. They were heavily influenced by the British and American rock of the late '60s and were a well-respected young band in the budding Tokyo rock scene of the time, until they had a major chart success with a pop song written by a M.O.R writer. They then became a nationwide celebrity for a little while before breaking up... Continue reading "Made-in-Japan Replicas"
Vintage Tokyo - 1974 and Now (October 2, 2008)
The summer of '08 is basically over. I was in a number of very nice vintage guitar shops in Tokyo on my trip earlier this summer. I always seem to find some guitars that I have a holiday romance with in Tokyo nowadays and some of them I brought home. Until recently, it was always the case that you had to pay a lot more for a vintage piece in Japan. Like it has been here in the UK, the shop prices there consisted of the US price plus a substantial dealer’s margin. The situation changed for some reason and now, you can find a real bargain in Tokyo. I suppose as more and more vintage guitars were imported to Japan, there was a build up of a substantial local stock in Japan and given the stagnating Japanese economy since the '90s and the general practice of lower trade-in prices there, if the dealer does not charge a big margin, you can find some guitars below the US market price let alone the UK prices. Continue reading "Vintage Tokyo - 1974 and Now"
