MMMMMMMMMM...mine?

[Cuthbert]

Ok some of the members of this board already know my obsession with arched top soloist, browsing the link another member provided for the Jackson stars I found this:

http://1484.bz/umeda/59106/

Is she the Rightful Heir of the Charvel 750XL and the Arched top Pro?

[RunDMC]

Me likey. Though 25.5" scale, no?

[TheChaos]

That is one sexy guitar. You should get it...right now!

[Carbuff]

Thats a beauty. How much is that in USD including shipping?

[Cuthbert]

I wrote to one of these shops who supposely ship abroad...Ishibashi, I think that NEWT bought a guitar from them...

No answer, so far.

18300 yen are approximately 1200 €, which is understable since it's a limited edition, althought if there are custom option I'd take one with Kahler and 24.75 scale...let's see.

[Brooke]

It's not an archtop, and I think that the factory that makes these is not the same factory that made the charvel's or the Pro series Jacksons of the late 80's and early 90's.

It looks like a nice guitar though.

[toejam]

It's not an archtop, and I think that the factory that makes these is not the same factory that made the charvel's or the Pro series Jacksons of the late 80's and early 90's.

It looks like a nice guitar though.

It is an archtop. It's a soft archtop, not as pronounced as what you're used to seeing.

[Cuthbert]

It is an archtop. It's a soft archtop, not as pronounced as what you're used to seeing.

As soft as the (in)famous NAMM archtop that goes for 5000$$$?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=270276546681

Besides other questions, I asked a close up of the curvature of the top...

[toejam]

As soft as the (in)famous NAMM archtop that goes for 5000$$$?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=270276546681

Yeah, that thing is gorgeous! Jackson has made other soft archtops like that in the past, just not that expensive! Here's the Professional Archtop Limited from 1991.

[Jack The Riffer]

As soft as the (in)famous NAMM archtop that goes for 5000$$$?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=270276546681

Besides other questions, I asked a close up of the curvature of the top...

I can see the Archtop on that one but not so much on the Jackson Stars one.

[Cuthbert]

Yeah, that thing is gorgeous! Jackson has made other soft archtops like that in the past, just not that expensive! Here's the Professional Archtop Limited from 1991.

Yes, Toejam, when I was young, in 1993, I had a book about guitar technique, and there was a picture of the 1991 LTD, indicated as the "example of finest instruments now built in Japan".

Always wanted to get that guitar, I was also considering making a custom order, the problem is that it would cost me 6000 dollars, or I can buy this one, spend 5000$ and install a kahler, but I still have a 25.5 scale and I don't think the bridge would cover the holes of the strings.

So, at this point, better to go with these Jackson Stars, that one is the closest thing to my dreams, and after all, it's relatively affordable...damn!The japaneses don't answer!

[ken]

I wrote to one of these shops who supposely ship abroad...Ishibashi, I think that NEWT bought a guitar from them...

No answer, so far.

18300 yen are approximately 1200 €, which is understable since it's a limited edition, althought if there are custom option I'd take one with Kahler and 24.75 scale...let's see.

As that comes in a hard case, shipping will be about 18k Yen.

Jackson Stars are not taking custom or semi-custom orders and, based on their new policy of selling USA Select Jacksons as high-end Jackson Stars, I wouldn't be surprised if they never do.

A lot of us have bought guitars from Ishibashi. There's a large amount of variance in how long it takes for them to reply to an e-mail, even at the best of times. If you ask a direct question about an in-stock guitar (how much for that + shipping to the wherever), it's usually faster. If you asked for a quote on that guitar with a Kahler, short-scale and with extra pictures, you may get no response at all.

If you don't get a response within a week, PM me and I'll send you the name of one of the guys that works there.

Oh, and those ASLs are definitely arctops, albeit soft. Might be clearer from these pics:






Gotta love the stained (rather than painted) back:

[Cuthbert]

As that comes in a hard case, shipping will be about 18k Yen.

Jackson Stars are not taking custom or semi-custom orders and, based on their new policy of selling USA Select Jacksons as high-end Jackson Stars, I wouldn't be surprised if they never do.

A lot of us have bought guitars from Ishibashi. There's a large amount of variance in how long it takes for them to reply to an e-mail, even at the best of times. If you ask a direct question about an in-stock guitar (how much for that + shipping to the wherever), it's usually faster. If you asked for a quote on that guitar with a Kahler, short-scale and with extra pictures, you may get no response at all.

If you don't get a response within a week, PM me and I'll send you the name of one of the guys that works there.

Oh, and those ASLs are definitely arctops, albeit soft. Might be clearer from these pics:

Ken, I asked them questions about this guitar, in particular the shipping costs, a close up of the belly to appreciate the curvature, and if they have one in amber, but alas, no answer.

P.S.Surely the guitar looks killer, IDEALLY I would have chosen the kahler, but since they don't take custom or semicustom order I think I should live with that. The 25" scale is dissapointing but on the other side even the CS USA models seem to have that scale. For the colour, I'd have liked a cherry sumburst but if it's not possible I can refinish her here.

[ken]

Ken, I asked them questions about this guitar, in particular the shipping costs, a close up of the belly to appreciate the curvature, and if they have one in amber, but alas, no answer.

P.S.Surely the guitar looks killer, IDEALLY I would have chosen the kahler, but since they don't take custom or semicustom order I think I should live with that. The 25" scale is dissapointing but on the other side even the CS USA models seem to have that scale. For the colour, I'd have liked a cherry sumburst but if it's not possible I can refinish her here.

Have you been waiting long for an answer? On occasion it has taken them a week to respond to me. Other times they've replied the same day. I think this has been other people's experience too (Nazgul etctera).

Ikebe-Gakki have two in Trans Amber on their website:

http://www.ikebe-gakki.com/goods_detail.php?g_id=102182

http://www.ikebe-gakki.com/goods_detail.php?g_id=107206

They also ship out of Japan, but I've found them to be even less communicative than Ishibashi.

Incidentially, Ikebe-Gakki and Ishibashi are, effectively, the equivalent of musiciansfriend. If you have a pal in Japan, most of these guitars seem to be available for cheaper from smaller, local retailers that are unwilling to ship out of the country.

Of course if you made your own USA CS order, you could have the Kahler, the 24 3/4" scale and the cherry sunburst. When J Stars took custom orders, the Kahler and finish wouldn't have been a problem, but I don't know if they'd have done the short scale for you.

Here's my cherry sunburst archtop, by the way (it's still 25.5" scale):

[Cuthbert]

Have you been waiting long for an answer? On occasion it has taken them a week to respond to me. Other times they've replied the same day. I think this has been other people's experience too (Nazgul etctera).

Ikebe-Gakki have two in Trans Amber on their website:

http://www.ikebe-gakki.com/goods_detail.php?g_id=102182

http://www.ikebe-gakki.com/goods_detail.php?g_id=107206

They also ship out of Japan, but I've found them to be even less communicative than Ishibashi.

Incidentially, Ikebe-Gakki and Ishibashi are, effectively, the equivalent of musiciansfriend. If you have a pal in Japan, most of these guitars seem to be available for cheaper from smaller, local retailers that are unwilling to ship out of the country.

Of course if you made your own USA CS order, you could have the Kahler, the 24 3/4" scale and the cherry sunburst. When J Stars took custom orders, the Kahler and finish wouldn't have been a problem, but I don't know if they'd have done the short scale for you.

Here's my cherry sunburst archtop, by the way (it's still 25.5" scale):

I've been waiting since I opened the thread, I think 4 days or so...

Surely those who ship abroad are ALWAYS more expensive than little shops, it's true in the US, in Europe etc...so the only thing to do is to accept that, personally if I can get away with 1200 I'd be happy, a CS order is something that I would avoid, because of the time, expenses and fuss...the ideal would be to find a good 1991 LTD but the only time I saw one on ebay, guess what?No shipping out of the US. A american archtop lie the ones Budman owns would be gorgeous but it's better not to make illusions.

For the SLATQ, honestly she was a great delusion, the quality of the instrument was high, but no short scale, no 24 frets, no tremolos, I don't understand how they thought to compete with the Les Paul, the Hamers, the PRS in this market, the sense of the Charvel 50XL and archtop pros was to have a sort of hot rodded Les Paul, the SLATQ is a Les Paul with the line of a Jackson...