Screw Japan.

[STRANDMAN]

Only available in Japan: the SAS1500.

 

 

I'm just curious. Except for the finish and pickguard color the SAS 1500 that you show here and the SA 2200 (which is available in the U.S). look pretty much like the same guitar. Is it just the finish that accounts for the different model designations or are there other differences between the two?

 

 

[kayd_mon]

Fender Japan is full of awesome models. I can't imagine why a lot of them aren't available here.

[BoneNut]

 

I'm just curious. Except for the finish and pickguard color the SAS 1500 that you show here and the SA 2200 (which is available in the U.S). look pretty much like the same guitar. Is it just the finish that accounts for the different model designations or are there other differences between the two?

 

 

Are they different sizes?

[axegrinder]

We screwed Japan so bad at the end of WWII I don't think we can ever pay them back enough for that...not that we haven't tried.

 

I'm not saying that has anything to do with Fender producing this guitar over there, but once you say "screw those guys" all things are up for consideration.

 

HIC, I agree with those suggesting you just build yourself one. You have the skillz.

[soundcreation]

 

yeah, but it is Fender that is sending that guitar to Japan :poke:

 

 

not exactly...fender japan makes their own stuff.

[Angry Tele]

CIJ is awesome, but not neccessarily for that.

[soundcreation]

 

Fender Japan is full of awesome models. I can't imagine why a lot of them aren't available here.

 

 

Many reasons. In the case of fender....fender USA doesn't want the competition. The mid to higher end MIJ fender's are direct competition for USA models and would easily eat into those sales when people found out how good they are.

 

As for other brands that make vintage style, the simple fact is the Japanese market is huge, and many of the builders there just don't care to try to expand into the states.

 

And the Japanese already have the "modern" style market dominated with Ibanez and ESP.

[TunaNugget]

My uncle didn't like those guitars, either, but his ammunition ship was torpedoed, so I had to cut him some slack.

 

Don't you need some neck angle to use that kind of bridge? That's not fender-y.

[honeyiscool]

 

We screwed Japan so bad at the end of WWII I don't think we can ever pay them back enough for that...not that we haven't tried.

 

 

I know this is a popular thing to say in America, but you should really read what the Japanese did during the war to both Americans and their fellow Asian countries, and then you might feel a little differently. The average Japanese civilian suffered far less than the average German civilian, let's just get that out of the way. Just look at the stats.

[sxyryan]

 

Ishibashi is the main Japanese importer I've used so far. They've been nothing but great.

 

 

Definitely hoping to use them in the near future. I love the Japanese Fenders.

[EricJohn]

 

Ishibashi is the main Japanese importer I've used so far. They've been nothing but great.

 

 

Ishibashi Music is the greatest music store I've ever been to in my entire life. 8 stories tall and an amazing floor of nothing but guitar stuff.

 

Speaking of japanese guitars, I really wish I would have bought a Japan only guitar when I was stationed there; I really wish I'd gotten one of the Burny Les Paul copies with the Sustainer in it. Or even one of those Fender Japan Strats, Tokai Love Rocks or Orville Les Pauls.

[Spike Li]

I know this is a popular thing to say in America, but you should really read what the Japanese did during the war to both Americans and their fellow Asian countries, and then you might feel a little differently. The average Japanese civilian suffered far less than the average German civilian, let's just get that out of the way. Just look at the stats.

 

Oh dear...

Without wanting this to turn into another {censored}storm, please consider that the actions of a few in power do not reflect entirely and equally across a whole nation...

 

 

Moving on... more people here should save up and go on a guitar buying holiday to Japan - I can guarantee that you mind will be blown

[honeyiscool]

Tell that to the half a million who died in the Dresden fire bombings. It was a different time in history and back in those days, civilians died. The two atomic bombings ultimately saved Japanese lives because otherwise, they probably would have done the same thing to Tokyo that they did to German cities.

[zenbu]

 

The average Japanese civilian suffered far less than the average German civilian, let's just get that out of the way. Just look at the stats.

 

 

You should meet my father in law, bit different hearing from people who were there than reading stuff in books or watching it on the History Channel..

 

 

F/USA does have their Mexican line, maybe they feel those, along with the MIA stuff is what they want to concentrate on, never heard anybody from F/USA actually say they don`t want the Japanese competition anyways, they have in the recent past imported some models from Japan into America.

I haven`t seen that black Mustang in shops here yet, looks really nice to me, I`d have to see how much they want because the folks who make the Van Zandts here came out with their own Mustang model and frankly, I`d be more interested in a VZ...I am familiar with VZ because I own some and they are in a totally different league to the vast majority of the current FJ stuff...got some of those too but older ones, still...I wanna see this black Mustang up close.

[kulardenu]

Meh! It's not like there isn't a bazillion guitars in the states... And Japan had to suffer enough, they had MacArthur...

[aclarke]

 

As for other brands that make vintage style, the simple fact is the Japanese market is huge, and many of the builders there just don't care to try to expand into the states.

 

 

I've been thinking about this for a while now - and although I don't have solid data to prove it, my impression is that the market for guitars in Japan is larger than the market for guitars in North America. Not per capita, I'm talking raw numbers.

 

I'm in a city of about 150,000. There are three shops that sell guitars exclusively, one major chain that's heavy on guitars, two Yamaha schools with a small stock, four large second hand places (with a stock of at least 20 guitars each on any given day), and probably two dozen small second hand shops that will always have a half dozen or so guits in stock. And I couldn't say how many neighborhood music schools that offer music lessons do sales on the side. In my experience, this is pretty much the norm for Japan these days. 5 year ago, before yahoo auctions took off, the second hand places had a lot more on offer.

 

It's been a long time since I lived in Canada, but I can't remember ever having anything close to this many options for gear in a similar sized city.

[aclarke]

I haven`t seen that black Mustang in shops here yet, looks really nice to me, I`d have to see how much they want because the folks who make the Van Zandts here came out with their own Mustang model and frankly, I`d be more interested in a VZ...

 

If you're in the market, I'd reccomend checking out the new VZ bronson. I had a go on one over the weekend, and I'm sorely tempted.

 

[DaleH]

Love to have a pile of cash and a month or so to wheel&deal some shops in Japan.

[straycat113]

The reason why they are not in the US is a very simple history lesson. When CBS sold Fender to Bill Schultz and some employees in 84 they were left without a factory for a while as Fullerton was not part of the sale. Japan was producing the guitars with a lot of left over CBS stock being sold here in the US and the Japanese guitars were head and shoulders better than anything being produced here, except for the leftover 57 and 62 reissue Strats and Teles assembled by hand in Fullerton in 82-84. The Corona factory did not open until 85 and the guitars were not up to snuff with the MIJ axes for quite sometime. When Fender finally got on its feet they cut off Fender Japan from exporting to the US, and opened the Mexican factory instead to handle that load. Fender Japan makes some amazing guitars like the Kotzen Tele and Strat of which Kotzens own Fenders come from Japan and not the CS Shop. Two years ago the head of Fender Japan was put into the Fender Hall of Fame with the moniker of saving the company from going under during the buy back.

[soundcreation]

 

I've been thinking about this for a while now - and although I don't have solid data to prove it, my impression is that the market for guitars in Japan is larger than the market for guitars in North America. Not per capita, I'm talking raw numbers. I'm in a city of about 150,000. There are three shops that sell guitars exclusively, one major chain that's heavy on guitars, two Yamaha schools with a small stock, four large second hand places (with a stock of at least 20 guitars each on any given day), and probably two dozen small second hand shops that will always have a half dozen or so guits in stock. And I couldn't say how many neighborhood music schools that offer music lessons do sales on the side. In my experience, this is pretty much the norm for Japan these days. 5 year ago, before yahoo auctions took off, the second hand places had a lot more on offer. It's been a long time since I lived in Canada, but I can't remember ever having anything close to this many options for gear in a similar sized city.

 

 

Yeah I wouldn't doubt that. Although I would think it would be per capita don't you? Pure volume of sales I would think would still go to america but based on a head by head basis I would guess the Japanese buy more.

 

The reason I said that was because I read an interview with the owner of PGM (Van Zandt) and they asked him about expanding into the US and he basically said it wasn't worth it too them. Something about he didn't think he could price competitively as well. Probably have to cut quality.

 

My view was only as an outsider and what I see on line but as seriously as it's taken in N. America it seems to me like the japanese (in their usual way) just obsess over it. Like when someone gets into something they REALLY get into it.

 

I seriously don't think most N. Americans really understand how full on their guitar shops are. I mean, I had an idea cause I'm into them, but when I got to looking around in Tokyo and Osaka when I was visiting it blew my mind even more than I thought it would. The shops back home are kind of lame in comparison. Especially considering the floor space in N. America is usually huge.

[Jkater]

I'm just curious. Except for the finish and pickguard color the SAS 1500 that you show here and the SA 2200 (which is available in the U.S). look pretty much like the same guitar. Is it just the finish that accounts for the different model designations or are there other differences between the two?

 

The SAS1500 is the "339" of the SA2200, that is, smaller body. Same quality, though, and the top is some kind of burly mahogany (not sure). Zenbu has one of them. My SA2200 is my favorite guitar but the same guitar a little smaller would be even more perfect for me.

[honeyiscool]

 

You should meet my father in law, bit different hearing from people who were there than reading stuff in books or watching it on the History Channel.. F/USA does have their Mexican line, maybe they feel those, along with the MIA stuff is what they want to concentrate on, never heard anybody from F/USA actually say they don`t want the Japanese competition anyways, they have in the recent past imported some models from Japan into America. I haven`t seen that black Mustang in shops here yet, looks really nice to me, I`d have to see how much they want because the folks who make the Van Zandts here came out with their own Mustang model and frankly, I`d be more interested in a VZ...I am familiar with VZ because I own some and they are in a totally different league to the vast majority of the current FJ stuff...got some of those too but older ones, still...I wanna see this black Mustang up close.

 

1. You should meet my grandparents. They lived under Japanese occupation and were forced to speak Japanese in schools and knew people who got shipped off to Japan and never came back, among other things. Look, telling a Korean that WWII was sooooo terrible for Japan is just insulting, really.

 

2. I think it's a new one. It's not even on the Fender site yet. I do get jealous because Mustangs are my favorite guitars and it seems Fender Japan gives Mustangs their due.

[zenbu]

OK...my final thoughts on the war thing... first you mentioned the Germans suffered more, now it`s the Koreans...one of my mother`s brothers was held captive for 4 years by the Japanese, my mum was in London during the battle of Britain, my dad was fighting in the Royal Canadian Air Force at the time I, wasn`t there...but I imagine nobody had a good time during those years...a LOT of people suffered...howz that?...look, I wasn`t telling you anybody suffered more than anybody else, OK...is that clear enough for ya? Perhaps you should understand what I said before feeling all insulted and stuff. The whole shootin` match was a bad idea...always are ain`t they? I am very familiar with what the Japanese did before they dragged the States into the war, and they were not only in Korea, believe me...there is still a lot of bad blood in this neighborhood, I was simply saying many people suffered...if you want to bring up degrees of suffering then go ahead. Even today... many Japanese I am in contact with hate the Chinese...the Chinese hate the Japanese, the Koreans hate the Japanese, a lot of Japanese hate the Koreans...maybe the North Koreans hate everybody and everybody hates the Americans...keep your powder dry...you may need it in your lifetime.

Nice guitar...I`d love one of the Bronsons but as I am a cheap bastard I`d have to find one used.

The end.

[zenbu]

OH yeah...everybody loves us Canadians eh...thought it was the end above but now I really mean it.

C`est tout.

[STRANDMAN]

Thanks for the info. I didn't know that Yamaha made a 339 style guitar. Here's one you might like as well. It's an 83 Ibanez artist model (AM 205). I've always wondered what company originally came up with this design concept and assumed that it was Ibanez. But ,now I'm wondering if it might have been Yamaha. Do you know when the SA1500 model was first introduced? Looks like they've both got the same "Burled Mahogany" finish as well.

 

 

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