Strandberg Boden in Japan!

[Jonathan20022]

If Ikebe or Ishibashi are carrying these (which is likely since it was the Gakki festival these were announced at) you're high on the price... you don't pay tax when buying a Japanese guitar and you normally don't pay import duties from either of those companies so you're just looking at shipping. Also take into account that the price is probably including the Japanese use tax that you don't pay if you're a buyer outside Japan. So you're looking at more like ~$1550 plus shipping. Not a bad deal at all.

Might not be good for the guys that are flipping Washbergs at a premium though...

Oh I didn't know, I'm actually importing a guitar from someone selling on here right now and was just assuming that would be tacked onto the price. $1550 + Shipping is a solid price for these and what they are at the very least.

And yeah people either aren't noticing, or don't care anymore but wait time on a Washberg is 1-2 months now and they're actually coming out very nicely and really well built from the ones I've owned, sans the alignment issue on the Masvidalien. So flipping something that is borderline readily available from dealers at a solid rate is completely pointless. The person I sold my CL7 for 2850 ended up selling it for 4k on eBay to someone which is ridiculous.

I'd personally just get another Washberg myself, I haven't had bad experiences with them and a Boden 6 is calling my name

After shipping, upgrades, and PayPal fees the washburns are easily approaching double the price of one of the OS models. Plus with the subpar tops and other flaws of recent, these Korean ones are starting to appeal to me. Of course I'm going to wait and see just what kind of quality they are but they're much more appealing than a washburn at this point. Especially since I can get a seven that DOESNT have a maple fingerboard.

Off topic, have you decided your black water specs yet?

I've never bought direct, I've gone through Ede Wright and he was more than accommodating and only charged me whatever price was on the catalog. So I didn't pay any of the fees you would get by going direct. I haven't had any flaws on my Bodens or CL7, and my Masvidalien had the neck alignment problem sadly. That and I doubt you'd get a top this nice on a production was, or it would simply be luck of the draw.

If they can deliver and if I can really get a solid Korean Boden at just under $1600 then I'm all for it. I didn't know we were exempt from all those fees and taxes when buying from Japan in the first place but if it was in place I wouldn't want one if it pushed the price farther into the 2k range.

And I've honed in on the general specs, so hardly much is gonna change. Having a hard time deciding wether I want another 6 or 7 at this point since I've been buying 7 strings more often nowadays

 

[rockstarazuri]

If anything, these were closer to what a Suhr Rasmus are in terms of quality. SUper high end.

Also, I heard that they're going to be sold at select shops (5 for now) in Japan, so most probably Ikebe and Ishibashi (which are equivalents to Guitar Center in the US) won't stock em. I don't know about retail in the US, maybe not now.

 

[blanco]

These need to come to the EU, with washburn price+shipping+tax being way to close to the M2M prices for us EU guys it makes sense to expand the EU market with OS models.

 

[mnemonic]

At first I was very surprised/excited seeing this but then I started getting confused since the specs seem to be relatively similar to what Washburn offers. This seemed to kill the incentive to order a USA made one since this is half the price, but I'd rather not get a guitar with cut corners just to get my hands on the design.

I'm curious about this too. I think you can probably get a quality guitar from Korea, so with a proper setup they will probably compare favorably to the Washbergs.

Since they've got basically the same specs (and same quality tops from the look of it), I wonder how many USA orders these would cannibalize if they were released in the USA? Might be a reason to restrict distribution to Japan only, or Asia/Europe only.

 

[mag8]

sweet!

 

[jahosy]

Great news indeed! Always intend to try one of these.

Are they strictly for the Japanese market though? (like Jackson stars, Edwards, certain Caparison.. etc?? )

 

[Shimme]

^We don't know yet for sure. It seems possible though, as they've apparently only been announced for 5 stores in Japan.

 

[rapterr15]

Considering I'm living in China right now, I might just have to have to plan a trip to Japan in February when I get a month off. Hopefully these things are on sale by then. I'm am suuuuper stoked to learn about this. I've been GASing for a Boden for quite a while, but spending $3.5k would be a bigger chunk out of my bank account than I can comfortably part with.

 

[Slunk Dragon]

Gawd damn, now I really want one of these. That price point seems totally do-able!

 

[Hollowway]

I have zero interest in owning a strandy in the $3000+ price range. At $1600ish? Totally interested.

 

[remain0silent]

no lefty?

 

[HighGain510]

Interesting but I wouldn't pay close to two thousand USD for a Korean Made Guitar.

At first I was very surprised/excited seeing this but then I started getting confused since the specs seem to be relatively similar to what Washburn offers. This seemed to kill the incentive to order a USA made one since this is half the price, but I'd rather not get a guitar with cut corners just to get my hands on the design.

They're saying that no corners were cut, but I'd have to see them first hand to believe that honestly. That being said Korea has been putting out some pretty solid work recently, but I still wouldn't be paying that much money for a guitar made in the same place as the LTD's and Schecters for >= $1000.

Well you're getting the Strandberg hardware, Lace pickups (if that's your thing, personally I'd probably swap those out immediately as I haven't been overly impressed with the vids I've seen of those but who knows!) and the body shape + neck carve of a Strandberg. Considering the cost of those items alone, and the fact that it's not being built by some shady ass shop (looking at S7, not Washburn, obviously ) that might not even deliver, $1700 seems like a more than fair price, IMO.

You can't assume "corners were cut" just because they were made in a country that has a cheaper labor rate, especially considering Korea has been churning out some pretty killer instruments in the last several years and the quality of the instruments many of the standard factories used over there seems to have improved quite a bit in recent history.

Considering the flaws on some of the recent Washburn-built Bodens, I'm all for allowing another, less-expensive company take a shot at it. If those examples in the pics are from the Korean shop, they look great to me. I'm also slightly skeptical until I see some much better pics of the actual workmanship as well, but I'd put a decent amount of faith in these being great if they're being built by the Schecter/ESP Korean shops.

If Ikebe or Ishibashi are carrying these (which is likely since it was the Gakki festival these were announced at) you're high on the price... you don't pay tax when buying a Japanese guitar and you normally don't pay import duties from either of those companies so you're just looking at shipping. Also take into account that the price is probably including the Japanese use tax that you don't pay if you're a buyer outside Japan. So you're looking at more like ~$1550 plus shipping. Not a bad deal at all.

Might not be good for the guys that are flipping Washbergs at a premium though...

Yep, exactly. If they're willing to export to the US (or they become available through dealers in the US), our price doesn't include the Japanese tax, just as it doesn't apply to any other guitar you import from Japan. Seems like a great deal to me! I agree, seems like the folks who have the most at stake here are the ones who already have USA Washburn-built Bodens who don't want their stuff to depreciate or worse yet, have the Korean-built Bodens stomp the USA versions thus making them worth even less than before. For competition or the consumer (i.e. the consumer buying the instrument from a dealer, not someone trying to buy second-hand at an inflated price), I can only see this as a win assuming they will export these to the US.

I've owned two Ibanez Premiums and they were fantastic guitars, I'm not saying Korea wouldn't put out a quality Boden but until they're offered worldwide spending 2k+ on a Korean guitar doesn't seem ideal. If they bring that to other countries and avoid the cost of importing and shipping that would be awesome.

I would rather save up an extra thousand and go Washberg at the the price after imports and everything. But that's just me. It's wonderful for the Japanese Market to get these at 198500 Yen though.

Again, that $2K+ price you listed is not accurate. Seems like they'd be about $1700 or so to get them in the US (includes shipping at that price), and since the Washburn-built guitars were in the mid-2's last I checked I still think that's a pretty decent savings on a new instrument. The quality will be the determining factor here, if the Korean-built Strandberg stuff is awesome, there's not going to be a ton of demand for the Washbergs, period.

 

[Jonathan20022]

Yeah I didn't think it was $1700 shipped on these, when I did the conversion online it came out to roughly $1690 before anything else. So I though adding shipping + customs and duties would push it to 2k. It's all dependent on the quality of the builds at this point thought.

And the only reason I mentioned corners being cut was because the official announcement say "No corners were cut" and that made me kind of weary

 

[straymond]

I'm already making a list of stuff that I can live without and sell.
a kidney. oxygene. the missus. stuff like that.

 

[AuroraTide]

Yes! If they release an 8 version it'd be even better..
Booked a trip to Japan last week for February too!

 

[MemphisHawk]

Welp, guess I'll be getting one.. what is "end of the year: anyway? next week is December???

 

[dante511039594]

The most important thing is NO MORE MAPLE FRETBOARD BODEN7 NOW !

 

[Shredmon]

very interesting indeed. But not really convinced of producing it in the ESP/LTD/Schecter Factorys, had 2 lemons with my last guitar i returned and played some Schecters too with minor to major flaws....Still, maybe they will sort it out, a more affordable Strandberg would be awesome.
greets

 

[dante511039594]

Considering I'm living in China right now, I might just have to have to plan a trip to Japan in February when I get a month off. Hopefully these things are on sale by then. I'm am suuuuper stoked to learn about this. I've been GASing for a Boden for quite a while, but spending $3.5k would be a bigger chunk out of my bank account than I can comfortably part with.

It is almost impossible to get one while you are traveling in Japan because most of the guitar shop is no around landmarks. Anyway, 3500刀实在是太贵了,我宁可买别的(〜￣△&#65507〜。

 

[downburst82]

Great news!! Hopefully we do get them in North America. I have Zero worries about them being Korean made, my Ibanez s2170 Prestige was one of the ones made in Korea and it absolutely holds up to almost any Japanese prestige. If I got a Korean strandberg built as well as my prestige I would be thoroughly happy (even at $1700).