help wifth a lefty strat in u-box

les-paul

There's a nice lefty USA strat in U-box right now for a very sweet price and condition seems great:

http://www.ishibashi.co.jp/u_box/ubox.cgi?T=syosai&sline=4215&print=1&keys2=umeda%40ishibashi%2Eco%2Ejp&tid=list3

How do you think it will compare to this:

http://www.ishibashi-webshop.jp/shop/g/g311341400/

I'm trying to make my mind between Japan and USA, feels like WWII!

dr.bollocko

Japanese manufactured strats tend to be good for the job.
American standards though.... well that's what mine is.
So get that one.
We can be superior together.

les-paul

Thing is, the available left handed Fender Japan stuff is not the top of their line but rather middle-class so I'm afraid it should be rated against American Standard and not anything else.

les-paul

C´mon people, won´t you help this poor little leftie?

Voodu Child

Japanese strats are mostly vintage-style. Meaning vintage neck shapes, vintage frets, vintage fingerboard radius, vintage hardware, etc.

So straight away thats the first question you need to ask - are you after a vintage style instrument, or something with a more modern feel? (the US strat you linked will have medium jumbo frets, fairly flat fingerboard, 2 point trem)

les-paul

I take it that the vintage specs for the fretboard mean a more rounded shape with smaller frets, right? No problem with that, I keep an open mind at everything I'm concerned about comparing these guys tone wise. Japanese Fender has ST-Vintage pickups which I'm not terribly familiar with for instance.

dr.bollocko

You can always do a pick up replacement if you arent happy with the signature strat scream. Pretty cheap on e-bay to get a set of single coils for a strat.

Eoin Madsen

A friend of mine got a Japanese tele for about 500 euros (shipped) there a year or so ago. Honestly, it plays and sounds distinctly nicer than any American Standard I've come across in recent years.

"Vintage" generally means smaller fingerboard radius (more curved) and smaller frets. Personally, I dig it more.

dr.bollocko

Eoin Madsen wrote: »

A friend of mine got a Japanese tele for about 500 euros (shipped) there a year or so ago. Honestly, it plays and sounds distinctly nicer than any American Standard I've come across in recent years.

"Vintage" generally means smaller fingerboard radius (more curved) and smaller frets. Personally, I dig it more.

Maybe these n00b american strats. But cant beat a nice ould american standard with a japanese import.
Remember Iwo Jima.

Eoin Madsen

dr.bollocko wrote: »

Maybe these n00b american strats. But cant beat a nice ould american standard with a japanese import.

A vintage American Standard is not on the cards here, so it's somewhat beside the point. :P

les-paul

I've almost settled in the Jap, it's brand new, will be cheaper than the American and it has something different. Besides it looks to me like the Jap will be easier to re-sell.

les-paul

Crap! crap crap crap!

I mailed Ishi to order the Jap strat and they said:

Unfortunately we are no longer able to supply new Fender Japan products
to customers outside of Japan. This is being strictly prohibited by
both Fender Japan and Fender USA. I apologize for this inconvenience.

We can sell used, so please check our Ubox for the one you are looking
for and let me know the 9-digit order code. If you do not see anything
of interest then feel free to periodically check back as our stock is constantly
changing.

I checked other forums and it looks like Ikebe Gakki will do the same. Guess I'll have to look for another shop not as big as Ishi and greedy enough to send stuff overseas.