orville MIJ anyone?

[Ratrod]

It's too bad ESP doesn't make the EXP anymore and those Ken Lawrence EXP's aren't affordable either. Brands like Orville and Grecko or impossible to find here in Holland, I'd have to import one myself.

[Johnny Mac]

http://www.espguitars.co.jp/edwards/index.html

This ones cheaper and looks as good at 94,000 yen. At £2000 for the other one you could get a Gibson LP Custom. How much would you charge for a LP of these specs Bob?

[xlr8]

http://www.espguitars.co.jp/edwards/index.html

This ones cheaper and looks as good at 94,000 yen. At £2000 for the other one you could get a Gibson LP Custom. How much would you charge for a LP of these specs Bob?

Missing the point really, Edwards are ESPs 'Epiphone' and Navigator are way beyond Gibsons custom shop.

[indysmith]

Missing the point really, Edwards are ESPs 'Epiphone' and Navigator are way beyond Gibsons custom shop.

Sorry but why do we want 'replica's made by ESP (specifically) anyways?

[xlr8]

Missing the point really, Edwards are ESPs 'Epiphone' and Navigator are way beyond Gibsons custom shop.

Sorry but why do we want 'replica's made by ESP (specifically) anyways?

Don't know that you do, but as I spend a lot of time in Japan I thought  I'd be helpful and point out the differences in the Models and specifications for those that are interested in Japanese 'replicas'. As Mr. Caine would say 'not a lot of people know that'  :D

[willo]

So how good are the quality of parts on, say, on Edwards LP? If you replaced the pickups with BKPs or your pickups of choice, how close would it be to a full on Gibbo?

[indysmith]

Hehe, alright then man! I'm quite interested in the MIJ guitars lately. I thought i knew a fair bit about guitars, but until the other day i'd never even heard of Orville, Greco etc... I'll be doing some research 8)

[xlr8]

Edwards are about on par with the Epiphone Elitist range, just a little better. The advantage they have over Gibson is quaity control. Gibsons can be a bit hit and miss, a good one is great but most of the standards you'll try just don't cut it for the price their asking.

I have never yet seen a poorly made Japanese Greco, Burny, Tokai, Orville, Edwards, and a whole host of other japanese market only guitars.  A good used Burny or Greco can be had for around £300 - £350, put some BKPs in it and you'll have a guitar that feels, plays and sounds like it cost twice as much.


Here's a Burny I picked up for a friend a little while ago



Not a great pic but you get the idea



Cost £350 into the UK with all customs paid.

[willo]

Thanks for that.

So how do you get hold of them? Do you pick them up in Japan yourself, or through a company? Know of any companies that could do such a job?

[HJM]

I wish you would all stop tempting me with this thread...I'd really like an Edwards Les Paul....

[xlr8]

Thanks for that.

So how do you get hold of them? Do you pick them up in Japan yourself, or through a company? Know of any companies that could do such a job?

I normally pick them up whilst I'm there. There are companies who bring them in but obvioosly they have to make a profit so they're a little more expensive.

http://www.japanguitars.co.uk/


Has some good information plus guitars for sale.

[Ratrod]

I wish you would all stop tempting me with this thread...I'd really like an Edwards Les Paul....

It drives me mad too. Those Edwards Explorers look great.

[Bob Johnson]

http://www.espguitars.co.jp/edwards/index.html
This ones cheaper and looks as good at 94,000 yen. At £2000 for the other one you could get a Gibson LP Custom. How much would you charge for a LP of these specs Bob?

Johnny, I'm assuming this question is aimed at me.

I don't really like making copies although from time to time I do. A LP replica of similar spec would cost around £1800 from me.
Frankly I really find it hard to understand why, when there are so many really cool custom guitars out there, that copies have the allure that they obviously do. I guess if I thought differently I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing now.

This was made by Dan McPherson a luthier friend of mine. If you're looking for a Les Paul Look-a-like but with some individuality, this is what you call quality.

http://www.dm-guitars.co.uk/custom_made/custom_MacLester.htm

[Skybone]

Japanese guitar shops that ship internationally (just for Hayden! ;) ).

Guitargai: http://www.guitargai.com/html_folder/homepage.html

Ishibashi: http://www.excite.co.jp/world/english/web/body/?wb_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.excite.co.jp%2Fworld%2Fenglish%2Fweb%2Fbody%2F%3Fwb_url%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.ishibashi.co.jp%252Fwebshop%252Fguitar%252Findex.htm%26wb_lp%3DJAEN%26wb_dis%3D2&wb_lp=JAEN&wb_dis=2

Katana: http://www.katanaguitars.com/main/top.html

The Japanese Yahoo auction site is great, but you either need to know how to read Japanese, or rely on Babel Fish at Alta Vista.

A great knowledge site about MIJ guitars is: http://www.tokairegistry.com, and their forum is pretty good too (http://www.tokaiforum.com). Another good MIJ site is http://www.therathole.org/guitars/guitars.html, which mainly focuses on older Aria/Aria Pro II/MIJ Westone/and other Matsumoku makes. Pretty informative.

Then there's good old Ibanez dedicated sites (their late 70's/early 80's MIJ guitars were excellent, and really sought after now). A couple of informative sites are:

http://www.ibanezcollectors.com/
http://www.speakeasy.org/~sven/site/ Artist AM - Small bodied semi's.
http://www.ivc.ca/misc/artist/ Ibanez Artist - Solid Body
http://216.250.245.172/vintagepage/index.html Ibanez Vintage Pages - Great info site!
http://www.ibanezrules.com/ Ibanez Rules

There's loads more as well, but most of these (except the Ibanez ones) have info on most of the Japanese manufacturer's, body styles, serial no. issues etc, etc, and they tend to be quite a fanatical, but highly knowledgable bunch. ;)

[chrisola]

i want one!!!

$925 inc case + USA shipping.. basically Alexi Laiho from Children Of Bodoms sig model 8)

That + a black warpig = ohh yeah!

edwards guitars look v. nice!