laxu
Rock Star
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So I'm back from holiday - visited Tokyo, Kyoto and Nagoya. While my spouse was looking for other things, or packing her year worth of stuff at her exchange student dorm, I had time to visit guitar stores!
Unfortunately no pictures allowed, but I did visit quite a few in all 3 cities. My favorite ones are the big chains: Ishibashi, Ikebe and Big Boss. But even within these it depends a lot on the location what the stores offer. Digimart.net is an invaluable resource if you are trying to find a deal, or used gear.
ESP Museum in Shibuya was dope. It's totally free and has two rooms with guitars in display cases. They probably change over time. As I visited they were showing off all the angel guitars ESP has made, which was quite a few. It was interesting to see how they got more and more elaborate over time to the point of looking like works of art. There were also some really cool V style guitars and some unique customs. Worth a visit for sure. There's also a solid guitar store downstairs that sells ESP, Edwards and LTD, but you could find many of the same models in a lot of other stores for about the same prices.
I also visited the Fender Flagship Tokyo showroom in Shibuya. This had a "fancy high end bag/watch store" vibe, with too much space and clinical appearance compared to the packed-to-the-brim actual guitar stores. Except there weren't that many truly high end models on display. I guess the idea is that you go here to try the latest production, or Japan-exclusive models. I don't understand why this store exists though.
A few stores cleverly had only Japanese made guitars on the 1st floor for us tourists, so we don't have to wade through the copious US Gibson, Fender and PRS models. ESP was prominent, along with Fender Japan and Ibanez. Other brands were Killer guitars (designed by Loudness guitarist Akira Takasaki), Momose, Bacchus and several others I can't remember.
If you are after the US brands, Japan is a great place to buy because I've seen way better Gibsons and Fenders in Japan than here in Finland. High end PRS models are also available, but made it really hard to even look at the SE or S2 range because the nicer ones are just so much cooler. Some incredible vintage models can also be found in these stores, with eye-watering prices of course.
Some of the stores were well hidden. One was on the 10th floor of a building that otherwise had dental clinics and body hair waxing places on other floors. I guess you go get your ass hair ripped out, then go blast a Marshall in the guitar store.
For amps, you have a lot to choose from. The most common test amps were a Marshall JVM stack and a Roland JC120, but otherwise you had everything from Diezel to Two Rock available. I think the only Japanese amp brand I saw was AKG Sound's Dumble style amps, pretty expensive.
I also saw a 1964 Bassman head and cab for about 660K yen (4095€ or $4530) in a Hard Off, which is a chain of used cameras/computers/phones/musical instruments/hifi etc. Just weird to find something that high end in a store like that. Some very high end custom shop Fenders in those too.
For pedals, tons of selection as well. Get Stomp in Ikebukuro was still the nicest shop for pedals just due to selection, but no deals were to be had there.
For modelers, pretty much everything from Fractal to QC to TMP to Hotone and Kemper was available to try. I messed around briefly with the Hotone Ampero II Stage (just to test the UI) and it seemed kinda nice considering it's a more budget device.
Tokyo and Osaka are definitely better for guitar stores than Kyoto or Nagoya. The sheer amount of guitar stores in the Tokyo Ochanomizu area was impressive, but the selection of the stores overlaps a lot so it might be good for finding the "perfect" example of a particular model.
Didn't feel like trying a lot of stuff because it means you have to get the store employee who will get you all setup etc. Then not buying anything would be a bit embarassing!
Pricewise, pretty hit and miss. Some guitars were maybe only about VAT less than here in Finland, same for some pedals. Strymons were cheaper for some reason, whereas UA, Meris and Source Audio were just as expensive. Boss is a good deal of course. I'd probably look exclusively at Japanese made guitars and used ones.
In the end, I bought a Strymon El Capistan V2 and nothing else. I just have too good a guitar selection already and seeing so many nice guitars just made me happier with what I own.
Unfortunately no pictures allowed, but I did visit quite a few in all 3 cities. My favorite ones are the big chains: Ishibashi, Ikebe and Big Boss. But even within these it depends a lot on the location what the stores offer. Digimart.net is an invaluable resource if you are trying to find a deal, or used gear.
ESP Museum in Shibuya was dope. It's totally free and has two rooms with guitars in display cases. They probably change over time. As I visited they were showing off all the angel guitars ESP has made, which was quite a few. It was interesting to see how they got more and more elaborate over time to the point of looking like works of art. There were also some really cool V style guitars and some unique customs. Worth a visit for sure. There's also a solid guitar store downstairs that sells ESP, Edwards and LTD, but you could find many of the same models in a lot of other stores for about the same prices.
I also visited the Fender Flagship Tokyo showroom in Shibuya. This had a "fancy high end bag/watch store" vibe, with too much space and clinical appearance compared to the packed-to-the-brim actual guitar stores. Except there weren't that many truly high end models on display. I guess the idea is that you go here to try the latest production, or Japan-exclusive models. I don't understand why this store exists though.
A few stores cleverly had only Japanese made guitars on the 1st floor for us tourists, so we don't have to wade through the copious US Gibson, Fender and PRS models. ESP was prominent, along with Fender Japan and Ibanez. Other brands were Killer guitars (designed by Loudness guitarist Akira Takasaki), Momose, Bacchus and several others I can't remember.
If you are after the US brands, Japan is a great place to buy because I've seen way better Gibsons and Fenders in Japan than here in Finland. High end PRS models are also available, but made it really hard to even look at the SE or S2 range because the nicer ones are just so much cooler. Some incredible vintage models can also be found in these stores, with eye-watering prices of course.
Some of the stores were well hidden. One was on the 10th floor of a building that otherwise had dental clinics and body hair waxing places on other floors. I guess you go get your ass hair ripped out, then go blast a Marshall in the guitar store.
For amps, you have a lot to choose from. The most common test amps were a Marshall JVM stack and a Roland JC120, but otherwise you had everything from Diezel to Two Rock available. I think the only Japanese amp brand I saw was AKG Sound's Dumble style amps, pretty expensive.
I also saw a 1964 Bassman head and cab for about 660K yen (4095€ or $4530) in a Hard Off, which is a chain of used cameras/computers/phones/musical instruments/hifi etc. Just weird to find something that high end in a store like that. Some very high end custom shop Fenders in those too.
For pedals, tons of selection as well. Get Stomp in Ikebukuro was still the nicest shop for pedals just due to selection, but no deals were to be had there.
For modelers, pretty much everything from Fractal to QC to TMP to Hotone and Kemper was available to try. I messed around briefly with the Hotone Ampero II Stage (just to test the UI) and it seemed kinda nice considering it's a more budget device.
Tokyo and Osaka are definitely better for guitar stores than Kyoto or Nagoya. The sheer amount of guitar stores in the Tokyo Ochanomizu area was impressive, but the selection of the stores overlaps a lot so it might be good for finding the "perfect" example of a particular model.
Didn't feel like trying a lot of stuff because it means you have to get the store employee who will get you all setup etc. Then not buying anything would be a bit embarassing!
Pricewise, pretty hit and miss. Some guitars were maybe only about VAT less than here in Finland, same for some pedals. Strymons were cheaper for some reason, whereas UA, Meris and Source Audio were just as expensive. Boss is a good deal of course. I'd probably look exclusively at Japanese made guitars and used ones.
In the end, I bought a Strymon El Capistan V2 and nothing else. I just have too good a guitar selection already and seeing so many nice guitars just made me happier with what I own.
), vending machines, the constantly changing architecture and general vibe. There's just so much to do if you know where to find it. We went to see a rock/metal festival headlined by Loudness (who kicked ass!), went to see women's pro wrestling (also totally awesome!) and a whole lot more.
