question about a Gibson yamano es-335 with no label

[luncheonmeatonwholewheat]

I was looking at Gibson USA ES-335 serial # 01913708 and the seller claimed it was made for Yamano Japan,

however it didn't have a label in the f hole..should it have a label..i thought all ES-335's had the label..

can you tell me about it..?

[Blaster]

I've got a Yamano from Japan, and it does not have a label either. I'd like to know why also; I suspect it has something to do with the warranty.

[Ignatius]

I've got a Yamano from Japan' date=' and it does not have a label either. I'd like to know why also; I suspect it has something to do with the warranty.[/quote']

Hey Blaster--

 

I doubt that. The label itself has nothing to do with the warranty. The warranty is activated through warranty registration, and the Gibson warranty only applies to instruments sold within the United States (and only for the instrument's original owner). The foreign distributors handle warranty issues in other countries so I doubt there is a practice of removing decals from foreign-bound instruments.

 

I actually would be more worried that these instruments are not authentic. I would contact Gibson customer service directly and ask whether Gibson ever made a special run of 335s for Yamano. That will answer your questions very quickly. I see that Yamano appears to be the official Japan distributor for Gibson, but still, I am surprised that their guitars would not have the standard Gibson decals.

 

Ignatius

[Blaster]

The guitar has been verified as being part of a special run from Gibson for Yamano and there are warranty papers

(in Japanese) and registration form in the case pocket. I'm going to call them up and see about the label.

[Ignatius]

The guitar has been verified as being part of a special run from Gibson for Yamano and there are warranty papers (in Japanese) and registration form in the case pocket. I'm going to call them up and see about the label.

Hey Blaster--

 

I'm glad you updated this thread; I'm very interested to hear the report once you hear from Gibson. I'm glad to hear you have the official papers--at least one mystery is solved so far.

 

Ignatius

[Blaster]

I've got a call into Gibson Acoustic and waiting for them to call me back. Now I went to the store website which is Junsei Guitars and was able to pull up some actual pictures of my guitar. I guess they keep pictures of past sales as there are some very unique and interesting guitars there.

One thing that I noticed is that the guitar did not have a label when it was at this store. I then looked at several other Gibson Acoustic guitars that were other models probably from the same dealer order and noticed that they didn't have any labels either.

 

If I remember correctly Yamano used to be "The" Gibson dealer in Japan but that ended and Gibson is doing something else. I wonder if the labels might have had Yamano on them and were stripped out of the guitars by the guitar dealers that bought Yamano's leftover inventory.

 

Here's the link to my guitar at the Junsei website:

 

http://www.junsei-guitars.com/catalogue/Acoustic/02536047/index.htm

 

Now go to the main Junsei website and click on Acoustic Guitars and scroll down to the third guitar which is a Gibson 1950s Southern Jumbo TriBurst click onto that description and you'll see that guitar and the following four Gibsons on the list of Sold guitars don't have Gibson soundhole labels. I emailed Junsei Guitars and asked why no label but don't expect to hear back from them with the language barrier. If I find out anymore info on this I'll post it here.

 

http://www.junsei-guitars.com/