Blaster Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 Several years ago I bought a 2006 AJ that was shipped back to the USA from Japan. It came from one of the well known Guitar shops in Tokyo that is a Gibson dealer. The guitar was sold as a "Special Order" for the Japanese market, the Back/Sides are Madagascar RW, along with the fretboard and bridge. The neck shape is a rounded V shape and finished in a sunburst. There is no paper label in the sound hole, nor are there serial numbers on the back of the head stock.The only place serial numbers are found is on the interior heel block, stamped in black ink small numerical.font. It's a tremendous sounding guitar,which is one of my favorites. I'm wondering if any of the forum members especially in Japan have come across AJs from this run. Gibson verified that the guitar was a special run for a Japanese dealer called "HC 1930S A JUMBO VS" but that was about it in terms of info. From the paperwork enclosed, it looks like the Japanese dealer was Yamano Music,yet what looks like the warranty card is stamped Junsei Guitars. I'll add some pics of this AJ tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 Don't know for sure but it sounds like one of those Japan Select Wood Customs that Gibson has sent over to the Tokyo Guitar Show which is sponsored by Yamano Music. They woud send over guitars like J-200s and Nick Lucas models made with Koa or something often with very fancy engraved boards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gotomsdos Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 US made guitars are very popular in Japan, but to my knowledge, in a same price range, Martin costs a bit more than Gibson. In Japan, there are some amateurs who play street with vintage Martins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yuth_pu_rx Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 Just share my AJ custom, This one is from US made (40 were made) with spruce + 3p Madagascar RW. There is no paper label in the sound hole, but shows serial numbers on the back of the head stock. I get this from my good friend in Thailand, cin (He is a user in this board). Thanks: ฝากรูป It gives me an unique immage and good sound to my ears. Yuth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hogeye Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 The Yamano group was the only Gibson distributor in Japan for years. The situation has now changed as of a couple of years ago. Yamno would distribut the guitars thru a network of music stores in Japan. Thus the confusion over the names on the paper. As you can imagin this system was pretty difficult as the guitars had very high mark-ups after going thru the distributor. Yamano tried a lot of business tactics to stop the "gray market" of guitars coming into the country from outside sources. They would import guitars with special specifications that weren't available in the U.S. so that people couldn't buy them in the U.S. and bring them into the Japan. There were many folks that would fly to the U.S. buy guitars here and then take them home and re-sell them for a tidy profit so you can only imagine the mark-up that Yamano was making on their guitars. The music stores in Japan are now buying direct just like the domestic dealers do. Much better system for everyone. The prices are much lower and the "gray market" has vanished. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blaster Posted March 13, 2012 Author Share Posted March 13, 2012 1331473186[/url]' post='1146873']Just share my AJ custom, This one is from US made (40 were made) with spruce + 3p Madagascar RW. There is no paper label in the sound hole, but shows serial numbers on the back of the head stock. I get this from my good friend in Thailand, cin (He is a user in this board). Thanks: ฝากรูป It gives me an unique immage and good sound to my ears. Yuth This looks exactly like the same guitar as I have, even sunburst looks same size and color, but what is 3 p? The guitar I have has a two piece Madagascar back. The serial number on it is 025360xx Thanks for posting. Robert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisA83 Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 This looks exactly like the same guitar as I have, even sunburst looks same size and color, but what is 3 p? The guitar I have has a two piece Madagascar back. The serial number on it is 025360xx Thanks for posting. Robert 3 piece. He posted pics of it on this thread http://forum.gibson.com/index.php?/topic/83635-my-aj-concert-limited/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yuth_pu_rx Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 This looks exactly like the same guitar as I have, even sunburst looks same size and color, but what is 3 p? The guitar I have has a two piece Madagascar back. The serial number on it is 025360xx Thanks for posting. Robert My serial number is 03218XXX Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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