NGD - Ishibashi content

wolsnah

Happy day for me. I used to own a LTD DV8R but moved it on as I just didn't gel with it. I've had a bee in my bonnet of late to get another V of some ilk but prices seem to be way up there for the usual brands. For a while I was hankering after a Killer Guitars Wishbone, white, natural varnished, wasn't fussed, and I'll still keep my eye out for one.

However, something popped up on https://ishibashi-music.jp , which I had been checking frequently, as I do love a Japanese guitar. After a poor attempt my me to get some money knocked off, I decided life was too short so put my order in late on Friday 9th July. Having tracked the parcel into the country, through customs and to the local depot on Thursday 15th, I rang Parcel Force up, quoted my tracking number and got the 17 digit code for paying the customs charges and it arrived this morning on the 16th.

As you can see from the pictures, it came well packaged both in terms of general box as well as internal packaging which protected the gig bag and guitar. Amazed that it made it to my house from Tokyo in less than a week, OK a week's worth of days but to the hour less than a week, and in a box that looks remarkably unscathed.











I was surprised to find the bag of Gotoh locking tuners in the gig bag, not sure yet if they'll make it on to the V. It already has Gotohs but they're not locking. I'll see how well it stays in tune. It came with the strings well detuned, I assume to help reduce stress in transit, it's sat in its bag upstairs acclimatising at present but will get a good tune up and play later this week.

In all honesty, I'm not a big Schenker fan (yet), but I do like his style in guitars. Officially it's an Edwards E-FV-125WB with a SD SH-1n at the neck and a SD SH-5 at the bridge. It's my third Edwards, having owned an E-LP-90LTC that I sold to @Jeddy3 and an E-EX-125E that I also shifted on outside of the community. I think this one will stay for quite a while from how it looks and feels, but I say that quite often  

Great experience through Ishibashi, I'll certainly be looking at other interesting Japanese guitars on offer, but not for a while maybe...

wolsnah

For cost information for anyone interested, it was around £600 for the guitar, barely a mark on it and in all honesty I would say at worst it's a lightly played demonstrator. Shipping was around £200, customs, VAT, etc came in at almost £175. Clearly a high cost to actually get the guitar to me compared to the purchase price, but gives a good real world example for anyone considering going down the same route.

Philly_Q

Very cool! 

I had the non-Schenker version of that guitar, with the same '79 style block inlays etc, but all in white, with witch hat knobs and Grover-shaped tuners (interesting that they included those locking ones for you!).  Pickups were slightly different too, I'm pretty sure they were an SH-1n and SH-4.

Really nice guitar, have fun with it!

Jeddy3

Biggest mistake I ever made selling that E-LP-90LTC. That was nice. Haven’t been able to find another   

Svennn

Very very nice, consider me extremely jealous. That is what I call a really HNGD!!

Offset

Love it!  I thoroughly enjoyed slowly scrolling down your post - box, packing, case, tuners and finally guitar.  Almost as exciting as receiving a new toy in person.  Thanks for posting, made my Saturday morning.  Enjoy it (and don't knock over that cup of tea) :-)

TTBZ

Awesome would have loved this about 10 years ago during my big Schenker phase! Never felt confident or cool enough to pull off a V though.

DLM

@Grunfeld ;

Schnozz

So so jealous.

HNGD

wolsnah

Thanks for the kind words all  

@Philly_Q The same model is available with the SH-4 in the bridge. Unfortunately my googling isn't up to finding when or why it changed to an SH-5 which I think is what they come with new now.

@Offset I'd literally just made that brew when the doorbell went, it was safely managed and guzzled down

@Jeddy3 I saw your WTB add on the forum for another LTC. You'll find another one or something different that'll have the feel you're after, it's part of the fun of the chase. If funds allow, don't be afraid to look directly towards Japan. I just wish we could setup a good trade deal that meant no customs charges and just have to pay for the delivery costs, which i think are acceptable if it guarantees safe delivery or money back if damaged.

It sits really nicely hooked over the leg and I'm looking forward to giving it a tune up and play later in the week. Fortunately I've got the week off, although we've plans to get out for a few walks so it'll have a bit of a sleep before being properly woken up.

Grunfeld

Wow, great find. Colour me envious and kicking myself that I didn't get one when an example popped up when I could justify it.   (Thanks for the heads up @DLM )

DLM

@Grunfeld I knew you'd wanna see it!   I really like it myself. Maybe if I can ever get back to gigging...

SPECTRUM001

I don't normally like this kind of thing - but gotta hand it to you - very cool guitar.

Nice colour design (reminds me of Baron Samedi), and very dynamic. Nice Star Wars mug too...

hassleham

What a cool guitar! I've heard good stuff about ishibashi but their lack of details descriptions on most guitars, and poor communication via email previously has put me off a bit as I worried how easy they would be to deal with if anything went wrong. 

Glad to see it arrived in one piece, even in a gig bag!

tony99

Has that got an ebony fretboard?

wolsnah

Sadly not, that would have been nice to have but this model comes with a rosewood fretboard.