r/japaneseguitars

Unfortunately my dad very recently passed away after losing his battle with cancer. In the last few years he had started building a collection and had amassed about 20+ Japanese imported guitars. Tragically he was so ill he didn't get a chance to make a will so were weren't sure what to do with them.

I will be gifting a couple to friends and family my mum has suggested to donating some to a local youth charity group which I believe my dad would have supported, but I wanted to get an idea of values as believe some could be quite desirable. He spent his last couple of years doing a lot of research about vintage Japanese guitars and their incredible quality (I'm more a synth guy and know exactly how well-engineered their instruments are).

Whilst I we are happy to donate some wondering if anyone here could tell me if there are any stand out ones that are worth selling or possibly holding on to? I've attached a bunch of photos that I took today and have also uploaded them to the cloud for help with sharing on other groups. I would like to stress that this is not a sales post but more to get information on standouts in the collection as I don't know a lot about it myself and can be difficult even to research if I don't know the models and eras etc. If any in the photos aren't Japanese please let me know and I'll remove them from the post.

Finally if we do decide to sell any then I will make sure to advertise them elsewhere. Hope this is OK and if not please feel free to remove the post and accept my apology as I wasn't sure. Thanks.

Hey everyone! Just bought my second Greco and this time a Les Paul.
I have been watching Gibson R8’s and 9’s for a while but then I saw this one and bought it right away. Looks better then 80% of the custom shops in my opinion haha and weighs only 3.8kg!
I’m more familiar with the ‘78 - ‘82 Grecos.
The seller stated a ‘60s neck profile which I find odd based on the 59 name.
Also what pickups are in it and it must have the maple veneer right?

Thanks!

It's just for reference really, it's an early '80s MIJ Strat. I love her so much she has a lot of music in her. I blew a couple of strings on my string change but hey my middle four strings are hot.

I really had nothing to do with this beyond making my videos with my acoustic. I found a Gibson X1 with the same finish and Dennis found this for me. He did a ton of work on it I wish I had the receipt, new capacitor. He was just developing a guitar cable which I have no. 2. He called her Benzaiten.

So I was like wow this sounds really unique and he was like, "That's what you wanted right?!!".

Just took a chance on one of these last week and it arrived today. To be honest I’d been watching this guitar and others dropping in price and decided I could probably sell it on for more.

I had a 94 American standard Strat when I was younger and I never really liked it despite it being my first proper guitar. So I wasn’t particularly expecting to like this despite everything I’ve read.

It’s an SS38 with some sort of fancy replacement string trees and replacement locking tuners. Now I’ve played the new strings in you can use the trem a lot and it returns to tune. Action is perhaps slightly high but looks like lowering the saddles will be fine. Sounds like a Stratocaster always should have done but rarely ever did in the 80s and 90s.

Was planning to move it on but I really don’t think I can now. It’s brilliant

This is a very fun guitar. Like a double bound 360 with hi gain pickups instead of toasters. 21 frets instead of 24. I’m happy Rickenbacker finally came to their senses about that.

Strung 11-54
Tuned to Eb

Thanks for looking. More to come!

My 1978 Yamaha Studio Lord SL800s which was one of their custom shop models. The build quality of these guitars are exceptional.

Not sure of the year, as I haven’t looked at the pot codes or anything. I’ve seen versions with a slightly different style logo. In any case, it’s a pretty cool bass that has a bunch of gigs under its belt.

Tuned to Eb
Strung 105-50

Thanks for looking. More to come!

I pretty recently picked this up. It’s in amazing condition and even came with the owners manual, warranty card, hang tag, bridge and ashtray covers too.

I am super happy to add this to my small MIJ collection. It was made just a few months before Fujigen started making the first Fenders.

After giving it a quick clean and setup I found it has a great neck and a very growly sound. I’m likely going to keep it as a survivor rather than play it much but it’s a great instrument.