Ishibashi online English catalogue gone

[selectortone]

Ishibashi have changed their international website http://www.ishibashi-music.com/index.html - the nice English online catalogue is not there anymore. Instead there's a note at the top of the page asking prospective buyers to email them. I hope this doesn't have anything to do with the bad publicity they got here recently.

 

[KC]

it's just hiding . . .

if you google "ishibashi fender" you get this site:

(link removed)

which is the same as the old site.

 

[selectortone]

Thanks KC! I was getting withdrawal symptoms.....

 

[johan]

Ishibashi is updating their international part of the site. No idea when it will be "released" though

 

[selectortone]

Hey Johan.... nice Avatar

 

[Dave W]

KC's link is older cached pages.

I read on another forum where someone who emailed them got a reply saying their international site will no longer show Fenders. And I'm pretty sure Ritchie Fliegler said here that Ishibashi's dealer agreement with Fender doesn't authorize then to sell new Fenders outside Japan. So maybe Fender has asked them to remove it.

 

[johan]

That's not the answer I got from Koichi and Noriko at Ishibashi. The site is down at the moment but thay will launch a new fresh one asap.

Ishibashi has been selling MIJ Fender's for many years. The first one I got from them was about 4-5 years ago. Hardly think Ritchie just realized they did and stopped them. But you never know. FenderUS seem to be quite busy these days...so much legal work...

 

[Dave W]

Well, I'm not saying that's what happened, I would have no idea. Ritchie said before that Fender of Japan was set up by CBS, and I'm not clear what control FMIC has over FOJ's dealers, if any.

But he made it clear in this thread http://www.tdpri.com/viewtopic.php?t=18858 that they are not authorized to sell outside of Japan.

The reply I mentioned came from this thread at the Dudepit (bass forum): (link removed) . The guy who got the reply is a Canadian who lives in Japan, so it's still not clear to me whether they will openly sell outside Japan.

 

[KC]

yikes!

if this is actually true (and given the way fender has been policing its brand lately, it very well might be) then I ought to go buy twenty or twenty-five of their '62 Custom RIs. As of today, the US version is $1369 shipped from MF and the CIJ version is $662 shipped from ishibashi -- and there isn't a dime's worth of difference between the two of them except for the case. it's a darn good thing I don't have any money or I'd be tempted.

 

[MarkD.]

Fender Japan guitars are designed and licensed to be sold in the Japan only market. Ishibashi (a dealer, not Fender) illegally imports them into the US, you get stuck and we should do something?

Sorry, but the "system" is there for a reason, you took a chance, tried to buck the system and lost. Good luck (really).

Ritchie

---

Fender Europe also sells FOJ (Fender of Japan) guitars. When you subvert their system and go around them, don't look to them when you have a problem. It just makes sense.

Ishibashi is the "Guitar Center" of Japan with the same level of service after the sale. They don't honor their Dealer Agreement with FOJ, why should they care about your little problems?

RF

Is this the VP of Fender talking bad about Guitar Center, referring to them as having bad customer service. HOW MANY Fenders does Guitar Center sell again?

I have do doubt that Ibashishis US sales website "went away" because of this.

 

[pbradt]

I doubt it

Given that Ishibashi is probably the biggest seller of Fender in the far East, I doubt they'll lose their dealership any time soon.

As for RF dissing GC, not the first, not the last, I'm sure.

It WOULD be ironic if GC were to BUY Fender. At that point, I'd buy 10 TL62s and 10 TL52s from Ishibashi and sell 'em here.

I've said before and I'll say it again, I believe Fender USA has lost their way. Between the flavor of the week and their inability to make vintage RIs that are accurate, they just can't seem to do much right.

But I'm an old fart, what do I know?

 

[MarkD.]

Re: I doubt it

Given that Ishibashi is probably the biggest seller of Fender in the far East, I doubt they'll lose their dealership any time soon.

Nobody said anything about losing a dealership. They just had to drop the section of their website that advertised Fender Japan guitars outside of Japan.

 

[pbradt]

Re: I doubt it

Nobody said anything about losing a dealership. They just had to drop the section of their website that advertised Fender Japan guitars outside of Japan.

Based on some other posts in this thread, it appears as that may not be so. I hope not. In any event, I have their phone number nad when I'm ready to buy again, I'll give them a call.

 

[sneakyjapan]

somebody could send Ishibashi an e-mail and ask.
And did the possible banning occur due to one guys ranting of an alleged bad neck he got on a low end Fender Japan tele?

 

[lobotomyactivist]

wow

what's the story on those axes? I feel like a noob asking, but are they real Fenders?

 

[Dave W]

They haven't lost their dealership. They have stopped listing Fenders on their international site. That's all we know.

It wouldn't surprise me at all if Fender asked them to stop violating their dealer agreement. But they aren't likely to tell you the reason.

 

[selectortone]

And did the possible banning occur due to one guys ranting of an alleged bad neck he got on a low end Fender Japan tele?

I don't believe it's a coincidence. I think that while Ishibashi's willingness to service international customers was reasonably low profile Fender were prepared to turn a blind eye, albeit grudgingly. Once the crap hit the fan it was a different story.

I also believe that Ishibashi themselves would have been mortified to see their good name dissed on such a public forum. Loss of face is something we don't really worry about in the West but it is a huge thing in the Far East.

Maybe now they think it isn't worth the aggravation?

 

[sneakyjapan]

good point and could be. Then again... that was the first negative thread about Ishibashi on any site I visit... seriously, everybody else that bought from them was happy with the service, I know I am. `course it is possible to get a lemon... everybody makes em once in a while.

 

[MarkD.]

that was the first negative thread about Ishibashi on any site I visit... seriously,

If you remember that person complaining lived in like Norway or the Netherlands or Sweden and Ishibashi made it right in the end.
So the person was happy after all, and it wasnt really a negative post in the end.

 

[sneakyjapan]

I do remember, wasn`t that long ago was it. He sure didn`t hold back and sometimes once things are said ,wheather or not they get taken back, thay have an impact. True he sounded satisfied in the end but not before blasting Ishibashi. I`m not saying I wouldn`t have been peed off either but I would have handled it differently. Guess thats because I`ve aged some.
All in all... I will continue to do business with Koichi and Noriko and in fact did... bought a Yamaha SAS-1500 last week and am as happy as I could be with it. They even did me a favor that I won`t go into because they may not appreciate me making it public. The natives are generally very sensitive and I will respect that.