Fernandes (Burny) RLG-90 Super Grade held up in customs...

Tokai Forum

Help Support Tokai Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

johnnyl

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 6, 2006
Messages
123
Reaction score
0
Location
Italy
Hello everybody! Been a lurker for a while, time to step in...

I won a used Fernandes (Burny) RLG-90 Super Grade off Ebay on March, 27 from Japan. The guy was great, very helpful & fast service, and he sent the guitar through EMS (Japan's air mail service) the next day. The guitar arrived here in Italy at the "inward office of exchange" early in the morning of April, 1. Now it's April, 6 and still no guitar, even worse, the Italian postal service knows nothing about it, which means it's still at the customs after more than 5 days!
I'm a patient kind of guy, so this could be no problem... The real problem is that a friend of mine won a nice Edwards bass the day after I won my guitar. His bass arrived in Italy on April, 3 and the day after he received it! No customs charge, by the way. As you can imagine, I'm pretty pissed about this... :evil:
By the way, EMS's item tracking of my guitar reads "Arrival at inward office of exchange" on April, 1 h7.51 and "Awaiting presentation to customs commissioner" on April,1 h11.28, while his reads "Arrival at inward office of exchange" as last movement. Does this mean that I must wait some days longer AND pay the fees he did not pay? Are there any rules at all, or you just have to be lucky? This thing is driving me mad!

Sorry for my English and for the long post... :oops:
 
Jonnyl,

Hey man !! I lived in Chile for a while, you want to see some greedy Customs people, go live there. I had a buddy hold some of my personal belongings for me and then ship them later. He EMSed a vcr of mine to me. We exchanged emails for the longest time about "where's the vcr man !!!". LOL Eventually the Chilean Postal Service got in touch, seems my buddy rewrote the address the way we write addresses in America and my vcr had been in Customs all that time cooling it's heels... I got all the way across Santiago to pick it up and Customs wanted to charge me $200.00 in duties and $60.00 in storage fees.... I told them to go f__k off as it was my personal property. I had them open the package and look inside at the dusty old thing... No way did I even PAY $200 for it when new... Eventually they negociated a lower "storage fee"...

You just got "lucky". If Italy is anything like Chile things get done "manana" meaning tomorrow... It'll show up. It's the luck of the draw. And sending EMS should preclude you paying any duties I believe...

Be patient man, it'll be there. When I buy instruments from inside the US I almost always insist the seller ship to me USPS Express Mail (the domestic version of EMS), that way I pay about $20 or so to get it the next day. I can't stand waiting AND I hate thinking my new "baby" is bouncing around in some truck because I was too cheap to go overnight...


BigMike
 
In any cases, when you buy a guitar from a foreign country you pay the taxes from the custom office, if not, it's most of the time because of a mystake....
And sometime the guitar can stay a little long at the custom, yes. And sometime, they can ask you some reliable proof of your payment.

Most of the time, youy have to be lucky.
 
I live in the UK and I got a Burny LPC black beauty from e-bay last year, the guy in japan posted it the very day that i paid and it arrived in the uk the next day, then got stuck at Heathrow for a week. Then the geezer who delivered it stung me for another ?70-odd. By this time the guitar had doubled in price what with all the duty and what-not. But hey! I ain't complaining 'cos i got a real beauty for less than ?300!!

It's the price we gotta pay. The way i look at it, if i saw one in a shop over here at the price i ended up paying, I wouldn't think twice. Customs are a pain, but i'd rather it got held up than damaged.

...my two pennorth.
 
Thanks for the replies guys!
Yes, I guess I have to be patient, but it sure isn't that easy... :wink:
And as I said on my first post the thing that really pissed me off is that my friend received his bass immediately... I mean, I'm happy for him, but it's just... unjust!
By the way, if you don't mind, I'd like to get some opinions on the guitar... Here are some pics...

e4_3.jpg

df_3.jpg

85_3.jpg


... And here are the specs from the seller:

Model: 90s Burny/Fernandes RLG-90 '59 Reissue

*Comes with: Gigbag
*Neck: Mahogany/Rosewood board
*Body: Mahogany/Maple top, laminated Flamed top (Not photo finish)
*Pickups: Burny original pickup VH-1 x2
*Controls: 3Way switch, 2Vol. 2Tone
*Weight: 3.8kgs / 8.4lbs.
*Fret life left : 9.8/10
*Total condition rating: 9/10
*Condition: There are a few slight dings on the edge of the headstock. The pickguard is missing.

... I paid 456 U$ (=378 Eu. at the time) plus shipping and customs... What do you think? Good deal? Are those specs right? The seller says this is just like any Burny Super Grades, it just has the Fernandes logo, is it true?
Any comments more than welcome...
 
That is a beauty of a guitar at a good price!. I love the finish. If I get another LP replica I'm seriously thinking of going with an Edwards or Burny.
 
That is pretty sweet looking, though I can't make out what those black marks on the pickup surrounds are (if the even are anything! :-? ) With the Super Grade I've always loved, more than some other LP style guitars, how they make the words resemble "Les Paul".

**IDLE SPECULATION WARNING** I can't comment on the fernandes logo on the headstock, I would guess it is possible they decided to make them that way and then changed their minds, or maybe it was made at a period of transition and they put it on there do differentiate between korean and japanese guitars.

Anyway, I was looking into buying a (new) Fernandes MIJ guitar recently, but Fernandes seem to be pretty scarce so I havn't really plaied one. If anyone knows where I can try Fernandes guitars (MIK or MIJ) in England I'd appriciate it!
 
That is one great guitar!...I have one that`s a Honeyburst colour...The black stickers say VH1..(Velvet Hammer)...really good knock off`s of the original Gibson PAF`s!

You will dig that guitar..awesome action and a very nice neck!

Mine has a sticker on the back of the neck..made in japan..Rocks!!! :D
 
I'm still waitin', it arrived in Italy 20 days ago exactly... :eek:
This thing is killing me...
 
Geez I hope u get it soon dude..my patience would be wearing out..that`s for sure!! :evil:
 
Yes,there were Fernandes logoed replecas,the most regarded are the first Supergrades ones(78-80?).They were calle Fernandes R2 models here in Spain in 90's with a Gibbo headstock until they dissapaired......
 
I've got one the same colour, with the "vh-1" stickers on the pup surrounds. Thinks it's a later model as the bell shaped truss rod cover has a sticky-out bit either side about 3/4 up the cover. Great guitar!! Awesome!!
 
Thanks for the replies guys... And gorgeous guitar bigbadpj!

... Still waitin', by the way.
 
Back
Top