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declan

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Hi Folks,

A number of you have been working in the background to get content together for japanaxe.com and to date we have compiled a number of pages which are not yet viewable from the main site address. A contributors page and a page from garagerat on the 50s wiring will be uploaded tonight.

You can see the work so far by clicking

http://www.japanaxe.com

hopefully there will be a live site with a proper interface in a week or two.

I removed a response i had here which if anyone has read was a reaction to an anonymous email i received which would have been better ignored.
 
Nice work! This should be great, about time one was done in English for all of us!!
Thanks, looking forward to the site as it grows up.
-Jeff
 
I think you would do well to purchase a copy of Ibanez , the untold story, by hoshino. It just came out this year and has a lot of great info on Japanese guitar making and marketing in the 60's and 70's.
 
the earliest Greco Les Paul type the EG360 first appeared in 1971 according to my Japanese books. Early models may be considered mediocre by some but not by all, reflected in their increasing collectability in Japan, of course they aren`t the same quality as the later high end models but they are charming in their own ways. Those earliest models have Gneco on the p`up covers and the pick-ups were Maxon.
I didn`t read everything about all the makers you have but your Greco info, I`ve read before pretty much verbatim...are all non Japanese getting their info from the same sources? I understand your site is in it`s infancy and I bet it`s going to be a very time consuming effort because there is so much data and there were litterally dozens of Japanese brands...probably made by only a few factories but sorting them out may be difficult without being able to read the Japanese books...or marrying a Japanese woman.
 
sneakyjapan said:
sorting them out may be difficult without being able to read the Japanese books...or marrying a Japanese woman.

LOL

Hi sneaky,
my CURRENT wife 8) may not be in agreement with your last option :D :D, but i know what you are saying, the language barrier is the reason this site needs to be done, its also the one thing thats going to make it difficult to do well but thats the plan. I think youre right in that most english information appears to have originated from the same source or has been copied and pasted and possibly modified and diluted or even misunderstood in translation a little along its way as well.

I agree that to cover all the brands and certiantly all the models is an impossible task, but if we start with the ones we have/know about and keep adding to it, this site should be growing with additional and fresh information for a very long time

I think the old adage of "good, fast, or cheap, pick two" rings some truth here. Im gonna go with Good and Cheap, starting off in a couple of weeks with fast and cheap and steadily building it into something better.

Cheers for the tip Whitehall, I think that book would be a wise investment, just had a bad bills month so its gonna have to wait for a little while but its on the shopping list.
 
You have a huge task ahead of you, as we say in the States just try to "keep it real" The real hurdle is finding reliable sources that will go on the record. The sales patter of a bunch of ebay sellers means ..well, mostly nothing to kids in the USA. We see stories for any and everything here all the time. Learn your history from both sides of the pond. In the 70's and early 80's many large American music stores and distributors had their own lines of copy guitars made in Japan. Many of them were made by Tokai and at the Fujigen factory. They are in the attics , and garages of many American homes. Unfortunatley they wind up in the trash cans too do to lack of infomation. Here on the east coast Venemen Music had a large line of copy guitars in the 70's/80's called Bradley , these were made by Tokai we've been told. There are dozens of companies like that here. Winston was another line like that. When the yen went thru the roof in the 80's you couldn't get an MIJ copy guitar in America.... they were too expensive. So the shipping literally stopped. That's why so many of these stayed in Japan, there was no place for them to go.
 
Very good work! Yes I have to agree you have a difficult task ahead of you, but this is a very good step in the right direction. Hopefully I will be able to lend a hand and support whenever I can. I have a logo or two that I designed on my desktop for the site a bit ago which I should be able to send you later!
 
If you like me to join - I'll come on board ...

I am trying to sample something about the Edwards series of ESP - still haven't got an answer ... :-?

I wonder If they'll do ...???


Roger
 
go for it snake, i will upload both logos and let the masses decide

I like a good project, think ive found one this time that may keep me busy for a very long time :lol: :lol: .

Accuracy is what we want but heresay will do as well as long as it is labeled as such. Its the downright bu****it that needs to be left out, but I think just as important as the history and model information are the technical tips like garagerats wiring post which seems to have spawned a hoard of people having a go and getting their screwdriver and soldering iron out who otherwise might not.

tonight is jam night for me .... but i have a feeling it could be 50's wiring a Burny if my jammin' buddy has anything to do with it, either way its all good fun...
 
Added CSS and set up a template which will make future updates to the interface much easier.

The site is now live......, sparse and looking crap but at least live and functional. The homepage will now carry a summary of Recent updates, Work in Progress and a Wish List so you can easily see whats going on.

Thanks for getting it this far, looking forward to the coming ...decades :D

www.japanaxe.com
 
hey dudes

i'm not a regular poster but i think this new site is a great idea... I would love to contribute some pics to the site, or anything else really

i have two orville guitars one LPS and one Jnr DC, i guess the LPS is commonplace so u probably dont need pics of that but perhaps the Jnr?

I also have a Greco Dan Armstrong copy which i've never seen another one of so perhaps a few pics of that would be good?

anyway let me know how i can help!

thanks
 
Speaking of Made in Japan brands, I've just seen a History branded Les Paul with a circular fretting system on ebay.
I've never heard of them.
The seller says it was made by FujiGen.

http://cgi.ebay.ca/History-ZLS-Les-Paul-Custom-Cherry-Burst-Orville-Guitar_W0QQitemZ190051173288QQihZ009QQcategoryZ2384QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
 
Yes, the circular fret is the trade mark of Fujigen ( the home brand of the factory started around 2000, I believe) . :wink:
 
Doing a search about FujiGen's Ibanez history I came across Shimamura Music which seems to manage the History brand.

http://www.shimamura.co.jp/english/04our_brands/index.html
 

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