SG104 or SG185 ?

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ibicus

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Even if I think not many members here have owned or played a 185 it is worth a try.I could buy a 185 used in mint condition in my country without import taxes.On the other side I could order a 104 via rakuten with shipping and taxes.The difference in the end will be around 450 euros.From the specs it could be worth to pay more to get a unique high end SG.What do you think ?
 
You will always be wondering what you are missing.

You could order this one from Yahoo Japan through a middleman service: http://page8.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/h201722199
 
wulfman said:
You will always be wondering what you are missing.

Sad but true.The usual problem.But I have no experience in buying from yahoo.Starts with the crappy google translator.I do not really know what I get.The middleman service takes money too and on top of the total costs including shipping 25 % import taxes.Until today I#ve been too much of a coward to buy from yahoo.Bought from ishibashi once and that was perfect though.
 
Just go for the 185... 450 euros isn't really that much in the grand scheme of things, especially if you will get something that you will probably cherish for a long time.
 
Ok...makes sense.What about the price ? 1400 euros for the guitar only.7 years old mint without case...
 
ibicus said:
Ok...makes sense.What about the price ? 1400 euros for the guitar only.7 years old mint without case...

Hmm.. don't take my word for granted as I may be very wrong, but:

As far as I understand the Tokai model number essentially indicates the price in Japanese Yen.

So SG104 = 770 euros (?547) (before you add import Tax, etc)
and SG185 = 1370 euros (?974) (7 years ago)

You also have to consider that the SG185 was... 1370 euros 7 years ago. Take into account inflation and if there was an identical model today, it'd probably be closer to the "200" mark. (questionable calculation). Whoever imported also would've paid import tax at the time.

Therefore, we're talking about SG185 essentially being double the price of SG104. I presume for a new SG104, you will end up paying close to 1000 euros, once you add import tax and other nonsense. So if you opted for SG185 you would be paying an extra third of the cost, yet receive double the goodness :)... Will you be able to tell the difference from sound alone? I don't know, but it may have slightly nicer spec, or nicer timber or whatever else.

Now, most guitars I've seen on eBay and locally (unless they're rare or ****), second hand they tend to be valued at around 50% of their original cost. Therefore, 1400 euros for a 2nd hand guitar, that today new would probably cost.. maybe 1600? is quite a high price (but still better than the completely new SG104).

So essentially, you could haggle and see if he'd sell it for 1200? or 1300 if he threw in a hard-case? Or simply go for it on the basis that you like it. I paid 1200 euros for my Gibson 61' reissue and I suppose you could ask whether it's even worth going for a Tokai if you could get a gibby which tend to hold their value better and aren't as big of a pain in the arse to sell afterwards (especially locally if you want to avoid shipping). Additionally, it could be said that it's unlikely that other people will be willing to pay a 4/5 of the guitar's original price for what is essentially a 2nd hand guitar if you were to sell it afterwards.

Again, I may be wrong with my logic/estimates, but I've gathered that no one likes to value anything in this forum which is a major pain when you're trying to gauge whether something is worth the money or not and all it does is just deters people from buying out of fear they're gonna get ripped off.

Sidenote: go for it if you love it. It's personal for most people. I absolutely loved the grain of the wood on my SG and I've not seen any alike since I got mine.

Also check this thread, there's a guy with 2008 SG155
http://www.tokaiforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=22676

P1010427.jpg
 
I know this guy from earlier days in this forum.He lives only 30 minutes away from me :lol:
Anyway changed my mind a little in the last hours when I was searching for other possible SGs and found this one




A Navigator 480...unfortunately already sold.Just got the message a few minutes ago.Well after this it is difficult to fall in love for a cherry red :cry:
 
Just purchased a black 2013 Navi SG 450 in mint condition and now waiting for EMS to come :D
 
Absolutely but she's already gone and the pickups are dimarzio super distortion and dimarzio from hell as the previous owner is a death metal guitar player.So I guess the "civil" factory version will do it better for me :wink:
 
Update and NGD :D
Went to the customs office today to pay my taxes and pickup my recently purchased guitar.The quality blew me away and even if pimping my guitars is almost more fun than playing I cannot find one part that needs to be pimped.Time will tell but those pickups are so amazing that I never want to swap them.Declared as used the guitar is absolutely mind.Even with protective foil on the backplate.







 
looks top class and superbly made.............

do you mind me asking how much were customs charges????

:D :D :D :D :D
 
I regret profoundly that I decided to purchase the Nav instead of the tokai and even more for presenting pics.Will never ever happen again...
 
Diamond said:
Isn't this the Tokai section of the forum?

Precisely why the discussion was about Tokais until he bought something else. Do you expect him to magically shift the thread or start a new one just so he could post an image of a Navigator..? :)

I was caught drooling over your guitar and my partner simply commented saying that is a beautiful "emerald green" hard case you got there.

Congratulations on your hard-case, couldn't have made a better purchase. :lol:
 
ibicus said:
Moved to the right place for no longer offending one certain gentleman.

I wasn't offended.

All the best with your new guitar.
 
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