# Japanese Boutique Guitars



## narad (Jan 7, 2014)

Whelp, heading back to Japan for a bit and I already started digging around to see what new guitars to try out. I've heard of a few builders, some of which have been mentioned a time or two here, but nothing that I've ever seen anyone buy. And for the most part, these brands don't have much traction outside of Japan, so I thought I'd try to index them all here just for spreading awareness, creating good mandatory reading for anyone's vacation trip to Ochanomizu. If I happen to get hands on, or even buy something, I'll try to post a review.

Probably the most appropriate place to start is Sugi Guitars, known here as crafters behind the M8M, among other high-end Ibanez. But look at their own guitars!



























One of the few Japanese brands to use Brazilian Rosewood:






Bats instead of birds everywhere:






Some nice Spectre style basses:






EDIT: I guess I should add videos when I can:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4H2voiu0cc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyTbWEQcWmY

Anyway, I'd love to hear if anyone's tried them. The next few brands I post I don't think I've ever heard of outside of browsing Ikebe


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## rifftrauma (Jan 7, 2014)

Might have to see if Meestursparkle can hook me up because this is ridiculous....


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## narad (Jan 7, 2014)

Agreed. That one's actually in Germany for now:

Tommy´s Guitar Lounge

The "Luthier's Collection" line all uses old recovered wood, same as companies like D'Pergo.


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## gunch (Jan 7, 2014)

Damn those are pretty


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## 12enoB (Jan 7, 2014)

I was just in Ochanomizu about 2 weeks ago. That place is like heaven. I saw a few shops that looked like they did customs and just looking at the blocks of wood they had in stock was impressive.


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## narad (Jan 7, 2014)

Well, next I was compiling a list of T's guitars, but BloodyInferno has already put together a nice thread here listing a bunch (with videos!):

http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/standard-guitars/239792-ts-guitars-more-japanese-goodness.html

A couple new favorites though:


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## thrashcomics (Jan 7, 2014)

That last one uses the Suhr headstock


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## gunch (Jan 7, 2014)

thrashcomics said:


> That last one uses the Suhr headstock



Which is just a Kramer "beak" headstock


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## narad (Jan 7, 2014)

Yea, given the rest of the options I'd wager they were inspired by Pensa guitars. Certainly if I could order a Suhr that nice, I would in a heartbeat.


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## Spectre 1 (Jan 7, 2014)

G-Life make some interesting axes - G-Life Guitars / Products


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## Metlupass2 (Jan 7, 2014)

That last headstock is hideous!

The Japanese make some really nice guitars.


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## Bloody_Inferno (Jan 7, 2014)

Spectre 1 said:


> G-Life make some interesting axes - G-Life Guitars / Products


 
Just to note: G-Life are a signature line for Japanese guitarist Daita. It used to be a super-strat only range, but Daita recently added a distressed super-tele that he's been using for his new band Breaking Arrows.

Plus I did a thread about these too. 

http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/standard-guitars/77102-g-life-guitars-japan-only.html


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## narad (Jan 8, 2014)

G-Life seems well-covered. Here's a brand I can't find much information on, and absolutely never heard of on any forum: *Yamaoka guitars*. The seem to be branded under "String Arts" most of the time. A bit violin-inspired, with the sides recessed with respect to the purfling around the top. They look high quality, cost about as much as a Sugi.

The solidbody platform is the most prevalent in guitar store stock:
















But the archtops....wow:
















...aaaand my favorite:
















Videos:


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## narad (Jan 18, 2014)

Alright, time for another lesser known builder: *Freedom Guitar Research.*

Freedom Custom Guitar Research

Freedom seems to be positioned at the very high end in terms of price (mostly $5-6k, not much below $3k, even used) doing interesting takes on classic 50s style guitars. One of the few brands that really captures the look of a 50s style burst finish, much better than Navigator, but I admit they put it on some weirdly distorted shapes! Other than that, some great quilt top superstrats, and a bunch of cool tele deluxes!






Siiiiiiiick (Hydra Voyage model, ~$6k):













Another ($3k):





Suupaa old school:















Koa:















Decent basses:





The Deluxes (~$3k):


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## JoshuaVonFlash (Jan 18, 2014)

So much awesome in this thread....can't handle it!


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## Tristoner7 (Jan 19, 2014)

Schecter Japan and FGN make some amazing instruments as well.


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## Alberto7 (Jan 19, 2014)

Oh my, oh my! Isn't this thread wonderful?  So much eye candy!

From what I can tell, Yamaoka and Freedom seem to be the most boutique-ish of the ones listed so far, at least in terms of looks and variety of design concepts, although both of them seem to be trying to keep things slightly on the traditional side (22 frets and classy Strat and LP shapes). Really lovely guitars, those.

Out of everything mentioned in this thread, T's Guitars are the ones that I find more attractive, simply because they seem a bit more modern yet still remain very classy. That's all based on the pictures though; it'll probably be a long time until I get to see the real thing.


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## narad (Jan 19, 2014)

Yup, trying to move mostly from super boutique -> more production-oriented, but we'll see how it goes. As to T's guitars, I do like them quite a bit, but some arc standards are also up in the $4-5k range. If I get the chance to try one out over the next couple months I will definitely post up a review...that purple one's calling my name...

The next installment is a bit of a cop out. *Toru Nittono* is not a Japanese boutique guitar builder in the sense that he's building out of Japan, but he is Japanese and his guitars seem to have a much larger presence in Japan than in the US, so I thought I'd include him. He's part of the Bay area group of fantastic Japanese luthiers, building almost all his guitars from the same single cutaway tele-shaped platform. I've been dying to try one of his nylon strings for ages - they're played by Robben Ford and Santana, among others.

They're definitely low production - I've only seen about 3 for sale at any one time. They're in the ~$6k range:


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## Alberto7 (Jan 20, 2014)

Funny how the lower horn proportions on those didn't quite impress me when I saw them yesterday, but I take a look at them today and I actually like it.  Regardless, I'm digging them, particularly the classicals. I love the bridge design on those. That first one looks fantastic.


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## narad (Feb 7, 2014)

There are some "wow" Japanese boutique guitars, and there are some..not so impressive ones. Enter *Nil Guitars*. These are quite different, in a way that I'm not sure anyone will appreciate (myself included), but I think it makes sense to post since they're so focused on seven string guitars...

They're about $2.5k, so cheaper than a lot of the things posted in this thread so far.

One of the better ones IMO:





Pretty bland rear:





Now the weirdness:





6/1 headstock:


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## Bloody_Inferno (Feb 7, 2014)

Good call on the Nil Guitars. They've got some good exposure thanks to their artist roster like Isao Fujita of Cube Ray, and Spark 7 with Shane Gibson, also a Nil user prior to Carvin, and the High And Mighty Colour guys.


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## narad (Feb 7, 2014)

Yea, I've seen Isao playing something like the red one, but the trem-recess fangs are just a bit too much for me!


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## Syriel (Feb 7, 2014)

My batchmate owns a Nil Glamourous Top ( The arch top one with a string through body ) in a beautiful Sakura-ish Pink. It's gorgeous, and build quality is superb I probably could compare it to a J-Custom. It sounds mighty fine too.







That one. But with a quilt top.

The arch top + string through + 22 frets is called Glamourous Top, while the flat top + Floyd + 24 frets is called the Serious Top. Then the Red one with the pickguard is actually Isao's signature NIL.

Talking about Japanese Guitars, I'm just in love with A2c's signature Crying Moon by T's Guitars.






There's Combat Guitars too. Which will do practically anything under the sun like the pic ( Not sure about fanned frets ). They have a semi-order line too.






Check their AYA gallery for some insane guitars and inlay work. http://www.combat-guitars.com/gallery/aya.html


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## Alberto7 (Feb 7, 2014)

Those Nil Guitars... eerrr... ... they're probably really nice, but not my cup of tea at all.

Those Combat Guitars, however ...!!
Their gallery is impressive, and they seem like they'll do almost anything.
This one is a little odd, but I still like it a lot. Reminds of some of the Japanese ESP models:





I loved this one, too. The carved top looks beautiful, and I dig the green inlays:





And this is just classy as f*ck:


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## 12enoB (Feb 7, 2014)

Call me crazy, but I think that pink nil guitar looks amazing. I kind of like the fangs on it, it's like a little signature. The headstock looks like a hawk too. Maybe it's a little gimmicky, but it's fun to look at.


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## narad (Feb 7, 2014)

12enoB said:


> Call me crazy, but I think that pink nil guitar looks amazing. I kind of like the fangs on it, it's like a little signature. The headstock looks like a hawk too. Maybe it's a little gimmicky, but it's fun to look at.



I like the ESP HAOOOMARU - no one has to justify their tastes to me! I don't get the Nil personally, but thought someone might. The top / finish is definitely killer.


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