The Haruna's Telecaster is the most attractive one to me. I want one! The custom strap and gig bag look nice as well. 
An original Tele body is like a Les Paul don't have a cut at the back for the playing comfort at the player's belly. 
I wonder why she didn't request a beveled cut at the arm rest as well?

I got an email from ishibashi. Here's what she said:

Due to national dealership agreements, we are unable to sell brand new
guitars over seas.

I am afraid we can not offer you the SCANDAL models.

I think you can try through a forwarding service like tenso

kenzo9 wrote:I got an email from ishibashi. Here's what she said:

Due to national dealership agreements, we are unable to sell brand new
guitars over seas.

I am afraid we can not offer you the SCANDAL models.

Ouch.

Glad I went via the 'ask a friend in Japan' route. Snagged the Haru and Mami models on preorder at the Ishibashi webshop. Received the email confirmation forwarded by said friend but will still keep fingers crossed, as s**t can still happen.

Would've been nice to buy at Kitty for the extras like babaloued (great job, dude) but getting the guitars were of a higher priority!

Would like to hear of anyone else who managed to get one (or 3).

babaloued wrote:I've just finished to order Haru's guitar on Kitty Web Shop xD

O.O How did you do?

I want Haruru's guitar too  

Looks like it has started, I hope you guys can all buy what you want!! .uhuh. 

Expecting some photos when you get it  .common. 

well i try using the kitty web shop to preorder it and was successful. in less than a min the automatic confirmation email came. i open i saw lots of japanese words which i dont understand. but then i saw 1 part: SCANDAL MANIA会員限定商品をご注文で、「配送先備考欄」に会員番号の入力がない場合はキャンセルとなりますのでご注意ください。

I used google translate(Please note that as for the order SCANDAL MANIA members-only product, it will be canceled if there is no input of the membership number in the "delivery destination remarks".)

Then again i "think" the guitars are not under SCANDAL MANIA members-only product. anyway 1min after that i receive a sms from my bank telling me the amount has been deducted.

shwimp wrote:

babaloued wrote:I've just finished to order Haru's guitar on Kitty Web Shop xD

O.O How did you do?

I want Haruru's guitar too  

Register an account at Tenso
Open the page to Haru's guitar
Scroll down and click the button
You will see the next page
There you will see 2 more buttons.
Click the 1 on the right
Scroll down and fill in the form
Do note all words are in Japanese, just follow Tenso guide
携帯番号 (＊)  just fill in then phone number Tenso gave you. ( that's what i did lol )
At the bottom there's a choice in becoming a member or not. ( i think being a member means just having an account so next time if you wanna shop its easier )
When you're done click the bottom right button ( that word means next )
The next few pages should be easy. If you have any trouble just use google translate.

Ah thank you very much kenzo9 .hail. 


I cross my fingers that it works.  .please.

Mami's Stratomaster is not available yet for some reason, which is annoying (or maybe it's actually sold out on the sites I'm looking at). So is the fact that Ishibashi won't ship overseas. I might have to have mine shipped to a Japanese address and pick them up when I visit this fall. Probably cheaper that way anyway, but just can't check if anything's wrong with them while I could theoretically return them.

Nothing's ever easy in Japan, is it?

Just placed an order for the Haruna Telecaster using Tenso, thanks for the tips kenzo9! Hopefully all goes well and I did everything right.  .nervous.

spacecadet wrote:Mami's Stratomaster is not available yet for some reason, which is annoying (or maybe it's actually sold out on the sites I'm looking at). So is the fact that Ishibashi won't ship overseas. I might have to have mine shipped to a Japanese address and pick them up when I visit this fall. Probably cheaper that way anyway, but just can't check if anything's wrong with them while I could theoretically return them.

Nothing's ever easy in Japan, is it?

On which sites have you tried? I'm pretty sure it's still available on Kitty Web Shop, there are also Ishibashi or Rakuten

Hope some of you guys review it! I'm in the process of placing an order, but really on the fence about getting another guitar so not sure if I'll end up picking up Mami's guitar.  Might hold out till some reviews and then if they are available get 1 at a later date.

babaloued wrote:On which sites have you tried? I'm pretty sure it's still available on Kitty Web Shop, there are also Ishibashi or Rakuten

Ishibashi and Ikebe (the Rakuten site someone tweeted) both sold out of the Mami Stratomaster pretty much immediately. I was hoping not to have to use the Kitty Web Shop because they charge more, plus they only accept certain credit cards.

I ended up ordering the Haruna Tele and Tomomi bass from Ishibashi and the Mami Stratomaster from the Kitty Web Shop using Tenso (thanks kenzo). It seemed like that would actually be cheaper/easier/faster than shipping them to my in-laws' house and picking them up this fall.

It was *painful*, though! It took me forever to get all of them ordered. I keep forgetting how hard it is to order stuff on Japanese web sites with US credit cards.

I hope I don't get an email from either company telling me they arbitrarily canceled my order because I'm shipping to a forwarding service.

spacecadet wrote:I hope I don't get an email from either company telling me they arbitrarily canceled my order because I'm shipping to a forwarding service.

This is my fear, as well. I'm wondering I should change the address to have a friend in Japan receive the package for me, and then ship it to Australia.

Im glad that i was able to help out. i wanted to order all 3 just like you did spacecadet but then im just short of cash. i have to kiss goodbye to Tomo's bass  .toj.

BrokenByDefault wrote:

spacecadet wrote:I hope I don't get an email from either company telling me they arbitrarily canceled my order because I'm shipping to a forwarding service.

This is my fear, as well. I'm wondering I should change the address to have a friend in Japan receive the package for me, and then ship it to Australia.

well im doing my part on my prayers that things will go smoothly. of course having a friend in Japan to receive the package for you would be the best choice. i can say its 99% confirmation (1% for the ultimate sh**)
but then there's always pros and cons in every choice that we make in life.

forwarding company:
pros: professional. receiving, checking, repackaging, delivery. ( depends on the company )
cons: some websites doesn't send their items to forwarding address ( happens to me before )

friend:
pros: whatever you buy, 99% will be able to reach his/her address(1% for the ultimate sh** {i dont believe in 100% nothing's perfect} )
cons: normally they don't check the items unless you tell them to. shipping wise, normal items should be ok. ( try buying 4 car rims and delivery to their doorstep then hear them calling you on your phone saying "WAT THE F***"!!! )

BrokenByDefault wrote:This is my fear, as well. I'm wondering I should change the address to have a friend in Japan receive the package for me, and then ship it to Australia.

If your friend is ok with it, but it's kind of a hassle shipping a guitar. That's one of the reasons I decided not to use my in-laws. Even just dealing with accepting the package and then storing it is kind of annoying in a typical size Japanese place; these come in pretty big boxes.

In fact I'm actually kind of hoping the non-Kitty Shop ones *don't* come with the case (I'm pretty sure they don't come with the strap, because Ishibashi shows a regular Fender strap without the "S" as a separate purchase). I'll be glad to have one case with my Mami guitar, but those cases look bulkier than the regular Fender Japan gig bags and I gotta think the boxes will be bigger than even the one my Japanese Jazzmaster came in. (Obviously the bass box will be anyway.) I hope it doesn't destroy the collector value not to have the case and strap but those cases are going to add to the shipping cost. But we'll see; my Jazzmaster came *in* the gig bag in a sealed factory box, so maybe these are just all packaged that same way from Fender and everybody gets the case.

I didn't even have a chance to actually read the specs of the guitars before now; some interesting stuff there, like the fact they're all made of basswood and Haruna's Tele is contoured; I don't think we knew that before. We also knew Mami's humbucker was a rails of some kind but I don't think she ever specifically said it was a Hot Rails. Also they've now changed the bridge on her guitar to an Adjust-o-Matic like she likes (and like her own guitar really has) - the pictures of her holding it show it with a standard JM bridge, as did the pics in the Go! Go! Guitar! Mami Special.

spacecadet wrote:I didn't even have a chance to actually read the specs of the guitars before now; some interesting stuff there, like the fact they're all made of basswood and Haruna's Tele is contoured; I don't think we knew that before. We also knew Mami's humbucker was a rails of some kind but I don't think she ever specifically said it was a Hot Rails. Also they've now changed the bridge on her guitar to an Adjust-o-Matic like she likes (and like her own guitar really has) - the pictures of her holding it show it with a standard JM bridge, as did the pics in the Go! Go! Guitar! Mami Special.

Since you have a JM, I've a question - is the Adjust-o-Matic more robust than the fiddly ones on a Jag or Mustang? Never played a JM before and from the photos the AoM kinda look like a Tune-o-Matic on a Les Paul, and if that is so, it should be good.

I know 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' but I'm soo tempted to replace the Stratomaster's Duncan-designed HB to an actual SD SHR-1. Heh. #jumpingthegun

But first, to make sure it arrives in one piece first. #jitterybutexcited

I'm currently in Japan until the 22th of August so, only if you are desperate with forwarding service or something like that, I can take delivery of you guitar and then ship it to you.

You have to know, first, that I have not do this yet so I don't know if it's easier to ship something so big and fragile like a guitar and, how much it is.

I'll get one before x-mas. maybe haruna's.. not sure how to import tho..

maharizm wrote:Since you have a JM, I've a question - is the Adjust-o-Matic more robust than the fiddly ones on a Jag or Mustang? Never played a JM before and from the photos the AoM kinda look like a Tune-o-Matic on a Les Paul, and if that is so, it should be good.

It's Fender's copy of the Tune-o-Matic, so if you like one, you'll probably like the other. I don't actually know what the differences are between a real TOM and an AOM; it's the same basic design, though.

I have an AOM on my Gretsch. I don't personally like them on any guitar this side of a Les Paul, and they make even less sense on Jazzmasters because the JM tremolo is designed for a floating bridge. (It's the same tremolo system on her Stratomaster, hers just has the Squier non-locking trem plate.) Then again, Mami does not use tremolo at all, ever. I don't think I've ever seen her even pick up the bar. So this wouldn't be a concern to her, and also she's used to an Adjust-o-Matic from her Classic Player JM. I don't plan to modify it; personally I want to keep these guitars the way they like them, even if there are certain things that I'd have designed differently. I'm actually happy they changed it to an AOM even though I like the standard bridge better.

maharizm wrote:

spacecadet wrote:I didn't even have a chance to actually read the specs of the guitars before now; some interesting stuff there, like the fact they're all made of basswood and Haruna's Tele is contoured; I don't think we knew that before. We also knew Mami's humbucker was a rails of some kind but I don't think she ever specifically said it was a Hot Rails. Also they've now changed the bridge on her guitar to an Adjust-o-Matic like she likes (and like her own guitar really has) - the pictures of her holding it show it with a standard JM bridge, as did the pics in the Go! Go! Guitar! Mami Special.

Since you have a JM, I've a question - is the Adjust-o-Matic more robust than the fiddly ones on a Jag or Mustang? Never played a JM before and from the photos the AoM kinda look like a Tune-o-Matic on a Les Paul, and if that is so, it should be good.

I know 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' but I'm soo tempted to replace the Stratomaster's Duncan-designed HB to an actual SD SHR-1. Heh. #jumpingthegun

But first, to make sure it arrives in one piece first. #jitterybutexcited

I'd replace it with a real Hot Rails especially since the middle and neck are cheaper squier pickups which will probably need replacing.

bouvip wrote:I'd replace it with a real Hot Rails especially since the middle and neck are cheaper squier pickups which will probably need replacing.

Hahaha. Gimme a high five, bouvip. But yeah, I'll cross the bridge when I get there.

Did you order one? Or three... ^^

maharizm wrote:

bouvip wrote:I'd replace it with a real Hot Rails especially since the middle and neck are cheaper squier pickups which will probably need replacing.

Hahaha. Gimme a high five, bouvip. But yeah, I'll cross the bridge when I get there.

Did you order one? Or three... ^^

Yea! Cool rails in the neck though would sound good.


Still debating on whether to get Mamis model or not. In the red lately with too many guitars but hopefully I can sell 1 soon so I can have cash for it!

I plan on replacing the humbuckers on the Tele, as well. I can't find any information on them, but I'm not expecting anything that great for the price. I'm also worried that they're made out of basswood instead of alder like I would imagine the band's original instruments to be made out of, it just screams cheap to me.

Well, I got an email from Ishibashi telling me they can't ship to a forwarding address or accept foreign credit cards. (Even though they already charged it, and I've paid with US credit cards with them multiple times in the past both online and in person.) Sometimes I forget that Japan hasn't really accepted its role in the world economy yet...

I technically can switch payment and my shipping address, but it's a real hassle. And this is just a warning for anyone else still planning to try to order from them. You don't just need a Japanese shipping address, you need the *right* Japanese shipping address. And Japanese payment.

I haven't heard anything from the Kitty Web Shop yet; hopefully I won't until they actually ship.