Holy Crap - History Top Shelf with Braz 'board & Honduran on Yahoo Japan

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Did you buy it? I've seen them for around that price. Usually the History guitars resell at about 40% of list.
 
The seller in the Yahoo Japan auction link states the SH-L2 he listed is a 2002 example, I believe the first year of production, and that he purchased the guitar a dozen years ago. The guitar listed looks pretty clean.
The SH-L1 & the SH-L2 both remind me a bit of the Momose ML1 model that has the maple binding on the neck/fingerboard, and the unstained maple faux binding on the body top. Both guitars are pretty much works of art.

I did some digging around on the interwebz :lol: and located a few links (posted a couple below) about the SH-L2 :)

Here is what looks to be an old catalog link from 2002 showing the SH-L2 (among other History guitars) with a MSRP of 360,000 yen
https://www.shimamura.co.jp/originalbrand/pdf/old_history3.pdf
I wonder what the same construction & materials would cost in today's $$$$ to produce the same/similar build?

Here is a link to Andrew Mechling's old web site that shows he at one time had a 2002 (first year) SH-L2 with a display case 8)
http://www.guitarsjapan.com/2002_History_SH-L2_Les_Paul.html
That is pretty sweet stuff right there!
 
I guess there was some Brazilian rosewood floating around Japan at the time - I have a Tokai LS280 - limited order run (distro order - mine was originally sold at Musicland Key, Shinjuku), 2005 model. I've been trying to sell it, but can only do so within my home borders (Australia), of course. Were there any other Brazilian rosewood models getting around during the 2000s?
 
In the above link Andrew Mechling had his 2002 SH-L2 listed as weighing 8 lb. - 14 oz.

Just found out the one in the OP weighs in @ 4.05 kg aka 8 lb. - 15 oz. :)

Andy, obtaining Brazilian is not a huge deal if the pieces are not large; fingerboard size blanks are no big deal even now days.
You just have to know the right folks :wink: and most are stump lumber but it's still 'braz.

As far as guitars from the era, I have a 2000 Tokai LS-320 with a really nice 'braz board but I rarely play it.
**** thing is 20 years old now; almost looks new. :oops:

Also have a Momose MLS-STD/J from circa 2005 & I play it a lot :D
 
wulfman said:
Did you buy it? I've seen them for around that price. Usually the History guitars resell at about 40% of list.

Yes, I am the guilty party :lol: the SH-L2 should be here by the end of this week. :D

Should be interesting to see the build quality for a top of the line FujiGen from 2002, and with the impressive list of materials used.

I hope I like it; we shall see soon.
 
A bargain of a guitar in my opinion. As to quality, if it is anything like the Epiphone Elites that I have from Fujigen and the same year as yours, it will be superb.
 
I am aware there are folks having shipping issues/delays from Japan but the History is set for a delivery today :eek:
That would be < 48 hours from NARITA airport to my door. :D
This would be a new record for my experience with shipping from Japan. 8)

EDIT:
FedEx was supposed to deliver by 10:30 AM this morning & the History arrived about 10:15 8)
FedEx does not f*** around :lol: they are the pros!!

Everything looks just as I expected but seeing any guitar in person is always better than seeing photos.
The level of craftsmanship that went into this guitar is absolutely sick. 8)
The fret work on this thing is just insane; flawless.

A couple of bonus points:
(1) the pickup & the switch leads are all braided steel (I was expecting plastic = yuck)
(2) the pots are NOBLE 15A500k ohm & they are very easy to turn/silky smooth.
 
guitar hiro said:
I am aware there are folks having shipping issues/delays from Japan but the History is set for a delivery today :eek:
That would be < 48 hours from NARITA airport to my door. :D
This would be a new record for my experience with shipping from Japan. 8)

EDIT:
FedEx was supposed to deliver by 10:30 AM this morning & the History arrived about 10:15 8)
FedEx does not f*** around :lol: they are the pros!!

Everything looks just as I expected but seeing any guitar in person is always better than seeing photos.
The level of craftsmanship that went into this guitar is absolutely sick. 8)
The fret work on this thing is just insane; flawless.

A couple of bonus points:
(1) the pickup & the switch leads are all braided steel (I was expecting plastic = yuck)
(2) the pots are NOBLE 15A500k ohm & they are very easy to turn/silky smooth.

You shipped ハカランダ internationally? Glad that worked out for you - I certainly would not have taken the risk.
 
But then again, probably not a huge risk if the model is not easily identifiable and the specs aren't easy to find...
 
It is curious how some Japanese often refer to Brazilian as 'Hacaranda' aka Jacaranda. :lol:
I know it has created some confusion over the years.
 
for anyone that may be interested in possibly purchasing a SH-L2 I will offer my personal take on the particular used market (2002) example I acquired

Build quality = 9.5 of 10
Craftsmanship = 9.5 of 10
Materials = 9.5 of 10

If this were a PRS example with comparable materials I would have no doubt a minimum MSRP would be $8K to $10K, with a minimum retail price point of $6K.

I actually never really entertained the idea of owning this type of MIJ guitar but the price point, build quality, and materials really got my attention.

For my nearly five decade old hobby of buying & selling guitars this example is certainly a welcome diversion & a very good diversion it is; I could easily become a collector of the SH-L1 & the SH-L2 line, if only they were more readily available to purchase.

This is likely one of the most detailed electric guitars I have ever had the pleasure of owning, and the bonus; it's a great guitar! I want more. :lol:
 
I don't think so, given that jacaranda can be said accurately with standard Japanese phonemes and Brazilian rosewood cannot (although katakana often makes no sense - I've always wondered who makes the decisions on terms such as "half pants", lol). As for the confusion, I guess it's forgivable for most of the English speaking world to assume they're two different things, as opposed to a Spanish and an English name for dalgerbia nigra.
 
guitar hiro said:
for anyone that may be interested in possibly purchasing a SH-L2 I will offer my personal take on the particular used market (2002) example I acquired

Build quality = 9.5 of 10
Craftsmanship = 9.5 of 10
Materials = 9.5 of 10

If this were a PRS example with comparable materials I would have no doubt a minimum MSRP would be $8K to $10K, with a minimum retail price point of $6K.

I actually never really entertained the idea of owning this type of MIJ guitar but the price point, build quality, and materials really got my attention.

For my nearly five decade old hobby of buying & selling guitars this example is certainly a welcome diversion & a very good diversion it is; I could easily become a collector of the SH-L1 & the SH-L2 line, if only they were more readily available to purchase.

This is likely one of the most detailed electric guitars I have ever had the pleasure of owning, and the bonus; it's a great guitar! I want more. :lol:

Five decades? Holy moly! You must have seen some rad guitars in your time!
 
AndyTokai said:
I don't think so, given that jacaranda can be said accurately with standard Japanese phonemes and Brazilian rosewood cannot (although katakana often makes no sense - I've always wondered who makes the decisions on terms such as "half pants", lol). As for the confusion, I guess it's forgivable for most of the English speaking world to assume they're two different things, as opposed to a Spanish and an English name for dalgerbia nigra.

For myself & likely for others also, the term jacaranda was a bit misleading since there is Jacaranda mimosifolia aka Jacaranda.
This concept has been discussed on several forums (guitars, lutherie, etc.) over the years, and many were not convinced that the use of the term Jacaranda to label/name a different lumber species, in this case dalbergia nigra, was a proper usage of the term jacaranda. I believe the use of the term jacaranda must be fairly wide spread in Japan but possibly not so much in other areas, and also cultures.

I have limited experience with dalbergia nigra examples but I can say that many examples I have seen that are claimed to be dalbergia nigra do have great variation in color, grain, pore dimension, and oil content. This variance may be due to comparisons of older growth lumber samples as compared to more recent samples that are most likely stump lumber. Old growth samples would typically have more consistent attributes sample to sample. Later stump samples seem to have more variation sample to sample; again, this is from my limited experience with claimed dalbergia nigra examples.

One of my favorite fingerboards I have is on my 2000 Tokai LS-320. It has a very high oil content; it's almost as if it nearly oozes oil. The board has a very silky smooth feel under the fingers when you play the guitar. It is also flat sawn which is odd because rosewood board blanks are typically quarter sawn. The flat sawn board on my 320 does have a much more attractive alternating coloration because of the annual ring exposure seen in flat sawn examples. I wish all my rosewood board guitars had that high oil content. You can really tell the difference under the fingers when you play the 320. :D
 

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