cactuscurtis

Hi Hambone. I managed to find Yoshi's email address and they are sending price list and catalogues. I'm thinking of ordering a few hundred bucks worth at a time (in AUD). I was told that for orders under their minimum desired quantity there's a fee that works out at about $58 AUD. Ok that's cool. Just wondering apart from T/T fee from my bank, whether they charge anymore apart from freight charges. I was thinking of using Japanese postal service as Fedex,UPS etc are too expensive.

I've started reading up on the 510 stuff and other Gotoh stuff and yeah I think I'll go with Gotoh. When I compared prices of cheaper Korean stuff, some Gotoh parts were much higher in price but still affordable and most other parts like cover plates, LP bridges and stuff were only really a few bucks dearer or pretty close in price. The more I read about the finishes with Gotoh and their lubricated system etc. the more appealing Gotoh is sounding to me. I've got a couple of cheap imported axes at home and although they have good necks, tonal quality and so on, chrome started disappearing pretty quick and they dulled in appearence in no time. So I think I'll do as another guy said here and go for quality.

I'vebeen looking through Gotohs catalogue and they look good . I guy I was talking to today was telling me about Reso Lite Gotoh Bass Tuners. He loves them No the control plate wouldnt worry me so much but looking at bridges and machine heads, its looks like Gotoh have a lot going them.

Hi, I havent used Gotoh Machine Heads or Bridges etc and have recently been given a price list of a lot of Gotoh hardware. I remember reading different comments a long while ago where some said they were one of the finest machine heads araound and some others that said they werent real good. I cant find these old reviews and just wondering what you guys think about them. Basically I've noticed price lists for say Tele Control plates and bridges that have Sung-il (Korean) brand on them. The prices dont seem too bad but I have heard some people say they are crap and suggest spending the extra bucks on the Gotoh control pplates and bridges as they are much better quality parts. I dont want crap on my guitars. Here's an example. I can buy a Sung-il tele control plate for $7.90 AUD or pay $13 AUD for a Gotoh. As I plan on buying a couple hundred bucks worth of parts from a couple of local suppliers just wondering if going with Gotoh and paying a few extra bucks is the best deal. Do you guys think Gotoh is good stuff?

Thanks guys for your thoughts. It sort of goes like strings too I suppose. You get guys swearing by certain brands of strings, then find that the company that made them also made heaps of other brand strings. I did a test once with a cheap set (cost me $2.50) of strings and told a couple of guys in my band that they were top of the line branded strings and asked the guys to play them and tell me what brand they thought they were. They all said they felt good and names like Fender, GHS, D'Addario, etc etc were mentioned. In fact they were a cheap Korean set. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think I read somewhere that although there's lots & lots of string brands in the world, that there is only really a handful of string manufacturers and many strings advertised as made in USA are actually made in Sweden ! I'm not sure, I could be wrong there. I;m sure I read it in a forum once. Yeah I think most would feel the same as me. If you spend say $50 on an asian part and it was 1/2 the price of the top brand part, looked good and did the job, you'd think it was a great deal. If however it was crap, you'd not buy from this company again. And as mentioned in another reply here. Stuff you think is made in USA by certain company is actually made by Asian manufacturers in many cases. Thanks all & Cheers Cactus

Hi folks, I've been away for a while. have a great 2006 ! I have been searching different websites for parts and noticed one guys site where he says he only sells US made parts and basically that asian imported parts are crap. This got me to thinking that I have played a number of guitars that have asian parts, switches, bridges, machine heads etc. and they felt good and the tone was pretty good (some great tonal qualities) (using low cost asian pickups). I cant see the point in spending a couple of hundred bucks on SD pickups if your axe is only worth about $500. I remember when I first played an Ibanez back in the late 60s. People thought "God these cant be any good cause they aint fenders or gibsons. Ok, they werent the best then but I have played some Ibanez guitars since the late 70s up to today and they feel and sound great to me. I have a tele clone guitar that was handmade by a friend that I prefer to play rather than my real fender tele. but I have had people say "It sounds great but it aint a Fender" So back to the topic. Is it just guitar snobbery that makes a lot of guys want to buy only US parts? Are asian parts any good in building/repairing mid price ranged axes. They certainly are cheaper. Yeah I know...some are going to say you get what you pay for ! But if you have bought asian parts, were they worth the money in your opinion? Just wondering is all. Would you buy asian parts? or stick with US made?

Thanks for your reply Perry. I knew you had the integrity to answer my question publicly. Some parts, I may order from you and some I may get from Stewmac. Thats business . Thread closed eh?

Ok, I accept the fact that it appeared that I was making insinuations about Perry's business. That is incorrect. Actually, there was an item I saw at Perry's site that I am sure is a Stewmac product but would actually work out cheaper for me to buy that item from Perry. If my post pissed you or Perry off, my apologies. Its good to know that he has strong support from you guys. I suppose, I didnt word it well. Actually, in hindsight, this posting probably did Perry good to see the support he has. If he sells Stewmac branded stuff, thats not a problem, just wanted to know if it is all Stewmac parts. My apologies for thinking we all have a right to know publicly what he sells. I suppose I should have contacted him first. I know this forum is about building and maybe should have stuck with just posting about building. Will do so in future.

Sorry if you guys are upset by my post but there's heaps of guys in oz that want to build axes. Its not a personal slug. I think I have the right to express an opinion and ask why I should buy from him and also if his products are in fact Stewmac branded products. Whether I am going to upset people or not with my posting is too bad. I wanted an answer to a question thats all. I dont particularly want to buy products from anyone who offers the same products that anyone can order from the same supplier and have to wait the same period of time for them to arrive at the reseller's. I dont know if Perry is selling only stewmac branded stuff. Thats why I asked. If I get booted off here for asking a straightforward question and if that question doesnt go down too well with you guys, then you have a very biased forum thats supposed to be open to all and not a select bunch. Regarding PM him, Why? we all have a right to know what we may be ordering.

I visited Ormsbys site and took a look at his parts list and prices. I was thinking of ordering some parts then I thought "Hey this looks like he's selling Stewmac parts" I wonder if this is so and if all the tools he sells are actually stewmac branded tools. If his parts are from stewmac, I may as well order from them. I know the guys trying to make a buck but if he's selling stewmac stuff, I may as well order from them. The waiting period would be about the same. as he would have to wait 2-4 weeks for them to come by normal air post before sending them on to customers in australia. Any comments Perry? I'm not nitpicking just wondering is all.