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I see guitars like Sadowskys available new and for decent prices in Japan. But to purchase you need to use Zenmarket which doesn't tell you the shipping cost until after you've paid for the guitar and it's in their warehouse.
Obviously, shipping cost will play a big part of any buying decision.
Anyone order from Japan and use Zenmarket to have it shipped to the US? I'm curious as to a rough idea of cost as well as any headaches involved.
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01-17-2024 06:02 PM
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They can't provide a shipping quote, no way would I order from them. Never heard of it but it looks like an ebay type operation. I've ordered guitars from Japan on ebay from a private seller and while they were an honest person, it turned into a big hassle because they didn't know what they were doing.
My suggestion is find a reputable guitar shop like Ishibashi or Ikebe who regularly deals with international shipping and you'll be better off. I don't know if they carry Sadowsky or not but sometimes it just pays to prowl reverb-ebay for a while until you find something stateside.
You might get hit with a customs charge, you might not. Good luck sorting out a lost international package or package without the correct papers. Put your Mr. Patient hat on while you are transfered from UPS rep to UPS rep who each provide you with a different story and conflicting info on the location of your item. Never again for me.
I would only deal directly with a good guitar shop. There are some great guitars over there but some stuff ain't worth the risk. Good luck.
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Don't use Zenmarket. Don't use ebay. Zenmarket is a buying service; they buy goods on your behalf, pay 10% Japan sales tax as the sales are considered domestic sales and pass the tax on to you. Why pay 10% sales tax when you don't have to? The other thing is this: should there be a problem these guys will run for the hills. Ditto ebay resellers who don't have the guitars and merely re-list actual dealer listings on ebay. To search for guitars in Japan use DigimartdotNet.
Go to the guitar dealer directly. For Sadowsky guitars, go to Dolphin Guitars and Walkin JP.
Note that Roger Sadowsky in the USA does not service these Japan-bought Sadowsky archtop guitars. When buying used Sadowsky archtops in the USA ask about provenance.
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For example, Sadowsky SS-15: sadowsky ss-15???????????????? .
The price listed includes 10% Japan sales tax. To obtain the export price, divide it by 1.10.
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Japan EMS is highly reliable and cost about JPY20000 to most parts of the world. Walkin JP and Dolphin GT are experienced exporters, small independents and run by jazz guitar enthusiasts. Try not to go to a Japan Big Box guitar dealer as you are rolling the dice. I speak from experience.
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I see Digimart advertises Zenmarket buying service. Do Not, I repeat, do Not use Zenmarket nor Buyee nor whatever. Email the dealer directly. Masaki-san of Walkin Japan, for example, writes and speaks very well in English. Every transaction with him is transparent. No hidden charges. And no 10% Japan sales tax levied on guitars exported out of Japan. You buy from a buying service you pay 10% sales tax as the transaction is considered domestic. And you are not the actual buyer; the buying service is. So, whom are you going to turn to should there be problems with the guitar?
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Thanks for all the input!
I assume Sadowsky USA won't service them because they weren't purchased from them direct? There is a rather huge price jump when buying one domestically.
I also assume that, because they are all made in Japan, they go straight from the factory to the guitar shop in Japan. So no final set-up from NYC.
There are a few Kikuchi guitars that look exactly like Sadowsky models. I assume they came from the same factory.
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"Kikuchi Guitars is a new brand supervised by Yoshiyuki Kikuchi, who gained experience under Roger Sadowsky as the chief of Sadowsky Tokyo."
from: https://www.walkin.jp/230238129609-2/
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I wanted to chime on this thread. Before I bought my Sadowsky Jim Hall from archtop.com I saw the Japan Sadowsky's all over Ebay. I emailed Roger Sadowsky about them and he explained that these do not get the final tweaks and setup in his Brooklyn shop - as someone mentioned above. He also told me that there is no warranty on these Japan guitars - from Sadowsky. As Rogers archtops are initially made in Japan by the same builder as the Ebay Japan ones, I assume they are fine guitars and tempting. I took a pass myself.
Now I just was looking at an used LS-17 and was maybe going to buy. I emailed Roger to ask if this one went back through him for final setup and he said no. I then noticed the label inside guitar had the name, serial number and Roger's signature. I compared it to my Jim Hall and there are differences.
1. On the Japan LS-17 Roger's signature looks like it is printed. I am not 100% but that is what it looks like. On my Jim Hall you can clearly see is was hand written in blue ink.
2. On my Jim Hall label it says Brooklyn NY on the bottom of the label and on the Japan LS-17, that info is missing - which makes sense since this guitar never went through the Brooklyn NY shop.
Anyway, now that Sadowsky is no longer building archtops, this is good to know because we are all buying used ones from here on out. If I am spending close to $5k or more on an used one, I'd sure like it to have be one that Roger did the finishing touches on.
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Sorry to revive this thread, but I came across it while researching the new Kikuchi guitars and there’s a lot of confusion here.
Originally Posted by j-mo
All Sadowsky archtops were made in Japan. All models. When Roger was selling them out of NYC, the only work done in his shop was the final setup. He wasn’t building some in New York and some in Japan. The guitars were fully manufactured in Japan, shipped to NYC, and then he and his team handled the fretwork and setup. Roger has said in interviews that he couldn’t source the laminate plates he wanted in the US or Germany. He found a builder in Japan who could do it, but that builder insisted on building the entire instrument... thus all archtop models being manufactured in Japan.
So a “Japan Sadowsky” is the same thing as a Sadowsky you would have bought from Roger. Same factory, same people. The only difference is where the final setup happened. If the guitar didn’t pass through NYC, the final setup was done by Yoshi Kikuchi/Sadowsky Japan. Kikuchi trained under Roger in NYC for years before returning to Japan to run Sadowsky Japan on behalf of Roger, so the idea that a non-Roger setup is somehow inferior is not at all true. Roger wouldn't let guitars with his name on headstock be sold if he knew they were being sold with a crappy setup. And if you’re buying used... you’re going to want to get a fresh setup anyway.
If you want a Sadowsky that was "touched" by Roger (lol) then that's fine, but his setups do not include magic fairy dust that will make you a better guitarist
. You buy a Sadowsky for Roger's designs and sonic ingenuity. You don't drop $5k on one because he did the "finishing touches".
I buy from Japan often and the deals can be great, even with tariffs (I just bought the Kikuchi equivalent of the Sadowsky Semi-Hollow!). I use the proxy service FromJapan and recommend them. Their fee is 500 yen ($3.20 USD as of this posting) and they have a shipping estimator, though it is just an estimate. You won't know the real shipping total once the item arrives at their warehouse. In my experience shipping is usually $200-$300 depending how heavy the guitar is and if it has a hard case or not. And that is with the fastest FedEx International Priority. Always choose FedEx!
And yes, you can try contacting Digimart shops directly, but most don’t sell to international buyers, so you end up needing to use a proxy anyway. The only shops I've purchased directly from without a proxy is Ishibashi and Dolphin Guitars, where you get to save on the 10% Japan consumption tax. Both are great and you can communicate with them in English.
But whatever you do, DO NOT buy from a US eBay listing for a guitar located in Japan. 9 times out of 10 it is a middleman marking up instruments for people who don’t know any better. If you Google reverse image search the eBay listing photos, you can find the original Japan listing and see how much it's really being sold for.
If anyone needs help purchasing a guitar from Japan, I'd be happy to help! Just send me a DM.Last edited by deanmartian; 11-29-2025 at 01:10 AM.
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This is true to a point. There is a reason Sadowski left Japan. There might at some point have been an absolute truth in what your claim but that is very likely, no longer the case, or not a consistent claim. Originally Posted by deanmartian
Sorry to revive this thread, but I came across it while researching the new Kikuchi guitars and there’s a lot of confusion here.
All Sadowsky archtops were made in Japan. All models. When Roger was selling them out of NYC, the only work done in his shop was the final setup. He wasn’t building some in New York and some in Japan. The guitars were fully manufactured in Japan, shipped to NYC, and then he and his team handled the fretwork and setup. Roger has said in interviews that he couldn’t source the laminate plates he wanted in the US or Germany. He found a builder in Japan who could do it, but that builder insisted on building the entire instrument... thus all archtop models being manufactured in Japan.
So a “Japan Sadowsky” is the same thing as a Sadowsky you would have bought from Roger. Same factory, same people. The only difference is where the final setup happened. If the guitar didn’t pass through NYC, the final setup was done by Yoshi Kikuchi/Sadowsky Japan. Kikuchi trained under Roger in NYC for years before returning to Japan to run Sadowsky Japan on behalf of Roger, so the idea that a non-Roger setup is somehow inferior is not at all true. Roger wouldn't let guitars with his name on headstock be sold if he knew they were being sold with a crappy setup. And if you’re buying used... you’re going to want to get a fresh setup anyway.
If you want a Sadowsky that was "touched" by Roger (lol) then that's fine, but his setups do not include magic fairy dust that will make you a better guitarist. You buy a Sadowsky for Roger's designs and sonic ingenuity. You don't drop $5k on one because he did the "finishing touches".
I buy from Japan often and the deals can be great, even with tariffs (I just bought the Kikuchi equivalent of the Sadowsky Semi-Hollow!). I use the proxy service FromJapan and recommend them. Their fee is 500 yen ($3.20 USD as of this posting) and they have a shipping estimator, though it is just an estimate. You won't know the real shipping total once the item arrives at their warehouse. In my experience shipping is usually $200-$300 depending how heavy the guitar is and if it has a hard case or not. And that is with the fastest FedEx International Priority. Always choose FedEx!
And yes, you can try contacting Digimart shops directly, but most don’t sell to international buyers, so you end up needing to use a proxy anyway. The only shops I've purchased directly from without a proxy is Ishibashi and Dolphin Guitars, where you get to save on the 10% Japan consumption tax. Both are great and you can communicate with them in English.
But whatever you do, DO NOT buy from a US eBay listing for a guitar located in Japan. 9 times out of 10 it is a middleman marking up instruments for people who don’t know any better. If you Google reverse image search the eBay listing photos, you can find the original Japan listing and see how much it's really being sold for.
If anyone needs help purchasing a guitar from Japan, I'd be happy to help! Just send me a DM.
I took receipt of a guitar made in the same factory some 10 years ago and the quality was not as good as one would expect.
There are factories in Japan that are excellent but there are occasions and periods, where the quality can fall down. Not to tar all factories with the same brush but the quality in some of the more ‘higher end’ factories, has declined in recent years but of course can go up too.Last edited by Archie; 12-01-2025 at 05:10 PM.
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The continental US is littered with fine guitars, including archtops that 98.5% of players are not interested in. Are you absolutely certain that you must pay top dollar and international shipping for a guitar that while having an excellent factory reputation, you have not inspected, played or heard? Certain that you will love the neck thickness, the balance of bass, mids and treble along with everything else including the prospect of being stuck with it if you can't return it and/or comfortable with paying international shipping both ways if you can? If so, definitely go for it. Personally, I would not.
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Everyone has different priorities when buying a guitar. But you wouldn’t be paying “top dollar” here... that’s the entire point. Even with fees and shipping, the same guitar from the same factory is still hundreds cheaper than what it goes for in the US. And I’m not randomly importing whatever pops up Originally Posted by MiniMerckx.22
. I research, I compare, and I try the model locally if I can. A modern factory building $5k instruments isn’t carving necks by guesswork. They work within tight tolerances. Even Squiers today are built with solid QC. I can’t even say the same for Gibson! I purchased a brand-new 339 and it had uneven string spacing!
If someone is THAT sensitive to millimeters of neck thickness or micro-voicing, you probably shouldn’t be buying guitars from overseas or even online in the first place.
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