Originally Posted by: William MGseems the only way a Canadian can make a purchase is through eBay and the pricing is high, no doubt middle man upon middle man.

I sourced mine directly from Thomann DE. CA is a pond or two closer to DE than AU, and Americans have no problem importing from them. Is there some kind of CA import restriction you're aware of I'm not?

Thomann DE (CA configured locale and currency link) are great to deal with. They do all the paperwork. Three or four days from time of order due time zone differential and including a couple of inexpensive phone calls to sort other questions re some other stuff I was importing with the guitar to maximize amortization of shipping, process and pack. Once shipped the [u]large[/u] bundle took about ten days in transit to me AFAIR. And it had to process through an AU capital city entry port first, SYD or might even have been MEL, about 1400km and 2100km south of me, considerably more in road miles. I live regional beside the Coral Sea these days.

Copy your points on Gibson/Epiphone and kinda' concur. Though still overpriced IMV, their product prices in the US are far more amenable than here. I don't even bother to look at those brands in AU. Their ridiculous regionalised pricing is loaded to max grudge buy resistance by the respective single importation channel distros. Fender do the same here with Fender and Squier brands, so I treat them with the same contempt. Both brands block direct access to buying through retail internationally.

No one really minds a minor fair impost, but gouging doesn't fly with me. I'm fair minded and understand they're running a business, but business is business, so so am I. The 'business' of looking after my interest not theirs. Yamaha also region block, but with a major difference. Their prices here are commensurate with prices everywhere else in the world. Similarly with Cort who manufacture for Epiphone and almost everyone else anyway. In my book, both Yamaha and Cort make a superior product at any price point in any case if one examines the evidence without brand bias. Fender and Gibson both trade on past laurels of the name and the perception tradition somehow infuses the brand with an elusive je ne sais quoi which I suppose works for them appealing to emotive driven right brainers.

I had a Japanese made Ibanez SG clone back in '74. Built and finished with the typical Japanese penchant for perfection in all they do. Still happy to break with tradition.

Here's a pic my latest electric axe. There's a saga attached to it, although I'll save that for another time ...perhaps.

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