Still haven't heard anything from kitty web and it's Monday evening here and in Japan as well, I'm not sure if that's a good sign or not. But in other news, my friend is more than happy to help, so if they do require a Japanese shipping address, I'm covered, and the payment is all okay thus far. But hopefully kitty will just ship it to Tenso, it'll save us both a lot of hassle.

maharizm wrote:So, it's really goodbye then.

I have a feeling you'll be able to find one in stores in Japan if you happen to be there the day they go on sale. I remember when the AKB48 guitars came out, they were still available in stores for a little while despite the group's popularity and I have a feeling Fender wants to use the Scandal models to help promote Squier in Japan, with big store displays like that. I can't wait to see that if they do it.

There's still hope that they've held back a certain number of units from the pre-sale.

BrokenByDefault wrote:Still haven't heard anything from kitty web and it's Monday evening here and in Japan as well, I'm not sure if that's a good sign or not.

I don't know either - I'm not going to feel safe until mine ships, though. That means I'm going to worry until mid-June.

One extra bit of info: we actually called Ishibashi to fix the payment and shipping address on my two other guitars and asked about the gig bags, and they said the ones sold through them have them as well. Just in case anyone was wondering. We didn't ask about the strap, though, but I still assume that's a Kitty shop exclusive because normally guitars don't come with straps at all. But gig bags are usually standard anyway on Japanese guitars.

spacecadet wrote:
One extra bit of info: we actually called Ishibashi to fix the payment and shipping address on my two other guitars and asked about the gig bags, and they said the ones sold through them have them as well. Just in case anyone was wondering. We didn't ask about the strap, though, but I still assume that's a Kitty shop exclusive because normally guitars don't come with straps at all. But gig bags are usually standard anyway on Japanese guitars.

I'm glad you managed to get at least two of out three orders all sorted, that's great news!  .clap.

BrokenByDefault wrote:I'm glad you managed to get at least two of out three orders all sorted, that's great news!  .clap.

Yeah, definitely getting those two, they're totally confirmed  .wew. 

Just need to figure out how to actually get them home to the US. I probably will have to wait until fall to pick them up or ship them myself. I'm still really hoping not to have any problem with the Mami guitar because that one is the only one I might still get in a reasonable amount of time.

spacecadet wrote:

maharizm wrote:So, it's really goodbye then.

I have a feeling you'll be able to find one in stores in Japan if you happen to be there the day they go on sale. I remember when the AKB48 guitars came out, they were still available in stores for a little while despite the group's popularity and I have a feeling Fender wants to use the Scandal models to help promote Squier in Japan, with big store displays like that. I can't wait to see that if they do it.

There's still hope that they've held back a certain number of units from the pre-sale.

I won't be in Tokyo until November to see if they have any non-preorder units of the MAMI Stratomaster.

And as expected, I see Bluetus is still available at both Ishibashi and Kitty. Guess it'll be a bass guitar for purchase #2 then. Better than nothin', right.  

So, $657 appeared into my bank account this morning, and I almost cried. So I rang my bank who said it was nothing to do with the actual payment, but instead kitty did not verify the payment within the time frame, but she said not to worry, as they can take it out within 45 days. But she recommended I contact them anyway.

So I wrote them an email, went to send it, and an email from kitty appears before I even send it saying my payment is being processed as we speak.

Just the important stuff:

Once again, Thank you for your order.
Your payment has been confirmed.
At the time of shipment, you will be notified by e-mail again, please be patient.

It also mentioned any scandal mania items needed a membership number because I didn't have one, but I didn't have any, so that's all good, and just that the item is a pre-ordered so it will be shipped when it's released.

But the money hasn't been taken out of the account yet, so maybe it will only be charged when they ship it out?

What a traumatic morning...

I got the same confirmation email today. I think that should mean we're ok. I'm not sure how Japanese mail order businesses work, but in the US it's usually a period of weeks that companies have to actually charge an order before the authorization expires, so they should be able to still charge it. I'm a lot less worried about it after getting the payment confirmation.

Same here, got the confirmation email. Hope the rest of it would be smooth.

Some good news from my end.

I went to the Ikebe-gakki website just for fun last night, drowning my sorrows looking at MiJ/CiJ Fenders. Saw that they only have pre-orders for Bluetus left (Haru+Mami no more).

Then saw this (see the red arrow):



Filled in the form as I thought what was I going to lose, and they replied saying yeah we'll ship to you in the UK. Payment method - PAYPAL!



No Tenso, no friend in Japan needed. Damn. But yeah, sh*t can STILL happen - at least this was the most pleasant experience in this Squier/SCANDAL business. Hahaha.

Girls, if only you know how dedicated your fans are outside of　日本 too! ^^

That's awesome that you're able to get one shipped directly to you. I think I looked at Ikebe before placing my Ishibashi order and saw that they were sold out of the Haruna model, so I just split my order between Kitty and Ishibashi. But now I think it ironically would have been easier to order from three different stores, so at least I'd get two shipped here. Oh well, hindsight is 20/20, and I didn't know Ishibashi was going to be such a pain about Tenso. But I'm glad you're still able to order from Ikebe. And with PayPal, no less. Well, I'm gonna be ordering from that store from now on.

I emailed them about it earlier today, better be to be safe than sorry, and the information could help all of us that have purchased from kitty, as well.

EDIT - Haruna's guitar has just sold out on kitty web as well.

The saga continues. No, this is the GAME OF BUYING A GUITAR IN JAPAN (not Thrones).

S**t happened, Ikebe-Gakki sold out JUST before they received my confirmation email saying 'yes I wanna buy it'. Nice.

I am now on the Ikebe-gakki waiting list for Bluetus now. See what a few hours can do in this game?

Not all is ending on a bad note, though. The Haru Tele is defo confirmed (Ishibashi was late replying to the email as they were super busy yesterday) as my friend is doing the COD option, which brings with a 324円 charge which is peanuts.



And the nice lady at Ishibashi will inform him if someone decides to cancel their MAMI Stratomaster pre-order (fingers and toes crossed but really not counting on it).

All in all, after all these - ONE guitar is confirmed. But it ain't over yet until I have the Skullsiver Tele in my hands.

_________________________

UPDATE 31/5/14: Someone decided to cancel their preorder. I've paid Ikebe-gakki by PayPal. A shockingly blue-coloured Jazz bass will be making her way from Tōkyō to Britain some time mid-late June.

*SAFE*  

I just emailed Ikebe-gakki yesterday for the Tomomi bluetus too.
I didn't have much hope going in......but they replied me today and there was another cancellation and I got my order in.

 .clap.

is it made in japan?

chandlerping wrote:I just emailed Ikebe-gakki yesterday for the Tomomi bluetus too.
I didn't have much hope going in......but they replied me today and there was another cancellation and I got my order in.

 .clap.

Congratulations: Nice news for you.

Welcome to SH   

Tim_E.D wrote:is it made in japan?

I don't think anyone knows for sure yet. My guess is no. I don't know of any Squier guitars in many years that have been produced in Japan, and it's not actually Kanda Shokai (who makes Fender Japan guitars) that owns the rights to Squier there. I believe it's actually Yamano Music that owns the rights, and I don't know if they have a factory in Japan that makes guitars.

I was just looking on buyee.jp for TOMOMI's bass and saw that someone's selling MAMI's guitar for retail price. Just a heads up because I know a lot of people here want it. I also sent an inquiry for TOMOMI's bass to Yamano to see if they'll ship it here, Fingers-crossed!!

Yesterday, Kitty Web Shop has debited money from my pre-order of Haru's guitar :D With current rate, it's not that much expensive than I expected

babaloued wrote:Yesterday, Kitty Web Shop has debited money from my pre-order of Haru's guitar :D With current rate, it's not that much expensive than I expected

Thanks for the info. i've check mine and yes, mine has been deducted as well but with an extra $20SGD due to the rates... o well.. at least I'm a step closer to getting my guitar.

Ok guys ! It seems delivery has started !! It comes from a tweet sent to Mami


https://twitter.com/scandal_mami/status/477363022042636288

$642 has been deducted from my account, too! YAY! Words actually can't describe how relieved I am, I've worried about it non-stop ever since I placed my order.

Now all that's left is for Tenso to hit me with a massive EMS bill.  .nervous.

EDIT - I just got an email from Ishibashi offering me a HARUNA model? I"m very confused, I thought they weren't able to ship these overseas? And didn't their allocation sell out as well? Ugh, now I'm conflicted. On one hand, I really want to just go through Ishibashi because it's easier and more straight forward and would totally cut Tenso out of the equation, but kitty has already charged my card so it's probably too late to cancel, and I really don't need two guitars.

I'm glad it seems to work for a lot of you!

Hope to see good pics when you get them hehe

I'm thinking about just accepting Ishibashi's offer just in case things go sour with kitty web. They're letting me pay through paypal and everything, but they probably won't be offering the strap with it, which I really want. I can always sell one, I guess, but at this point I'm just so desperate for things to go right.

I got an email from Ishibashi today for the Stratomaster, but I'm probably canceling it (need a new PRS SE Acoustic~) so hopefully someone here gets it!

bouvip wrote:I got an email from Ishibashi today for the Stratomaster, but I'm probably canceling it (need a new PRS SE Acoustic~) so hopefully someone here gets it!

WHY !!!????  .omg.  You can buy when you want this PRS SE Acoustilc but a Mami Stratomaster...