Tokyo Day 2

I ended up not getting to sleep until about 4AM last night. I think it was the tea I drank at dinner.

But it allowed me to sleep late and wake up less than an hour before the guitar stores open.

Yes, this is what you're going to read about for at least ten more days.

Unless someone decides she has to give me something for Christmas, and I am 183% certain that it won't happen.

So, back to the curvaceous bodies I cantouch...

At least today it was cold, and within Yahoo's range.

Even a blind pig finds an acorn sometimes.

So it was nice to walk and be warm but not hot.

Down the street I go to Akasaka Station. First stop: Ochanomizu!

At least this time I took some pictures:

Standing on the bridge over the river between the Marunouchi line station and the JR Yamanote line station.

Facing the other way.

But just two pictures. These I cobbled from the Net, but they show you what I saw.

Who needs Kabukiya? I like these...

And these...

And these...

To the ignorant, all Japanese guitars look alike...

What can I say about this guitar? Nothing.

That bodacious pink one speaks to me, in soft whispers that beg me to bring it home...

The only real problem with so many stores all stuck together is that you can easily end up forgetting which store had which guitar you wanted to remember to come back and look at again. Luckily, I had the time to painstakingly retrace my steps.

Because I have a plan.

While I may bore you all to tears, I decided I would make you spectators to my quest: I've set myself a weird goal to keep from buying up everything I see.

What may that be, you ask?

A certain person's collected works on an 8-hour 'best of' DVD (yes, she does have one)?

No.

Something that will keep bothhands busy!

A Japanese Les Paul copy, tobacco sunburst, and lots of wear and tear. Oh, with a big neck too.

Let me illustrate.

This is a Greco Les Paul copy, made in Japan, in ' tobacco sunburst':Nice, huh??? But that's not quite it. I want one that looks like it has gotten a lot of use.

I'm talking the difference between this: And THIS:

Now, that guitar there was 'reliced', meaning someone actually went through a lot of time, effort, and secret techniques to make the guitar LOOK like it was 50 ears old when it's actually brand new. It reminds me of the 'distressed leather' movement, where you could get leather jackets that were 'aged.'

I say bullsh*t.

I want my guitar to look like that naturally. There are vaguely scientific reasons why old guitars play better (frequent vibration over the years causes molecular change in the wood), but I really just wanted something that I can knock around with and not be paranoid about scratching.

They usually cost less, too, especially in a place where imperfections are seen as something bordering on blasphemy.

I saw two guitars the other day that I wanted to look at again. One was an Orville that was nice, but too expensive and I just didn't feel anything special when I played it. The frets were really low, which some people like. But not people like me.

The other was a 1979 Greco, like the picture above, but closer to that last picture in terms of wear and tear. This guitar had seen its fair share of abuse, and I loved it. The EG450 was also made slightly hollow, which is a real bonus for Les Pauls. They tend to be on the heavy side of burdensome. Why do you think Jimmy Page slouched? It wasn't just the heroin.

The price was a lot better too: around Y36,900 as I recall. Maybe Y39,600. The Orville was closer to Y60,000. And it was a very nice guitar. It just didn't appeal to me as much (and it wasn't as beat up).

But then I saw the ultimate tobacco sunburst Les Paul that was so worn in it was almost worn out. Unfortunately, it was a floor model used in a shop that sells effects pedals and not guitars. It was NOT FOR SALE.

Dammit. It had the widest neck of the three, and it looked like it had been on every Molly Hatchet tour since 1978. It was probably junk, but it was everything I wanted.

There's a sentiment worth some therapy, eh?

But I knew better than to buy the Greco (right away).

I still had places to look. So, off I went to Shibuya.

Which is a lot faster when you go to the right train station, in this case Shibuya Station. Okay, Tokyo's rail system is not entirely opaque, but it's a looooooong way from self-explanatory. Which explains why I had such a long f#$%ing walk yesterday after getting out not just from the wrong station but the wrong train line.

Ahhh, so what? Old news.

The internet had given me this:

A map to all the guitar  stores that matter in Shibuya. I didn't carry it with me. It sits here in my laptop. Which is why I went out the wrong side of the (correct, anyway) station.

But I got these nice photos:

You got three there, so shut up.

I wandered around, looking at an incredible array of very magnificent (and accordingly priced) guitars, mostly American. There are more American vintage guitars in Japanthan in America. The Japanese vintage guitars are being bought up by Americans. Go figure. Although, to be fair, the price differential is significant.

[in Japanese] "Honey, I'm gonna mortgage the house, there's a 1964 Fender in Shibuya that's calling my name..."

Yeah, THAT kind of $.

One more reason to like Japanese guitars.

I didn't stay too long, since most of the guitars were out of my interest as well as income. But it is nice to stand next to 50 grand worth of wood. 100 times. For people like me, these aren't stores as much as museums.

But around 4 o'clock, I realized that rush hour was approaching, so I came back to my hotel room, where I have been ever since, researching Greco Les Pauls and marshaling my energy for tomorrow's trips.

To Shibuya and Ochanomizu.

I have yet to go to Ishibashi in Shibuya, and it's supposedly worth the trip. Now that I know where it is, it will be much easier to find.

I can also go back to Ochanomizu to look at the Greco again.

Christmas Eve is a big day for couples in Japan. So obviously I've f$%# all else to do.

But then it will be Christmas. Although I doubt I'll be unwrapping any presents.

"急速、馬鹿! 私を開けなさい!"