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A Made In Japan Sterling Ray35?

#23
DisarrayMG said:
But also, where are y'all getting $200 from?
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speedreading.

90% likely they got it from my post.

But also…

There’s a lot of threads over the past half decade showing IndoMM’s in significantly less-trashed condition being bought/sold for close to $400 in saturated markets. The ones that pay more are desperate for the look & sound but live in an isolated area where even obtaining something comparable involves both more money and waiting months-years for availability.

You really should do a deep dive on your local market. If you have music shops locally, stop in & ask how much they would pay for an abused old Indonesian-made bass. It would be 50% of what they could sell it for to a sucker & 80% of what they could sell it to a savvy buyer for, while including free post-sale service & discounted maintenance/repairs.

Buying from a private seller oughtn’t be much more than 120% of a shop’s buying price unless you reeeeeeeeeeeally love the paint on that private seller’s instrument.

There might be some people who’d pay an actual $600USD for that beat up guit, but not many. Having worked in a guitar shop for a half decade, I promise you that that bass would hang on the wall for months-years with a $500 tag and wouldn’t leave till someone spent hours with the shop owner pushing him to drop it to $400 including a brand new decent gigbag, pickguard, and two sets of strings… and the shop’s same lifetime service included with all the shop’s other instruments.

tl;dr -it’s a $300 bass. $200 really isn’t a stretch, it isn’t a steal, it’s a kinda good deal that leaves a tiny bit of meat on the bone.
 
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#24
Reedt2000 said:
Misread a post :D

@MattZilla said IF they're selling it for $200...

What is asking price? Is it 600,000 KRW? Internet says that's just north of 450 USD which is a fair price IMHO
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It is in USD but here with inflation that's still a heafty price.
Plus with import taxes and currency conversions screwing us, buying anything here is just not sound.
For example, a normal $1000 guitar SHOULD be $1300 with the currency exchange, but add taxes and stuff it's nearly $1800 here.
 
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#26
ardgedee said:
Electronics and related goods tend to be more expensive in South Korea than in the US. This includes the stuff made in South Korea.
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That has to do with the fact that even if it's a Korean brand or Made in Korea, the price they sell locally is the price they'd sell to importers around the world.
So we really get no benefits even from our own brand/manufactures.
 
#28
Zooberwerx said:
How does this compare to other quality Indonesian offerings in Korea? $600 may be one heckuva bargain.

Riis
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Well, made in Indonesia or not, we import it via USD and I have no idea what the hell the laws are but it's still heafty.
An example I can give is those JHS series 3 pedals for $99.
It's around $150 USD which is 188,000 KRW.
BUT, if I buy it on Amazon, which I did, with shipping it was $110 which is 140,000 KRW.
Everything here is expensive and many in the local community save up the money and instead of buying locally, they buy a plane ticket and go to Japan and buy it since it's way cheaper there (even before the Yen crash going on rn)
But, I don't have that luxury so I saw that it's a standard mid-price for a RAY35 and I just needed the guy to cooperate with me getting a new pickgaurd because even those that were sold before this one, they were pretty much immaculate with only a few dings and wear here and there.
 
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#29
DisarrayMG said:
That has to do with the fact that even if it's a Korean brand or Made in Korea, the price they sell locally is the price they'd sell to importers around the world.
So we really get no benefits even from our own brand/manufactures.
Click to expand...
Yeah. First time I got to wander the Yongsan markets on my own I felt simultaneously overwhelmed by the variety of stuff on display and disappointed by the prices. I guess if I had gone with a regular who knew the right people I could've gotten something at a good price.

(Edited to add: On the other hand basics like stationery (pens, paper, notebooks) are incredibly cheap compared to the US and much much better quality. My wife and I pretty much load our bags with the stuff whenever we go there. Housewares too, we end up shopping at Korean Daiso frequently, it's like a US dollar store but the merch is better and the stores are more pleasant to be in, and again there are some things sold there that are difficult to find or unnecessarily expensive in the US.)
 
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#30
DisarrayMG said:
BUT I'M HERE WITH AN UPDATE.

So I met up with the guy and I pressed him about the fact that the pickgaurd is in really bad shape and that I've even asked local shops that make pickgaurds and he agreed to discount that amount + the broken zipper from the gigbag that, again, he didn't mention in the post.
So all in all, I got it for around $400 USD
Click to expand...

Sounds like you got a decent deal there!
 
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#32
DisarrayMG said:
BUT I'M HERE WITH AN UPDATE.

So I met up with the guy and I pressed him about the fact that the pickgaurd is in really bad shape and that I've even asked local shops that make pickgaurds and he agreed to discount that amount + the broken zipper from the gigbag that, again, he didn't mention in the post.
So all in all, I got it for around $400 USD
Click to expand...
Nice. They are great sounding basses, I think they've got the closest tone to a classic SR of the sterling line (just my humble opinion). I think that price is fair for what it is. I paid a little more for my koa top model:

Polish_20210320_124931837.jpg
 
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#33
DisarrayMG said:
BUT I'M HERE WITH AN UPDATE.

So I met up with the guy and I pressed him about the fact that the pickgaurd is in really bad shape and that I've even asked local shops that make pickgaurds and he agreed to discount that amount + the broken zipper from the gigbag that, again, he didn't mention in the post.
So all in all, I got it for around $400 USD
Click to expand...
Good deal. Nice looking bass
 
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#36
DisarrayMG said:
BUT I'M HERE WITH AN UPDATE.

So I met up with the guy and I pressed him about the fact that the pickgaurd is in really bad shape and that I've even asked local shops that make pickgaurds and he agreed to discount that amount + the broken zipper from the gigbag that, again, he didn't mention in the post.
So all in all, I got it for around $400 USD
Click to expand...
Congratulations on your beautiful new bass.
Looks fantastic...and the clear guard was an option on Music Man Stingray 5vers at one point
 
#37
DisarrayMG said:
Well, made in Indonesia or not, we import it via USD and I have no idea what the hell the laws are but it's still heafty.
An example I can give is those JHS series 3 pedals for $99.
It's around $150 USD which is 188,000 KRW.
BUT, if I buy it on Amazon, which I did, with shipping it was $110 which is 140,000 KRW.
Everything here is expensive and many in the local community save up the money and instead of buying locally, they buy a plane ticket and go to Japan and buy it since it's way cheaper there (even before the Yen crash going on rn)
But, I don't have that luxury so I saw that it's a standard mid-price for a RAY35 and I just needed the guy to cooperate with me getting a new pickgaurd because even those that were sold before this one, they were pretty much immaculate with only a few dings and wear here and there.
Click to expand...
We have the same problems in Canada.
Everything is much more expensive than US prices and our taxes are much higher...cost of living is more and we suck! lol
 
#40
ardgedee said:
Yeah. First time I got to wander the Yongsan markets on my own I felt simultaneously overwhelmed by the variety of stuff on display and disappointed by the prices. I guess if I had gone with a regular who knew the right people I could've gotten something at a good price.

(Edited to add: On the other hand basics like stationery (pens, paper, notebooks) are incredibly cheap compared to the US and much much better quality. My wife and I pretty much load our bags with the stuff whenever we go there. Housewares too, we end up shopping at Korean Daiso frequently, it's like a US dollar store but the merch is better and the stores are more pleasant to be in, and again there are some things sold there that are difficult to find or unnecessarily expensive in the US.)
Click to expand...
Oh dude, Yongsan is notorious for ripping you off. It’s gotten to a point that people are either buying from large retailers or second hand because Yongsan can charge you more than 300% of the market standard if you’re not knowledgeable.
But that goes for the guitar stores as well except one retailer which everyone pretty much loves
 

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