SweetBlood
87 posts
Nov 18, 2018
2:14 AM
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Has anyone here ordered Manjis directly from Japan? I am thinking about buying a set of Manjis, and it is about $100 cheaper to buy from venders in Japan. I know the shipping will probably take forever, but I don't urgently need them. Is there any other risk involved besides slow shipping?
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6SN7
816 posts
Nov 18, 2018
7:48 AM
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yes, you could get fakes, or the warranty could be no good.
Last Edited by 6SN7 on Nov 18, 2018 7:49 AM
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nacoran
10001 posts
Nov 18, 2018
12:48 PM
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You could get fakes, and the warranty WILL be no good.
Basically Suzuki has a distribution contract to cover warranties in the U.S. That means our own Gnarly gets paid to service harmonicas sold through U.S. distribution. If they aren't fakes they are, at the very least, being sold by shady vendors who are deliberately circumventing their deals with Suzuki by distributing out of the country.
Now Tombo... you can't get anything but Lee Oskars in the U.S. unless you use a foreign dealer, so that's a slightly different story. (Although I was chatting with them on their FB page and they said that that may change in the future and we may be able to get some of their other models.)
And the Chinese harps from Easttop are available on Alibaba for a few dollars less than say Rons, but because they have to ship all the way from China they take about a month to arrive whereas from Rons (insert creative metaphor for how insanely fast they will arrive from Rons) they arrive really fast.
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Nate
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First Post- May 8, 2009
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6SN7
817 posts
Nov 19, 2018
9:05 AM
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@ Nacoran
Let me be clear
1. They could be fakes
2. They could be sold via a "gray market supplier" aka a supplier not recognized by Suzuki and thus the warranty is no good in the USA
Last Edited by 6SN7 on Nov 19, 2018 9:09 AM
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nacoran
10002 posts
Nov 19, 2018
10:08 AM
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Yeah, I got that. I only added the emphasis for the OP, not for you, to make it clear that there won't be a warranty on any U.S. warranty on any Suzuki's bought straight from Japan in the U.S. since Gnarly and Suzuki have made that clear. The way you worded it suggested that there was only a chance that there wouldn't be a warranty.
(And then I commented on the other brands because the situation is different for them and I didn't want anyone to shy away from them thinking they were possible gray market harps since each manufacturer's situation is different.)
:)
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Nate
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First Post- May 8, 2009
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Gnarly
2573 posts
Nov 19, 2018
11:34 PM
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The Suzuki warranty is pretty insane, I keep waiting for them to tell me that reed failure is not a warranty issue.
Hasn't happened yet.
And yeah, they are cheaper if you go around the US distributor and buy direct from Japan. It's tempting, but so are other petty crimes. Like jaywalking--or spitting on the sidewalk.
It's no big deal, just be prepared to service your own harps.
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rbeetsme
1703 posts
Nov 20, 2018
4:18 AM
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Warrantee? Has anyone ever tried to contact Suzuki about a bad harp? I have, twice, never heard back. Take a chance, I've never seen a fake.
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hvyj
3648 posts
Nov 20, 2018
8:55 AM
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Suzuki customer service has been exceptional in my experience.
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Gnarly
2574 posts
Nov 20, 2018
10:16 PM
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@rbeetsme What am I, choppped liver?
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rbeetsme
1704 posts
Nov 21, 2018
6:59 AM
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Must be. Bought 6 Pure Harps about 10 years ago. None were great players but 2 had flat notes. Contacted Suzuki repeatably, never heard back. I finally tossed the reedplates and replaced them with some old Bushman spare plates. Big improvement! In fact. it played so much better I replaced all of the reedplates with Bushmans. (These were NOS Bushman plates, not the same as the current crop which I'm told is being made elsewhere)
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Gnarly
2575 posts
Nov 21, 2018
9:01 AM
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But you never spoke with me?
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Gnarly
2576 posts
Nov 21, 2018
9:02 AM
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6 Pure Harps is a chunk of change--from whom did you purchase them?
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