I went to Japan for about a week - had a family reunion in Iwate prefecture (north from Sendai) - but also made it into a few guitar stores in Tokyo & Kyoto. One place I went to was Ikebe in Shibuya - I used to go there all the time as a kid growing up in Tokyo, so I make it a point to try and get back there, kind of a pilgrimage. Now they have multiple stores in different buildings, each with a different specialty - new stuff, used stuff, woodwinds, etc. They have a bass specialty shop too, called
the Bass Collection, with some amazing stuff, like a '70s Carl Thompson refurbished by Carl Thompson himself, some Ritters (first I've seen in person), an old Wal, THREE Walter Woods amps (never seen one of those in a store either), etc.:
You can also see a couple of Alembics:
Sorry it's not such a great picture, it's just a larger detail of the first one. I asked if it was ok to take pictures, he said it was ok to take a shot of the store, but not individual instruments. You should be able to see their official detail shots
here - just click on the manufacturer and it should take you to their inventory page. The one on the right has a similar tailpiece to the one pictured
in this thread where the ball end just clips on instead of being threaded through a hole.
I like to come back with something, so I picked up
a huge triangular pick by the Japanese company STR - I got the thickest one - 1.50 mm! It's a great pick, just hope I don't wear it down too fast...
