Oh god, musicman, why torturing me like this !

[Lax]

Hey everyone, Alex from France travelling for a fantastic honeymoon in west USA !

We already visited some great shops like guitar center hollywood and I touched 2 majesty guitars, I think I'm gonna do the same in the other towns (vegas, sanfrancisco...) and we spend a day at san luis obispo !

The majesty is so great I don't find words to describe it ! And what a sound !

The good part is that it is impossible to see one in the flesh in south france and part of the dream came true.
Terrible part is that I cannot buy it at french price and I fear to make a not clever decision and have troubles at customs ^^

Thanks ernieball for torturing me with master crafted products

I'll try to post some pictures.
Cheers

 

[kestrou]

Lax,

What kind of trouble at customs? I'm thinking maybe a tax, but not up on the details.

We have a handful of French members here that should be able to advise - don't want you to miss out on this opportunity!

Kevin

 

[sanderhermans]

If you buy a guitar abroad from europe. Taxes will be huge! It is about 30% on the total amount you spent on it.... but that often still works out to be much cheaper than buying over here

 

[Lax]

And the importator can take it away from me ?

 

[sanderhermans]

If you travel with something you bought in the usa, you will need to declare it and you will have to pay 30% to get it into europe....

 

[Hind]

But you can get the state tax back. Check the internet for details on how to get US-VAT back and only pay import taxes (a European VAT substitute).

 

[Lax]

Hey guys ! Alex here ^^
Got to see some crazy majesty greatness, my wife had a hard time preventing me pulling the trigger.
The fact is that the price difference is not worth the effort to get one to france, and the risk of damage is reduced if only moving it in europe.
That would have been a different story in front of an artisan or an used one.
Man, that guitar is the holy grail and the minds behind it are geniuses.
We'll be in san luis obispo on monday, seems very interesting.

So far I saw crimson and gold at hollywood, silver and dream at vegas, dream at bakersfield, black, blue, dream, gold and copper at san francisco (they had 7!).
So far, my favorites in the flesh are crimson and silver.

 

[coldsummer]

Sounds like a fabulous honeymoon, your new wife must be thrilled visiting all these guitar shops

 

[Lax]

Lolz we only visited them after a good full day of honeymooning so she is ok (plus she is a musician too)
3 crazy weeks, we don't want to leave. On the other hand we walked so much in san francisco and did the vegas strip completely on foot, I don't know if I can handle more heavy touristing XD

 

[Craiguitar]

Much as the temptation is there with the crazy cheap prices (for a European) in the U.S., generally once you factor in all the EU VAT and customs duty, you're pretty much paying the same. Incidentally, I went into Guitar Center in San Francisco, and I think they had one JP and that was it....So I didn't get to see much EBMM goodness. One weird thing I did experience was, the take all your bags at the door, and you get them back when you leave. That never happened to me in a UK music shop.

 

[kestrou]

One weird thing I did experience was, the take all your bags at the door, and you get them back when you leave. That never happened to me in a UK music shop.

That doesn't happen, even at Guitar Center, here in the cornfields either - must be a "big city" thing...

Kevin

 

[varjao]

That happened to me in a music shop in San Francisco, in that hippie street.

On all the other music stores in SF and guitar centers in NY and Boston they never asked me such a thing, but it depends on how the store is setup I believe.

 

[Mikey]

I have done it a few times and it worked out. The greatest hassle with importing guitars is always the transport. With some airlines you are not allowed to take it into the cabin, that means you have to check it in as extra luggage and, in most cases, you will have to pay for it. I was not comfortable with that an managed to get the guitar on board in an extra gig bag with me and just gave up the hardshell case as extra luggage. I didn't even had to pay an upcharge for it (it was Virgin Airlines). I had no hassle with the german customs, whatsoever, you'll just have to pay the duty and you are set. For me it was 19% VAT (german VAT) plus 3.7%duty (german duty for electric guitars). I don't know the french taxes, so you have to calculate yourself if it works out for you, regarding the exchange rate and the french duties and taxes. Have a great honeymoon... Cheers, Mikey

 

[Lax]

Hehe thanks a lot, we fly back tomorrow evening, we are sadly at the end of it.
30 mins away from ernie ball, we'll discover san luis after that
I really loved the west coast

 

[banjoplayer]

One weird thing I did experience was, the take all your bags at the door, and you get them back when you leave. That never happened to me in a UK music shop.

That happened to me at JustMusic in Hamburg