the time has come!

[adam-antium]

Hi folks new enough to this forum i am from Ireland, im going over on holiday on Tuesday to America to visit my sister and buy a Ball jp6 bfr Tobacco burst quilt top to be precise. any recommendations where i should buy it?? my sister lives in new jersey by the way.

any help much appreciated guys

 

[spkirby]

Unless you are incredibly lucky you'll probably not find one in a guitar store, you'll have to "google" one and have it shipped to your sister.

Then there's the fun of getting it back and then your choice of route through customs!

 

[Sweat]

Easy enough DuBaldo Music Center located in Manchester Conneticut, very close and has both a quilt and flame BFR JP6 in tobacco burst

 

[MusicManJP6]

Good luck! I know you have been wanting one for a long time. It's a great guitar. I hope you find one!

 

[mbgreene]

Easy enough DuBaldo Music Center located in Manchester Conneticut, very close and has both a quilt and flame BFR JP6 in tobacco burst

+1
Pete's the man and it's in stock
Ernie Ball / Music Man / Guitar / Bass

Depending on where in New Jersey your sister is, Pete's store is probably a 2-4 hour drive or a short UPS ground delivery turnaround if you will be at your sisters for a while and want it shipped there. But it would be more fun to go play them.

 

[azazael]

you could take an empty guitar case with ya or even put an old crap guitar in it.
Put guitar in the case u took and ditch the crap guitar...
Then maybe u can get by customs charge on way back i dunno

 

[Sweat]

Just call Pete when you get here, and you will be happy!! Figure the rest out later

 

[adam-antium]

Ive been trying to figure how im gonna get this through customs, the taught s of coming back home empty handed is killing me. someone told me that if you can get through customs by saying it was a gift?!? sounds crazy i know!

 

[andynpeters]

Ive been trying to figure how im gonna get this through customs, the taught s of coming back home empty handed is killing me. someone told me that if you can get through customs by saying it was a gift?!? sounds crazy i know!

Getting through customs is easy....you show the nice man your receipt and he charges you import duty & VAT....guess around 20% total. Doesn't matter if it's a gift, second hand or anything else....you have to pay. No legal way out. If you don't declare it , it's a criminal offence, you can be fined far more than the duty and have the guitar impounded. Customs men are not idiots, have long lists of guitar prices and have no doubt read about the "old guitar case" dodge. Azazael's suggestion is, of course, illegal

On a more legal tax avoidance note....I believe that if you buy the guitar in Connecticut you will have to pay the state sales tax (around 9% in most states). If they ship it out of state (ie to New Jersey) it is my understanding that you won't need to pay it.

I guess it should also be pointed out that in the (very unlikely) event of a warranty issue, your relationship is with the US store & you'll need to return the guitar to them....prohibitively expensive except in the case of a total meltdown.....fortunately EBMM quality control is top notch.

 

[colinboy]

Alright Adam.about bloody time for ya ha ha.so your going to the states next week ya lucky bastard.will ya bring me home another BFR if i give ya the money ha ha?

id say you should be grand getting through customs in dublin as along as its not 5 guitars your bringing back.get on to pete dubaldo or send him a private msg.he is based about 2-3 hours north of the big apple but he would probably ship it down to ya id say
check out this out at his shop.he is based in manchester conneticut as far as i know.
John Petrucci BFR Tobacco Burst - Quilt

 

[adam-antium]

Thanks for the info everybody, really not sure what to do now, would be my luck to get it home and something to go wrong....i think it will be worth the chance tho.I have had a serious amount of bad luck in the past trying to get one of these guitars.

sure thing Colinboy what colour you after this time!!!!

 

[colinboy]

even if you get caught to pay tax when your coming home its still way cheaper than in europe or the uk my friend.convert what the usa price is to euros first and then add 25% to that figure as thats how much customs will charge.

make sure to take off all the tags etc before bringing it home.best of luck let me know how you get on but id get on to pete dubaldo if i were you.alot of the guys here buy from him all the time.send him a pm and ask him about the quilt BFR.

 

[Smellybum]

Hey Adam
Safe trip - I can see you gettin in a lot of trouble in the US!

Just stay away from camera shops!

Best of luck in your hunt....

Smelly still cleaning the guiness up.....

 

[andynpeters]

even if you get caught to pay tax when your coming home its still way cheaper than in europe or the uk my friend.convert what the usa price is to euros first and then add 25% to that figure as thats how much customs will charge.

make sure to take off all the tags etc before bringing it home.best of luck let me know how you get on but id get on to pete dubaldo if i were you.alot of the guys here buy from him all the time.send him a pm and ask him about the quilt BFR.

At the risk of sounding pompous, I don't think you should be giving someone advice on how to break the law. The consequences for him may be serious.

It's not really a case of "if you get caught to pay the tax".....you either declare it or you don't. If you don't declare it & then "get caught" you may well find that simply offering to pay the tax will not be good enough as you have committed a criminal offence. Friend of mine got hit for double duty on a camera as he tried the "second hand gift" dodge.

Personally I'd buy it, declare it ,pay up and still save myself a lot of money. In the very unlikely event of any issues with it it'll probably be something very small and easily fixed by a local luthier. EBMM very rarely put all the frets in the wrong place!!!!

 

[adam-antium]

Hey Adam
Safe trip - I can see you gettin in a lot of trouble in the US!

Just stay away from camera shops!

Best of luck in your hunt....

Smelly still cleaning the guiness up.....

ha ha whats up smellybum sorry again about the camera. i may take your advice bout the camera shops!!

i think i will be just doing as andynpeters has said i don't want any trouble just want to go nuts in America and receive my BALL transplant (to my hand) ..
even with the duty im saving a fortune