Featured This Week
One instrument, fully documented, lifted from a Hamamatsu estate and added to the catalog this morning.
Read the provenance dossier →Our Promise
Japan Vintage Guitars is the only United States dealer dedicated exclusively to verified‑original Japanese vintage instruments — Greco, Tokai, Fernandes, Ibanez, Yamaha, and the smaller makers whose names rarely cross the Pacific. Every guitar we list is physically inspected, component‑verified, and accompanied by a written provenance dossier tracing ownership, modifications, and the original factory records we can recover.
Founded in 2009 by luthier and collector David Reinhart in Portland, Oregon, the company maintains an average of sixty instruments in active inventory at any given time and refreshes that list weekly. A team of seven — including two full‑time luthiers and a Japan‑based sourcing director in Kobe — runs the operation from a single workshop on Division Street. The lab holds the largest publicly documented archive of Greco, Tokai, and Fernandes serial number records outside Japan, with more than 18,000 entries cross‑referenced against factory ledgers and the Osaka customs rolls.
Every sale is backed by a written 30‑day authenticity guarantee and a $10,000 buy‑back pledge. Worldwide insured shipping is complimentary on purchases above $3,500, with all import duties pre‑paid for buyers in the United States, the European Union, and the United Kingdom.
Ownership chain, modification history, and a component‑by‑component originality log signed by the inspecting luthier.
Every guitar passes through our Portland lab, run by a luthier with twenty‑two years of bench experience including time at Ishibashi Music in Tokyo.
If a qualified third party disputes our originality findings within thirty days of delivery, we refund the purchase in full and arrange return shipping at our cost.
Catalog Drop · Week of 11 March
Four instruments cleared the lab and entered the catalog this week. Each entry below reads like a museum object label — serial, year, maker, condition — with a single quiet link into the full listing.
Original Maxon U‑1000 pickups, untouched solder joints, one light touch‑up on the lower bout. Dossier cites the Hamamatsu estate of Mr. K. Taniguchi.
One‑piece alder body, original “vintage” humbuckers, all hardware unplated. Sourced from a private collection in Nagoya, single owner since 1979.
Early Revival series, factory‑installed sustainer removed and returned to stock wiring. Original Japanese‑made Gotoh tuners, no breaks or repairs.
First‑year Nippon Gakki red label, original tuners, freshly reset neck with original finish intact. Comes with the Yamaha warranty card and the original owner’s manual.
By the Numbers · 2009 – Present
Two Ways to Work With Us
Most of our catalog is built from private collections and estates in Japan — sourced through direct relationships with more than sixty active Japanese suppliers, including estate liquidations in Osaka, Hamamatsu, and Nagoya. Average time‑to‑listing from Japanese source to our inventory is eleven days, the fastest documented turnaround among Japanese‑vintage specialists.
For Sellers & Estates
Outright purchase or consignment, with same‑week offers on documented Japanese vintage instruments. We arrange insured pickup from anywhere in Japan, the United States, or the European Union.
For Buyers
Tell us the maker, model, year, and finish you are hunting. The waitlist is how most of our collectors land the specific Greco, Tokai, Fernandes, or Yamaha they have been waiting years to find.
A Final Word
Walk the current inventory, or place your name on the waitlist for the instrument you have been patient enough to wait for.
