Van Zandt STV-R2 2019 Lake Placid Blue Japan Strat

This is a new Van Zandt that was just delivered from Japan. For those not familiar with this brand it is made for the Japanese market only and not intended for export. The Japanese have a long tradition of guitar building and they apply the same tradition of incredible craftsmanship to guitar building.  Absolutely stunning guitar and there is no doubt in my mind that this is the finest strat money can buy at this price. Somewhat rare finish since most that you see a burst or solid colors like white, blonde, sonic blue, or black. When they do show up in this color they usually sell very fast.  

This one has a madacascare rosewood board. I tried to take pictures to show how dark and solid the fretboard is.  I have only had one other Madagascare rosewood board before and Im very impressed with the color and feel under the fingers on this one.  Given the new CITES restrictions on the import and export of rosewoods it is very difficult to find builders that still use Madacascar rosewood. Even when you do it is often times a light brown or has inconsistent streaks through it given the limited supply doe to the restrictions. This board is a dark solid color that is very pretty and certainly a premium grade of Madacascar.

The finish on these guitars are SUPER thin, which I love. They scratch very easily but I think it allows for some natural relic’ing. The neck finish is smooth, not tacky at all and has a light amber-ish hue.

Neck is a medium C shape with a 42mm (1.65 inch) nut which is right between 1 5/8th and 1 11/16th. I find this nut with to be ideal, although the more I play the less important nut width has become to me.

The pick-ups are the Van Zandt Blues set in all three positions. Im not positive on the rest fo the electronics but Im sure they are high grade. They really do not cut any corners when building these guitars.

Shortly after I purchased this another guitar came up for sale that I had been waiting to buy from someone I know for a long time. This Van Zandt was purchased through a shop is Japan as a pre-order and it was to late to cancel the order I so I no choice but to follow through with the purchase.

This was quite expensive new and real pain to get it into the US and very risky. Given the third party facilitator, import taxes, CITES restrictions, you have to jump through a lot of hoops and pay a lot of money to get new guitars from Japan to here. Here is an opportunity to get a big discount on one hell of a strat. Feel free to hit me up with any questions.