F.A.Q

Here are some FAQ we get on a daily basis. I rounded it down to 10, because 10 seems to be a nice clean easy number. And just maybe someone might read it!

So here we go, in no particular order:

1. Does Combat Guitars Endorse bands?

- PLEASE READ THIS

2. You don't know me, and we have never been in contact before. And, in all likeliness, you have never heard of my band. Can I have a guitar for free?

- It is very surprising how many people contact us on a daily basis with no other inquiry or questions at all about the company other than to simply ask us to just "give away" our products. This approach would be a turn-off to anyone. If you have read our blog post on the "Endorsement Policy" it will help you to know a little bit more about us. In any case, we choose to stand behind artists, big or small, who we know genuinely love our guitars. Are you really interested in our company? You want us to be interested in your band? A good way to start would be to ask genuine questions. Fill out the Estimate form. At the very least, inquire as to what an artist price might be on a particular instrument. By simply just asking us to "hand over" some gear to you, I'm sorry but unless your band's name sounds like "KlipSnot" or "DegaMeth", the answer will probably be NO. Our company is still quite small unfortunately, and we just cant' support artists the way other big companies can. We simply do not have the overhead to give away instruments to even all the bands we would like to. There is a lot of great bands out there who are interested in us, and we are grateful, but we are just not in the caliber to provide such vast support to so many artists. How about actually BUYING a guitar? I know, we have a lot of nerve as a business asking people to buy our products, but what a great way to start a relationship with a company! This might prove to us you are actually interested in us (and not just a free guitar) and later down the road we might even consider doing YOU a favor.

3. I really love the "(insert famous guy's name here)" Signature Model. Will you build me a copy of this guitar?

- Think about what the word "Signature" means. These instruments are patented designs constructed by another guitar maker bearing the name of a player that is obviously not endorsed by Combat. The player in question has a legal deal worked out with these makers to use their name. By creating a duplicate of this model we would not only be in legal trouble with the maker, but the player (who gets royalties from the sale of these instruments) also has free reign to rake us over the coals. We are very sorry but we cannot create duplicates of Signature model guitars. No exceptions.

*Side note: Many people forget that the Les Paul model is also a signature guitar. We can make a guitar BASED on this design, but creating an exact duplication of this shape is not possible.

4. Does Combat Guitars take orders from outside Japan?

- We sure do! We accept orders from all over the world. Simply fill out the Free Estimate Form conveniently on our Official Website! Select your country from the drop down menu. We apologize if your country is not listed in the menu. Select "Other" and specify where you live in the space provided. We ship all internationally ordered instruments in a Combat Hard Case. The case is our gift to you and is absolutely free. The price I quote you however is for the guitar ONLY and does not include the shipping charges. When you have placed your order with us, we will inquire to the shipping company and method of your choice and add the cost of shipping onto the guitar later.

5. I'm really interested in Combat, will you send me a guitar to try out?

- We are sorry, but we cannot just simply send away instruments for you to "try".

6. I live in "(insert your country here)", where can I try one of your guitars?

- Though Combat does have a few standard designs, the ST Series, Tele Series & G Series for example, we make all of our instruments completely custom. Which means, no guitar or bass gets made until it is ordered. That said, we do have a few sample models which we have constructed of our standard series instruments that we have distributed to various Guitar Shops locally here in Japan. But because we are still a very small company, we do not have any distribution deals with anyone outside of Japan. So, we are very sorry but unless you are in Japan there really is no place you can "try out" one of our guitars.

7. How much for a 7 String, Floating Tremolo, Pumpkin Shaped 27 Fretter?

- Now yer talkin'! We take pride in our Standard Series instruments, and are always well flattered and grateful when we get orders for them. But as a custom maker, nothing gets us more pumped than these crazy orders for original shapes and and wild set-ups. Whether you are placing an order for a standard ST Series, or a completely original shape and set-up, we ask that you please go to our Official Website and fill out the Free Estimate Order Form as far as you can. The more info you fill out the easier and quicker it will be to give you as accurate a quote as possible.

8. Who is endorsed by Combat? Who plays Combat, and where can I hear this music?

- Visit our official MySpace page! Our top friend list is always floating with people who use Combat. Also, on the left-hand side of the page there is a list of more artists who love our instruments. By clicking on any of the artist's names you will be linked to either their official MySpace or Home Page.

9. I am planning a trip to Japan, where can I go to try out one of your guitars?

- Great! Welcome! Just send us an email and tell us when you will be in town! We will then direct you to the closest Guitar Shops to you that have some guitars in their store for show! If there is any live shows happening during your stay we will also let you know where you can go to see some live Combat action as well!

10. I filled out the Estimate form, and was surprised to hear how much my guitar will cost. What's with the price?

- Whether you are a buying a cheaply priced & cheaply made, assembly line factory guitar or a high quality, hand-made completely custom instrument- the old saying applies: "You get what you pay for". We try our hardest to keep the cost as low as possible for our customers, while still delivering a hand-made instrument built with the highest quality materials available. You will see that the price of our instruments are still quite a bit lower than most so- called "high quality" factory made guitars and Signature models.

If you walk into a Porsche dealership and expect to get one for the price of a Honda Civic.....

It's ALIVE!

Hey friends,

Just a quick post here to let you know to keep checking back on our Official MySpace profile, as we will now be regularily updating the LIVE dates of all our Japan sponsored artists.

If you are gonna be planning a trip to Japan, be sure and take a look to see who is playing where!

We hope you'll be able to see a little Live Combat Action!

Combat Guitars Official MySpace Profile:

http://www.myspce.com/combatguitars

Toru of "SUPE" with Combat Camo Custom Bass

Keep your stick on the ice,

Combat Colin.

Combat G-Series.

Time once again to introduce another line of commonly ordered guitars! This time around I would like to profile the Combat original G-Series.

The G-Series body is most commonly ordered as an arched top, though we do sometimes get requests for flat tops as well. We have also made a few nice custom semi-hollow body versions. We prototyped this model with a custom heel cut bolt-on neck, though the guitar is most commonly ordered as a set-neck type. There are also various Combat original head shape designs which suit the G-Series guitar quite nicely.

As with all Combat guitars, the G-Series guitar is (though a standard shape) completely customizable. Neck joint, neck grip, head shape, fret size, all variations of body cuts, wood material, hardware, pickup positions, paint and finish- all are customizable and available to be chosen by YOU.

I will show here again various guitars (featuring different finishes, control set-ups/ positions, and various Combat original head-shape designs) we have built for a few regular customers as well as for major artists who love the Combat original G-Series!

See-Through Flamed Maple Top

Body Close-up

Matching Flamed Maple Head Top and natural Binding

Solid White Finish

Body Close-up

Matching Solid White Heap Top and Binding

Nice Blue Finish on Quilted Maple Top

Matching Binding and See-Through Blue Finish on Head Top

Another Nice Quilted Maple Top on this Semi-Hollow version

Red Flamed Maple Top

Custom Binding and Inlays on a Custom Imaged Top. AWESOME!

Combat AYA Series Type G.

(*see April 6th post on AYA Series)

Close-up on the AYA G

Another AYA G Close-up

Shinpei (Breakerz) Custom G Series. Custom Camo paint

Close-up on Shinpei's custom Inlays

Shinpei Rockin' the G Series LIVE!

For more info on Shinpei and his band BREAKERZ, please see my April 15th post on Combat's Japan Sponsored Artists.

CLICK HERE to see more pics of the Combat G-Series, as well as the other original line-up Combat Guitars; the Tele-Warm Series, the ST-Warm Series, and LT Series.

Again, as you can see, with a little customization you can turn a simple looking guitar into something beautifully original!

If you are interested in creating your own custom Combat Guitar or bass, simply fill out our FREE Estimate Form to as far as you can with all your ideas and specs, etc, and I will get back to you, usually within the next day, with advice and a FREE estimate!

CLICK HERE FOR YOUR FREE ESTIMATE!

CLICK HERE to read more about why hand-made is better.

CLICK HERE to read about all the steps involved in making a custom guitar:

As always, we look forward to hearing from you!

- Combat Colin.

Combat Sponsored Japan Artists.

I thought I would quickly throw out a few plugs for some Japanese artists that are proudly endorsed by Combat Guitars!

This list is not exhaustive, as there are many bands in Japan we have great friendships with. These bands are also not exclusive, as some of the band's members may use other guitars/ basses. This is just a taste of a few, selected by me this fine warm morning, as there has been an increasing amount of unexpected visits to our office lately.

I would like to introduce you to a few of the bands who we consider part of our, ever growing, extended family! I'll spice it up a bit and fill you in on a few bands who fall into different genre categories.

COMBAT JAPAN ARTISTS

BREAKERZ.

Breakerz is fronted by the hugely popular television talent and movie actor known as Daigo. They draw heavily on the authentic Japanese arena rock style. Guitarist Shinpei has numerous original Combat guitars in his arsenal and support bassist Matsu also exclusively plays a number of original custom Combat basses. There are numerous promotional videos posted on YouTube including their single, backdropped by Hollywood hit movie WANTED, titled "Shakunetsu".

Official HomePage:

http://breakerz-web.net/

SUPE.

Supe are a 5-piece hard rock, alternative outfit that does extensive amounts of touring not only Japan but in many countries abroad, including numerous slots on the Vans Warped Tour. Now based in L.A they continue to rise in popularity and stature with solid release after solid release. Guitarist Takeshi exclusively plays custom Combat Type G series guitars, while bassist Toru plays a custom Combat bass.

Official HomePage:

http://www.supe-web.com/

Official MySpace:

http://www.myspace.com/supejp

CRAZY KEN BAND.

The Crazy Ken Band is lead by front man and vocalist Ken Yokoyama. He is backed by an 11 piece, musical embodiment of a decadent Show Cabaret, in the golden era of the Japanese music boom of the 50's and 60's. Polyester suits, top hots, leopard skin, lounge swagger, with musical stylings fusing elements of Rock, Japanese Pop, Funk, Bossa Nova and Soul.

And they are TIGHT.

Guitarist Toraji uses a Custom Combat ST Series guitar, while 2nd guitarist Masao uses an original AYA Series ST.

Official HomePage:

http://www.crazykenband.com/

DUEL JEWEL.

Duel Jewel are, what is widely known in Gothic circles world-wide, the Japanese phenomenon known as Visual-Kei. Again, drawing heavily on Gothic and visual imagery as their shtick, the closer these band's members look like girls, the cooler they are. The visual and musical aspects of Visual-kei is distinctly Japanese, and Duel Jewel are no exception. Their videos get regular air play on numerous music stations and there isn't a Karaoke box in Japan that doesn't feature an extensive catalogue of Duel Jewel tunes. Bassist Natsuki plays a custom original Combat bass, and guitarist Shun has a line of original custom combat guitars- with a signature series on the way.

Official HomePage:

http://www.dueljewel.jp/

Unofficial MySpace:

http://www.myspace.com/duel_jewel_forever

PAY MONEY TO MY PAIN.

Commonly known just as P.T.P, and much like fellow peers and scene-mates Supe, the band is hugely popular within the hard rock and alternative crowds. Now on major label VAP, with regular touring and an increasing amount of festival appearances PTP's popularity continues to rise each year. Bassist Tsuyoshi plays a unique and original, custom Combat 3-string bass.

Official HomePage:

http://www.paymoneytomypain.com/

Official MySpace:

http://www.myspace.com/paymoneytomypain

Two more artists I would like to include here were already mentioned in previous posts so keeping it brief, I would still like to mention:

PLASTIC TREE.

Plastic Tree are a major band quite big on the Japanese Rock and Visual circuit. Bassist Tadashi uses a series of custom Combat Basses.

Official HomePage:

http://www.plastic-tree.com/

Official MySpace:

www.myspace.com/plastictreeweb

OHTA KATSU. (Ark Storm)

Ohta Katsu uses a number of custom Combat ST series guitars. His band Ark Storm features

bassist Isamu, support bassist for the band Gran Rodeo, who uses custom Combat AYA Series basses.

Check out more about Ohta Katsu on my Blog Post HERE.

Official English HomePage:

http://www.jc-i.jp/j-crave/ark.htm

Official MySpace:

http://www.myspace.com/arkstorm

Gran Rodeo Official Website:

http://www.granrodeo.net/

SHIRO TANIGAWA

One more dude who deserves recognition, not just in relevance of this particular blog post, but within any topic relating to Japanese music, is Shiro Tanigawa. For over 30 years, Shiro has been making his mark felt, with a thunderous impact, as a renowned session musician for Japanese rock and blues. For years, and still now, Shiro has been featured in literally thousands of publishings, videos, and DVD's for guitar instruction, as well as making countless appearances as a regualar in many widely published guitar magazines. Not just for lessons and instruction, but his opinion on every aspect of guitar playing is so respected, he also makes constant appearances for regular advice coloms and guitar reviews.

So we are honored that Shiro thinks so well of Combat that he has placed more than a few orders from us for custom guitars. Shiro's weapon of choice? The aforementioned, April 8th blog post, Combat Tele Series.

Yesterday, Shiro-san made a surprise visit to our office to do a little further customization on one of his custom Combat Teles. After we finished with the business end of Shiro's visit I had the rare and privilidged opportunity to sit down and chat with this living legend. We chatted nothing but guitar. Everything from opinions on different hardware, set-ups, materials, etc, to playing styles. Picking styles, scale techniques, progressions, etc. It was then only natural that we found ourselves plugged in, guitars in hand for a little impromptu jam session! And the honor was all mine!

Shiro usues this unique little device made by Sperzel USA they title, on their website as only, The "D" Thing. It's a simple piece of mechanism you can easily attach to the low E peg of your Sperzel locking tuners. (which, coincidently like Shiro-san, Sperzel Tuners are what are on all of my recent guitars) Basically, how it works is you tune to standard tuning, flip a lock on the device and it holds the key in E. You then drop the low E to a D, hit the lock again and it holds that position in the key of D. Then, with a simple flick you can switch back and forth from standard tuning to "drop D". Shiro claims to have had no major problems with this device Live. I suppose that nothing is ever perfect, and though it does have certain minor flaws, it seems to do the job quite well.

From Left to Right: Combat Guitars Owner Honda-san, Shiro Tanigawa, Combat Colin.

(Shiro with his green Custom Combat Tele, Me with the Combat Colin Model.)

My impromptu session with Shiro-san reminds me of the post I did, on April 5th, about staying inspired. Wouldn't you know it, when I got home that evening it was no dinner for me. I played my guitar till 2a.m. Racking my brain over how incredible Shiro Tanigawa is. His effortlessness and casual approach to improvised guitar playing is truly inspiring.

Shiro Tanigawa Official Website:

http://www9.ocn.ne.jp/~shirosan/

Combat Colin.

Combat Guitars Endorsment Policy.

When it comes to the topic of artist endorsement, we don't usually discriminate between a major band and a small independent band too much. What is important to us, more than a band's record sales, is a genuine friendship with those we welcome into our family. 

That said, this IS a business, and when a major artist shows interest in our guitars we, of course, are more than willing to do all we can for them as they choose to show up on those huge stages proudly bearing their Combat guitar.

However, our policy is not limited to just supporting major bands. We have a handfull of independent  domestic talent which we proudly stand beside.

But, as I said, this IS a business- and we would be bankrupt if we simply gave away guitars to half of the people who contact us on a daily basis with simply no other inquiry other than getting something for free.

We get asked a lot about "endorsement requirements".  Our "requirements" are not limited to just being a famous guy. We value the friendships with have with our artists and customers, and so I suppose that, strangely as it may sound, is the biggest requirement. 

It is also not uncommon for us to receive messages from all walks of players who we have had no previous contact with and (no disrespect intended) have never heard of who simply say something to the effect of "my band rips, give us some guitars!".  Obviously this is not the way to start off a relationship. 

So I think I will address the whole "endorsement/ sponsorship issue" here.

No matter what approach is taken by any artist, our responses to all endorsement inquiries is: 

Combat Guitars values relationships. We are still a very small company, however, we ARE looking for musicians to build genuine friendships and relationships with. We have very good relationships with all our customers and sponsored artists. Though, unlike other big companies, we are unfortunately unable to pay artists to use our guitars. 

Basically, we are looking for artists who want to play our guitars because they love them and stand by our company. We think that genuine friendships are more important than just attaching a famous face to our products. We believe in the instruments we make as the best and highest quality HAND MADE guitars available. 

So we value the quality of our instruments and the quality of our relationships with players much more than to just pay someone to play any old guitar simply because they are famous. If an artist can support us by choosing to play one of our instruments, simply based on the fact that they think it is the best guitar in their arsenal, then we owe it to them to make the best quality guitar we possibly can.

Though we do have a few bands at the moment that we endorse, most of the bands we choose to support buy our guitars at an artist price. However, many of the artists who use Combat will buy their instruments out-right. They choose to use our instruments because they believe they are among the highest quality available and that a hand-made guitar will beat any factory made instrument hands-down in both quality and (most importantly) SOUND.

Before we choose to endorse any artist many things are considered. Over anything else our strict company policy is to have a solid and established relationship with an artist FIRST, before we take steps towards endorsement or an artist price.

Though there are always exceptions (if your name sounds like Hirk Kammet or Hames Jetfield, for exampe), usually what happens is an artist will buy their custom hand-made instrument because they are looking for the best they can have. More times than not these artists will stay in touch and thus a relationship is established. These artists who stand behind our company and choose to play our instruments are the ones who eventually get discounts or even guitar endorsements.

We sincerely appreciate any and all interest shown to us. Our goal is to keep on building relationships with customers and artists abroad. 

We are always happy when someone inquires in our company, and we hope to keep on making friends with as many of you as we can!

Thanks for reading!

Combat Colin.

Planning A Trip To Tokyo?

Be sure to let us know if you are planning a trip to Tokyo!

We can direct you to various Guitar Shops which showcase Combat Guitars for you to try out!

We can also fill you in on the Live schedules of various Combat artist's bands so you can see some live Combat action as well!

If your nice enough I may even let you buy me a beer while your in town!

(Just kidding)

But seriously, don't be afraid to let us know you are in town!

We would love to help you out in any way we can to make sure your trip to Tokyo is filled with guitar happiness!

Cheers!

Combat Colin.

ST Series Profile.

Assuming you have read my previous blog post profiling the Combat Guitars Tele Series, I

would now like to continue along profiling another Standard Line of guitars we get frequent orders for.

The popular and classic looking ST Series!

Combat has, like the Tele Series, a few options here when considering your body shape/ design. There is a flat top, arched top (St Warm) and Solid body/ Semi-hollow versions of either or. These standard body shapes can get quite customizable. For example, rounded edges like a classic vintage ST, sharper and flatter edges like a Metal influenced Dinky style, and all forms of customizable options regarding the heel cut, elbow cut, waist cut, etc.

I will show some examples with pictures here again depicting the various degrees of customization we have done on recent and past orders of the ST. I'll show some standard St shapes, some flat tops, different waist and elbow cuts, Dinky type shapes, etc. All which have been completely customized as per customer requests and built to their exact desired specs.

The ST Type body shape is a classic and time tested popular design. However, with Combat (as always) when it comes to other options; body cuts, bindings, head shapes, building materials, colors, etc etc- the customizable options are virtually limitless!

BASIC SEMI-CUSTOM LINE

Before getting into the full custom pictures and specs of the Combat ST Series, I think it is relevant to those interested in ST style guitars to, once again, mention our new Basic Semi-Custom Line.

We came up with this option because we wanted to offer our customers, who want a basic ST design guitar, a more affordable option.

The Basic Semi-Custom name comes from the fact that we have created a Combat original ST/Dinky type body shape with two Combat original type head shapes to choose from.

Though we call this line Basic Semi-Custom, there is nothing basic about the amount of customizable options available.

You can take this standard selected body shape, choose from two head designs, and then just simply choose which other options you want for your guitar from our nicely stocked menu list of available options for the Basic Semi-Custom.

Check out the Basic Semi-Custom info on our official homepage for pricing and specs: HERE

There are also two examples of recent orders that have been placed for a Basic Semi-Custom. Here you can see the photos and a spec/price breakdown.

Example 1: HERE

Example 2: HERE

Alright, let's take a look at some ST Series Guitars! I'll mix it up though, though I am temepted to mainly focaus on our original Combat ST-Warm Series (our arched-top ST), I will also include some "Dinky" type shapes, and some nice standard St type guitars.

This, like the profile I have done on the Tele-Series and G-Series, will give you a very clear idea on how far you can take a simple and standard type body design and make it completely original.

COMBAT GUITARS ST-SERIES

Custom ST. Nice Neck Binding, 3-Piece Body (Bubinga and Indian Rose)

Custom ST. One Vol. One Tone.

Custom Lefty ST.

ST Series, Primer Finish, Custom PickGuard

Combat St Warm. Semi-Hollow, Custom Binding

Combat St Warm. Semi-Hollow, Custom Inlays

Custom Dinky Type, Maple Top, 24 Frets

Custom St. Old School!

Custom Dinky Type. Custom Flame Job on Flame Maple Top

Combat Basic Semi-Custom Series

Awesome Quilted Maple Finish on this Custom Dinky Type.

Dinky Type, Custom Binding, Nice Clean looking Guitar.

Combat AYA Series ST Warm

CLICK HERE to see more pics of the Combat ST-Warm Series, as well as the other original line-up of Combat Guitars; the Tele-Warm Series, G-Series, and LT-Series.

At the risk of sounding completely redundant, I really can't stress it enough that all these examples are just a small taste of what can be done to turn your basic ideas into something spectacular!

If you are interested in creating your own custom Combat Guitar or bass, simply fill out our FREE Estimate Form to as far as you can with all your ideas and specs, etc, and I will get back to you, usually within the next day, with advice and a FREE estimate!

CLICK HERE FOR YOUR FREE ESTIMATE!

CLICK HERE to read more about why hand-made is better.

CLICK HERE to read about all the steps involved in making a custom guitar:

We look forward to hearing from you!!

-Combat Colin.