Seiji Nakazawa has trouble keeping his continence in check as he strums on a guitar worth more than some people make in a year.

Last weekend in Tokyo the Musical Instruments Fair rolled into Tokyo featuring all types of music-producing tools from string instruments to woodwinds both antique and cutting-edge. It’s a veritable playground for the musically inclined.

For our own Seiji Nakazawa, however, it was the electric guitars that he came to see. A player of one for about 20 years, he fancied himself a fan of the six string in all its forms. However, when he approached the Miki Gakki booth he began to feel faint.

This was because prices for all the guitars in this booth started at 900,000 yen (US$8,700), already vastly more expensive than Seiji’s own pride and joy: an Aria Pro II valued at about 23,000 yen ($223). It was a solid guitar that our reporter had been perfectly happy with.

However, now he began to wonder what kind of difference 1,000,000 yen makes in the actual performance of his guitar. He supposed his guitar could be improved, but would it be possible to do so to such a degree?

Seiji walked further towards the booth trying to keep a professional swagger while internally screaming, “Oh my god!! Oh my god!!” This contained excitement was beginning to make his bladder tingle in a most uncomfortable way.

Just then, a booth worker offered Seiji a Gibson ES335. Its color looked weathered from time like an antique, but the body was hard, smooth, and sturdy. It was full of vitality injected through generations of craftsmanship and carried a price tag of 4 million yen ($39,000)!

▼ This guitar costs more than one carved into a literal dragon!

Seiji’s vision blurred a little and he began to feel faint, causing his bladder to begin relaxing and releasing a dangerous stream of embarrassment to his pants in this, the coolest place he had ever been. However, he managed to collect himself and utter out a nonchalant sounding, “uh…sure.”

The body was smooth on his thigh and it didn’t feel as much heavy as it did strong. His left hand gripped the neck comfortably and gently pressed around the firm yet highly responsive strings.

Next, came the dilemma of what to play. Such a fine instrument deserved something like the intro to “Eruption,” but that was way too hard and Seiji was already feeling like a nervous wreck about to pee his pants. If he tried something that complex and screwed it up, he would look like a fool in front of all these high-brow music people. On the other hand, he couldn’t play something predictable like “Smoke on the Water.”

In the end, he found some middle ground and just decided to noodle around some blues riffs.

Although you can hear how perfectly cleanly the notes come out of this Gibson ES335, the video doesn’t really do justice to the richness of the sound. Seiji too felt that he was losing some of the true sound quality in the bustling and noisy atmosphere of the convention hall.

Still, he could easily feel how smoothly this guitar played. While plucking the strings and pressing them against the fret board, everything felt completely organic, and the sound effortlessly flowed from it as smoothly as the sweat pouring from his armpits.

Without a doubt there was a world of difference between his Aria Pro II and the Gibson ES335, but the latter was a luxury for which he would have to wait until his retirement plan of scratch-and-win investments begins to pay dividends.

He had only wished Mr. Sato was there to see him play, but his co-worker had been busy at the Rittor Music publishing booth making fake magazine covers with him on it.

▼ Mr. Sato: “Dammit Sting! Stop accidentally sitting on the piano!”

Regardless, Seiji was more than happy with that rare opportunity that he cherished all the way to the convention hall men’s room.

Original article by Seiji Nakazawa
Photos: RocketNews24
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