The guitar: I bought my first Kawai - the natural finish KS-12-XL in 1980. I bought my last one - the black KS-12-XL earlier this year (2009). So it's taken me almost 30 years to track them all down. I really only started actively looking about 5 years ago though, so I've found almost 1 a year.
The story: When I started playing electric guitar, I had a cheapo, second-hand, Columbus Les Paul copy. It wasn't a bad guitar to learn on, but it wasn't anything special either. I'd never heard of Kawai and certainly never played a Kawai guitar, but I saw the ad (see here) in a magazine and for some reason decided to take a gamble and buy the guitar mail-order. Over the following years, I played (and bought) a few more guitars, but nothing really compared to the quality or sound of the Kawai. After a mid-life pause in guitar-playing, a few years ago I started playing more regularly. Out came the Kawai, and it made me wonder about "the other one" in the original ad. With the assistance of Google & eBay I started a hunt. Although I've actually had more luck in making contact with other Kawai owners through people searching for Kawai, and finding my guitar blog (here). That's how I found both of the KS-11-XLs that I subsequently bought.
The photos: Listed in the order that they became mine ...
My original KS-12-XL.
In completely original specification, with a couple of dings (mainly on the back) from the careless usage of a teenager! This guitar has spent years in a case, going through various house moves and being completely neglected during the years when I wasn't playing guitar. Yet it appears not to have suffered at all. I didn't bother with any storage care, but the day I took it out of its case it was still virtually in tune, with a perfectly straight neck, and great action.
But I don't recommend that approach to guitar storage!
I bought this KS-10-Junior via eBay.
I met the seller in a service station just off the A1 near Newark, handed over the cash, and I'd made the first addition to my Kawai family. I think I won this by £1.01, so it was a bit close. In amazingly good condition - there's one bash on the back edge of the body, but apart from that, it's completely clean and original.
The KS-11-XL (in natural finish) was always the guitar that I was really looking for, but when this one appeared after many years of unsuccessfully looking for the natural version, I decided to grab it. The seller had contacted me via my blog and we negotiated via a few emails over a few weeks. He recognised the quality of the Kawai and realised how much he'd have to spend to get a suitable replacement.
Again, in excellent and original condition, I think that this had spent most of its life being fairly well cared for in a studio.
Another contact on my blog. Someone (to this day, I don't know who) left me a message to say that there was a guitar just like I was looking for (of which I'd put a photo on my blog) in a music shop in the outskirts of Carlisle. I googled the shop, got the details, phoned immediately, and the guitar was mine within 48 hours. When it arrived, it had one cream pickup, and one black. I assumed that one had been replaced sometime through the years, so thought that I might as well replace both with a set of PRS Dragons that I had waiting for transplant into a suitable body. When I took the existing pickups out, they both turned out to be "Mighty Mite" branded, as used on the Kawais, so perhaps they were both original? I've still not seen another Kawai with black pickups though.
Also, tucked in one of the pickup cavities was a bit of local (to Carlisle) newspaper from the early 80's. So I'm guessing that this guitar hadn't travelled far during its life.
And the final addition, just for completeness, is this black KS-12-XL.
It was originally listed on eBay at an "optimistic" price, but we eventually settled on something more reasonable! It's difficult to value these guitars because they are so rare that there's no real established market for them. I've recently acquired a set of black bareknuckle VHII pickups which would sound incredibly in this guitar. So, I'm considering a quick swap with the existing pickups ...
And that completes my Kawai family. For now.
I'd certainly like to try out a Moonsault, though I can't believe that those things are particularly comfortable to play.
I might be tempted to add a KS-10-XL should one ever appear at a sensible price (an Italian collector has been trying to sell one on eBay for a few months, but the starting price was 1200 Euros!).
I might also be tempted by the Kawai Rock'n'Roll Star - essentially an acoustic with a pickup and a slightly exaggerated version of the KS-series headstock.
Or the Kawai F1 - a thru-neck twin HB guitar, but without the open headstock design of the KS series.
Of course, I know that I really would be tempted and I only use the word "might" in an attempt to delude myself!