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Tuesday 10am - 5:30pm Wednesday 10am - 5:30pm Thursday 10am - 5:30pm Friday 10am - 5:30pm Saturday 12pm - 4pm

Topshelf Instruments

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Topshelf Instruments

Topshelf Instruments exists to help you make music better. We search the world for the best gear and Thanks for stopping by!
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We search the world for the best gear and make it easy to buy, play and love right here in Australia. We import both new and used gear from around the world, handpicking items that you just won't find at your run-of-the-mill music store. We fully embrace the digital era of retailing, abandoning the traditional shopfront for an online model. This allows us to service customers from all over the cou

ntry from our home base in Hobart, Tasmania. We handpick products that we love, and we're not concerned with stocking every single thing you can buy at your local store. Especially in these early days, we'd rather stock a handful of awesome products than a swathe of stuff you can buy anywhere. As such, phase one of the business will see us specialise in:

* Hand made Turkish cymbals
* Handy drum accessories like Big Fat Snare Drum, Low Boy Beaters and more
* Used, vintage and Australian made boutique drums
* Used guitars and basses

As we grow, we expect to add more and more items to the catalogue and offer innovative new ways to buy the gear you need to play music better. Keep coming back, we promise to keep things fresh.

08/09/2026

Look at these two FSR beauties in Shell Pink… delightful. Both on the website now 👀
🩷🤍💖

28/08/2026

Yamaha SG-2000, Brown Sunburst, made in Japan 1982. As vintage Japanese electric guitars go, there’s not many more iconic models than the Yamaha SG-2000. Yamaha intended this model to take the basic form of the Les Paul, and then push it to perfection. They’ve popped up in the hands of notable players like Carlos Santana, John Frusciante and Al Di Meola, and they’re absolutely some of the best production-model guitars ever made. This one dates to 1982, and you get all the good stufff: gold hardware, inlaid headstock, seven-ply binding, ebony fretboard, fancy inlays, a brass tone-block under the bridge, and a push/pull tone control to split the bridge pickup. It’s a neck-through build: the middle of the guitar is a five-ply maple/mahogany laminate, running from top to tail. That makes the neck super straight and sturdy, even after all these decades, as well as allowing for easy upper fret access. At 4.5kg it’s no lightweight, but many LPs from the same era were a whole kilogram heavier, and you get rewarded for your trouble: the sustain, oh the sustain. It rings for days. The neck is quick and easy to move around on too, so you can play super slick lead lines all over the show and get a remarkably even, singing tone from every note. The pickups are very clear too: complex and breathy through the mids, very fat and piano-like down low and sweet and expressive up top. This one has had a couple of minor mods and a few scrapes and knocks, although it presents nicely overall; it’s priced accordingly. SG= so. good.

25/08/2026

We’re finalising our next order from our friends at SAITO GUITARS in the next couple of weeks. With a one page form and a $1500AUD deposit, we can add your dream build onto the list… it will land in your hands this summer. Shoot us a DM if it’s time 🙌🏻

11/08/2026

Kohno No.7 classical, made in Tokyo 1971, natural gloss lacquer. Masaru ‘Ken’ Kohno (1926-98) is probably Japan’s most prominent 20th-century classical guitar maker. After graduating with a degree in woodcraft in 1948 from Tokyo College of Arts and Crafts, Masaru travelled to Madrid to befriend and study under master Spanish luthier Arcangel Fernandez. He also spent time as an apprentice in the workshop of Ignacio Fleta. In 1967, Kohno entered an international guitar making contest, presided over by Ignatio Fleta, beating thirty other entrants to claim the top prize. Many of Japan’s other prominent builders got their start working under Kohno, similar to Ramirez in Spain. This is a pretty early example, so the models were numbered according to their original price in Japanese Yen: models started at No.4 and went to No.9 at the time, so this was a reasonably high end piece at the time. The operation moved to larger workshop in 1975, so guitars made from 1967-74 like this one were made in the original smaller facility by a smaller team, all closely supervised by Masaru himself. The details are outstanding: rose inlaid tuners, detailed headstock carve, amazing lightly figured Ebony on the fretboard, lots of detail in the hand-made rosette... all class. The Cedar and Rosewood used for the body are of exemplary quality: as you went up through the model numbers, the wood was more and more carefully selected and aged for more time, so we’re well into the serious pieces for this one. The bracing is a Spanish-style ladder method, similar to builds by Fleta and Torres. The sound is very impressive: tight, tuneful bass with abundant volume and presence, shimmering highs with sweet sparkle and crystal clarity and a midrange that’s as airy and wide as you could ever ask for. Being a 660mm scale, the articulation is very impressive. The back of the guitar has a couple of repaired cracks, so this has been priced accordingly; examples from this era with no repair history have been recently sold for $4-5k AUD. If you’re after a brilliant handmade classical with plenty of history without tipping into five figure territory, this is an excellent candidate.

06/08/2026

You folks did a great job buying basically all the basses we had in stock, so I did the right thing and scored some fresh goodies. But: I accidentally only bought white ones. Seriously, I bought so many white basses, there’s a tonne of them on the wall. Anyway, these two cuties by フェンダーミュージック株式会社 look all creamy and dreamy, no?

25/07/2026

Fender Japan Bass VI, sunburst, made in Japan 1996. The Bass VI debuted in 1961, sharing some DNA with the Jaguar that launched the following year. It’s a 30” scale, similar to a Mustang Bass, but with more strings: it’s tuned like a guitar, but down an octave. They found favour with The Beatles, The Who, The Shadows and Cream among others, although the model didn’t sell as well as the Precision Bass and so dropped out of the catalog in 1975. Fender Japan added a version to their Limited Edition catalog section from 1992-6, so those were the only takes on the model available for a couple of decades there. This one has the 50th Anniversary badge that all Fender Jaoan 1996 models gotIt’s a very good take: the woodwork from the Fujigen factory is exemplary and all the little details are executed with care. The pickups are straight out of the JG66 model Jaguar, and they’re great: clear and bright with a piano-like plonk and rounded low end. You get an on/off switch for each pickup as well as a bass-cut switch, so there’s lots of tonal options on the palette to paint with. The bridge is sturdy and it generally holds tune pretty nicely. This absolutely several cuts above the reasonably common Squier models; it’s a different beast. Includes the case and trem arm.

17/07/2026

We got a nice little box from Iván at HipStrap ™ Guitar Straps with a top-up on some favourites in the mail… these are online now if you like pretty things ✨💜

11/07/2026

Maton Fyrbyrd FB1220, sunburst, made in Australia 1965. Well well well... I’ve never seen one of these before. The Fyrbyrd is the most iconic electric guitar model made in Australia in the 1960s. There’s a few different versions, but this FB1220 version launched in 1965 alongside the FB650 6-string equivalent, the third generation of the model. It’s a super cool shape, a little reminiscent an SG and a Jaguar, but really, all it’s own thing. The singel-slotted headstock is a super cute touch too. The hardware is refreshingly solid: the tuners all work nicely, the bridge intonates well, and the Bigsby even manages to hold tune nicely. The sound is awesome: those single coil pickups deliver a fat and warm punch. It’s a little more subtle than other electric-12s we’ve had through, with a sweet warm glow to each note and chord. You get an on/off slider for each pickup, bass and treble tone controls and a master volume, so you can dial a lot of options in. Chances are you’ve got one shot at this one, so if you’re keen, don’t miss! Neil Finn plays one of these live, and it’s no wonder why: it’s cool as hell.

10/07/2026

HÖFNER MODEL 191 DOUBLE NECK GUITAR/BASS SUNBURST 1960 ❤️‍🔥

This is a truly unusual find. Hofner were the most prominent manufacturer of electric instruments in Europe in the early 60s, so you see some of their fine wares from this era around, even here on the other side of the world. But a double neck... wow. This model was made briefly around 1960-61, filling the niche of a 30” scale bass and standard six string electric in one instrument. Poking around the internet, it seems each example of the model varies slightly in terms of hardware, decal placement etc., so it’s likely these were made to order rather than being a standard catalog offering. It’s remarkably comfy for a double neck: light at 3.6kg, pretty comfy to hold, sturdy hardware... it all works surprisingly well. Our handy house tech has cleaned up all the wiring under the hood and levelled the frets, and our other friend with all the relevant gear has re-wound the pickups to an excellent standard, so it’s all ship-shape and ready to gig. The case is original, although it’s in bad order, so consider it a bonus, We’ll ship it super carefully though, don’t worry about that. The tone on offer is awesome: the bass is snappy and punchy with a lovely rounded growl. The guitar is clear, warm and musical, with plenty of balance and chime. Wired as-is, both necks send to one output, so you can switch worlds easily. The possibilities are... weird and wonderful, to say the least. Don’t count on seeing another one any time soon!

28/06/2026

Bacchus Standard-4, black oil, made in Japan 2004. We love Bacchus basses around here, they’re such great instruments. Bacchus kicked off in 1998, under the Deviser Co umbrella, offering vintage-style models, made completely by hand to the local Japan market. This one is a mid-00s Handmade series, so these were pretty high end in their day; with a list price of ¥189000, this cost around triple the asking price for a normal Fender Japan Jazz Bass. That means you get super classy woodwork: amazing ash for the body, super tight maple and some excellent ebony for the neck, all dialed and finished to a very high standard. It’s very enjoyable to play: the neck is quick, it balances nicely, and the natural resonance and responsiveness is exemplary. The black oil finish has faded and rubbed around the edges like a favourite pair of jeans; it looks super cool. The tone is Jazz Bass-ish, but with a modern twist via the active preamp: clear, fat, articulate, growly, immediate. This is a a brilliant bass, it delivers the goods.

Address

113 Harrington Street
Hobart, TAS
7000

Opening Hours

Tuesday	10am - 5:30pm
Wednesday	10am - 5:30pm
Thursday	10am - 5:30pm
Friday	10am - 5:30pm
Saturday	12pm - 4pm

Telephone

+61362955324

Website

http://www.topshelfinstruments.com.au/

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