Zepy continues to track the knock-off effects of K-ON. It was previously noted as pure speculation, but now it's different:

Fender Japan reports that they’ve currently sent an order for the production of a large number of their JB62/LH/3TS model, the number of guitars that was ordered for production what they would normally have produced over 2 years..

JB62/LH/3TS is the left handed bass guitar that Akiyama Mio uses, and usually doesn’t sell that much as it’s left handed. But in the short span of 2 to 3 weeks the number that they have shipped would normally have taken 6 months to achieve, and they’re now low on stock.

The right handed JB62/3TS is also getting a number of orders, to which Fender Japan comments that the sales are also doing quite well for the current market where sales are down.

This ought to put to rest the notion of otaku just looking not buying. However, there are limits to everything:

The [JEUGIA sanjou main store] is also displaying the Les Paul Standard (Cherry Sunburst) which is the guitar used by Hirasawa Yui, and there have been many fans looking at it, but with a price tag of 250,000 yen (US$2,500) there haven’t been any buyers yet.

Hmm... Coincidentially I spent more than that on new toys last month. A guitar is not my thing, but if it's actually good and legal to own, then why the heck not.

QUICKIE: Indeed, as documented on my homepage, I had the BLR for a while. Only Mini and SU are new. I did not mean to mislead anyone into thinking that I buy two expensive guns every month. It was purely coincidential. All I'm saying, a $2500 guitar is eminently reasonable for a fan who knows how to play and can make a good use of it. Although again, I have no idea if that Cherry Sunburst is worth it.

Ironically, the BLR is made by Miroku in Japan, and I pretty much bought it because a) I liked the looks, and b) it's an uncommon item. There's very little game in America for which a 5.56mm is suitable, except humans, and the two other guns in the picture are better for humans. Essentially it's a wall piece now, and a weaboo item to boot!

UPDATE: I asked Joseph Palmer, a friend who plays a guitar, about the prices. He says that $2500 is realistic for the U.S. market and is actually low for Japan. To wit:

Depending on the model, they [Les Paul] can run over $6000 and much higher for some of the special releases. I got my '07 standard used for $1600.