Anyone speak/read Russian here?

Yeah, tried that and it's tedious and slow - very much like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Additionally, I'd like to be able to communicate with the seller and not have to spend half a day translating. Then there's the registration to be able to contact the seller on the site. :P

 
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Dude... don't do it. Relations between Russia and the US are the worst they've been since the Cold War.

If I was a Russian, I would do all I could to fucking screw Americans at any given chance (I'm ethnically Russian but just not a Russian citizen).

 
People are people everywhere, and plenty of them are not totally in alignment with their governments.  However, you'd not only be dealing with the buyer, but also the payment processor, a shipper, and customs, which could magnify opportunities for trouble.

A translator could definitely help versus Google's utility, but I wouldn't count on it speeding up the process much, unless you deputize him/her to make the deal on your behalf.  And I don't know any, sorry.  I do have a couple of "Learn Russian" books, though!

 
Damn. Had a sweet deal on another purple LE! It would have been done with the help of a broker who has a good rep in NYC for facilitating guitar deals with Russian sellers. Sadly, between the extra cost of shipping and the middle man's cost, the cost of acquiring that guitar became too much.

 
There is always Rosetta Stone. They say you can learn a language in 3 weeks.

ETA: God I'm Stoned on Rosetta. It's called Rosetta Stoned. Totally blew my mind and forgat to add. Sorry.

 
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My cousins are half-Russian. Their mother, my "aunt in law", is 100% Russian, from Moscow. Sadly, [COLOR= rgb(39, 42, 52)]when I was a kid [/COLOR]I just learned bad words and insults in Russian. 

Anyway, at some point we had an HFC'er here from Russia. He was the guy who praised my Ariya T-Shirt and pointed me to the band's site for another T-Shirt [COLOR= rgb(39, 42, 52)]I wanted [/COLOR]from them.

He was a nice guy. I remember the guy from Ariya himself was also selling some Hamers, including a Floyded custom Standard, and our Russian HFC'er offered us his help.

Sadly, I don't remember his nickname, but will try to dig around. To be continued... ;)  

 
Ah, sorry I didn't see this earlier. I have good friends who not only speak Russian but are in Moscow. As noted above, people are people. I've met wonderful people from Russia, Lithuania, Turkey and Republic of Georgia. And complete bastards from the the U.S. 

 
polara said:
Ah, sorry I didn't see this earlier. I have good friends who not only speak Russian but are in Moscow. As noted above, people are people. I've met wonderful people from Russia, Lithuania, Turkey and Republic of Georgia. And complete bastards from the the U.S. 
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It's not too late to ask these Russian friends to inquire about the guitar and if they'd be willing to broker the deal and ship it... ;)

 
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Jim, I cannot find anything about our Russian pal. I even searched here for Ария. :(  Nothing! :(

 
PM me is ya want, sir. Nadya is a good person and a good friend. Now SHIPPING may be another challenge. I'll probably be in Georgia this summer but I would be cautious about the shipping challenges.

 
I don't speak Russian, but I wouldn't be rushin' into buying from a Russian lest you rush'n to trouble. Just saying.

 
Russia (and many of its citizens) operates on a whole different set of rules to what most of us here would recognise. This is a country which has substantial-sized cities where 20% of the entire population is addicted to either alcohol or heroin, courtesy of Afghan narco-terrorism. We played three shows there last year - Moscow, St.Petersburg and Ekaterinburg. We were greeted at the airport by fanatical orthodox Christian fundamentalists, spitting and hurling abuse at us just because of the band's name. We weren't allowed to go anywhere unaccompanied, and upon arriving at the first venue, all our merch was 'confiscated' by the local Mafia who had their own supplies of bootleg shirts and fake CD's, and were essentially running the whole event - merch, bar, security, the whole nine yards. Midway through the second show, all the power was cut and the house lights went up. A visit from the local 'protectors' required a substantial 'music license' to be paid out in cash by our tour manager before the show could resume. No offence intended to anyone who lives there or has friends there, but I couldn't wait to get the hell away from that place. We won't be going back. Maybe I'm wrong, but my gut tells me that you've probably had a lucky escape.

 
kevinbower1959 said:
Russia (and many of its citizens) operates on a whole different set of rules to what most of us here would recognise. This is a country which has substantial-sized cities where 20% of the entire population is addicted to either alcohol or heroin, courtesy of Afghan narco-terrorism. We played three shows there last year - Moscow, St.Petersburg and Ekaterinburg. We were greeted at the airport by fanatical orthodox Christian fundamentalists, spitting and hurling abuse at us just because of the band's name. We weren't allowed to go anywhere unaccompanied, and upon arriving at the first venue, all our merch was 'confiscated' by the local Mafia who had their own supplies of bootleg shirts and fake CD's, and were essentially running the whole event - merch, bar, security, the whole nine yards. Midway through the second show, all the power was cut and the house lights went up. A visit from the local 'protectors' required a substantial 'music license' to be paid out in cash by our tour manager before the show could resume. No offence intended to anyone who lives there or has friends there, but I couldn't wait to get the hell away from that place. We won't be going back. Maybe I'm wrong, but my gut tells me that you've probably had a lucky escape.
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Very sad to hear so. :(  I didn't know they've fallen so low. Ignorance kills! I did know however the mafia is what pulls the strings there, at many levels. My aunt's half-brother was their hostage for one month, because he was transporting works of art in his truck. It wasn't easy for the family.

Now the positive outcome of your story is that next time you guys can come to Canada instead. It's equally cold, but we will be way nicer to your band here. :)  You'll see! :)

 
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