Was, mine was a touch over $1k and he made accomodations in the paperwork for me ;-)
The shipping is the killer sigh.....
I wish the Australation a Gretsch distributed would realise that they are seriously damaging the brand here,
I saw a Maton JB4 fret less on line the other day, I nearly drained thee bank account, but I just couldn't do it. :-(