......bought plenty from the States from John Pierce, also loose strings - cameras etc etc.... some times have had to pay import duty tax and handling charges etc ... sometime not.... but over the years I have been in profit or at least had something I couldn't get here in the UK...

It's always worth checking out dealers in Europe first (e.g. Thomann) as there's no tax and they often have such items at a better price than dealers in the UK.