Recent content by sumitagarwal

I actually bought the vintage yellow one too. Both very nicely built guitars, but the vintage yellow one is exceptional Great attention to detail. Even scraped maple "binding" on the headstock

Well here's an interesting one. Clearly states "USA Custom" on the headstock, which would be pretty bold if they were made elsewhere

I also can't help but wonder if they got in any trouble with PRS in that first year. The 50mm body is the same thickness as a PRS Custom 24, and of course 24 frets was at the time an almost signature characteristic for that brand.

Yup. I'm guessing that it's exactly that confusing aspect which has prevented Fernandes from amassing the same kind of following that many other Japanese brands now have. Which is why, if you're willing to put in the work, means there's still bargains to be had.

Nabbed this one for $450: Fernandes Dragonfly Standard - Charcoal Smoked Black | Reverb After poring over the catalogues I found that the 1995 had a 50mm body with an older Fernandes logo, and then from 1996+ they went to a 45mm body with the newer/current Fernandes logo. My suspicion is that...

Yup, my impression is that these guitars were made with the input of the LA shop but built in Japan

Thanks for all the content!

Figure that 100,000 yen in the mid-90's would classify as relatively top of the line, and so unlikely to be built elsewhere. I did see something about a Fernandes Los Angeles custom shop, but don't know if they really did any production there

How do I know if they're MIJ?

No, there are some funky 1990's ones, like APG 100 or APG DLX

Holy moly, that's a lot of detail! And some seriously nice guitars there too, I didn't realize Fernandes made guitars in nitro... I'm a sucker for that. At the end of the day I'm more of a set-neck 24.75" guy, so was hoping for more insight into those ones too. Especially the ones that aren't...

I have many Japanese guitars and just now looking to get into Fernandes. Unlike some other brands, it's a little bewildering the variation of Japan-made, Taiwan-made, Korean-made, etc and there's very limited info out there and compared to other brands less hard stamping of "made in Japan" on...

Although I've been on the Japanese guitar thing for a while (MANY Orville by Gibsons, Charvel Japan, etc) I've only recently come around to ESP's Navigators. Gratuitous pic! Now that I'm kitted out with great Navigator electric guitars, I'm also looking for something similar in an acoustic...