Japanese Fernandez Goldtop Help

ET-Phone-Home · 2010-07-16T12:10:58+00:00

I recently acquired this guitar from a close friend who is a avid collector of various guitars ranging from PRS's to Gibson Les Paul Deluxes to Gretches. I...

Japanese Fernandez Goldtop Help

Sean

ET Phone Home wrote: Just took the guitar to Andy McGibbons at Guitar World and I must say I'm very impressed with the his service. Made me feel very welcome and tried to accommodate me as much as possible.
He also took the time to explain a few things to me I was curious about without ever making me feel like he was talking down to me.

Yep, that's the place, I thoroughly enjoy going there ?

singemonkey

ET Phone Home wrote: So now Andy is going install another bone nut on for me and do a proper job of it.
The frets are still in good shape and don't need much done to them so his just going to do a basic setup for me and make sure she plays like butter.

When I asked about the value of the guitar he said he feels I paid a bit too much for it though it is a excellent guitar. In fact he said these guitars are in the same league as the Tokai's and are
excellent instruments, much much better than any Epiphone out there. His valuation of the guitar was around R4000.00, which if you consider how much you will pay for a Tokai Gold Top (which is
the same quality as this guitar), is very cheap in comparison. Now I take Andy's word for it and will sell the guitar for 4 grand if I decide to let it go.

If any of you are interested please PM me and we can chat. I still hold that this is a hell of a deal, especially when you compare what you are going to pay for any other Goldtop of this quality.

They did make RLG60s even after '86 - although they disappear from the catalogues that year. I'm still waiting to hear about the Fernandes branded models though. I'm not surprised to hear that it's a great Les Paul. Given all that, are you really sure you want to take a R2K hit on it? Why not keep it and play it? You'll never need another LP. And if you decide P90s are just not your thing, you could put mini-humbuckers into it, or have it routed out (by someone good) for full-sized hums - the real advantage of having an LP that's not a collectors piece is you can modify it to your heart's content without worrying about resale. I'd be pretty tempted myself, but I happen to have a 2xP90 LP already.

If you do sell it, it sounds like someone's going to get a great LP for that money - especially after the fix-ups.

ET-Phone-Home

Hey Sean, ye I'll definitely be going there from now. Have some stunning Tokai's there ?

Oh ok I see, thanks for clearing that up for me ? Funny ? Andy said basically the same thing, why don't I just keep it. Honestly I don't want to sell it hey, and I've been looking for a Les Paul style guitar for a long time now (one day would like to import a Agile AL3100, amazing guitars from what I hear and see), and wanted something between a humbucker and single coil so this suits me just right. The problem is I need to pay my credit card off else I can't save for my honeymoon and other wedding things. But if I get one of my other guitars sold I'm definitely keeping this one. I put it up for sale but I'm still contemplating what to do. So if I get any offers I'll consider them else if not I'll keep it. I don't want to take the hit but what can you do. Ye you right man, if I do end up selling this, the buyer will have a dam nice guitar on his hands ?

joel

? , Hey ET , glad this is working out for you...............Keep it if you can !!

They seem to be well liked , even though there is very little accurate info out there on them.

http://forum.japanaxe.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=90
http://en.allexperts.com/q/Guitar-General-649/Fernandes-Les-Paul-Copy.htm

You should still post the pics of it I sent you though ,........ maybe a 'lurker' from a far away land may spot it and contact you..... ?

ET-Phone-Home

Hey Joel ? I'll try my best to keep it, just hope I can sell something else in the meantime because if I compare what I'm going to pay for a similar guitar with P90's, I'll be paying out of my
backside. Andy even said that these are very good guitars for the money and a lot of people like them, and some collect them. Ye the info is pretty scarce hey, which is why I appreciate
all your guys help on this forum, feeling the love man feeling the love.

Ye I'll definitely try post some pics now, because those other ones don't do the guitar justice. Thanks again ?

singemonkey

ET Phone Home wrote: Ye I'll definitely try post some pics now, because those other ones don't do the guitar justice. Thanks again ?

ET, to get pics that show the guitar off, get it outside (where it's bright), and in the shade (where the light is soft and even - no heavy shadows). And try photograph it without a lot of distracting stuff in the background. This is a really easy way of getting decent guitar pics with any kind of camera.

ET-Phone-Home

Hey Monkey, ye I have some other pics which look better but ImageShack's server was down this morning. Wouldn't let me load anything. I'll try post them now again.

ET-Phone-Home

Hey Monkey, how are you doing? Thanks for all your help, you to Joel ? I decided to keep the guitar. I was able to sell one of my amps yesterday so I'll be able to keep this guitar ?
So relieved, at least I'm a little closer now to paying my debt off and start saving for the ring and honeymoon ? Tell me though, are you able to get a good heavy distortion from the P90's?

singemonkey

Yeah sure. But what do you play? I think that The Who's Live at Leeds has pretty awesome distortion.

But if it's metal, you might want to consider one of the Dimarzio humbuckers that fits into that slot.

Good move keeping the guitar. It'll be more valuable to you as a guitar than it would be on the open market. And now you've got it all fixed up and ready to rock.

http://www.dimarzio.com/site/#/pickups/

Check out the Hot Mini Humbucker

Or the Seymour Duncan version.

There are also stacked humbuckers in soapbar covers. There are a lot of options for P90 slots nowdays. No real reason to ever rout the wells bigger for humbuckers anymore.

Sean

singemonkey wrote:
Good move keeping the guitar. It'll be more valuable to you as a guitar than it would be on the open market. And now you've got it all fixed up and ready to rock.

Fully agree with Singe here, good move keeping it ?

Tokai-SA

Not sure about the Fernandes Les Pauls...but here's some Fernandes Strat info.

The following is a short explanation of Fernandes Strat Replica history

1973-74 Traditional Type "Fernandes" Logo --- Kawai
1975-77 Spaghetti Type "Fernandes" Logo --- Kawai/Tokai
1978-79 Stone Type "Fernandes" Logo --- Tokai
1980-81 Stone Type "Fernandes" Logo --- Changed to 22F --- Tokai
1981-90 Revival Series Logo --- Tokai
2003 Revival Second Generation --- No idea about the MFG

ET-Phone-Home

I play basically anything hey but lately been playing a lot of drop D hardrock like Linkin Park or Papa Roach.
Considering maybe using one of my other guitar to play harder music and leave the P90's for that phat, clean tone.
They have a very unique in tone which I really like.

Ye I think so too ? At least now I have a decent Les Paul. Must say that the guitar got a lot of love when I took it to
Andy's Guitar World. I heard the Tokai Goldtop and to my ears mine sounded better, but I think the Tokai's had
a slightly over wound P90, it seemed that way to me anyway ?

I'm also looking at Seymour Duncan Antiquities, very very nice pickups. Wish someone sold Lollar pickups here in SA
though because they also have some very very nice P90 replacements.

singemonkey wrote: Yeah sure. But what do you play? I think that The Who's Live at Leeds has pretty awesome distortion.

But if it's metal, you might want to consider one of the Dimarzio humbuckers that fits into that slot.

Good move keeping the guitar. It'll be more valuable to you as a guitar than it would be on the open market. And now you've got it all fixed up and ready to rock.

http://www.dimarzio.com/site/#/pickups/

Check out the Hot Mini Humbucker

Or the Seymour Duncan version.

There are also stacked humbuckers in soapbar covers. There are a lot of options for P90 slots nowdays. No real reason to ever rout the wells bigger for humbuckers anymore.

ET-Phone-Home

Tokai SA wrote: Not sure about the Fernandes Les Pauls...but here's some Fernandes Strat info.

The following is a short explanation of Fernandes Strat Replica history

1973-74 Traditional Type "Fernandes" Logo --- Kawai
1975-77 Spaghetti Type "Fernandes" Logo --- Kawai/Tokai
1978-79 Stone Type "Fernandes" Logo --- Tokai
1980-81 Stone Type "Fernandes" Logo --- Changed to 22F --- Tokai
1981-90 Revival Series Logo --- Tokai
2003 Revival Second Generation --- No idea about the MFG

Hey Billy thanks for the info, I'll try post some pics of the guitar today with the logo on ?

ET-Phone-Home

Sean wrote:
singemonkey wrote:
Good move keeping the guitar. It'll be more valuable to you as a guitar than it would be on the open market. And now you've got it all fixed up and ready to rock.

Fully agree with Singe here, good move keeping it ?

Thanks bud ?

singemonkey

I have Lollar pickups. Absolutely the sweetest. You can order them directly from Jason Lollar. He's very communicative and helpful - in a serious, American kind of way ? They're not cheap though. But they do have a reputation as the best P90s out there along with '50s Gibson P90s. I bought them because every user review said the same things in an awed kind of way. At the time, I just thought that's what pickups cost :? No regrets though. I never quite bonded with that guitar when it had Gibson mini-humbuckers (avoid Gibson mini-hums, rather go with Dimarzio or Seymour Duncan). But it turned from a starling into a nightingale once I put those Lollars in.

But the P90s from Seymour-Duncan, Dimarzio, the Golden Age pickups that www.stewmac.com sells should all be good - and quite possibly an improvement over the current ones - and yet not as expensive as "boutique" pickups from Lollar or Lindy Fralin or whatnot. Toneriders are available in SA, but someone needs to say whether they make P90s or not. I'm guessing that the difference in sound quality compared to the Tokai might be the pickups - unless your guitar is a lot less resonant than the Tokai.

There's also the possibility of leaving a P90 in the neck, and putting a hot mini-humbucker in the bridge so that you have the option of using the guitar for just about any imaginable kind of music.

TokaiSA is called Billy now? ???

Speaking of which, Lance... or Billy, whatever... ? how sure are you about such large production runs of Fernandes guitars being made by Tokai? As far as I could discover, only the '78 - '79 line was built by Tokai.

ET-Phone-Home

Ye when I was doing research on the net for a good P90 replacement, everyone seemed to agree that Lollar are amongst the best you can get. Those and the Gibsons you mentioned. If you don't mind me asking how much did you pay for the pickups? With the VAT and Customs Tax? I must say these aren't too bad though, played some Metallica and Papa Roach through my Vox AD30VT this morning and she could get pretty heavy ? Not as much gain as my humbuggies but it had better note clarity. Could also get some awesome fat blues tones from the pickups, again with amazing
clarity, no mushiness you find with humbuckers

singemonkey

Google? :?

I have no idea what I paid 5 years ago anymore. But here's the link:

http://www.lollarguitars.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=p90-pickups

$100 each. Just about twice as expensive as replacement pickups from companies like Dimarzio etc.. I guess the upside is that they'll carry a fair bit of resale value.

mieliehobo

@ET-Phone-Home Don't mean to revive an ancient thread, but is there any chance you still have this Fernandes?

domhatch

be very interested in where this goes, if anywhere. i narrowly missed out on a black fernandes lp a long while ago, (when andy mcgibbon still had his store cnr jan smuts and republic if that gives you any idea!) and walked into a studio a few days later to see the session guitarist we were using had picked it up.

stunning, stunning guitar...
dh|

mieliehobo

domhatch that's pretty cool man!
I've been looking all over for a Burny or Fernandes LP. Looking for something different than the Tokai's (great guitars too!).

I've seen them pop up every now and again. Hoping to find one soon, very keen on a Goldtop model.