Heartfield RR-59 Made by Fender in Fujigen Factory 1992

guitarz.blogspot.com:

We looked at Heartfield guitars once before with this RR-58 and I mentioned that I would love to see it in green ( it's kind of a thing for me, green guitars ) and lo and behold here we have a green Heartfield RR-59.

I think it looks incredible.

I've yet to get my hands on a Heartfield guitar but given the quality level of guitars coming out of Japan at the time I can only assume it plays as good as it looks.

Currently on eBay for $699 U.S.

R.W. Haller







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Briilliant made in Japan St George MP3 from the 1960s

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Here we have yet another example of Japanese awesomeness from the past. This 1960s St George MP3 hits a lot of perfect notes for me. The body shape is familiar but unique, there is a healthy dose of chrome but not so much as to take away from the overall elegance, and a wacky headstock that really isn't so wacky after all. It just looks like the right headstock for this guitar. The Burns-esque pickups and faux shell pick guard are just icing.

I wish I'd had one of these 30 years ago so I could be all hipster-like and say that I had an MP3 way before you could put them on your ipod.

R.W. Haller


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Heartfield by Fender RR-58 Made in Japan

guitarz.blogspot.com:

In the early 1990s I lived in a very rural part of Canada. With a lot of lakes, trees, and wildlife it's hard to complain. However, it seems I missed out on a lot of things that were going on in the guitar world.

Take this Heartfield RR-58 for example. Drawing influences from all over the place these guitars were the product of a joint company created by the American and Japanese branches of Fender.

I love the TV yellow-ish colour and the simple layout. Nice setneck design and a pushbutton 10db boost with l.e.d. indicator.

Apparently they made a version in green as well, thus piquing my interest even more so.

R.W. Haller






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Greco BR600 Brawler 1970s vintage Japanese-made electric guitar

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Here's a Greco BR600 Brawler, a late 1970s Japanese-made guitar that I am totally unfamiliar with. Made by FujuGen Gakki, it's quite possible this model was intended for the Japanese home market only. Unlike many other Japanese guitars of this era - certainly those that they exported to the West - it isn't a copy of any pre-existing guitar model, although to my eyes it does seem to have a Rickenbacker-like quality to the design. The body is made of ash with a top of white sycamore (great maple), the neck is maple with a rosewood fingerboard, and the guitar features a 24-fret neck, two single coil pickups and a top mounted vibrato.

Currently being auctioned on eBay with a starting price of US $799.99.

G L Wilson

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German MIJ Luxor

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Luxor guitars were made in Japan in FujiGen Gakki for a German company in the 1970s, and its law-suit Les Pauls are still well sought after. This Luxor model definitely has some Jaguar in its DNA - like many European guitars of the time - but its own personality, and something already 1980s in its outline. 

Bertram D

  © 2013, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
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the jaguaro-bisonesque Antoria 993

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Here is a 1960s Antoria 993 that seems to combine the body of a Jaguar with the horns of a Bison (something that might interest also cryptozoologists, mythologists and readers of Jorge Luis Borges) for a unique feel. Antoria was an early British guitar company that started in the 1950s before shifting production to the FujiGen Gakki factory where they shared some models with Ibanez, as much as their cloning policy actually!  

Their guitars have been made visible by then by musicians such as Hank Marvin (I swear I will not make jokes about the Shadows on this blog anymore!) Since 2007 a new company took over the brand but they just produce Fender/Gibson copies (what's the point, really?)

Almost the same model was presented on Guitarz a couple of years ago, it was not a 993 model but a 994 - I assume the difference amounts to 0,01%...

Bertram D

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - 10 years and counting!

70s Ibanez Les Paul Studio 2372 (pre law-suit)

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The Les Paul Recording/Personal is my favorite Gibson LP but for some reason I like it better as a Ibanez law-suit era perfect copy - maybe that 70s feel vintage Japanese guitars have... Of course at the time it was an infamous copy by the evil Japs (see previous post), but now it's the splendor it's supposed to be...

bertram

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Greco Firebird copy

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Another Firebird, and a vintage black one (!), but it's not a Gibson, it's a Greco... 

I don't have more info about this guitar, but it looks like a faithful copy, obviously from the lawsuit era... Greco were so good at copying other companies guitars that they ended up as Fender Japan - just had to change the logo on their teles!

bertram

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

1970 Antoria 2358R (Epiphone Al Caiola pre-lawsuit copy)

guitarz.blogspot.com

This Antoria 2358R is not only a pure beauty, it is also a complicated story.

The original model is an Epiphone signature guitar designed in 1963 for jazz musician Al Caiola (who sided the greatest such as Frank  Sinatra or Buddy Holly). In 1970, Ibanez issued a quite accurate copy - that's what they were doing at the time, before they started to get sued by Gibson - but the FujiGen Gakki factory that worked for Ibanez also made the same guitar for the UK brand Antoria.

This guitar is remarkable for being a thin full hollow-body E-335 without F-holes - this being being aimed at reducing feedback - similar to the B.B. King Lucille signature model Gibson released in 1983. I like the FujiGen Gakki model better for its curved control plate being further back an smaller than on the Epiphone, but the big round scratchplate is a little bit bizzare.

bertram

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!