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FUJIGEN SHOWS OWN GUITARS AT NAMM!

Bassamatic

Bassamatic

keepin' the beat since the 60's
Supporting Member
Dec 7, 2007
5,953
4,567
Studio City, SoCal, USA
#1
I was very surprised to see a huge Fujigen booth at NAMM, showing their own line of "FGN" guitars. While the guitars were all very nice, this might be a BIG mistake on their part.

It will surely make their OEM customers very unhappy - it is like biting the hand that feeds you. Also, making and marketing are 2 very different things.

The basses were very nice -jazz types with 2 pickups. They do get my respect for changing the pickguard and control plate to look different than a Fender - something that even the high end makers don't bother to do. I have never understood this.

They were all priced around $1000 MSRP. It will be interesting to see if anything develops around this.

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#3
Bassamatic said:
I was very surprised to see a huge Fujigen booth at NAMM, showing their own line of "FGN" guitars. While the guitars were all very nice, this might be a BIG mistake on their part.

It will surely make their OEM customers very unhappy - it is like biting the hand that feeds you. Also, making and marketing are 2 very different things.

The basses were very nice -jazz types with 2 pickups. They do get my respect for changing the pickguard and control plate to look different than a Fender - something that even the high end makers don't bother to do. I have never understood this.

They were all priced around $1000 MSRP. It will be interesting to see if anything develops around this.
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Dunno. It doesn't seem to hurt Cort and Samick.
 
#4
I saw FGN basses and guitars in a local store last saturday.

While I didn't care for the basses, the guitars were pretty cool. My guitarist is looking for a new toy and instantly fell in love with what looked like a Gibson ES copy (don't know under what name FGN carries that one). He wasn't sure whether to take the FGN or Gibson though as you'd basically buy a copy for the same price as the 'original' (I dunno if I had thoughts like that with all the boutique basses around - a fender jazz and a boutique jazz are two different beasts after all). Dude said the FGN have one of the best build quality he ever witnessed (and he's a total GAS victim)

The FGNs apparently incorporate a feature called 'curved frets' if I recall right, meaning the frets are not totally straight but curved more and more towards the higher frets. I think the idea is actually pretty cool but a bit of a step behind fanned frets, though I wonder if fanned frets would make much sense on a guitar (with playing chords and all)
 
#10
j.kernodle said:
I don't think the timing of this is coincidental. fender is transitioning a lot of the manufacturing away from Japan. people perceive the Japanese stuff to be very high quality, so I just think FGN is striking while the time is perfect.
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You assume FGN is a response to Fender. It could be that Fender pulled back after learning that these were coming. Difficult to say, but I can't imagine Fender caring about another clone. Or that Fender scaling back on Japanese imports opens any big doors for anybody.
 
#12
wvbass said:
You assume FGN is a response to Fender. It could be that Fender pulled back after learning that these were coming. Difficult to say, but I can't imagine Fender caring about another clone. Or that Fender scaling back on Japanese imports opens any big doors for anybody.
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correct, I've got no inside line and it's educated speculation on my part. 15 years ago, guitar makers went to Japan for offshore manufacturing at a lower cost, or Korea for LOW end stuff. fuel costs, rising standard of living, earthquakes and tsunamis have all changed the cost structure associated with Japanese manufacturing. Fenders got pressure to stay profitable so I'm logically thinking, based on decisions I've observed them making over the last couple of years (moves from Korean to Indonesian, to Chinese manufacturing) and concluding that the Japanese pullout is purely a cost decision (I've been wrong plenty of times though).

the poster mentioned that fujigen doesn't have many customers anymore, but it not a result of the quality of their products, it seems like it's just a cost thing. No longer do they make sense as an outsourcer, the costs cut into profits, and fender an American brand still has to deal with a public that generally feels that 1200 bucks should buy them an American instrument.

Fujigen can jump in now, cut out the middleman (fender), capitalize on the reputation it's earned by word of mouth and maybe make a splash here.
 
#13
I never understand why manufacturers are so obsessed with copying Fender designs.

Sure Fender is the benchmark in basses in terms of units sold, but surely you can come up with something more original than a revised scratchplate and headstock.

I would never ever buy something that would constantly remind me that it's a copy.

I should add IMHO, just in case I've upset anyone!
Davo

Davo
 
#15
I've seen this exact same thing happen in other industries.

An American company has an overseas manufacturer make products for them, then the manufacturer later bypasses the American company and sells direct into the US with very similar (or the same) product. And usually under-cuts them price-wise.

Happened in the RC hobby industry I used to work in.
 
#19
The moment I saw this it reminded me of the Ibanez basses from the early-to-mid 80's, like the Blazer and Roadstar, also made by Fujigen. That in itself is awesome enough to warrant a look to me. The ash basses look really nice.

While I'm not totally sold on just these J-style basses, I'd love to see what develops out of this. The price isn't so crazy either for MSRP. Who will get them first?

P.S. The point about them not being contracted due to them having their own brand is flat, because as mentioned earlier, Cort and Samick do the same. Besides, I thought Fender hasn't contracted Fujigen since the mid-late 90's?
 

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