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2021 History of Fujigen Gakki | Vintage Japan Guitars

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History of Fujigen Gakki

 April 18, 2019  Frankie Benedittini  0 Comments  FGN, Fujigen, Greco

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Fujigen Gakki (フ ジ ゲ ン 楽 楽 器 Aria – Aria Pro II

器), which is called Fujigen Co., Ltd.
Bacchus
today is a musical instrument
Burny
manufacturer based in
Matsumoto-shi, Hirata-e, Nagano Casio
Province, Japan. The former name Charvel
of the company Fujigen Gakki was
Cimar
changed in April 1989. It is a
subcontracting company that Cool Z
manufactures car dashboards for Toyota, tools and utensils, Ibanez guitars Cougar
and basses (J.Custom and Prestige) and G & L. Fujigen also inspects Gibson
Daion
guitars distributed in Japan and makes guitars and basses for many brands.
Finally, the company owns its own brand of guitars and basses, the FGN Deviser

Guitars, which it manufactures and distributes worldwide. Edwards

Electra
About Fujigen Epiphone

ESP
The production of electric guitars in 2017-2018 is 120 to 130 per day, of
which 90% are for subcontracts (Ibanez for example) and the remaining 10% Fantom
for its own brand FGN. During the busy periods, Fujigen employed up to 500 Fender Japan
people. FGN Guitars has an online store where the brand sells its guitars
Fernandes
and accepts orders for its Custom Shop. The company is not limited to

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28.01.2021 History of Fujigen Gakki | Vintage Japan Guitars

making stringed instruments, it also makes various accessories and FGN (Fujigen)
Japanese drums. There are several Custom Shops in Tokyo, Ikebukuro and
Fresher
Daikanyama, where FGN Guitars o ers customer support, maintenance and
repair services, and handles requests for custom instrument manufacturing. GR Guitar Synthesizer

Greco

Guyatone

Headway

Heerby

History

HS Anderson

Ibanez

Jackson

Kasuga

Kawai

History of Fujigen Kramer

K&T Pickups (Jun Takano)

Problem of trademark Maxon

infringement Moon

Morris
Mr. Yutaka Mimura, a shopkeeper Navigator
from Osaka, bought one of Suzuki‘s
Orville by Gibson
violin workshops in May 1960. He
founded a guitar-making company, Pearl
Fujigen, to make musical Quest
instruments, along with Yuichiro
Seventy Seven
Yokouchi, a friend he knew from
STR
Fujijen Gakki 1965 college. Initially, the company was
primarily producing acoustic guitars Suzuki
but in the mid-1960s, production Teisco
took a new turn when contracts were made with national brands like Ibanez
Tokai
of Hoshino Musical Instruments and Greco of Kanda Shokai to make copies
of guitars and basses from the American brands Gibson and Fender. In Vantage
1977, Gibson found an agreement with Hoshino Musical Instruments, which Westminster
distributed copies of their guitars under the Ibanez brand. It turns out that
Westone
Fujigen also su ered from this trademark infringement lawsuit. However,
since Fujigen was manufacturing instruments legally sold in Japan to Yamaha

Japanese brands and these were primarily for the domestic market, Gibson
was unable to win but an agreement was put in place.

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The result of this legal history is that

making copies of guitars has become 1979 Greco EG-500GS – Gold-Top

morally debatable in Japan. The Tokai 1982 Catalogue Vol.6

design of Ibanez and Greco guitars
Orville by Gibson 1992-1996
has been changed more or less Brochure (2)
permanently. For Ibanez, this trial
Orville by Gibson 1992-1996
was the starting point for a new era
Brochure (1)
made of original model creations. Fujigen Gakki – Makers
Orville by Gibson 1993 Full
The guitars produced before the
Catalogue
Gibson trial are called “Ibanez
Lawsuit”. In the United States, Jazz guitarist John Sco eld who played on
Ibanez guitars had removed the logo of his instruments.
Tags

Fujigen Gakki and Fender Japan Arai Aria Aria Pro Bacchus
Like Gibson and other brands, Fender had some problems with the sale of Brian Burny Casio
the excellent Japanese copies. Fender therefore decided to make
instruments in Japan under its own brand by signing a contract with a
Catalogs Charvel
company that was already making copies. Fender copies of Greco, Cimar Cool Z Deviser Edwards

manufactured by Fujigen, will attract the greetings of the famous American Electra Epiphone ESP Fender
brand. Thus in 1982 Fender created “Fender Japan Co., Ltd.”, which will then
Japan Fernandes FGN
be managed by Kanda Shokai who, in turn, will oversee the manufacturing
process of the instruments made by Fujigen. Fresher Fujigen Greco GR Guitar
Synthesizer Guyatone Headway
It was decided that the Fender Japan
and the Squire series, then destined History HS Anderson Ibanez
for the emerging market, would be
Jackson Kawai Kramer
manufactured in Japan. In 1983,
Maxon Momose Morris
Fujigen was the company that made
Navigator Orville Orville by
the largest number of guitars in the
Gibson Seventy Seven STR Suzuki
world! For this reason, Fujigen had to
outsource part of its work to other Teisco Tokai Westminster
Fujigen Gakki Manufacturer
Japanese companies. In 1985, CBS Westone Yamaha
sold Fender to Bill Schulz, who
brought a technical team from Sugi Motoka (now Sugi Guitars) to the United
States. This Japanese team has therefore given its help and expertise to
create a new factory on American soil. During the creation of this new
factory, from 1984 to 1987, many Fender guitars and basses made in Japan
were sold in the United States. In 1986, a new guitar brand called Hart eld
was created by Fender and Fujigen.

In 1988, Fujigen “reconciled” with Gibson. Fujigen was then responsible for
the production of Orville by Gibson and Epiphone guitars, o cial copies of
the Gibson.

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28.01.2021 History of Fujigen Gakki | Vintage Japan Guitars

In 1989, Fujigen Gakki changed its name to Fujigen Corporation. A subsidiary

dedicated to painting and nishing was also created in 1991, it is Fujigen
Hirooka Co., Ltd.

The companies and brands

for which Fujigen Gakki
worked as a subcontractor.
Hoshino Musical Instrument (Ibanez) – 1962 – aujourd’hui
J. Customer series
Prestige series
Artist Signatures
Fender
Fender – 1984 – 1987
Fender Japan – 1982 – 1997
Squire – 1982 – 1997
Fender Mexico – 1987 – 1997 (managed in Mexico plant)
Heart eld 1986 – 1993
G&L
Premium Series
Musicman
EX series
Kanda Shokai
Greco – 1960 – 1993
Gibson
Epiphone Imperial Series – 1988 – 1993
Orville by Gibson – 1988 – 1993
Tobias – 1988 – 1993
Yamaha
Shimamura musical instrument – 2001
History
Cool Z
Dean
DBZ – 2009
Spector
Kurosawa Musical Instrument (G-Life) – 2008
Matsushita Studio (Seen)
Tesco – 1969
South Ocean Trade
Goya Guitars
Tele-Star

Credits: The images below have been kindly assigned by

drowninginguitars.com

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The Fujigen Production Bases

Factory and Headquarters (Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture) –
Production of wooden dashboards for Toyota
Omachi Plant (Omachi City, Nagano Prefecture) – Wood Preparation •
Manufacture and Mounting of Musical Instruments
Hirooka Plant (Shiojiri City, Nagano Prefecture) – Painting
Okhotsk Factory (Hokkaido Monbetsu-gun) – Wood / Paint
Preparation

Visit Fujigen Factory

FGN(Fujigen) Guitars Japan - Documentary and …

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FUJIGEN (FGN) GUITARS JAPAN - FACTORY TO…

TO…

フジゲンファクトリーツアー -fujigen guitar fact…

fact…

Consul the catalogs! ×

All the catalogs are available in the section FGN Guitars Catalogues

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Author Recent Posts

Frankie Benedittini
Vintage Made in Japan guitar a cionado! I do not consider
myself a specialist, I still have a lot to learn about MIJ guitars. I

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am just an enthusiast who wants to share the results of his

research. I hope that my work will be useful.

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