FujiGen

FujiGen Gakki (Japanese: フジゲン 楽器, lit. 'Fuji Stringed Musical Instruments'), also known as FGN, is a Japanese musical instrument manufacturing company based at Matsumoto, Nagano and is named after the famous Mount Fuji. "Gen" means stringed instruments and "Gakki" means musical instrument – the name is literally translated to "Fuji Stringed Musical Instruments". FujiGen does OEM guitar manufacturing for well known guitar brands and they also manufacture their own brands of guitars such as Heartfield and FGN.

FujiGen Guitars (FGN)
TypePrivate
IndustryMusical instruments
Founded1960 (1960)
Headquarters
Matsumoto, Nagano
,
Japan
Area served
Worldwide
ProductsElectric guitars, basses
Websitefgnguitars.com

History

FujiGen started production in 1960, making violins and classical guitars. In 1962, FujiGen started production of electric guitars. In the 1970s, FujiGen started making guitars (OEM) for companies such as Hoshino Gakki (Ibanez), CSL (Antoria), Kanda Shokai (Greco guitars) and Yamaha. In 1977–78, FujiGen went into a joint venture with Roland to produce guitar synthesizers. In 1981, FujiGen opted out of acoustic guitar production to mainly concentrate on solid body guitar production. FujiGen obtained a CNC router in mid 1981 for making guitar parts and also began to manufacture their own pickups starting in late 1981.

In 1981–82, FujiGen obtained the Fender Japan contract which lasted until 1996–97 and in 1983 FujiGen were producing 14,000 guitars a month with 80% of the guitars being made for export markets and 20% being made for Japanese domestic markets. In mid/late 1992, FujiGen obtained a part of the Orville by Gibson contract which ended in 1998 and from then on have made Epiphone Japan solid body guitars, some Gretsch models and their own branded FgN guitars. FujiGen still manufactures OEM guitars for companies like Ibanez and Epiphone but in much smaller quantities than in the past. FujiGen has three factories: the Omachi factory in Omachi, the Hirooka factory (established around 1992) in Shiojiri and the Matsumoto head office factory in Matsumoto.

Other Japanese OEM Guitar Manufacturers
ManufacturerEst.LocationDescription/Associated Brands
Tokai (Tōkai Guitars)1947HamamatsuTokai have built guitars for many well-known brands over the years. They have their own Tokai brand guitars. They currently build some of the Fender Japan guitars.
Dyna Gakki1972NaganoDyna Gakki currently build some of the Fender Japan guitars and also build some of the Gretsch guitars as well. Dyna Gakki made the early 1980s Ibanez Blazer guitars for Hoshino Gakki and have also made Greco guitars for Kanda Shokai. In the late 80's and through the 90's they made a range of guitars for Fernandes. Dyna Gakki made the Yamaki/Daion/Founder/Joodee solid body guitars for Daion in the 1970s and early 1980s.[1]
Terada1912NagoyaTerada primarily concentrates on making semi-acoustic and acoustic guitars and have made guitars for Epiphone Japan, Burny, C.F. Martin, Gallagher, Gretsch, Guild, Ibanez, Morris, Orville by Gibson, Steinberger and other well-known brands as well. At their production peak (in the late 1970s/1980s/early 1990s) they were producing around 10,000 guitars a month using three factories, the Higashiku factory, the Kanie factory and the Shirakawa factory.

Terada's output is now about an 1/8 of what it was at their peak and they are still actively producing guitars at their Kanie factory.

Ida Gakki (Iida)1958NagoyaIda Gakki have made solid body, semi-acoustic and acoustic guitars for well-known brands such as Ibanez, Yamaha and Caparison. Ida Gakki (Iida) also own the Peerless guitar factory in Korea.
Kasuga1935NagoyaKasuga made the Heerby and Ganson Gibson replica guitars in the 1970s/1980s. They were involved in a joint venture with Roland for guitar synths in the late 1970s.

They also made Acoustic guitars for Yamaha in the 1980s before the Yamaha Acoustic production moved to Taiwan. They went out of business in the early/mid-1990s.

MatsumokuMatsumotoMatsumoku built Aria and Epiphone guitars and also built guitars for many other well-known brands in the 1970s/1980s. They went out of business around 1986/1987.
Chushin Gakki1948NaganoChushin Gakki is established by K. Miyazawa and have made electric guitars since 1961 since production of all other instruments ceased. They made Charvel and Jackson guitars, Robin in the early 1980s, as well as original designs, such as Bambu, Cobran, and El Maya (EM series), collaboration of Maya Musical Instrument CO and famous American manufacturer engineer (Alembic?), starting in the 1977 through the early 1980s.

Sources
  • "History of FujiGen" (in Japanese). FujiGen. Archived from the original on 2017-11-09. Retrieved 2015-05-18.
  • Rainer Daeschler. "1986/1987 tour of Fujigen factory". Daeschler.com.
    originally published as "Fujigen vom Kuhstall zur Weltspitze". Fachblatt Musikmagazin. 1987 (2).
Further reading
  • Yokouchi, Yuichiro (1983). グレコの仲間たち―富士弦楽器物語 [Buddies of Greco — A tale of FujiGen] (in Japanese). Matsumoto: Densan Printing Co. ASIN B000J7471C.
  • Yokouchi, Yuichiro (1994). 運を掴む―弱小の会社を世界一にした男の物語 [Get the luck — A story of a man who grown a weak company into the top of the world.] (in Japanese). Tokyo: Gakken. ISBN 978-4051060671.
  • "Matsumoto GUITARS" [Guitar Manufacturers in Matsumoto City] (in Japanese). Matsumoto: Junk Guitar Museum.
  • Meyers, Frank (July 29, 2013). "Fujigen Gakki Factory Tour!!". DrowningInGuitars.com.
  • Meyers, Frank (2015). History of Japanese Electric Guitars. Centerstream Publications. ISBN 978-1-57424-315-4.

See also

References
  1. The Daion "Joodee" brand should not be confused with the "T and Joodee" brand by Japanese luthier Shiroh Tsuji).
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