FUJIGEN

FujiGen Guitars (FGN)

File:Fujigen fgn logo.png
Company type	Private
Industry	Musical instruments
Founded	1960 (1960)
Headquarters	Matsumoto, Nagano , Japan
Area served	Worldwide
Products	Electric guitars, basses
Website	fgnguitars.com

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 brand of guitars known as FGN.

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

Manufacturer	Est.	Location	Description/Associated Brands
Chushin Gakki	1948	Nagano	Chushin 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.
Dyna Gakki	1973	Nagano	Dyna Gakki was founded in 1973 and has since built guitars for several well-known brands. They produced Ibanez's Blazer line in the 1980s and have since produced guitars for Fender, Greco (for Kanda Shokai), Gretsch, and Fernandes. Dyna also made the Yamaki/Daion/Founder/Joodee solid body guitars for Daion in the 1970s and early 1980s.
Iida Gakki	1958	Nagoya	Iida Gakki have made solid body, semi-acoustic and acoustic guitars for well-known brands such as Ibanez, Yamaha and Caparison. Iida Gakki also produces guitars and basses in their Peerless factory in South Korea.
Kasuga	1935	Nagoya	Kasuga 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.
Matsumoku	1951	Matsumoto	Matsumoku produced guitars for Aria, Epiphone, Ibanez and other brands in the 1970s and 1980s. The company ceased operations in 1987.
Terada	1912	Nagoya	Terada began producing stringed instruments in Nagoya in 1912. Over the years they've produced guitars sold by Epiphone, Burny, C. F. Martin, Gallagher, Gretsch, Ibanez, Morris, Orville by Gibson, Steinberger, and others. They specialize primarily in building semi-acoustic and acoustic guitars. They also sold guitars under the T. Haruo brand in the United States and the Terada brand elsewhere. At their production peak, which ran from the late 1970s through the early 1990s, Terada produced up to 10,000 guitars a month in three factories: Higashiku , Kanie and Shirakawa. Their current output is about 1/8 of what it was at their peak and only the Kanie factory remains, producing exclusively semi-acoustic guitars.
Tōkai Gakki	1947	Hamamatsu	Tokai is a family owned business which began as a maker or harmonicas and pianos. They started producing guitars in the mid 1960s and have since built instruments for many well-known brands including C. F. Martin, Fender and Fernandes. They also sell guitars under their own brands.

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

• Kent guitars

External links

• Official website