FERNANDES The Revival

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BluesEd

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Anyone own or know about the Fernandes Strat copy's.

How does it compare to the Tokai's.
 
Never tried one, but I know a couple of sensible guys who have them & say they're pretty good ... given the choice I'd prefer a Tokai, but that's mainly because I know something about Tokai & they're well documented here (so pretty easy to verify that a Tokai is "kosher"), but otherwise I doubt if you'd go far wrong with Fernandes (they're made by Burny I think, ie that's what Burny call their Fender copies) :-? .

Ian.
 
Thanks Ian, when I was trying it in the shop he said I have an 80's Tokai that was priced at ?300, the Fernandes he would do for ?245.

As soon as I heard 80's Tokai I said I will try that, but when I saw it I never liked the colour it was orange but I still would have bought it except the previous owner had put F*nder decals on.

I went for the Fernandes, it has the classic Strat headstock and the neck is stained maple. It looks like a 59 copy same colour as SRV's. The pup's have an aged cream look, I was told that the pup's are better replacements than the stock but I think they might be stock tbh.

I read they were made in the same factory as the F*nder Japan guitars.

If the Tokai had been original I prob would have went for that, although I do like the look of the Fernandes and I really like the sound too.
 
Yeah, in your position I think I?d have gone for the Fernandes too. I assume you?re in UK (seeing price in ??s). As I say, I think it?s made by Burny (Burny make really nice guitars). I?d expect the stock pups to be fine, but if you have any doubt?s you could always swap for Van Zandt?s or whatever floats your boat. As far as official MIJ Fender are concerned; I think the deal was originally with makers of Ibanez, but personally I?d definitely choose an early Tokai before any JV or SQ Squire (although I like older Ibanez models well enough) ? but as ?Sneaky-Japan? points out in another current thread, there are lots of good MIJ makers that we hardly ever hear of outside Japan :-? .

Ian.
 
Yeh Im in the UK, I would have liked to find a nice Tokai strat to go with my LS70F.

But that one was too orangey for crows. :)

The Frenandes just has that vintage look to it, which is a bonus. The feel and the sound are the most important though.

The pup's maybe replacements he did say they were but he might be saying that because they do stand out. I have seen pics of a few sim looking models and they have the cream pu covers too. I do like them, they have a nice pokey blues sound.
 
Ed, Fernandes has several ages as Tokai,but they strated before in electrics.The Revival are in a 45.000-80.000 yen range much like Tokai.Fernandes tells models as RST(Revival Strat) and FST(Fernandes Strat) being RST more vintage than FST if I recall well.There were RST-50,60 and 80(high end).I have seen a FST-120 too with aFloyd Rose for sale recently.Fernandes guitars were made in several factories.
 
Ahh cheers Luis, I had read on Harmony central that they were lawsuit models from mid 80's. But doing a quick search on this forum someone said the models in europe are from the 90's. That is prob right as it looks in too good a condition for a 20 year old guitar, unless it's been well looked after.

It has FERNANDES and next to that in very small block caps The Revival, underneath it says Electric Sound Research Group and in the rounded part it says Original Custom Body.

On the neck plate it has FERNANDES and underneath that and more importantly Made in Japan :)

No serial but I read those were originally on a sticker.
 
there was a 1976 Revival TL-55 on sale in the local used gear shop for a while. I asked to look under the contraol plate and it was all plastic wiring, no surprise because the 55 model in not high end. I passed. The neck was in great condition and the body looked to be 2 pieces. I`m waithing to get a better model. Just saw a Fernandes strat called a Burny olds yesterday on Yahoo Japan, it sold. The old ones are not rare here so I am confident I`ll find a nice one someday.
 
Yeh Sneaky, I don't know what this model number is. Not sure what the wood is but will be ash or basswood. Not sure of the year but it has the correct headstock shape, don't know when it was changed for lawsuit reasons.

It looks like it's a 3 piece body though.
 
the one I saw looked very much like Sen for the body. Luckily most shops here know the model numbers and it really helps. The shop I mentioned has a slew of old catalogs so when they get something in they just look until they find it. The `76 also have the correct headstock and body shape... an exact replica.
 
You can tell Fernades age by logos as we do with Tokai.Burny Olds means a seriouus replica from Fernandes and They would be a mid 70's model just like Fernandes Supergrade,the same era to me.I'll search for my notes and will post some guide here if I can found where I have it.

If I recall weel,there were:

Fernandes logo(Fender CBS script(/Burny Olds)
Fernandes new logo
Fernandes The Revival(2 diffrent ages)
Then became headstock cut they were called TE-1,2 and R8,R9 here in Europe,until a couple of years when they discontinued Japan models.
They have reissue The Revival models in Japan.I recently have seen a '54 and '59 reissue models laquer finish going for 115.000 yens no discount.

Ed,send some pics to [email protected] and I'll date it for you.

TE-48 replica The Revival(mid 80's) was basswood made so you can make a direct comparison to Tokai ST-45(there were some baswwod models in Tokai line,sinces '88 for sure when low end replicas appeared)
 
Thanks Luis I will send you some pics as soon as mate brings his digi camera around.

I have had a closer look at the pups and they look better than the avg stock pups. The covers are vintage looking and the staggered poles are beveled.

They look like old glories or more than likely F*nder 57/62's, the guy in the shop did say they were F*nder vintage pups.

And I have seen those 115,000 yen Rivivals, mine looks pretty close to the 57 but that 57 has much nicer wood grain.

This Revival has very tight and straight grain.

Sneaky Im not sure what Sen looks like but I have a 90's guitar mag that has some specs on Fenandes amongst others and of the 20 or so models most are basswood a few are ash, one being the maple necked revival. But I dont think it's ash, all the ash ones I have seen have very open grain.
 
I recently saved a pic of a real nice example of sen for cases just like this...but can`t post pics here.
 
Thanks Sneak, ahh so thats what sen looks like, mines def not anything like that.

I think it's prob basswood now or maybe alder.
 
BluesEd said:
Ahh cheers Luis, I had read on Harmony central that they were lawsuit models from mid 80's. But doing a quick search on this forum someone said the models in europe are from the 90's. That is prob right as it looks in too good a condition for a 20 year old guitar, unless it's been well looked after.

It has FERNANDES and next to that in very small block caps The Revival, underneath it says Electric Sound Research Group and in the rounded part it says Original Custom Body.

On the neck plate it has FERNANDES and underneath that and more importantly Made in Japan :)

No serial but I read those were originally on a sticker.

Hi, I own a '93 "The Revival" Strat. Bought it new in a southern guitar shop in Germany! Ser.No is on a sticker on back of headstock, rest is like Ed mentioned. I replaced the original pus with 54' Fender CS Pus, put on a steel trem block and aged plastic parts. Geee, she's my best strat and I will keep her forever!!

Regards Hot Rod

P.S. from time to time 90ies "The Revival" Teles occur on Ebay.de :wink:
 
Greetings, I'm new to this forum, & being a proud owner of 2 old Tokai lawsuit strats, it's about time I joined.
Anyways on topic of Fernandes strat copys,, I recently bought a black strat copy with Fernandes on the back neckplate with a serial number #L000393, there are no markings on the headstock at all, but the neck does look original, it has REVIVAL RSRG on the saddles & the pickups sound great, actually, this guitar rocks my world as it has more vintage vibe than the Tokais I have.
Can anyone tell me if Fernandes made guitars without logos on the headstock & the apoximate year this guitar may have been made?
 
My contribution isn't very technical or full of facts. The only thing I want to contribute is that I recently tried a second-hand Fernandes strat and was mightily impressed. Guitarists just know when they are handling a good instrument. The Fernandes felt just right. I wasn't crazy about the gold finish but I find that finishes usually grow on you. Why didn't I buy the guitar? Simple - no funds! Next time I was back in the store the guitar was gone and I'm not at all surprised.

Hutton
 
I own a half dozen Fernandes Strats from the 80's and a couple of Tokai Strats from the same period. While the Tokai's are fine guitars, the Fernandes are a might more authentic. Especially the weights of the guitars. The "57" versions are light as a feather, just like most of the Fenders were in 1957. The "62" versions, while a bit heavier, are no boat anchors. They also like the Fenders of 1962. A couple have fantasticlly flamed necks and the pickups sound cool, but so do the Tokai's.
 

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