FGN Guitars J Commonplace Odyssey JOS2DUEW2R | Evaluation

MSRP: (UK) £1299 / (US) $TBC

Though not massively recognized by guitar gamers, inside the business, FGN is without doubt one of the most recognised and revered instrument producers in Japan. Having constructed guitars for the likes of Ibanez, Roland, Greco, and Yamaha, you’ll be able to really feel and listen to the information, innovation and craftmanship from over 60 years of expertise that has been distilled into their newest line of electrical guitars and basses. Nick Jennison takes a take a look at FGN Guitars J Commonplace Odyssey JOS2DUEW2R



As guitar factories go, few are as essential or effectively revered because the legendary FujiGen plant in Matsumoto, Japan. Their work within the Nineteen Seventies producing OEM guitars for Ibanez, CSL/Antoria, and Yamaha shook the western guitar market to its core, as savvy gamers found how these “low-cost Japanese copies” far exceeded the American devices they had been impressed by in high quality, tone and playability. Within the Nineteen Eighties, they constructed the pioneering Ibanez “SuperStrat” designs that powered the guitar arms race of the day, with luminaries like Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Andy Timmons, John Petrucci, and Paul Gilbert all enjoying FujiGen-made shred machines. Their semi-hollow and hole physique guitars had been (and nonetheless are) among the most sought-after jazz guitars on the planet, with George Benson, Pat Metheny, and John Schofield all selecting FujiGen guitars. Additionally they produced the legendary Japanese Fender and Squier guitars of the ‘80s and ‘90s, the primary commercially obtainable seven strings… I might go on.

Their newest enterprise is a spread of “personal model” guitars underneath the title FGN. This isn’t a brand new phenomenon, with factories like Cor-Tek producing Cort guitars together with OEM work for a wide range of manufacturers, however maybe that is the primary time we’ve seen a legitimately premium “manufacturing facility model”. Carrying on the FujiGen custom of names that learn like reserving references, the JOS2DUEW2R exemplifies the elegant, fashionable design and a spotlight to element discovered throughout the entire FGN vary.

In a nutshell, it’s a HSS SuperStrat within the vein of the “California Customs” widespread within the 2010s – fashionable however not excessively aggressive in both appears to be like or tone. It options an Ash physique overlaid with a shocking Koa high, together with a bolt-on maple neck and compound radius rosewood fretboard, full with FGN’s “Circle Fretting System”. In contrast to common straight frets, the frets on this guitar are barely curved – nowhere close to sufficient to see with the bare eye, however sufficient to make sure that the string meets the fret at an ideal 90-degree angle. FGN declare this improves readability and articulation, and whereas that is very laborious to truly check (given we’d want an an identical neck with straight frets to check towards), this guitar reveals each of those qualities in spades. Notes leap off the fretboard with an exceptionally clear transient, and it’s straightforward to select each observe in complicated chords, even by means of washes of ambient results.

Electronics come within the type of a Seymour Duncan Pegasus humbucker and single coils: an Alnico II Professional within the neck place and a Classic Staggered SSL-1 within the center. It’s a really well-balanced and versatile set of pickups, performing admirably in kinds as various as Texas blues, funk, fusion, basic rock and fashionable steel with out overwhelming the person with choices. The Pegasus bridge humbucker could be break up through a small two-way toggle change between the grasp tone and quantity controls, and that is maybe my solely criticism of this guitar. Given this could possibly be completed with a easy push-pull, I’d fairly not have a gap drilled within the beautiful Koa high and a change positioned in a spot that’s good for catching underneath my right-hand pinky nail after I go for the amount management in a rush. If it had been engaging in one thing greater than a easy coil break up, I’d be positive with it, however it appears a trifle pointless to have a devoted toggle for this. Perhaps I’m simply nit-picking.

Playability on the JOS2DUEW2R is as straightforward as its title is tough to say. It positively eggs you on to feats of fretboard derring-do, and even essentially the most demanding musical passages really feel easy, however someway, there’s nonetheless sufficient chunk and resistance for some gritty, heavy-handed blues work and aggressive down-picked steel riffs. Truthfully, the toughest a part of enjoying this guitar is placing it down. The tremolo system is equally nice, with an excellent motion and tons of journey for dives and harmonic screams whereas nonetheless being delicate sufficient for extra measured chordal shimmers and vocal vibrato.

The FGN JOS2DUEW2R is the very mannequin of a contemporary high-performance instrument. It’s at residence in any musical setting (each aesthetically and tonally) and performs like an absolute dream. It’s additionally ludicrously competitively priced in comparison with its “huge title” rivals, solely simply crossing the four-figure mark on the time of writing. As a price proposition for contemporary guitarists, it’s laborious to beat!

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