Thessarecords
Member
I scored this Fernandes FR-85 MIJ mid November after facing a huge writers block of 5 months. I wanted a new instrument to get inspired to play guitar and write music again. This guitar is from 1991 and I think, has been built in the same factory as my 1991 RG550. The neck and the finish look and feel exactly the same on both guitars, the build quality is similar as well.
The Fernandes is a lightweight guitar, the body shape is a bit smaller than an Ibanez body and the neck is thinner than my RG550s neck. It is very comfortable and easy to play, the frets had a bit of wear when I received the guitar and I had to polish them, it now feels perfect.
The previous owner changed the original bridge for a licensed Floyd rose, while I wasnt expecting anything from it, it appears its as reliable as any of the tremolo bridges I got on my other MIJ guitars. It keeps the tuning perfectly and the intonation is very easy to setup, the previous owner decided to not modify the tremolo cavity (the base plate from the actual licensed FR is a bit bigger) and to keep it as a one way trem (push only).
This guitar has an H-S-S pickups configuration and a 5 way switch which are all stock. The bridge pickup sounds surprisingly very tight and modern, it is mid output and very versatile. The middle and neck pickups sound warm and round with a bit too much bass frequencies response for my tastes, but its obviously an easy fix with EQ.
Except for the bridge the guitar is entirely stock, here are the specs :
Body : Maple (45mm)
Neck : Maple
Weight : 3.4kg
Neck Joint : 4 points heel-less detachable
Frets : 22
Scale : 25.5
Radius : 350R
Switch : 5 way
Pickups : Fernandes originals, 2 single and 1 humbucker
Tuners : Gotoh
And now here are two quick demos I recorded using this guitar :
This one is more "Prog-rock" :
[SC]https://soundcloud.com/thessarecords/fernandes[/SC]
The Fernandes is a lightweight guitar, the body shape is a bit smaller than an Ibanez body and the neck is thinner than my RG550s neck. It is very comfortable and easy to play, the frets had a bit of wear when I received the guitar and I had to polish them, it now feels perfect.
The previous owner changed the original bridge for a licensed Floyd rose, while I wasnt expecting anything from it, it appears its as reliable as any of the tremolo bridges I got on my other MIJ guitars. It keeps the tuning perfectly and the intonation is very easy to setup, the previous owner decided to not modify the tremolo cavity (the base plate from the actual licensed FR is a bit bigger) and to keep it as a one way trem (push only).
This guitar has an H-S-S pickups configuration and a 5 way switch which are all stock. The bridge pickup sounds surprisingly very tight and modern, it is mid output and very versatile. The middle and neck pickups sound warm and round with a bit too much bass frequencies response for my tastes, but its obviously an easy fix with EQ.
Except for the bridge the guitar is entirely stock, here are the specs :
Body : Maple (45mm)
Neck : Maple
Weight : 3.4kg
Neck Joint : 4 points heel-less detachable
Frets : 22
Scale : 25.5
Radius : 350R
Switch : 5 way
Pickups : Fernandes originals, 2 single and 1 humbucker
Tuners : Gotoh
And now here are two quick demos I recorded using this guitar :
This one is more "Prog-rock" :
[SC]https://soundcloud.com/thessarecords/fernandes[/SC]
