NGD - Fujigen Iliad

Mr Grumpy said:
First play: just up and down every fret of the neck to see how the frets are and how she feels. Good and good. A bit different from the SG... &, really quite flat and wide beyond the 15th fret, need to reposition her angle quite steeply to play comfortably up that end on the thicker strings - not an issue, as I'm rarely there. Not sure why the 22nd fret is there because it's a lot more difficult to get to than the 21st fret of the SG... :) But, played for 30 mins or so, couldn't find any fret problems and am starting to get used to the different scale length/neck/body type.
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Looking at the photos it seems like they contoured the heel as much as possible while retaining a plate. It looks about the same as Jim Root Telecaster. Unless you get rid of the plate (like on Schecter PT Apocalypse and PT Special guitars) you're not going to get an easier neck joint than that on a bolt-on Tele. To me the worst part about playing up high is the short distance between frets. The Tele should be better than the SG (shorter scale) in this respect. My PT Apocalypse has a 12-16" compound radius, so considerably flatter, but then I am used to a 14" radius. It' probably more that the neck is closer to your body than on the SG, that changes the playing posture and can take a while to get used to.
 
Good points there, Dave, and I fully agree; pretty much spot on..

Dave Sloven said:
It' probably more that the neck is closer to your body than on the SG, that changes the playing posture and can take a while to get used to.
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I've noticed this, and I need to start finding how to best move the tele around to find the best way of playing it around the different areas of the board.
 
Mr Grumpy said:
Good points there, Dave, and I fully agree; pretty much spot on..



I've noticed this, and I need to start finding how to best move the tele around to find the best way of playing it around the different areas of the board.
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It's very different from an SG. The balance and feel are totally different on an SG than most other guitars. That's why I can't bond with one, but if that's what you're used to, then yeah, Teles, Strats, and most anything else is going to feel weird.
 
Ebidis said:
It's very different from an SG. The balance and feel are totally different on an SG than most other guitars. That's why I can't bond with one, but if that's what you're used to, then yeah, Teles, Strats, and most anything else is going to feel weird.
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You're right, but I'm just gonna have to practice and get better. To be fair, this Fujigen is an easy guitar to play.
 
flatrockmobile said:
How does the Circle Fret System feel? I've looked at pics of many FGNs, Cool Zs, and History's mostly LPs and I can't see a curve at all. Can you tell a difference when playing?
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Good question. I've not noticed any difference in playing - and the intonation is good across the board. I suppose that's exactly as the system is supposed to be?
 
Had the guitar for a week now, and it now plays as easily as my SG - it seems that this is my first tele that actually works for me.

It is a cool guitar, and the honeymoon period isn't over yet. The pickups are very good; nicer than other single coils from Fender USA and Fender Japan that I've tried.

BTW, she weights 6.6Ilbs (just a tad under 3kgs) which feels lighter than my last tele, but I'm no tele expert.
 
Mr Grumpy said:
Had the guitar for a week now, and it now plays as easily as my SG - it seems that this is my first tele that actually works for me.

It is a cool guitar, and the honeymoon period isn't over yet. The pickups are very good; nicer than other single coils from Fender USA and Fender Japan that I've tried.

BTW, she weights 6.6Ilbs (just a tad under 3kgs) which feels lighter than my last tele, but I'm no tele expert.
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Sounds like fun :)

The Tele/Esquire:s I have/had was all around 7 lbs, so 6.6 is light.

My number One, Esquire weights in on 6,4 lbs .
 
TCE63 said:
My number One, Esquire weights in on 6,4 lbs .
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That's very light - feel free to add a picture; I really like Esquires, but I don't like the 7.25 radius that most have.

I'm now starting to consider if I like this tele as much as I like SGs. &, for an "SG guy", this is quite a traumatic experience! :D
 
Mr Grumpy said:
That's very light - feel free to add a picture; I really like Esquires, but I don't like the 7.25 radius that most have.

I'm now starting to consider if I like this tele as much as I like SGs. &, for an "SG guy", this is quite a traumatic experience! :D
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I only have one SG jr, But I do not know why, but it does not really suit me............
So I am a LP and Tele Guy :)
 
Mr Grumpy said:
So, as youse knows from the other threads, I have been gassing for a tele and ended up getting a Fujigen.

Previously, I had a Fender MIJ tele which cost about US$1200, and I really didn't like it much... Changed the pickups to CS 64's didn't like them any better than the standard. Changed the screw bridge saddles to Gotoh compensated brass x3 saddles (much preferred that sound). Just couldn't get on with it/never grew to love her, so outed it:

View attachment 57209
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Thus, I was a bit worried about buying another MIJ tele. I did really like the traditional string tip in the hole tuners. I very much did not like the 7.25 radius fretboard.

I also had a Cort tele which I didn't overly love, but that was mainly the sounds that were frustrating, and it was damn ugly. I did, however like the compound radius neck. I also liked the hard Canadian maple neck, but I wanted a maple fretboard this time around.
View attachment 57210

I also wanted a looker! In the past, I had a PRS Korina which was along the lines of a LP junior, but also tele-esque, imho, and beautiful. Plus, it was really light - I like a light tele (the MIJ 70s was far too heavy, imho). I like the look of the yellow body and black pick guard. The wide and flat neck was very painful for me to play, it had to go (relates to an old wrist injury in a factory when I was paying my way through uni...).
View attachment 57212

I considered:
- MIJ teles for a fraction of a second (the truss rod is at the wrong end for my liking)...
- MIM standard teles; some nice ones, but a Vintera modified, at over US$1000 in the US and US$1400 here in Korea are not good value.
- MIA performer with a humbucker in the neck - they are a bit pricey here, US$1500, but I really like them. I loved the off-white with maple fretboard. If I start loving teles then I might well get something like this down the road.
- MIA standard/professional/professional 2 - very nice guitar, but those horrible tuners, why???
- Fender Original 50s, now with the 9.5" fretboard over the AVRI's 7.25, it's a lovely guitar (plus I love the smell of lacquer when getting a guitar out); just about perfect, but too much money.
- Edwards; the truss rod is at the wrong end...).
- some Korea made teles - quite nice, good specs, but I could afford to spend a bit more to get something more to my liking.

My wishlist:
- off-white
- maple board
- traditional (or locking) tuners with a hole in the top
- traditional bridge with brass saddles
- not too wide a neck
- flattish radius or compound radius fretboard
- really traditional and classy tele pickups, leaning towards 50s style, but no glassy ice-pick horribleness
- black pick guard
- light weight

For 800 of your (or mine in this case) US dollars, I went for this:

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What I learned was that no matter what hardware or pickups / electronics, it won't change the basic sound of the guitar.
If a guitar sounds poorly,
you need to get another guitar that doesn't sound poorly.

All the upgrades won't turn a poop guitar into a great sounding guitar.
So all the upgrades I would basically consider a waste.

It's the wood. And if you don't have the wood to start with, there is no magic fix for it.
 
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