1960s Fujigen-made Strad-O-Lin Electric Guitar

Mr. Wayne traded me this old Japanese-made electric to cover some work he had done. It was probably made by Fujigen in the mid-'60s (judging by its pickup) and while it's a student-style model, it does have a full 24 3/4" Gibson-style scale length, actual rosewood fretboard, and a '50s-ish Gibson-ish neck profile, too -- medium C with a ~10" board radius. It feels good.

Its sound is better than average for the time, too, with a pickup that's garage-rocky and has a bit of swagger when driven, but clean-sounding and balanced when played clean. It's also a bit microphonic so you get some more "body" in your tone. I like it. It's lively. A lot of the old Japanese pickups of this style are overly-mellow and/or subdued, so it was nice to find that this one has more oomph. The body shape is Strat-like, I suppose, but a little shorter in length and thinner.

So -- yes, a few cuts above your average old low-level Japanese import from the '60s -- and hey, they even bothered to ground the harness to the bridge from the factory on this guy. Who knew they had it in them?

Repairs included: fretboard reglue, some cleaning-up of the fretboard/neck edges (some wear/chip-out on the treble side needed ironing-out), fret level/dress, side dots install, reposition/compensation additions for the bridge, reposition of the neck plate and neck-mounting screws (two of the old screws had broken-off in the neck), setup, etc...

Made by: Fujigen?

Made in: Japan

Body wood: mahogany family

Bridge: plastic adjustable (archtop-style)

Fretboard: rosewood

Neck wood: mahogany family

Pickups: 1x Fujigen-style single coil w/adjustable poles

Tone: clean, clear, balanced, decent output -- nicely aggressive for a single when driven

Suitable for: blues, garage rock, rock, indie, rootsy

Action height at 12th fret: 1/16" overall (fast, spot-on)
String gauges: 46w-10 lights

Neck shape: medium-big C

Board radius: ~10"

Truss rod: adjustable (works)

Neck relief: straight

Fret style: small

Scale length: 24 3/4"

Nut width: 1 11/16"

String spacing at nut: 1 3/8"

String spacing at bridge: 1 15/16"

Body length: 17 1/2"

Body width: 12"

Body depth: 1 1/4"

Weight: 6 lb 2 oz

Condition notes: it's all-original save a couple screws at the truss rod cover and a couple of bolts at the neck plate. The tuners are not the best but they work just fine. There are plenty of scratches and scuffs on the body but it looks good for the most part (from the front). The back has more obvious scratches and wear and there's a picture of an odd, shallow, with-grain hairline crack on the lower horn that's stable and not moving.