GUITAR- FERNANDES Native Pro ...20 years old, MIJ, excellent condition and with a 90% discount !!

FERNANDES NATIVE PRO
ALL ABOUT & WHY
Yes a preamble
Those that follow my own collection of pedals and guitars know that I group my pedals in a loop of about 10 to 15 pedals. Each group acts like someones else's board and has choices to fit their style.
An example is a guy that plays modern a Metal style will have a totally different set of pedals then a guy that is into Tom Petty.  
I would have both. Each one in it's own loop.
I would also have the PU's on one guitar to morph between the two contrasting approaches.  
The key to accomplish  the above styles would to have a Rickenbacker and a modern Shred type PU in the same guitar and a group of pedals that can even give you the impression that
you hearing everything key to that sound. Tom Petty does a few sounds using a 12 string Ric with two compressors and Vox treble booster and a Vox AC30 amp. I have a loop that with pedals it gives me a startlingly good impression of that. One pedal does an excellent 12 string effect and another is that very same Vox treble booster.

MY TUNES
My approach to writing and borrowing sounds is not the same as borrowing precise styles. My approach is much more impressionist. It is NOT an Eric Clapton blues style verse followed by a chorus in a straight Country and Western style. I am as likely to use the Dorian mode as my scale for both. I only pick up the 'vibe'of the style ...not the style.
I would use for example a flat pick approach on a Ric PU but on a Metal PU I may simply 
have a much heavier sound on power chords going thru a metal pedal even though my style is more 70's  and one usually uses a PAF thru a Pexi pedal. Things simply sound fresh and modern BUT never out of place. The goal is to borrow the best of everything and mix it into a stew that becomes a thing onto itself. It is very much like food. The taste is more then the sum of the ingredients.


PICKUPS
I have 8 guitars that I use. The PU's covered are Humbuckers PAF & Metal, Strat, Tele, Ric, Gold Foil, P 90, and even a 50's Magnatone. 
I tied to incorporate the Lipstick Tube Dano's but they are low impedance and a real hassle to use on any guitar mixed with a standard hi imp PU. I may yet just buy a '63 Dano as It has the transitional bridge ...the original is all wood and less bright and you can change the intonation and the new one is a 'Badass' style which is has a lot of stringing hassles and looks dead clunky on a Dano.
I would like to add Gretsch Filter'Tron and a pair of Burns Trisonic Brian May models.
My basic style is based on a 70's dirt sound. So I have a one PU on most of my guitars to accommodate that.
I usually use a Duncan 'Pearly Gates' PAF but also a Strat or Tele.

THE NEXT GUITAR      

So my approach to most guitars is to find a retro style or an old guitar by a good brand that has long been obsolete. Some came and went with the times others were failures. Often failures like the Les Paul Standard that was 10 years ahead of it's time. If the guitar has good tonewood and the fit is excellent & the finish is good I can update the PU's, hardware and tuners where needed. The work is done by a guitar tech that has done guitars for Clapton, Dave Gilmour and others. The thing we go for is to make the guitar pass as a guitar that came with the changes from the factory.
Most of my guitars have at least some collectors value. I always wait to get them for about a third of their value. I also get them in good to mint condition. I especially like a good finish in odd and rare colors. I ignore resale by altering them and by choosing unpopular guitars.
Hell I am 72 so I intend to leave a legacy even if I become the big fish in the very small pond.
My tunes and performance of them are my Art. 
Art has never been judged as great by popularity in it's day. You could buy an Andy Warhol for a couple of hundred when it was new. Do I think I am brilliant. You bet! So did Andy and he new the world could think it was junk. It is all about not giving a F.
Nobody remembers a sound-a-like no mater how good they are.

 FERNANDES NATIVE PRO 

Fernandes are a company from Japan that have had a reputation of excellence in the quality of their guitars.For years they made only Custom Shop guitars often even specific models would change choices of woods, PU's etc, from one guitar to the next. For a short time they had consistently made models built in Japan and later in Korea but always to the highest standard of fit, finish and materials used.


The Native in its several incarnations was used by U2, Radiohead and Sonic Youth to name a few. Oddly the name Native X is the name given to an old French coin ...very rare and worth a fortune.

The Native guitars  were made from the '90's to a few 
years into the 2000's. it was never very popular but 
those that had one boasted of it's playabilty and great sustain. 
So it is rare and increasing in value every year.
Prices vary from a few hundred to about $1200.00 USD.
The neck is a maple/rosewood bolt on with a 25 1/2 inch scale with Gotoh tuners. The body is an inch and a half of classic alder. The PU's are Fernandes own HB.
Fernandes PU's are popular in Japan ...the Brad Gillis model sells for $175.00 USD..

The Native looks like a chubby Fender Jazzmaster.
or perhaps a cross between the Jazzmaster & 
a Gibson non-reverse Firebird. I've always love the look of both these guitars so I hope the Fernandes will humor me. lol 


MODS
I will have my fav Seymour Duncan 'Pearly Gates' PAF in the
neck with trad Gibson nickel chrome cover to match the other PU. In the neck I will have a TV Jones Gretsch Filter'Tron'.


Later I will swap out the whammy with the new Wilkinson
Pete Thorn's Suhr signature guitar came with one.
It looks like a standard Fender but it locks.
It will need a Graphtec Tusq  nut and locking tuners.
I can then do anything that a Floyd can do without dealing with all the mass and the hassle.
Brian May has his own brand BMG and he uses a Wilkinson
in all his guitars.
The problem without locking the strings on the bridge is that the E and the G because of their tuning/gauge can lift right up out of the nut and then go back ... the other strings will slide but not literally lift. Otherwise just a Tusq nut and locking tuners would be enough.
I have this problem but it is subtle and not always.
Fernandes have their own whammy ...nothing radical but just upping the overall quality it does a great job.

Wilkinson Bridge Video

THE DEAL
This is the one I had an offer on.
It was on Kijiji
It started at $190.00 USD

Well in the end I pushed my luck for ...$150.00 USD
I got the price :-)
With asking prices of $1500.00 USD in Europe I am sweating this transaction out big time!!! We are talking about a 90% discount!!!

BIG BUT! Well I could not get there until the next Saturday. So if someone were to scoop it. Too bad! :-(
Do to the owner not reading his messages a Saturday deal fell thru but it was changed until Sunday.
It all went well so I have a Fernandes! 
Well all well except I needed a change of underwear. lol

HANDS ON
Well I made a 7 hour journey and bought the thing.
The first thing I noticed besides the overall great condition was that on the back it had a battery compartment. This means it is not the Native X but the Native Pro. The Pro had a Fernandes sustainer
It was like having an E-Bow built into the neck PU. It was removed at some point in  last  20 years.

The bridge PU was changed at some time to a Seymour Duncan Stag Mag. It is 2 Strat style coils turned into a hummie. This doubles the output. Doing so kills the Strat chime but it gives the sound a glassy  bright sound. The result is it sounds a bit Queen like.
The neck PU is where the 'sustainer' should be housed but it now has some unmarked HB
that sounds to me like an old DiMarzio hummie.

I can not yet get the whammy I want so I have decided to do a few mods in steps.
I will get my tech to give the whole thing a clean up, tighten up and set up. While he is at it I might as well put my old friend the Duncan Pearly Gates in the neck position. 
I spent hours comparing all of Gibson's HB efforts. I liked the 57 Classic the best but when you push it thru a lot of dirt it gets muddy very quickly. In short nothing beats the 'Pearly.'


I have ordered the Pearly and the  TV Jones 'Classic' which is a vintage Gretsch Filter'Tron  PU mounted on a PAF mounting plate....the one that is made to fit the routing in the body cut for a Gibson hummie. 
I am hoping they both arrive soon  as I have dropped off the Fernandes with my tech to keep my place in line for about a 5 or 6 week wait.

On a final note being 20 years old the wood is free of any excess moisture and the sap has crystallized between the wood fibers so you get that sweetness in the harmonics of such a vintage guitar. Heaven!

UPDATE
So both PU's arrived on the same day. I had dropped my guitar off a few days ago to hold my place in the line. I decided it simpler to mail them to my tech then drive into the city.
I expect a 5 week wait. I will give you a heads up for a 'Hands On' when it gets done.

UPDATE
Weeks later
I picked up my latestest toy. The guitar was nice to play but with the overkill setup it it is killer.
The whammy works a treat. I will be leaving any idea of upgrading it alone for awhile. It works great and it holds it's tuning. As per usual the Duncan Pearly at the bridge sounds great. I was expecting a lot from the TV Jones Classic but it delivered even more. The tone I wanted is there but I had not expected such a fat balzy sound from the thing. maybe a little fuller then I guessed ...but fat? Never. it must be a combination of guitar and PU because I would never ever imagine using the word punch for a Gretsch sound!. 

UPDATE Aug 2021

Well I have had this guitar long enough for it to play itself, LOL. It really has found it's place going teamed with  few Marshall-in-a-Box high gain pedals. The thing that totally blows my mind is it has a graphite nut and old Gotoh tuners and a classic style Strat style bridge also Gotoh. The damn thing stays in tune. I use the whammy a lot. I do not try to pull a Floyd but I do dive bomb. It stays in tune!!! If you pick it up 2 days later ...it is still in tune.

This is a keeper!!!