 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Musical instrument |
| Founded | February 25, 1969 |
| Headquarters | Niizo, Saitama Prefecture, Japan |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Akira Ilijima |
| Products | Electric guitars, bass guitars, guitar picks, and amplifiers |
| Subsidiaries | Burny |
| Website | fernandes.co.jp |
Fernandes Guitars is a guitar brand of Japanese marketing company Fernandes Co. Ltd. It is one of two guitar brands belonging to the company, the other being Burny Guitars which are Gibson guitar replicas.[1] Its parent company originated in 1969 as Saito Musical Instruments before changing its name to Fernandes in 1972. The company started as a distributor of flamenco guitars sub-contracting to Japanese factories to build them. As the company grew, it expanded production to include electric guitars, bass guitars, amplifiers, and accessories to become one of the biggest guitar producers in Japan. Early manufacturing was done by Kawai Gakki who had guitar building experience from their acquisition of Teisco in 1967. Other major Japanese manufacturers have built guitars for Fernandes under original equipment manufacturer (OEM) arrangements, including Matsumoku, Dyna Gakki,[2] and Tōkai Gakki.[3] From the late 1980s, lower-spec guitars were also been built in Korea and more recently China.
The growing second-hand market and intensifying competition adversely affected sales, and the company reported debts of 434 million yen for the year ending January 2024. On 11 July 2024, Fernandes ceased operations and filed for bankruptcy.[4]
- ^ "Burny and Fernandes Brand Information & History".
- ^ Benedittini, Frankie (April 15, 2019). "Dyna Gakki". Vintage Japan Guitars. Archived from the original on 2022-11-15. Retrieved 2022-11-15.
- ^ Benedittini, Frankie (April 7, 2019). "History of Tokai". Vintage Japan Guitars. Archived from the original on 2022-11-09. Retrieved 2022-11-15.
- ^ "国産エレキギター「FERNANDES」販売 フェルナンデスが事業停止、破産へ". Livedoor News. Retrieved 2024-07-14.