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Of the 3 Fresher models offering built-in effects in 1980, -FF-1003 for the Firebird (previously FFD-100), FL-1005 for the Les Paul (previously FLP-100), the Japanese Fresher FS-1007 guitar (previously FSC-100) is probably the most frequent on the market.
The 3 guitars have the same built-in effect module. Powered by a 9 volt battery, you can use a distortion, an auto wah and a phase.
If the built-in effects that we find on other brands like Asama, Kay Effector, Univox Effector … are not so good, we have here real quality effects, as good as those on an Electra MPC guitar. But this guitar also offers a wonderful clear and warm tone. It’s a “must have” for a MIJ collection IMHO.
Description - Brand: Fresher
- Model: FS-1007
- Year: 1980
- Serial: 805414
- Country : Japan
- Body: Ash, 1 pc
- Neck: Mapple
- Fretboard: Mapple
- Pickups: Single x3
- Controls: Built-in effects: distortion, auto-wha, phase / 2 switches
- Manufacturer: Chushin Gakki
- Model: FS-1007
- Year: 1980
- Serial: 805414
- Country : Japan
- Body: Ash, 1 pc
- Neck: Mapple
- Fretboard: Mapple
- Pickups: Single x3
- Controls: Built-in effects: distortion, auto-wha, phase / 2 switches
- Manufacturer: Chushin Gakki
Consult the catalogs The Fresher catalogs are available in the section Fresher Guitar catalogs
One Response
This is super cool! What a neat guitar – the late 70s early 80s Fresher guitars still belong to the category of “lawsuit guitars”, as they continued being blatant copies of Gibsons and Fenders (Fender = Fresher LOL) but these Freshers had newfangled novel electronic effects NO American makers ever dared incorporate into their instruments! Indeed, the less stuff that can break down, the better for warranty purposes, especially for Gibsons and Fenders of the late 70s, which was not such an amazing time for either company’s American guitars!
Also, and maybe most importantly here, Jimmy Nolen, the man who INVENTED funk guitar, and James Brown’s long time (well on-and-off-again) guitar player actually USED a Fresher Straighter very similar to the one featured here. Just look up old photos and or videos of Jimmy Nolen / James Brown from around 1981. However I believe Nolen’s Fresher must have been a late 1970s model, with the more Fender-rip-off font and color scheme on the headstock logo.
-> The story goes James Brown paid his backing bands (yes, plural cause many quit) so poorly over the years, that Jimmy couldn’t afford a proper Fender Stratocaster. So, the best quality instrument he could buy to get the “Fender sound” was the Fresher Straighter. It is basically is a straight up knock off of a Fender Stratocaster with all the same dimensions and parts as a Strat, and from a distance, it looks like a Strat (especially if you squint LOL). The additional electronics were supposed to make it a more “premium” instrument, but check video demos of the Fresher Straighter effects online, and its clear the effects are kind of cheap, if not really cool in a bizarro way.
The original tuning machines were pretty atrocious, the guitar pictured here had the good fortune of getting proper ones!
Would love to see more of these classic weirdo Japanese guitars, they are super cool!