Fernandes had their L-5000, L-5000 Vintage II, and L-5001 single coil pickups, while the Burny model Les Paul’s got the famous VH-1 pickups, that have extraordinary tone. An estimate timeline of their birth would be early 80s and before.Īmongst all the different lawsuit copies, Burny and Fernandes have the best pickups. These are known to be older versions of Burny - pre RLG era. However, if you would just compare the 2 makes in terms of quality, the Korean version does not come close to the Japanese version. I wouldn't fault the Korean version since they are much cheaper in comparison to those made in Japan. However, do note that there are models that are made in Korea. Take the LP Standard copy for example, there are the RLG-45, RLG-55, RLG-70, RLG-90 etc, the best being the "Super Grade" model made in Japan. The bigger number means the better the guitar in terms of sound and finishing qualities. The XX were numbers that indicated the guitar series.
Some go as far as claiming that these copies matches neck to neck with a vintage Les Paul - which cost around US$30,000.īurny models that with RLG-XX. They say the feel is identical and especially enjoy how Burny focused on making really fat necks on their Standards. The Burny Super Grade Les Paul’s have been reported by many recording and gigging professionals as “the best” clone of the real classic 50’s and 60’s Les Paul’s. E.g., angle ratio between body and neck, curves on the maple top, and even the open book design on the headstock. For the Gibson copies, fortunately the most part of the design stayed the same. If you are not familiar with the "Super Grade" series, you may mistaken the words as "Luper Grade" due to it's attempt to model the words "Les Paul". These alphabets stand for Fernandes Sound and Research Group.įor the Burnys, the LP models were given the name “Super Grade” instead of “Les Paul.” The wording were crafted to look just the words "Les Paul". The saddles were stamped, instead of the word "Fender" the "F.S.R.G." alphabets took its place. The headstock logo was design such that from a distance it looked just like a vintage Fender. This name was given because they were essentially reviving the old classic Fenders. These vintage copies were commonly known as the “Revival” series. The rare old Fender copies are extremely detailed, though no longer in production, can still be found in the vintage market. After the lawsuit threats emerged, Fernandes most obvious change was to their headstock shapes - it was changed completely. These modification taken on by Fernandes extended to both the Strat and Tele copies.
To avoid the copyright war, Fernandes began to make changes to certain parts of their design like truss rod cover, shape etc. This saga only surfaced a decade later in the mid 80's when Fender and Gibson felt that their empire was threatened. When it began in the 70's, there were no problems with copyright issues. To date, both Fernandes and Burny are still making guitars just like their Tokai counterparts. The brand Burny was birth later by Fernandes as the division that made Gibson replicas. Fernandes started off first in the 70's making Fender replicas. If you know of additional information or any errors, please help us as well as others reading from our site by writing in to us.īoth Burny and Fernandes are the same company. We too are learning as we progress and would ask for you to use these information at your own discretion. However, because there are no official history on these companies, they are written to the best of our knowledge and experience. It is our pleasure to share these information. Find Out About Japanese Burny Guitars at