The Birth and Evolution of Fernandes

Fernandes began as Saito Gakki, a company originally devoted to the sale of classical guitars. As electric guitars began to capture the imagination of musicians in Japan, the company launched a new brand to enter the growing electric market.

In 1972, the company officially changed its name to Fernandes, marking the start of a new era focused on electric guitar production and sales. Like other major distributors of the time—such as Arai Trading (Arai Boeki) and Kanda Shokai—Fernandes did not manufacture guitars directly, but instead handled wholesale distribution and the import of related equipment. Their instruments were built by several well-known Japanese manufacturers, including Kawai Musical Instruments, Tokai Gakki, Headway, Kiso Suzuki Violin, and Dyna Gakki.

In the early years, Fernandes—like most Japanese makers of the 1970s—focused on faithful copies of Gibson and Fender models. But around 1980, as the industry shifted from the “copy era” to the age of original design, the company moved decisively toward developing its own models, introducing a wide range of unique and artist-endorsed instruments.

Fernandes also earned international recognition for the Fernandes Sustainer, a groundbreaking system that allows a guitar to sustain notes infinitely. The technology was developed in Japan by an engineer certified by Sustainiac in the United States, who went on to advance and refine the design into Fernandes’ own innovation.