Retro series

Vintage designs built to your specifications

We are happy to build a custom-made version of traditional ST, TE, JM, or TE-TL body shape guitars for you, expertly constructed by our craftsmen, and including our latest technologies.

These guitars come with our originally formulated stainless steel frets, which produce a softer sound than traditional stainless steel. The neck is one-piece maple, with a choice of either rosewood or maple fingerboard. Following tradition, you can choose between ash or alder as the body wood. Each guitar comes with our custom-wound pickups F.C.G.R. pickups, voiced either for "Vintage" or "Vintage FAT" tone, according to your preference. You can also choose from a broad range of paint finishes, and other components. If you've wanted a classic style instrument with your individual flavour, we will be glad to help you realize your dream.

As of February 18, 2025, we are temporarily suspending new orders for the Retro Series due to some specification changes. (Excluding Retro TE-TL) We will announce the resumption of orders on this website. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause to customers who are considering placing new orders, and we appreciate your understanding and cooperation.

Retro TE-TL

(March 2024)

The Retro TE-TL has been added to the new lineup, adopting the hollow body structure of the long-selling model "Pepper Series*" and a traditional maple neck and ash body.

*The basic specification of the Pepper Series is a "Mahogany Neck".

【 Choose from 4 types of body structures 】

HollowⅠ
"A hollow body all-rounder"
The lightest of all the body structures - completely hollowed out except for a block for mounting the bridge. It is characterized by a brilliant, and rich sound. A flexible choice that is well suited for rock or pop music.

HollowⅡ
"A great match for jazz and blues"
A model with a rich and warm sounds, due to a top routed full hollow-body design. This variant produces the most beautiful collection of harmonic overtones in all of the body structures. A perfect match for jazz, blues, and beyond.

Semi Solid
"A semi-solid body construction for a freer sound"
with a solid center-block which produces the most compact sound. A strong overdriven sound and a long sustain are the highlights of this type.

Semi Hollow
"Perfect choice for a lead player looking for a fatter and mellower tone"
A special "floating center block structure" is adopted in which the center block is not in close contact with the top and back plates of the body except under the bridge.
It has a fat and mellow sound with long sustain.

・May 2024
"Stainless Fret", which has been patronized by many users for many years as F.C.G.R.'s original fret, has changed its product name and packaging to "Eternal Fret".
We look forward to your continued patronage.

・February 2020
The logo design of all original guitar and bass products has been changed.

Specifications

* Product specifications and prices are subject to change without notice.

Quality

Commitment to carefully selected wood and durability

To build a guitar that sounds great even after 100 years, at F.C.G.R. we select our woods very carefully. The selected wood is stabilized in our special humidity-controlled warehouse for up to one year to eliminate the possibility of warpage later.

Original frets

Our stainless-steel fret wire has been specially developed by F.C.G.R. to be completely rust-proof and reduce the necessity for maintenance for the lifetime of the instrument. Additionally, our stainless steel produces a warmer sound, eliminating the excessive brightness often associated with typical stainless steel frets.

Stability and solid performance

Often guitars and basses are strung up for the first time after the fretwork and set-up have been completed. At F.C.G.R. after the necks are painted, we assemble the full instrument and tension up their strings for a few weeks - this allows the neck to settle into its final stable shape. Using a specially designed rig, we then adjust the frets with the neck in its final playing position, with the same curvature as when strings are present. Through this process we can achieve the highest standard for our fretwork, which cannot be achieved in mass-produced instruments.

Color

There is a story behind each of our original colours - and we continue to develop new ones all the time! Since the thickness, and type, of paint and lacquer used influences the resonance of the instrument, we can use our years of experience to produce a finish that brings out the character of your individual instrument. We welcome you to inspect our colour chart, and visit our showroom if possible to see our finishes in person. And if there are colours that you would like on your instrument and cannot see on our page - please let us know, we'll do our best meet your request.

Respect for the vintage tone, with a modern edge

The Retrospective series focuses on capturing the full range of sound and harmonic content, respecting the tone and colorful expressive power of vintage pickups. In addition, for the Retrospective series guitars, you have an option to select a "Vintage Fat" variant of the pickups, which emphasize the mid-low frequency response. For the basses, you also have the option to select pickups with a more modern voicing for enhanced low-end response, if that fits better with your musical vision.