The high-class electric guitars of the FAME Forum series are manufactured in small series Danzig by experienced guitar builders at the renowned noble forge M-Guitars ( Mayones ) - by hand! The instruments come directly to us without middlemen, each guitar is unique. The Music Store Cologne offers FAME Forum guitars exclusively and at incredibly low direct prices!
FAME focuses on quality and appearance with solid and selected Premium woods instead of using only wafer-thin glued-on wood veneers. The carefully selected maple top of the Forum models is bookmatched and finished optically with a natural binding. All woods used are stored at FAME over a long period of time and dried naturally. Fortunately, FAME does not have an artificial fast-drying process, as is widely used today to process large masses!
In sound the guitars are real all-rounders. The popular Seymour Duncan SH4 and SH2 Humbucker , with their warm and full sound, can be switched to Singlecoil operation thanks to the Mini switch. The mahogany body in combination with the maple top provides a transparent, assertive and crisp sound. From funky to Metal board you can tickle out all imaginable sounds. A glued-in maple neck in a pleasantly playable 'D' profile rounds off the FAME Forum and guarantees long sustain. In addition, all FAME Forum IV models have high-quality Hardware Schaller M6 mechanics and a Piezo pick-up in the Schaller GTM Piezo bridge, which can be used to create quite authentic acoustic guitar sounds.
"How does Music Store manage to offer this guitar at this price, despite the massive top, Seymour Duncan humbuckers and Schaller - Hardware for this price? ..."In short, the guitar has good resonance characteristics, can be played comfortably, delivers excellent, versatile sounds, has been processed in an exemplary manner and also offers something for the eye!
I bought this guitar and had a chance to play with it and experiment a bit with all possible configurations.
FIrst off, you notice out of the box the amazing construction and craftsmanship quality of this guitar... I am used to other guitars, including USA-made and "masterbuild" editions, but this one has nothing less in comparison... on the contrary, it makes you proud that europe is actually producing guitars with such quality.
The neck is very confortable, ever so slightly thicker than the Fender Modern C profile... which in my opinion is better because I get some discomfort on Fender necks from being too thin.
Then come the fretwork... action is set up really low and there is no buzz whatsoever. I think these guitars may be PLEK'd as part of their setup, because the work is really precise and all notes have amazing sustain even when bending. NO CHOKING!!!
Finally the pickups... I had no chance to fully test the Piezo yet, but it does sound the same when I compare it to the piezo in my acoustic guitar. The Seymour Duncans are amazing, specially the SH4 JB... really powerful and in combination with SH2 on the neck, there are no limits on the tones you can achieve.
As additional remarks:
- Schaller Tuners are really perfect
- Tailpiece is positioned in a body carving, which reduces string angle to the bridge, really smart move for increased sustain and decrease string tension. (unfortunately, you may have to raise the tailpiece every time you need to change strings)
- Schaller strap-locks are my favorite, but somehow one of the heads I have since a long time does not lock completely on the top strap button. I think the screw is not 100% in, so the screw head touches the locking head. I need to screw it a bit more later on (I tested other Schaller locking heads and they all work fine on this guitar).
- I hate sunburst color generally speaking, but this one is really unique and it's the best looking guitar I have now.
- Some people say the guitar is heavy, but I find it really light... I even have a heavier Fender Strat, so it's a matter of opinion I suppose.
To summarize: If I buy more guitars in the future, I will ALWAYS look into Fame Forum first, instead of other brands! You simply cannot get any better than this, considering the price for a handmade guitar.
I have it for a little bit than a month now and I haven't touch my other guitars since. It's just a great guitar, there is no aspect of it that I dislike. I have to say that I use to play on an ibanez S 470 and the gap (not the same price range) is quite important, but it stil feels really amaizing. The sound is great, I play it on a tiny terror with a Marshal speaker and it has a very versatile personality. I play different styles and it sounds good wether you're trying to have a really warm and clear sound or a heavy distortion one. It's also really comfortable to play and I was quite astonished by its weight (feels pretty light to me for its size). Also the sustain is great. I cannot say a word about the piezzo as I have not used it. In conclusion a great guitar for a great price. If you care more about your sound than the name appearing on the head of your guitar I would deffinitelly recomand you the forum IV.