Fernandes R4 Randy Rhoads signature Les Paul copy

This guitar was made around 1990. I've owned it since new and it wasmade in Japan. It has 22 frets, a Floyd Rose trem, and bound frets. I have long since changed the original pick ups which were very good, to Seymour Duncan Full Shred pick ups. The body is cream coloured the same as Randy Rhoads. The neck is possibly the finest neck of any guitar I have ever played. Very slim actually and plays better than any PRS, Fender, Gibson or Ibanez, Manson, Dean, BC Rich, Jackson ,Charvel or my Palm Bay which I adore. The machine heads are provided by Gotoh. The neck also has standard frets. It's a Les Paul copy so you know roughly what you are getting! I can't remember what wood the body is or what wood the neck is other than I do remember the neck wood has been stained by the factory. It's not Rosewood I know that much. The guitar's body is slimmer than a real Les Paul and a whole lot lighter too!

I play Classic Metal, Classic Rock and Shred and some blues. This guitar has been used with every amp/speaker/effect combination you could possibly think of, from ADA MP1'S to Mesa Boogie MK2's through Marshall stacks/combos, Crate's, Hiwatt's, Randall, Sessions, Rat HotRods, and Laney's. Curiously it's not been through any Fender amps! This guitar with the standard pickup's sounded very much like a standard Les Paul if a little bit darker. Very Slash circa 1987, like a Les Paul then! The note and string detail has always been very good with either the Seymour Duncan's or the standard pickups, particularly with the Seymour Duncan's which gave the guitar a much nicer fatter clearer sound with a tad more sustain the original pickups sometimes sounded quite dark especially on the neck position. You do lose some of the sustain with the Floyd Rose but it is a nice trade off it's a very lively sound with the Seymour's whilst being nice and tight but not overly so. As it goes, it sounds like a hot rodded Les Paul and is a fine sounding example of what a budget Les Paul can sound like. Yes as good as the real thing, and let me tell you i've played more than my fair share of Gibson Les Paul's!

Superb build quality, great standard pick ups everything was of a supreme build quality. In fact all of the Gibson Les Paul's from the mid 1970's to the late 1990's weren't all that well made, and once again the Japanese attention to detail showed how things should be done! (Tokai especially!)

Well i've played alot of gigs using this as my sole guitar and only broke a string once, maybe twice. It's nearly or is 20 years old and still has all the original parts except the pick ups. Can I depend on it? Well I have for 19 years so I suppose, yes I can! Ahh the Gold plating is coming off the trem. It's taken 19 years to do it though!

Never dealt with them.

I had been playing for 12 years before I took a 12 year sabbatical from it, and I started playing again around 4 years ago. If it were stolen it's not entirely beyond the realms that I would kill to get it back! This guitar has been with me through good times and bad times just like my favourite records and as it was a very limited run it's irreplacible. I have only ever seen one more of these guitars and it didn't have the trem. There is nothing to hate or dislike about this guitar other than it can be a tad noisy when recording high gain sounds. The only other guitar I looked at was the um...Tokai Les Paul Reborn, which was a hundred quid cheaper than this and is now around ??3000 more expensive to pick up used! Doh!! That said, this does have the most beautiful neck on any guitar at any price I have ever played, it really it just effortless!! The string tension with 009-.42's is just so slack. You can play for hours upon hours and not get sore fingers. It really is achingly beautiful to play.When I play it, for a moment I am Randy Rhoads. It's my dearest friend.