The Fame Forum IV presents the most luxurious equipment of the Gdansk smithy and presents itself as a superlative electric guitar. High-quality components from renowned manufacturers such as Schaller or Seymour Duncan come together in Forum IV and form an extremely flexible setup between piezo and humbucker sounds with indestructible hardware in the form of security locks and famous M6 mechanics. Last but not least, the Forum IV series benefits from the best tonewood selection in the form of a fine curly maple top and the best mahogany and rosewood for body and fretboard.
Exquisite, powerful and vivid, the beautifully grained and high-quality curly maple top of the Fame Forum IV Satin SD Translucent Amber shimmers through. For this purpose, of course, only the best maple wood with a present and uniform flame is used. The two-piece surface of the body is finally curved, so that both players and hardware can"dive" into the body for the incomparable playing feel of the Fame Forum IV Satin. Finally, the body is finished with a harmonious natural binding.
Especially for the technicians among us, the neck with its individual profile and the different finish variants is probably the most important aspect when choosing the new instrument. So it was all the more important in Gdansk to design a classic'C' profile in a slim and agile design, but with enough wood for emotional bends. The result is amazingly nimble from headstock to neck foot, while vibrato bendings and the traditional blues attitude of the legendary instruments of the 50s and 60s are easy to play. The glued and satin neck has a long neck pin (Long Neck Tenon), which is glued under the neck pickup and improves sustain, neck position and stability immensely.
Besides tone wood and pickups, the hardware equipment of the Fame Forum IV SD satin can also be seen! The popular combination of a TOM-Style GTM piezo bridge with stopbar comes from the traditional Schaller company as well as the famous M6 tuners at the other end of the instrument, which stand for many years of functional readiness. The solid machine heads with wear-free brass adjusting axles are still considered the model par excellence for classic closed machine heads. All hardware of the Fame Forum IV comes in a uniform chrome design!
He is one of the great pioneers in the development of electric guitars: Seymour Duncan is inseparably linked to his innovations and has become synonymous with the convincing and articulative sound of his pickups. Fames Forum IV SD models are equipped with a SH-4 JB Model Humbucker on the bridge and a SH-2n Jazz on the neck. The classic setup from Seymour's US production has been convincing for decades with the perfect sound of modern styles, not least thanks to warm lead voice on the neck and tight and clearly defined punch on the bridge.
If you are looking for the genuine clean sound for softer minutes, you can switch to piezo mode using the volume potentiometer's push/pull function. This activates the piezo pickup in the Schaller GTM piezo bridge.
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.