EXstar (Excel) by Fuzzy Steel Guitar

Anthony Parish · From: Austin

I'm looking to connect with any players who are using an EXstar (Excel) by Fuzzy Steel Guitar in Japan. I haven't been able to find any information about this model online. I have had some email dialog with Mitsuo Fujii, and he has provided some great information. I want to learn more from other players, especially how you handle split tuning. If you are using one of these EXstar models, please let me know. Thanks!
Tony Parish

Benjamin Poilve · From: France

I have one as well !

Its a great guitar, but I have to say I'm quite a new player, so current split sound good enough for me (it's a standard E9). I have to say tuning stability is phenomenal, when I received it, it was playable straight from the box.

Only slight mistake on my part, I initially put the pedal rod the wrong way in, which resulted in a bit of grind on the inner steel plate, but nothing significant. Other question, do you have in-built tools? Do you feel maybe the holding force is a bit much? I was thinking about replacing the inner holding plate by something magnetic to make it easier.

Happy to share experiences on that great model.

K Maul · From: Hadley, NY/Hobe Sound, FL

Letâ€™s see more pictures! How long has this model been out? I am an EXCEL owner and love mine.
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KEVIN MAUL: Airline, Beard, Clinesmith, Donner, Evans, Excel, Fender, Fluger, GFI, Gibson, Hilton, Ibanez, Justice, K+K, Live Strings, MOYO, National, Oahu, Peterson, Quilter, Rickenbacher, Sho~Bud, Supro, TC, Ultimate, VHT, Williams, X-otic, Yamaha, ZKing.

Benjamin Poilve · From: France

This steel was made this summer !

At first it was supposed to be a standard superb model but Mitsuo proposed the EXstar finish. He was really nice and brilliantly accommodated my request for the custom colour scheme and wristpad.

I took a picture just now, but let me know what you would like to see specifically !

This is a brilliant guitar, and perfectly fitted my needs since it's easy to carry around with the molded case.

scott murray · From: Asheville, NC

I ordered mine at the end of July and true to his word, Mitsuo had it built and shipped in 2 months time. I've had it for a few weeks now and I'm just so happy with it. I originally requested a D-10 with 10x10 which Mitsuo described as "easy" to make. as the build progressed I decided to basically max it out with 10x14. Mitsuo was a great communicator and very patient with me as I continued requesting copedent changes along the way. the guitar fits me like a glove, Mitsuo asked for photos and measurements of my Emmons and built it accordingly.

the guitar weighs 37 lbs, just under 49 in the case. compared to my Emmons (10x11) which is 51 lbs and 68 in the case it's basically a 20 lb difference loading in and out.

I've never used splits but I notice there are some available on this guitar so maybe I will start. I also don't like half-stops so I've got a couple extra levers with changes that probably could've been included as half-stops, but that's how I roll.

confession time:
the only thing I didn't love about this guitar was the new name ExStar, so I made a modification. I've always loved the name Fuzzy and the appearance of a lightning bolt between the two z's made a cool design element I thought. forgive me Mitsuo! Winking

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1965 Emmons S-10, 3x5 • Emmons LLIII D-10, 10x12 • JCH D-10, 10x12 • Beard MA-8 • Oahu Tonemaster

Billy McCombs · From: Bakersfield California, USA

What do these sale for?
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78 Emmons PP,Great tone.82 Emmons SKH #56

scott murray · From: Asheville, NC

I was quoted $5590 for a D-10 starting with 8x5
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1965 Emmons S-10, 3x5 • Emmons LLIII D-10, 10x12 • JCH D-10, 10x12 • Beard MA-8 • Oahu Tonemaster

Colin Swinney · From: Wisconsin, USA

These guitars look great. Is it common for keyless models to have the string ends reversed like that with the tuners on the changer end? Or is that a strictly an Excel thing? It looks very clean and not as funky as keyless sometimes look.

scott murray · From: Asheville, NC

I know Mitsuo's keyless system has evolved over time. I believe this is his first model where the ball end installs at the opposite end of the changer. here's another photo of the changer end

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1965 Emmons S-10, 3x5 • Emmons LLIII D-10, 10x12 • JCH D-10, 10x12 • Beard MA-8 • Oahu Tonemaster

Mike Vallandigham · From: Martinez, CA

Most keyless Excels have the ball end of the string captured in the keyless tuner end, then the pointy end of the string is clamped/wrapped and locked in teh changer finger.

This is going back at least 15 years.

Beautiful guitars. I have two S-12s (E9/C6) and I love them both.

Benjamin Poilve · From: France

I don't know for sure that it is the first model with the tuning on the changer side, but the Fuzzy website still lists the instruction for the 2014 version with the tuning on the "head" side: https://fuzzypsg.com/int/product.html

It does not seem to me that there is any difference restringing the guitar (except for the tuning side), but I still have to try it.

Regarding the price, I payed around 3500$ for the S10, and since you have to pay import fee whether it's from the USA or Japan, I would say this is a quite attractive offer for European players.

Mike Vallandigham · From: Martinez, CA

Benjamin,
Is there no tuning at the headstock side on your green guitar?

That would be new-ish. Can you post a close-up photo of your keyless headstock?

Mitsuo did make a few guitars, maybe 10-12 years ago that had all of the business at the changer. With thumb wheels to do the final tuning. It was quite a thing.

My 2018 guitar has the barrels on the changer fingers, like the photos above, but those are only for taking up slack. Final tuning is done at the keyhead with a regular tuning wrench.

Fact is, Mitsuo has never made the same guitar twice. I'd bet real money that there are no two alike. He is constantly changing things. I thought I knew it all and then these new ExStar guitars come up here, there are quite a few differences from the guitars he was making until about a year ago.

Mitsuo is a mechanical genius. Never resting.

Mike Vallandigham · From: Martinez, CA

AHA! I found the photo. This is Carl Dixon's guitar. From 2009.
It's a 12 string, and you can see, that the free end of teh string locks in the keyhead (not really a keyhead now?) and the ball end is in the changer. final tuning is done with those thumb wheels.

I think Mitsuo only made very few of these. I think I've only seen like two in photos. It's a mechanical masterpiece.

Ian Rae · From: Redditch, England

I have a 2017 model where the tuning is still done at the headstock. It works perfectly and I see no pressing need to move that function to the other end, although if the design were refined it could save a little length overall. (As it is the head end just seems to be the same as mine but with the adjusters removed, leaving some empty space.) But I would be interested to see more detailed pictures of this latest design to see how it works. It seems to be the Japanese way to keep trying new things.
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Make sleeping dogs tell the truth!
Homebuilt keyless U12 7x5, Excel keyless U12 8x8, Williams keyless U12 7x8, Telonics rack and 15" cabs

Benjamin Poilve · From: France

Here is a close-up of the headstock, and as you can see there is nothing there, this part is only holding the string end part.

I'd say Scott's guitar is the same, with everything on the changer side. I don't know the rational behind this choice but this is for sure easy to tune and very stable.

Benjamin Poilve · From: France

I'd even say that Scott's guitar is probably more recent, since there is a routing on the low B string to allow for tuning with the provided tool.

On mine there is a slight defect, since tuning pegs are slightly asymmetrical, the provided tool can not fit between the lower part of the changer and the tuning peg. This is not a big issue since you can still tune it with the provided Allen key, but the fact that I can see the routing on Scott's guitar makes me think that it was built after mine!

Mike Vallandigham · From: Martinez, CA

Interesting. Thanks for posting a photo!

It looks like you and I have the same color Aluminum on our guitars. Here's my 2018 S12.

Mike Vallandigham · From: Martinez, CA

So from looking at it, looks like the top row of barrels are for taking up the slack and anchoring the string, and then the lower row are for tuning.

So the lower row tunes the string by rotating one internal part of teh finger, but not the bits that mate with the pull rods, etc.

Frikin' slick.

It's a wonder Mitsuo ever gets anything done with all the innovation he's always doing.

Amazing.

It's really similar to the red guitar I posted, but instead of thumb wheels there are the lower row of tuners.

Benjamin Poilve · From: France

You are spot on with your analysis, the top row indeed works as some sort of pre-pull to tune the strings. The mechanism looks similar to the rest of the changer, you can even see the screwheads of a top line of springs right below the tuning peg, that seems to be balancing the "tuning" part of the changer (this is a guess).

I still don't really understand how that tuning does not affect the rest of the all-pull changer, but it does not.

That blue guitar is wonderful ! I'd say mine is a tad greener, but it's hard to say only through pictures.

Mike Vallandigham · From: Martinez, CA

I think that the fine tuning part only rotates the top of the finger, where the string rides, amongst the lower scissor parts of the fingers. Really cool.

That's a bad photo, your photos look more like the actual color of my guitar.

Thanks for posting a pic of teh changer. Very interesting to look at.

Patrick Huey · From: Nacogdoches, Texas, USA

I had the pleasure of spending an hour in Mr. Fuji's company for an hour or so at the TSGA Jamboree three years ago. Bit of a language barrier but we overcame that as best we could and it was one of the most enjoyable hours I've ever spent. Mr. Fuji is as kind and personable a man as I have ever met. And engineering? He is a most innovative genius. Any of his guitars are well built, superbly designed masterpieces and rock solid.
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Pre RP Mullen D10 8/7, Zum 3/4, Carter S-10 3/4, previous Cougar SD-10 3/4 & GFI S-10 3/4, Fender Steel King, 2 Peavey Session 500's, Peavey Nashville 400, Boss DD-3, Profex-II, Hilton Digital Sustain, '88 Les Paul Custom,Epiphone MBIBG J-45, Fender Strat & Tele's, Takamine acoustics, Marshall amps, Boss effects, Ibanez Tube Screamer, and it all started with an old cranky worn out Kay acoustic you could slide a Mack truck between the strings and fretboard on!!

Patrick Huey · From: Nacogdoches, Texas, USA

Chris Templeton · From: The Green Mountain State

When I was, In Japan in 1990, I went to Mitsuo's shop no pick up my new guitar. He had an assistant, Wataru, who new enough english to get by, so he was very helpful with translations.
He also had a nice bigger room that also served as a performance space.
I've posted this pic before, but here is Mitsuo putting some finishing touches on my "hybrid" guitar, as someone called it:

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Excel 3/4 Pedal With An 8 String Hawaiian Neck, Sierra Tapper (10 string with a raised fretboard to fret with fingers), Single neck Fessenden 3/5
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scott murray · From: Asheville, NC

sure thing Patrick! Mitsuo sent these photos just before completion

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1965 Emmons S-10, 3x5 • Emmons LLIII D-10, 10x12 • JCH D-10, 10x12 • Beard MA-8 • Oahu Tonemaster

Patrick Huey · From: Nacogdoches, Texas, USA

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