Kawai F-Series Guitars
These guitars appear to have been in production in the early 1980's, ie following the KS series.
I've not been lucky enough to play one of these models (yet), but I'm still hopeful of tracking one down somewhere as they sound to be quite interesting instruments. If you have any of these models, then please let me know!
The F-1 was the top model in the range, using DiMarzio pickups and incorporating a lot of active electronics. The controls included a standard master volume and master tone control plus a standard 3-way pickup selector switch, and then added:- a pre-amp on/off switch
- a pre-amp level control
- a boost/distortion selector switch
- a vari-tone selector (the chicken head knob)
- a coil split switch
- a phase reversal switch
The F-1 was available in standard or Junior configurations, with the latter again using a 2-piece bridge & separate tailpiece.
Allegedly, the F-1 was also available as a 12-string and double neck (6+12 string) version.
The F-3 (the even numbers were used for basses - I might get round to adding some detail on those someday!) used solid Ash (left) or Koa (right) body wings around a similar 5-piece laminated through neck.
Rather than adding active electronics to standard pick-ups, this model used pickups with in-built pre-amps. Each pickup had its own tone and volume controls (the 4 standard control knobs) and added a 3-way switch to put each pickup in either "normal", "boost" or "distortion" mode.
Note that the F-3 had neither the coil split or phase selector options.
And finally ... the F-5 model. This used either Ash or Mahogany body wings around the through neck amd simplified the electronics further.
The 3 control knobs were separate volume controls plus a master tone control.
The 2 mini-toggle switches allowed either a coil split, or a "funky sound", which was presumably the phase reversal option from the F-1. The pickups themselves were branded "Kawai".
As well as the finishes shown, the F-5 was also available in Lemon, Blue, Cherry, Melon and Orange finishes. For some reason.