Following an enforced hiatus, Fret-King guitars re-launched in early 2008 with an exciting new range of electric guitar and bass models. The brainchild of guitar design guru Trev Wilkinson, the new high-end Green Label instruments are hand-built at the Fret-King Custom Shop in Southport, Lancashire.
These years of knowledge and experience are the essence of Fret-King’s ‘authentic vintage construction’, and imbue his guitars with that true ‘vintage vibe’. Built with either a hand-selected, two-piece centre-jointed alder or swamp ash body, the Fret-King Corona is a classic combination of aesthetic and tonal perfection.
This model of the Corona range is an outstanding stratocaster inspired guitar which is so much more than just another strat clone. It has two single-coil Strat-style pickups in the neck and middle positions, and a nickelsilver covered humbucker in the bridge position. It features the Wilkinson VSV High Performance Vibrato System which sets a new standard in quality and something that Trev Wilkinson has been renowned for since his work with Patrick Eggle Guitars. In keeping with the vintage stratocaster tradition, this model has a familiar and comfortable shallow ‘C’ profile maple neck with 25 1/2″ scale length.
The tuners are Wilkinson/ Gotoh “Easy Lock,†similar in style to vintage Klusons. The guitar also has the essential 22 medium frets, beautifully polished and shaped with standard black position markers. The fingerboard has a lightly applied satin clear finish and a radius of 10â€,
The pickups have that lovely vintage Strat sound and the humbucker give that smooth sound perfect for classic rock and metal tones. The “Vari-coil†feature is also a rather unique and special feature on the third knob. This is an unmarked special control that allows continuous “panning†between single coil and full humbucker. Whilst it’s not unusual to have a two-position switch between single coil and humbucker (common to many manufacturers such as ESP and Schector) this seems to be the first time a variable amount of each has been made available to guitarists. It certainly allows for some interesting tonal variations that are unique to this instrument.
The Fret-King Corona 60 HB appears to be fine reimagining of the Fender Stratocaster with some great new features that many guitarists will find irresistable.
Here’s Trev talking about the Green Label Corona 60 HB.
Fret King Green Label Corona 60 HB Video Review
Musikmesse Frankfurt 2008
