Fret King

[Rayman]

I’m curious, being into my retro and weird looking gear….. does anyone have much experience with Trev Wilkinsons Fret King basses? What’s the difference between Black, blue and silver label models? And are they any good? I love the aesthetics, just wondering what they’re like?

[iconic]

Friend of mine has a Fret King Union Jack (Union Flag) acoustic steel string and really rather good. Bought from Thomann. 😎

[tauzero]

12 hours ago, Rayman said:

I’m curious, being into my retro and weird looking gear….. does anyone have much experience with Trev Wilkinsons Fret King basses? What’s the difference between Black, blue and silver label models? And are they any good? I love the aesthetics, just wondering what they’re like?

 

Is that a different Fret King to the one that makes a line of extremely boring Fender clones?

[Cato]

I think a few years ago Fret King were doing a couple of more quirky models.

 

The current range seems very much based on Fender and Gibson body shapes albeit with a few unusual pickup combos which give them a sort of retro 'pawn shop' vibe.

 

There only seems to be one bass in the current range, a sort of skinny jazz bass with humbuckers.

[BigRedX]

Unfortunately there's lots of different FretKings and navigating your way through all the variations can be difficult.

 

I've got an original "by Eggle" Esprit V Guitar, from the days when they were being made in a workshop behind Musical Exchanges in Birmingham. This is just before Trevor Wilkinson got involved with the company. It's a wonderful instrument, and even though I asked them to do something slightly different to their standard built it has turned out to be everything I wanted. At the time I was after a Firebird, but the current Gibson versions were all horrible and an original one was beyond my means; this was easily a suitable alternative. When I had by big musical instrument clear-out all my guitars were sold apart from this and my Gus G1.

 

However I did also try the prototype version of the bass with the same body shape and it was an unmanageable lump - imagine all the worst aspects of a Thunderbird ramped up to 10. 

 

Gratuitous photo of the guitar: 

 

 

[Rayman]

Ooooh the Esprit is what I’m talking about! Love that shape. There’s a Candy Apple Blue version in the new range, that love the look of, coming in under £500. Nothing like the quality of yours of course, but I’d love to try one.

 

 I’m not sure if Trev Wilkinson = decent or budget in terms of parts, I don’t know much about him or his company.

[Rayman]

1 hour ago, tauzero said:

 

Is that a different Fret King to the one that makes a line of extremely boring Fender clones?

I guess it’s really only the Esprit bass I’m interested in…. there’s a few on the used market, but are they any good? And what’s all the blue, green, black label stuff all about? Different levels of quality? Dunno

[ezbass]

18 minutes ago, Rayman said:

I guess it’s really only the Esprit bass I’m interested in…. there’s a few on the used market, but are they any good? And what’s all the blue, green, black label stuff all about? Different levels of quality? Dunno

The labels were, as you’ve guessed, levels of quality, based on country of manufacturer. I tried an FK many, many years ago (can’t remember what level or model, maybe a Perception) and I remember it being somewhat clunky and workmanlike, not adding anything to what was available from the mainstream producers. Things may have changed of course. A quick look at the website reveals that they are very, very guitar centric, with just a nod to the low end community.

[BigRedX]

Wilkinson parts have a pretty good reputation. However at the time he got involved with the FretKing company the perception was that the overall design strategy was getting more mainstream which was a pity as when they started FretKing were one of the few guitar companies that were offering something noticeably different to the run of the mill copies.

 

If you are interested in a FretKing Esprit bass, you'll need to try one and see if it suits you. The one I tried which was  the first production prototype was horribly clunky and very heavy.  However the electronics were a lot more interesting - IIRC it had two Thunderbird type pickups in the standard Thunderbird locations but also a mudbucker at the neck, so lots of tonal possibilities. However it was very big and cumbersome compared with my 36" scale Overwater Original which was of a similar appearance but with a lot more finesse.

[Rayman]

Cheers, yeah trying one could be difficult, but I’ll keep my eyes peeled on the used market. I remember Gordon Smith guitars being decent workman like guitars, maybe these are similar, don’t know. I’ll do some more digging.

[BigRedX]

You'll probably have to settle for something second-hand. I've just looked at the FretKing website and the current range are all basically copies of Fender and Gibson models. If you want a Telecaster or Stratocaster shaped guitar with a slightly different pickup configuration then you are in luck. Unfortunately all the original designs including the Esprit have gone.

[Rayman]

Yep, I'm watching a couple of used ones online..... 

[Mike Brooks]

This might help....

[BigRedX]

Except the most recent versions don't have much in common with that one apart from the body shape.

Edited April 4, 2023 by BigRedX