Part of the Fret-King® heritage which we really cherish is our long association with the father of Fret-King, Trev Wilkinson with both guitar hardware and guitar pickups.
Each element of a guitar has a job to do, and arguably the most important element is the pickup, that apparently simple device which has the crucial job of beginning the journey of the players emotions to the audience.
The 1950's, halfway through the last century was a very interesting time for the still nascent solid body electric guitar. As the decade progressed there was a push from guitar players who wanted to get their archtops louder, to compete with the power of the big bands they were playing in led to an explosion of technology in magnetic pickup, amplification and guitar design.
During that decade, as the solid body guitar started to become more prevalent and players segued from archtops to solid body guitars, what we now colloquially refer to as “The Soapbar” style of pickup was invented, to be followed just a few years later, by the development of the twin coil pickup, designed for practical reasons, to cancel, (or ‘buck’), the inducted hum from guitar amplifier transformer fields and the high voltage stage lighting in use at the time.
Who would know that that inspired an eminently practical configuration which would become the basis of a sound which is now one of the guitar industry’s benchmark pickup tones?
The Fret-King Fifty-Five™ is wound and constructed to a very authentic recipe. Featuring Alnico V magnets for a rounded and dynamic fundamental tone, wound with .42AWG wire, with potted coils to enhance hum rejection, with a solid nickel silver back plate and pickup cover to let it breath and speak with clarity and a natural undistorted voice…until pushed!
Fitted to; Corona Classic, Elise Custom.
It’s true to say that electric guitar pickups sound somewhat like they look. The Fret-King® Focusfield™ mini double coil pickup has all the electromechanical properties of full-size double coil pickups, and the power. Featuring Alnico V magnets wound with .42AWG wire, with potted coils to enhance hum rejection. Solid nickel silver back plate and pickup cover lets the pickup breathe and speak with clarity and the magnetic energy of the Focusfield is more tightly controlled, producing a distinctively rich tone, with more midrange, for snappy, clear harmonically rich clean tones and distorted tones with a musical, mid-based edge.
Fitted to; Country Squire Semi Tone De Luxe, Eclat Custom.
Fret-King’s hot one, with a twist.
Featuring hi-output ceramic magnets, wound with 42AWG wire to a nominal resistance of 7.7k VG, DC this powerful combination provides a harmonically rich fundamental tone with tight punchy lower frequency response. The solid nickel silver back plate and pickup cover lets the pickup breath and speak clearly whilst the 3+3 staggered coil screws allow for micro adjustment of treble and bass response.
Fitted to; Country Squire Classic.
The Fret-King® Prizefighter™ is a pugilist of a pickup. Overwound, assertive, raring to go, producing monster tone which needs to be kept on a very tight leash.
Featuring Alnico V magnets wound with .42AWG wire wound to a nominal resitance of 14k VG, DC with potted coils to enhance hum rejection. The solid nickel silver back plate and pickup cover lets the Prizefighter breath freely and punch hard, with bright split coil tones that retain plenty of output, outstandingly sweet highs that clean up magnificently and a searing, fat, mid-range rich lead tone.
Fitted to; Corona Custom.
Pre-dating the iconic 1955 twin coil by nearly a decade, the single coil “Soapbar” style pickup is unique and massively versatile, with a construction, output, and tonality somewhere in-between a double coil and single coil.
Overdriven or clean the Fret-King® Soapstack™, with its hybrid Alnico V and Ceramic magnet stacked twin coil design, takes the “Soapbar” concept to another level, offering additional power and breadth and enhancing both tone and dynamics.
Cleaned up, there’s a fat, full tone, ideal for jazz and blues. With the additional coils rolled in, the tone gets fatter still, with a little more grunt and a more focussed top end. There’s a smoothness to the Soapstack, and a controllable bite that can be driven to a hard edge.
Fitted to; Corona Custom, Eclat Standard.
The HOT single coil which captures the essence and character the classic Texas blues tone. Built using an Alnico V magnet overwound with 42 AWG wire wire, the Fret-King® Dallas Special™ has a focussed, vintage tone which embodies the hard driven, powerful edge of one of the most dynamic styles of music.
Fitted to; Corona Custom, Country Squire Semitone De Luxe & Music Row.
Aged to perfection, the Fret-King® Vintage Sixty™ is emblematic of that golden era of the single coil, when the crystal clear, glassy, beautifully articulated ‘sounds of the sixties’ from both sides of the Atlantic are just so embedded in our psyches and one of those sounds. Alnico V magnets wound with 42AWG wire, 4.8mm staggered, chamfered edge pole pieces all come together to create a classic tonality, which can also be pushed as hard as you like.
Fitted to; Corona Classic.
The Fret-King® Country Road™ has plenty of that. Designed for vintage style neck position rhythm tone, with warmth and clarity, the Country Road perfectly captures the vibe of the era.
Fitted to; Country Squire Music Row & Stealth.
1950, what a year for the electric guitar. The Fret-King® Tapped-Fifty® was created to emulate that benchmark tone and then add a contemporary twist.
Alnico V magnets and a two-stage wind offers a continuously variable palette of voices covering fifty years of guitar tone history. With the lower 6k in play, you’ll hear that clear, bright, full bodied, vintage voice, where “the twang’s the thang”. Wind in the additional 3k of winds, and experience a bigger, fatter more powerful true single coil tone, with enhanced low end.
Fitted to; Country Squire Classic, Modern Classic, Music Row & Stealth.
Unique to the Fret-King® Tone Meister™, the Tone Meister A2C™ neck single coil pickup uses Alnico II magnets for a more definitive vintage tone with Corona neck pickup spacing. Tonally fixed in the vintage era, the A2C provides a warm, clearly defined neck pickup voice, suitable for a wide range of styles.
Fitted to; Country Squire Tone Meister.
Unique to the Fret-King® Tone Meister™ the Tone Meister Sixty™, bridge pickup uses Alnico II magnets, for a more definitive vintage tone, and chamfered edge, staggered height pole pieces for focus and dynamic balance. The end result: a hot classic, which effortlessly blends musical treble attack with vintage ‘twang’.
Fitted to; Country Squire Tone Meister.
Fret-King's hot one. Hi-output ceramic magnets, wound with 42AWG wire to a nominal resistance of 7.7k VG, DC this powerful combination provides a harmonically rich fundamental tone with tight punchy lower frequency response. The solid nickel silver back plate and pickup cover lets the pickup breath freely and speak clearly.
Fitted to; Country Squire Semitone De Luxe.
Used in conjunction with single coil pickups in the Country Squire Stealth, the Bukka™ coils help to cancel, (or ‘buck’), the inducted hum from guitar amplifier transformer fields and other sources of radio frequency interference. Used creatively, the Bukka™ coils can also provide a subtly expanded tonal palette.
Fitted to; Country Squire Stealth.
Built from-the-ground-up to be a unique beast, two rows of Alnico V magnets come together to create a big, thick and growly tone. Complete with hum-cancelling performance, this pickup is the perfect blend of strong dynamics and rich overtones.
Fitted to; Perception Custom Bass.