Fret-King

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Fret-King by Trev Wilkinson booth at Musikmesse Frankfurt 2013.

Fret-King is a UK manufacturer of stringed instruments and musical accessories, originally conceived by guitar designer Trevor Wilkinson in the early 1990s. The company manufactures electric and bass guitars mostly along traditional lines, their instruments patterned on 1950s American designs such as the Les Paul, Stratocaster and Telecaster albeit with non-standard pickup configurations as well as Gibson-style hollow-bodies,[1] although it has made instruments with a less traditional shape.[2]

Since 2008, the Fret-King brand has been owned by UK musical instrument distributors John Hornby Skewes and Co. Ltd. (JHS), and is based in Garforth, Leeds.

Fret-King has designed signature model guitars for a number of artists including Jerry Donahue, John Etheridge, Gordon Giltrap, John Verity, John Jorgenson,[3] Elliott Randall and Danny Bryant.[4]

Notable guitarists who have supported Fret-King guitars include Manic Street Preachers guitarist, James Dean Bradfield, Parker Lundgren, Gavin Coulson of Oliver/Dawson Saxon, Jeff Brown of Cats In Space[5] and Andrew Pipe of The Mentulls.[6]

Trevor Wilkinson parted ways with JHS in 2018.[7][8][9]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Fret-King: 2023 Collection". Fret-King. John Hornby Skewes & Co. Ltd. Retrieved 7 January 2024.
  2. ^ Dave Burrluck (16 March 2020). "Fret-King 'Black Label' Country Squire Semitone Special review". guitarworld. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
  3. ^ "NAMM 2019: Fret-King updates its John Jorgenson signature model". 11 January 2019.
  4. ^ "Danny Bryant Signature Fret-King Guitar".
  5. ^ "Jeff Brown / Artists / JHS". www.jhs.co.uk. Archived from the original on 19 October 2020. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  6. ^ "Andrew Pipe / Artists / JHS". www.jhs.co.uk. Archived from the original on 18 September 2020. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  7. ^ Leonard, Michael (5 September 2014). "James Dean Bradfield's guitar collection". MusicRadar. Retrieved 13 February 2019.
  8. ^ "Builder Profile: Trev Wilkinson". Premier Guitar. 16 November 2011. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  9. ^ Barrett, Andy (22 February 2008). "COMPANY PROFILE - Fret King". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 13 October 2015.