PRODUCT REVIEW
strings over the nut optimum for vibrato
use and tuning—and eliminating the need
for a string tree. The nut itself is made of
light-colored “Wilkaloid” (a self-lubricating
acetal resin unique to Fret-King) that maintains the vintage look with the advantages
of contemporary composite technology.
that separate this fella from the rest of the
“Strat” types.
Moving along the neck toward the bridge,
we find 22 medium frets, nicely polished and
shaped, and standard black position markers. The fingerboard has a lightly applied
satin clear finish and a radius of 10”, which
is a nice compromise between comfortable
chording and easy string bending. The neck
itself is the shallow ‘C’ that many contemporary players prefer, while the contrasting walnut “skunk stripe” maintains the vintage look.
The pickguard is laminated plastic with a
visually stunning material called “vintique
gold 24 carat” on top. It looks like something that might glaze an ancient vase from
a pharoah’s tomb and probably should be
treated with some care. The back of the
instrument reveals the vibrato spring cavity,
also covered with this material. The sustain
block has the usual holes for springs, but the
string-insertion holes are far from typical.
They are, in fact, part of the Wilkinson VSV
High Performance Vibrato System, and allow
the spring tension to be adjusted without the
backplate coming off—one of the features
Vibrato System
The VSV system factors in the variation of
saddle position on the bridge plate resulting from proper “octave” intonation of the
string itself. The string holes in the plate
also correspond to this positioning and
are relieved in the direction of the string,
as well, to minimize string breakage. VSV
uses formed and plated steel saddles with
a larger radius, upon which the string rolls
without sliding across or losing contact with
the saddle surface. The larger radius also
allows the heads of the string height adjustment screws to be positioned within, so
they don’t poke into the player’s hand while
palm-muting—a nice touch. The method of
octave adjustment employs a special tool
provided along with instructions (apparently
translated by the same Gotoh computer).
Fortunately, the methodology is simple and
intuitive. The bridge assembly pivots on
the typical 6-screw knife-edge fulcrum. The
other improvement worth mentioning is the
vibrato arm mount system. The push-in arm
simply slides into the hole and stays at whatever height you leave it, making it easy to
use with any particular picking style.
Electronics
There is the standard 5-position pickup
switch and three knobs, but the electronics are not completely standard, and their
innovation deserves mention. The proximal
knob is a Master Volume and has a silicon
“O” ring mounted in a groove a couple of
millimeters from the top of the knob, giving
