Their choice of instruments
can be incredibly conservative.
There’s so much nostalgia out
there that if the companies
that tend to be associated with
major players try to innovate or
make things different or better,
people say, “Well, that’s not
a real such-and-such guitar
now because you’ve changed
the bridge, you’ve changed
the tuners, and you’ve changed
the pickups.”
Fret-King doesn’t have an old
brand that we can damage by
trying something new. We have a
new brand that certainly pays its
respects to past icons. But we can
make changes and improvements
to those guitars because there’s no
preconceived ideas about what a
Fret-King should look like.
So tell us a little more about
the Fret-King product line.
There are probably about seven or
eight major models in the series
in various shapes. You’ve got your
classic single-cut and double-cut
bolt-ons, you’ve got your classic
single-cut set necks, and you’ve
got some basses in there, and a
couple of, shall we say, slightly
more unusually shaped guitars.
We’re influenced by guitar
shapes that are ergonomic and
comfortable. And then we
mix and match elements of
those guitars in order to give
somebody what I feel is a professional sounding guitar. We
seem to have done it right so far
because nobody says the guitars
are no good [laughs]. I think we
take people forward, but we do
pay homage to the past of our
industry without being tied to
it and without being restricted
by what is in our past. The
reality of it is—and I’ve used
Black Cat OD- 1 The famous Freddie Fuzz
Black Cat MINI TREM
Dual function
Tremolo/Clean Boost
Black Cat SUPER FUZZ
Modernized version
of the Univox classic
Black Cat BASS OCTAVE FUZZ
Based on the Maestro
Bass Brassmaster
“I want a
Black Cat
so bad”
Black Cat BEE BUZZ
Rip Roaring Fuzz/Boost
based on the Bee Baa
Black Cat OD-FUZZ
OD- 1 and Silicon
Fuzz Face in one box
WWW.BLACKCATPEDALS.COM BOUTIQUE GUITAR EFFECTS SINCE 1993 MADE IN THE USA 203.764.2644
182 PREMIER GUITAR DECEMBER 2011
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2/15/11 9: 47 PM
