Fret King Esprit EU

o.k- this is hopefully my last submission!
I`ve since been back in touch with fret king.There seems to have been a problem with e-mails previously- they`ve now taken the guitar back and have been good enough to sort out the problems free of charge-it now plays very sweetly indeed. I`m pretty sure I had a one off rogue guitar, and ,as it is now, I can thoroughly recommend it

at least
played Sept 2004.Build probably 2003 in Czech. The most beautyful adaption of the firebird, I could think of. 3 P 90 Alnico V PickUps perfectly balanced, 5 way switch,Volume- and Tone-Control. Body three piece Korina (light!)brilliantly shaped. Neck (and headstock of) one piece Maple , profile vintage "C". Scale length 25", 22Med Jumbo Frets, Gotoh Tuners. Frets individually crowned. 8 degree Headstock. Tunamatic Bridge, vintage stop tail.

If it is P 90 your looking for, here it is. Tone Control makes you feel like a painter. It`s subtle, warm, full fire. Being a synthesist some 20 years I may say, I wish synthies had a Tone Control working like this. It`s not a Paula, it's not a Strat or Tele, it`s the best of both worlds. Playing clean or distorted a great variety of sounds perfectly controllable.

Maybe it's the "individually crowned" frets. If you prefer high or low action, no matter. No problems with the truss rod. And the crooked headstock supports sustain...The finish- the one I'd prefer is natural korina- couldn't be more beautyful. (I'm thinking of a paint job of the original "Feuervogel" in firy red on top of this firy yellow.)

A friend of mine has done some 50 gigs playing the Angus with an AC/DC coverband (we`re still friends nonetheless). No problems at all. He exchanged the Gotoh tuners for the Klusons they use on the British series. This is Trev Wilkinson or vreT kin(g). What did you exspect?

The store I played it is very supporting having it reserved for me(in what they call vintage blue), while I'm trying to find a natural blond one. Today I wrote an eMail to Fret King in GB asking for help. We`ll see...

I'm sure poor Andy Hyldon has had bad luck. All reviews I read except his one are as positiv as can be confirming that the EU-Line from Czech is a steal. The writer of German "Gitarre&Bass" bought two of them after his review, paying the "full" ridiculous price. This friend of mine is excited about this guitar. He`s also owning an ESPRIT V (2 Humbucker). And I`m going to get me an ESPRIT III as soon as possible. This is the most beautyful guitar in the world imho. And Trev Wilkinson once more demonstrated his outstanding mastership and knowledge.
The thought of MY ESPRIT III getting stolen makes me think about getting two of these unique goddesses.

this is an update on the previous review-and i`m afraid things get worse!
I had it looked at by a top class luthier/guitar tech, and it turns out:
truss rod is either faulty or so poorly designed that neck can not be pulled into line properly
bridge is incorrecly positioned so proper intonation is impossible
DON`T BUY FRET KING GUITARS!!!!

bought 2003. Very neat original take on firebird. two humbuckers, but with 5 way switch, with usual gibson settings plus 2 inner coils out of phase ,and coil split neck . usual stop/tunamatic. Slim fast neck (compared to les pauls.
Fret king build there top line guitars in uk, but produce the slightly cheaper eu line I believe in czech republic.

I play in original rock band, with style ranging from bluesy rock through to u2, police and all stations between. Use jcm2000 dsl head,
v. simple stomp box board. The sounds are generally good. the humbuckers are ok, but sound a bit weedy and thin when directly compared to my `81 Les paul, and especially my tokai LS80 (which is truly awesome-why buy new gibsons when you can have a superior les paul for a fraction of the cost!)
the "extra " optons are superb- the out of phase is beautiful-like a warm ,broad take on the classic strat sound.

This is where things get dissapointing. Fret king were very helpful in locating the axe for me as they didn`t have any in stock. I got mine through zen guitars. The guy was pretty arsey on the phone when i enquired about a delay in delivery, and when the guitar arrived the action was pretty high. as soon as i dropped the bridge a tad, it suffered apalling string buzz and choking off anywhere above the 12 the fret. I really couldn`t be bothered with Zen guitars again, so got on to Fret King direct, and from being v. helpful when I was poised to buy, they couldn`t even be bothered to reply to my e-mails. So its down to me to now pay to have at least a thorough set up/fret dress which I hope will solve things.

Because of probs above, i haven`t been able to find out

see above

Basically, there is a superb guitar lurking in there- its a real shame about the poor set up, and especially the poor service from both fret king and Zen.