Product: Fret King Corona 70
Price Paid: UNKNOWN
Submitted
09/22/2006
at
06:51am
by
Spike
Features
:
9
Two piece alder Strat type with heavily tinted maple neck and rosewood fingerboard. Nice vintage C shape, flatter board, medium frets, batwing headstock. Mine's black with b/w/b scratchplate. 2 chrome humbuckers with centre single coil, vol, tone and 3 way rotary coilsplitter. Locking Gotoh tuners (no string trees) and Wilkinson trem bridge. Made in the UK and supplied with Hiscox style case.
Sound
:
8
This one challenges your expectations. It sounds sort of like a Strat and then it doesn't. In some ways it has its own voice, which is great. The pickups are a hot vintage style and the multitaps give many different voices. I think it sounds best when used with overdrive and it's a blinding rock guitar. Not so good for those Hank Marvin moments!
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
6
Paintwork and manufacturing tolerances are first class. In common with other Fret Kings I've had, this one had a sloppily cut top nut. The lack of string trees means the top E string buzzes like a sitar in the nut. I'm not sure how or if I can cure this. The scratchplate is cut from a rather odd plastic that has a faintly greyish tinge....I shall get a new one cut at some point for purely cosmetic reasons....and the control knobs are those ultra-cheap Strat types with small lettering as found on the lowest grade copies, distinctly sub-Fender quality. Why Fret King couldn't go the few pence extra to put some nicer ones on there is puzzling.
Reliability/Durability
:
6
The guitar stays in tune and plays well after a good setup. The bridge is a nightmare to adjust, the height adjusters are stripping already and it's horrible to intonate. Any hint of tuning trouble and I'll replace it with a Callaham or similar. Rating 6 because of that horrible bridge and the difficulty of adjusting it in a crisis moment.
Customer Support
:
10
Very nice people when on the phone.
Overall Rating
:
7
Great guitar with a quirky look and sound, individual yet familar. After 35 years of playing I've owned hundreds of guitars and these Fret Kings have got my interest in a way that just another Stratoid simply can't do. They cost far too much when compared to the competition, especially given the dubious hardware quality but, in terms of tone and general construction, you're looking at Eggle or PRS for competition.
