GEAR 23_COVER - JHS

COUNTRY SQUIRE
SUPER S & SUPER T
Fret-King Supremo Trev Wilkinson always maintains that he makes ‘working vintage guitars’, designed from a
player’s point of view for guitar players. Tony Simmons looks at two prime examples of that famous
Wilkinson philosophy.
L
ike many guitar players I’m sure, the
overall look of these Fret-King Blue
Blue Label Super S and Super T guitars
has a real appeal for me, reflecting my
favourite electric guitar style famed for its
‘no frills, no nonsense’ attitude that has
provided grass roots guitar sounds for many
decades now. And though it wouldn’t be
unreasonable to refer to the Super S and
Super T guitars as twins, they’re by no means
identical twins as each has its own distinct
attributes and character.
Construction
Though
they’re
single cutaway
body guitars with
bolt-on necks,
straight away Trev
Wilkinson’s influence
on the formula makes
itself obvious; bat wing
headstock, stepped top
scratchplate, elongated rotary
control plate with up-angle
pickup selector - and what’s
this? - a three brass double
string saddle design
that can be intonated?
Excellent, and more
on this later.
Wilkinson knows that
if this type guitar
design is going to
work, the fundamentals
have to be
correct. Thus the
body is two-piece centrejointed
imported American alder - many
alternatives use three or four-piece bodies
under a solid colour. Centre-jointing gives
the guitars a nicely balanced feel from the
matched halves, but already the raw material
cost is accelerating, as this certainly ain’t
28
FBSTMLB
Super T
Metallc Lght Blue
the ‘budget’ way to build a guitar, and
neither is it cheap to import proper alder
from America. Then there’s the Canadian hard
rock maple used for the neck and the Indian
Rosewood fingerboard...
It’s good to see that Trev’s applied ‘comfort
contouring’ to what would otherwise be slab
bodied instruments, with a nice forearm
chamfer across the top bout greatly aiding
player comfort - especially over the course
of a night’s gig - as
does the scoopedout
rear ribcage
FBSTTRB
Super T
Trans Blue
carving,
both of
these
echoing
Trev’s topof-therange
Green
Label UK-produced
‘Yardbird’ electric, itself a
tribute to guitar legend Jeff
Beck’s iconic 60’s guitar
which was similarly modified,
which always appealed to a
young, impressionable
Wilkinson. And, like Trev’s
other detailing, it works!
Fret-King Super T
FBSTBSC
Super T
Butterscotch
Let’s take the more straightforward of
these two guitar designs first, the twopickup
Super T. It’s finished in Metallic Light
Blue which really suits the guitar, and it’s
interesting to note that during the course
of this review, I had more non-guitar playing
people come out with an (unprompted)
‘that guitar looks really nice’ than for any
other guitar I’ve tried recently. Definitely
a reassuring start, as everyone wants to
think their ‘guitar of choice’ at least looks
the part, don’t they?
The high quality/high value theme continues
throughout - tuners are Gotoh® SG38 sealed
gear units with a smooth and even action,
and an authentic vintage style circular string
tree provides a positive break angle over the
nut for the top E and B strings.
Intonation is always an issue with this style
of guitar, but this Super T - and the Super S
- feature the unique and innovative Wilkinson
WT3 bridge. Constructed from thin gauge
steel for authentic tone, it features intonatable
machined brass saddles from Trev W for greatly
improved intonation, irrespective of string
gauge. Proper ‘ashtray’ style bridge housing
too, and good to see the heart of any T-type
guitar - the bridge pickup, natch - sporting
decent diameter, non-staggered height slugs
(polepieces) for the provision of that good
ol’ T tone, especially when there’s also a
steel baseplate under the pickup, as
tradition requires for that sound.
In Use
It’s easy to feel at home on
this guitar, to pull it in tight,
dig in, and get some seriously
twangsome action going - after
all, that’s what’s expected from
this style of guitar and if it don’t do that,
then it’s no use to anyone. But there’s no
disappointment, and that famous barking
bridge pickup twang is especially good on
the chicken pickin’ workouts. Moving to a
more bluesy rock style presents no problems
either, thanks to the fat medium-heavy frets
fitted here. They are notably chunky and
so big, expressive bends are definitely the
order of the day! The centre selector pickup
position gives you the funk as it should,
with that slightly thinner, more transparent
tone that’s so useful for funky chord
accompaniments.
Flicking the selector up and forward to hook
up the neck pickup gives everything you play
a smoother tonal veneer, a chord freak’s
heaven - and that’s me, I love these dark
and jazzy tones, with that flutey octave
response up around the twelfth fret - sweet.
“But why angle the pickup selector like that,
Trev?” I asked him. The response is typically
pragmatic. “When you’re controlling the volume
by riding the volume rotary as you will do with
this style of guitar, the natural angle of your
hand in that position means that it’s easier for
your pinky to hook the selector with that upangle
travel,” he smiles. And he’s right -
thinking about the player again.