
Wilkinson merges his Fret-King house with Britain’s Vintage guitars.
Throughout his long career, Trev Wilkinson has always made a point to remember the beginner, and he considers every skill level when making such product decisions as adding features and pricing instruments. Recently, Wilkinson combined forces with one of Britain’s premier independent distributors, John Hornby Skewes & Co., to oversee their affordable Vintage guitars and add his own, more upscale Fret-King brand to JHS’s catalog. The idea behind Vintage is to offer accessibly priced, vintagelooking guitars with great finishes, quality parts, and features that are typically found on guitars costing upward of a thousand dollars. These instruments include Wilkinson-designed hardware, a bubinga neck extension that runs into the body to add rigidity and enhance acoustic resonance, and a Roll Control knob that allows variable coil splitting.
“I think the unfortunate truth of our industry is that an awful lot of things have been taken out [of affordable guitars] in order to achieve a price point,” Wilkinson says, “but the reality is if you go in at the beginning wanting to achieve all those things, the price point isn’t actually that different. So you say, ‘Why don’t we do it then?’ And I think that’s really behind an awful lot of the success of Vintage guitars.”
When it comes to Fret-King, Wilkinson keeps his designs classic without being forced into “nostalgia corner” as he describes it—the phenomena of guitar players snubbing useful innovations in exchange for blind loyalty to Fender and Gibson designs. According to Wilkinson, Leo Fender himself was a victim of this phenomenon. “In conversations I had with Leo,” Wilkinson says, “he could never understand why people held his early guitars in such reverence, when in his mind the [G&L] guitars he built before he died were far superior to his previous guitars. He couldn’t understand that he’d already created that nostalgia.”
It’s too soon to tell, but Wilkinson might be fostering some nostalgia for his own pioneering technological advances in the music industry. He’s been described as “Britain’s one-man think tank.” And at 62, he’s certainly not throwing in the towel anytime soon— asserting that there’s always more work to be done when it comes to improving guitar playability.
In addition to its Distressed Sunburst finish, this Vintage V6HMRSB has a pair of Wilkinson single-coils, a WHHB humbucker, a distressed WVCD trem, and Wilkinson EZ LOK tuners.
We’ll let him tell you the rest.
When you got onboard with
JHS and the Vintage brand,
what was your first order of
business?
I took about 57 models and
kind of went through each one,
spec’ing it and putting what
I considered to be the right
pickup with the right guitar,
and choosing the right vibratos,
tailpieces, and tuners. I went
through all the body shapes
and all the body designs. Some
obviously are paying homage
to past classic designs and some
are unique to Vintage guitars.
What would you say is behind
the success of the Vintage brand?
They just offer so much value
for money. They sound so
good, play so well, and perform
so well, that sometimes people
look at them and go, “Wow!
What a fantastic bargain—it’s
too cheap—why don’t you
make it more expensive?” And
we say, “Why should we?”
Everyone should have access to
a working guitar.
There are manufacturers who have very, very high dollar instruments and are obviously interested in creating aspirational consumer brands. But then, as you come down the dollar chain from, let’s say, a guitar at $3000 or $4000, you have to take features out because obviously if you’ve got everything in a $4000 guitar, you can’t put everything in the $2000 guitar, because then your customer wouldn’t have to buy the $4000 guitar. We’ve always taken the philosophy of, “Why don’t we build it in at $299, rather than take it out at $299?” We can do this because we’re not trying to protect a very expensive guitar.
There came a point in our industry where prices came down so low it was actually impossible to make a reasonable guitar cheaper than what the big brands were doing. So the sensible distributors—the people who were in control of their own destinies—looked at the situation and said, “Well, we’ve got to change. We can no longer compete on price, so we have to compete on quality and features.” And I think that was the key for the Vintage brand. We concentrated on the quality of the product and the features. It’s part of a long-term plan and probably the most important way that we went from a “me too” guitar to a brand that people ask for by name because they know it’s a quality product.
The Wilkinson ADT Self-Tuning Bridge uses signals from the vibrating strings to control onboard electric motors and automated tuning gears. Located between the bridge pickup and ADT unit, the string sensor also provides a pitch readout for the player.
Certain features make Vintage guitars, as you say, “the bigger bang for the buck.” I partnered up with a company in Korea to do some very traditional bridges, but we’ve made changes to them so they perform much better. For instance, on the spring block, the holes are staggered in a way that allows the strings to leave the block and pass over the saddles at an angle that helps keep those strings in tune. I also developed some tuning keys called EZ-LOKs that work like a locking tuner, but actually don’t require any mechanical manufacturing. There’s nothing to unwind when you’re slacking the strings using the vibrato, and they always come back to pitch.
I don’t have a high-dollar pickup range to protect. So I can produce a singe-coil pickup that will sound as good as any company can wind anywhere in the world, and I can do it at a much lower price point because I’m not worried about people thinking that the pickups in expensive guitars aren’t as good.
This Fret-King Country Squire Semitone Deluxe features a translucent red finish and optional “vintique gold” pickguard. The model is loaded with two Fret-King Alnico 5 vintage-voiced single-coils and a Fret-King humbucker, and sports a Wilkinson VSV vintage-style trem.
You’ve always been concerned with
making the guitarist’s job easier. Can
you tell us about some design problems
you’ve aimed to fix?
For instance, the major problem
with all vibrato-equipped
guitars is keeping them in tune,
hence the original invention of
the Floyd Rose system. My systems
have always been the alternative
to a Floyd Rose. I’ve never
asked a guitar player to clamp
anything, and I’ve never asked
a player to use a wrench
to change strings. But I’ve
always endeavored to keep
him as perfectly in tune during
his performance onstage
as he possibly can without
all the other paraphernalia
around it, and I think that is key
to the success of the guitar. This applies
to a semi-pro or a professional player and even
the beginner. We shouldn’t leave
the novice out of the equation
because why should beginners
have to play something sub-standard?
We try to give all players
equal footing to be able to play
onstage in front of any audience,
no matter what level.
From your experience, what
does it take for a guitar innovation
to catch on in this industry?
I think our industry is steeped
in nostalgia—it has never really
moved forward. There have
been some fantastic innovations
in the guitar industry, but very,
very few of them have actually
been successful because they
always seem to just go one step
too far. I think guitar players are
very conservative, even though
they might be outlandish in
the way they look and dress.
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.”
The Fret-King Studio Ventura 60 sports a trio of custom-wound Fret King P-90-style single-coils (the middle pickup is reverse-wound/reverse-polarity to cancel hum in positions 2 and 4) with tortoise-shell colored caps to match its pickguard. Radio knobs and a gold-metal flake finish complete the retro vibe.
Will you ever consider offering
custom options?
As far as custom options go, I’m
a little bit wary, because I don’t
believe we can always give our
customer the sound he’s got in
his head. He comes to a custom
builder and says, “Well, I’d like a
double-cut bolt-on with a swampash
body, and a maple neck with
an ebony fingerboard, and I want
it to have this style of pickup in
the bridge, and I want it to have
this style of pickup in the middle,
and I want this vibrato bridge or
this fixed bridge.” When that guitar
goes together, I don’t believe
it can possibly deliver the sound
that’s in the player’s head. Instead,
I prefer that the player looks at
our guitars, plays our guitars,
and then chooses something that
suits what he wants to do.
The futuristic Fret-King Ventura Super 60 HB3 has a two-piece alder body, a 25 1/2” bolt-on neck with Gotoh Magnum locking tuners, a trio of PAFstyle humbuckers wired to a “Vari-coil” rotary control, and a Wilkinson WVP “wave” trem.
I think custom building a guitar is guesswork. You can make a very pretty guitar, but you’ll notice on our website there aren’t too many guitars in there with fancy tops, or what I refer to as furniture guitars. I think guitars should be chosen for playability and sound. I don’t think they should be chosen because they have an outrageous flame-maple top. That is not a reason to buy a guitar for me. That’s a reason to buy something that you have on the wall to look at. I don’t believe guitars should be hung on the wall and looked at. I believe they should go out and earn their living.
The V-style Vintage VV60TA features an Eastern poplar body, set maple neck, a 24 3/4”-scale bound rosewood fretboard, and Wilkinson humbuckers.
You’ve created so many useful
innovations in the industry.
For someone who’s not at avid
guitarist, how are you able to
see the picture so clearly?
Well, it started with the Roller
Nut. That started me on the
path. I was looking for a purpose.
I’ve played in bands, I
know what it’s like to play
onstage, and I know what its
like to go onstage with a guitar
you don’t trust. It’s a panic. So
when I developed the Roller
Nut, I could then actually take
a guitar with a vibrato system
and know that when I used
that system—if I went to a lead
break, or if I decided to do an
arpeggio—all six strings would
be in tune. That’s a huge relief
when you’re onstage performing,
no matter how big or small
the club is.
Wilkinson shows his latest handiwork—the hardware component of his ADT Self-Tuning Bridge.
I’ve always worked with players. I’ve never looked at the commerciality of our industry, probably to my detriment. I’ll say to a player, “This is a design. Does it work for you?” And I’m talking about serious players—I’m not talking about a local guy down at the pub. I like to use their ears, and I like them to confirm my theories. When I invented the VS100 Vibrato System, I knew it worked, or I felt it worked, but it wasn’t until a lot of guitar players of some stature would actually turn around and say, “You know what, Trev, this is a great vibrato bridge. It works, it stays in tune, and I’ll use it.” Like Scott Henderson, he was really, really helpful to me at the time, and he’s a superb guitar player and an absolute tone monster. So that gives you confidence. You feel you’re doing something right when you get people— top players—actually say, “This works and I can use it onstage.”
And how did you come up with
the ADT self-tuning bridge? i
understand it was a joint effort?
Yes, I was part of a team. I like
to say that I drove the bus. A
lot of the mechanics were left
to me, but I’m not a digital
engineer. The technology that’s
required to take the sound from
the string and turn it into a signal
to generate electric motors
to turn gearboxes is not my
doing. That was just me being
able to say, “A guitar player will
put up with that, but he won’t
put up with this. So we have
to make it happen faster or we
have to be more accurate.” And
so forth. So yes, I stress all the
time that I was part of a team.
But it was my job with that
product to actually design it
and tailor it so it didn’t get in
the way of playing normally.
So what’s next?
A holiday?
I don’t know. We
can still take the self-tuning
system further. I guess we’ll just
keep trying to make a better
mousetrap.
On our season two finale, the country legend details his lead-guitar tricks on one of his biggest hits.
Get out the Kleenex, hankies, or whatever you use to wipe away your tears: It’s the last episode of this season of Shred With Shifty, a media event more consequential and profound than the finales of White Lotus and Severance combined. But there’ll be some tears of joy, too, because on this season two closer, Chris Shiflett talks with one of country music’s greatest players: Vince Gill.
Gill’s illustrious solo career speaks for itself, and he’s played with everyone from Reba McEntire and Patty Loveless to Ricky Skaggs and Dolly Parton. He even replaced Glenn Frey in the Eagles after Frey’s death in 2017. His singing prowess is matched by his grace and precision on the fretboard, skills which are on display on the melodic solo for “One More Last Chance.” He used the same blackguard 1953 Fender Telecaster that you see in this interview to record the lead, although he might not play the solo the exact way he did back in 1992.
Tune in to learn how Gill dialed his clean tone with a tip from Roy Nichols, why he loves early blackguard Telecasters and doesn’t love shredders, and why you never want to be the best player during a studio session.
If you’re able to help, here are some charities aimed at assisting musicians affected by the fires in L.A:
https://guitarcenterfoundation.org
https://www.cciarts.org/relief.html
https://www.musiciansfoundation.org
https://fireaidla.org
https://www.musicares.org
https://www.sweetrelief.org
Credits
Producer: Jason Shadrick
Executive Producers: Brady Sadler and Jake Brennan for Double Elvis
Engineering Support by Matt Tahaney and Matt Beaudion
Video Editor: Addison Sauvan
Graphic Design: Megan Pralle
Special thanks to Chris Peterson, Greg Nacron, and the entire Volume.com crew.
$149
Marshall 1959 Super Lead
The very definition of classic, vintage Marshall sound in a highly affordable package.
There’s only one relevant question about Marshall’s new 1959 Super Lead overdrive/distortion pedal: Does it sound like an actual vintage Super Lead head? The answer is, simply and surprisingly, yes. The significant difference I heard within the voice of this stomp, which I ran through a Carr Vincent and a StewMac Valve Factory 18 kit amp for contrast, is that it’s a lot quieter than my 1972 Super Lead.
The Super Lead, which bore Marshall’s 1959 model number, debuted in 1965 and was the amp that defined the plexi sound. That sound is here in spades, clubs, diamonds, and hearts. Like the Super Lead, the pedal is easy to use. The original’s 3-band EQ is replaced by a single, rangeful tone control. The normal dial and the volume, which together mimic the character created by jumping the first and second channels of a plexi head, offer smooth, rich, buttery op-amp driven gain and loudness. And the high-treble dial functions much like the presence control on the original amp.
The pedal is sturdy and handsome, too. A heavy-duty metal enclosure evokes the classic black-with-gold-plate plexi look and a vintage-grille-cloth motif. Switches and knobs (the latter with rubber sides for slip-free turning) are ultra solid, and—refreshingly—there’s a 9V battery option in addition to a barrel-pin connection. Whether with single-coils or humbuckers, getting beefy, sustained, historic tones took moments. I especially delighted in approximating my favorite Super Lead head setting by flooring the high treble, normal, and tone dials, and turning back the tone pots on my Flying V, evoking Disraeli Gears-era Clapton tone. That alone, to me, makes the 1959 Super Lead stomp a bargain at $149.The Miku was introduced about 10 years ago and is based on the vocal stylings of Hatsune Miku, a virtual pop icon. But it does much more than artificial vowels and high-pitched words.
It’s tempting to think of this pedal as a joke. Don’t.
It all started a few years ago through a trade with a friend. I just wanted to help him out—he really wanted to get a fuzz pedal but didn’t have enough cash, so he offered up the Korg Miku. I had no idea then, but it turned out to be the best trade I’ve ever made.
Here’s the truth: the Korg Miku is not your typical guitar pedal. It won’t boost your mids, sculpt your gain, or serve up that warm, buttery overdrive you’ve always worshipped. Nope. This little box does something entirely different: It sings! Yes, sings in a Japanese kawaii accent that’s based on the signature voice of virtual pop icon Hatsune Miku.
At first glance, it’s tempting to dismiss this pedal as just a gimmick—a joke, a collector’s oddity, the kind of thing you buy for fun and then forget next to your Hello Kitty Strat. But here’s the twist: Some take it seriously and I’m one of those people.
I play in a punk band called Cakrux, and lately I’ve been working with a member of a Japanese idol-style girl group—yeah, it’s exactly the kind of wild mashup you’d ever imagine. Somewhere in the middle of that chaos, the Miku found its way into my setup, and weirdly enough, it stuck. It’s quirky, beautiful, occasionally maddening, and somehow … just right. After plenty of time spent in rehearsals, studio takes, and more sonic experiments than I care to admit, I’ve come to appreciate this pedal in unexpected ways. So here are a few things you probably didn’t know about this delightfully strange little box.
It’s Not Organic—and That’s OK
Most guitar pedals are chasing something real. Wah pedals mimic the human voice—or even a trumpet. Tube Screamers? They’re built to recreate the warm push of an overdriven tube amp. Cab sims aim to replicate the tone of real-world speaker setups. But the Miku? It breaks the mold. Instead of emulating reality, it channels the voice of a fictional pop icon. Hatsune Miku isn’t a person—she’s a vocaloid, a fully digital creation made of samples and synthesis. The Miku doesn’t try to sound organic, it tries to sound like her. In that sense, it might be the only pedal trying to reproduce something that never existed in the physical world. And honestly, there’s something oddly poetic about that.
A World-Class Buffer
Here’s a fun fact: I once saw a big-name Indonesian session guitarist—you know, the kind who plays in sold-out arenas—with a Miku pedal on his board. I was like, “No way this guy’s busting out vocaloid lines mid-solo.” Plot twist: He only uses it for the buffer. Yep, the man swears by it and says it’s the best-sounding buffer he’s ever plugged into. I laughed … until I tried it. And honestly? He’s not wrong. Even if you never hear Miku sing a note, this pedal still deserves a spot on your board. Just for the tone mojo alone. Wild, right?
“The Miku is one of those pedals that really shouldn’t work for your music, but somehow, it just does.”
Impossible to Tame
Most pedals are built to make your life easier. The Miku? Not so much. This thing demands patience—and maybe a little spiritual surrender. First off, the tracking can be finicky, especially if you’re using low-output pickups. Latency becomes really noticeable and your picking dynamics suddenly matter a lot more. Then there’s the golden rule I learned the hard way. Never—ever—put anything before the Miku. No fuzz, no wah, no compressor, not even a buffer! It gets confused instantly and says “What is going on here?” And don’t even think about punching in while recording. The vocal results are so unpredictable, you’ll never get the same sound twice. Mess up halfway? You’re starting from scratch. Same setup, same take, same chaotic energy. It’s like trying to recreate a fever dream. Good luck with that.
Full Range = Full Power
Sure, it’s made for guitar, but the Miku really comes to life when you run it through a keyboard amp, bass cab, or even a full-range speaker. Why? Because her voice covers way more frequency range than a regular guitar speaker can handle. Plug it into a PA system or a bass rig, and everything sounds clearer, richer, way more expressive. It’s like letting Hatsune Miku out of her cage.
The Miku is one of those pedals that really shouldn't work for your music, but somehow, it just does. Is it the best pedal out there? Nah. Is it practical? Not by a long shot. But every time I plug it in, I can’t help but smile. It’s unpredictable, a little wild, and it feels like you’re jamming in the middle of a bizarre Isekai anime scene. And honestly, that’s what makes it fun.
This thing used to go for less than $100. Now? It’s fetching many times that. Is it worth the price? That’s up to you. But for me, the Korg Miku isn’t just another pedal—it’s a strange, delightful journey I’m glad I didn’t skip. No regrets here.
Two guitars, two amps, and two people is all it takes to bring the noise.
The day before they played the coveted Blue Room at Third Man Records in Nashville, the Washington, D.C.-based garage-punk duo Teen Mortgage released their debut record, Devil Ultrasonic Dream. Not a bad couple of days for a young band.
PG’s Chris Kies caught up with guitarist and vocalist James Guile at the Blue Room to find out how he builds the band’s bombastic guitar attack.
Brought to you by D’Addario.
Devilish Dunable
Guile has been known to use Telecasters and Gretsches in the past, but this time out he’s sticking with this Dunable Cyclops DE, courtesy of Gwarsenio Hall—aka Jordan Olds of metal-themed comedy talk show Two Minutes to Late Night. Guile digs the Dunable’s lightness on his shoulders, and its balance of high and low frequencies.
Storm Warning
What does Guile like about this Squier Cyclone? Simple: its color. This one is also nice and easy on the back, and Guile picked it up from Atomic Music in Beltsville, Maryland.
Crushing It
Guile also scooped this Music Man 410-HD from Atomic, which he got just for this tour for a pretty sweet deal. It runs alongside an Orange Crush Bass 100 to rumble out the low end.
James Guile’s Pedalboard
The Electro-Harmonix Micro POG and Hiwatt Filter Fuzz MkII run to the Orange, while everything else—a DigiTech Whammy, Pro Co Lil’ RAT, and Death by Audio Echo Dream 2—runs to the Music Man. A TC Helicon Mic Mechanic is on board for vocal assistance, and a TC Electronic PolyTune 3, Morley ABY, and Voodoo Labs Pedal Power 3 Plus keep the ship afloat.