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REVIEWED FRET-KING Words: Joey Setano


The late, great Danny Gatton once described Jerry Donahue as the ‘string bending King of the Planet’. Indeed, during his 40 year career as an acknowledged master of the Telecaster, Donahue is guilty of causing guitar players jaws to hit the floor, mesmerised by his unique and original approach to string bending, both as a solo artist and as one third of The Hellecasters guitar trio alongside Will Ray and John Jorgenson. Designed by Trevor Wilkinson and Jerry Donahue, the Korean built Fret-King JD is the first Black Label model from this well-established British guitar brand. The Black Label series is purely focused on international players of distinction


FRET-KING Black Label JD


SRP £599.00


All prices include VAT CONT


ACT


JHS Ltd T:


W: 01132 865381 www. fret-king.com 14 3pickup


and as an avowed tinkerer who has very clear ideas about what he thinks represents his dream electric guitar, Jerry Donahue seems like a fitting subject for the new project. However, it didn’t happen overnight, as Donahue himself recalls,“I first got to know Trevor during the early 90’s, I have a technique where I bend notes and pinched harmonics behind the nut and back then, was experiencing serious tuning problems. Trevor had the answer straight away with the Wilkinson roller nut that he’d developed and since then, we’ve had many a late night discussing what makes a good guitar.”


Whilst Donahue has had several


signature guitars from various manufactures including Peavey, G&L and Fender, the Black Label Fret-King JD is not branded as a signature guitar, rather a model that incorporates to the very last detail, all the finest points he has previously craved in an electric guitar to suit his distinctive playing style. Donahue explains the difference between the new Fret-King JD model and his previous official signature guitars, “I’ve had several signature models which all excelled in different departments, but not as a 100% ideal guitar. But now after a lot of detailed research, I can say I’m totally happy with the Fret-King, within playability, tone and build, which also features


my own custom designs within the pickup, wiring and switching.”


Sounds


Whilst Donahue is mainly associated with the Telecaster’s distinctive twang, another significant element of his tone owes something to the hum cancelling ‘quack’ associated with another famous Californian bolt-on neck guitar from the 50’s, this time loaded with three single coil pickups! “Like Alexander Graham Bell who invented the telephone by accident, I came up with various wiring ideas for single coil pickups, focusing on the classic in-between tones,” Donahue explains, “This was a challenge as the Fret-King JD has just two single coils, but incorporates a five way switch.” The custom wiring on this guitar has also been tweaked to solve the drop in volume problems often linked with the in-between sounds in positions two and four on the selector switch, where the low notes


Black Label Series JD


This stunning collaboration between British guitar designer Trev Wilkinson and American virtuoso Jerry Donahue delivers a whole lot of guitar for a relatively small amount of loot…


are often lost in the mix. It seems to work. Through a loud clean amp, the amount of sustain is quite extraordinary. In position one (neck pickup) you get a big fat single coil tone that’s authentically fluty with a very characteristic edge, which sounds ideal for all blues and jazz styles where you still need the authentic single coil tone to cut through the mix.


Position two engages the on-board capacitor with the neck unit, rolling off the treble and fattening up the midrange for a fuller tone that sounds ideal for classic humbucking jazz sounds, or with a pinch of added overdrive to taste, for singing late 60s blues/rock tones. For position three, the neck and bridge models blend in customised parallel wiring for more of a classic ‘middle selection mix’ with noticeably added highs and extra jangle, whilst number four on the selector again combines both pickups, but with a


The Fret-King JD’s vibrant natural sustain, build quality and attention to detail smacks of a high-end custom shop guitar in every department…


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