The 1950's, halfway through the last century was a very interesting time for the still nascent solid body electric guitar. As the decade progressed there was a push from guitar players who wanted to get their archtops louder, to compete with the power of the big bands they were playing in led to an explosion of technology in magnetic pickup, amplification and guitar design.
During that decade, as the solid body guitar started to become more prevalent and players segued from archtops to solid body guitars, what we now colloquially refer to as “The Soapbar” style of pickup was invented, to be followed just a few years later, by the development of the twin coil pickup, designed for practical reasons, to cancel, (or ‘buck’), the inducted hum from guitar amplifier transformer fields and the high voltage stage lighting in use at the time.
Who would know that that inspired an eminently practical configuration which would become the basis of a sound which is now one of the guitar industry’s benchmark pickup tones?
The Fret-King Fifty-Five™ is wound and constructed to a very authentic recipe. Featuring Alnico V magnets for a rounded and dynamic fundamental tone, wound with .42AWG wire, with potted coils to enhance hum rejection, with a solid nickel silver back plate and pickup cover to let it breath and speak with clarity and a natural undistorted voice…until pushed!
Fitted to; Corona Classic, Elise Custom.
