FRET-KING CORONA FLUENCE
We could have picked numerous guitars to fill this sub £1,000 slot but Fret-King’s take is really quite unique. Not only do we get a competently made bolt-on but it comes with Fishman’s active Fluence single width pickups and USB rechargeable battery pack already installed.
The clever redrawing of the outline adds a slightly offset base and waist with thinner, less bulbous horns. The two-tone ’burst allows clear view of the centre-joined, twopiece body contrasted by the white/black/ white scratchplate, again quite dramatically redrawn while keeping the flavour. The output jack – a Tele barrel-style – is sideplaced, again removing one of the Strat’s most identifying features.
The maple neck, like a PRS CE, doesn’t sit on a protruding body heel: the heel is part of the one-piece maple neck and extends into the body under the neck pickup where it’s held via four screws in thick recessed washers. There’s very little chance with this design of any sideways neck movement. Fingerboard radius is 254mm (10 inches), which is extremely close to Fender’s now standard 241mm (9.5 inches). The medium nickel silver frets are well installed; likewise the pearloid dots. Obviously, the Corona avoids the Fender headstock outline, the dual batwing-like curves apparently taken from the base of a ‘W’, from designer Trev Wilkinson’s signature.
Trev Wilkinson’s hardware is what he built his empire on and here the bridge is typically tweaked from Fender’s design with offset deep drilled holes in the steel block, a push fit arm with (rather hard to access) tension adjustment and plated bent steel saddles – which are a little sharp around the threads for the adjustment screws. Tuners, meanwhile, have staggered height posts (the E and A being higher than the other four) with chunky, knurled-wheel rear locks. There are no string trees and the nicely cut nut is lubricated Wilkaloid.
We’ve covered these Fluence solid core active designs in depth on previous occasions, but again with a current retail price of over £300 (not including the recharger) they add a lot to the package not least with their dual-voicing selected from a pull/push switch on the second tone control. The necessary power comes via a USB battery pack, installed on the rear of the guitar. It’s a dead simple system.
“We get a competently made bolt-on with Fishman’s active Fluence single width pickups and USB rechargeable battery pack already installed for under £1k”