Longterm Test
A few months’ gigging, recording and everything that goes with it – welcome to Guitarist ’s longterm test report
This year’s NAMM Show in January – where the world’s guitar brands large and small display their wares – was one of the busiest I can remember in recent years. It was impossible even over four days to see every exhibitor, but I couldn’t help noticing the continued rise (in terms of numbers, at least) of small makers. A unifying theme is that the guitars these craftspeople are producing are not cheap. In writing up our show report for issue 457, with limited time and limited space, I realised I could have written the same number of words again purely focused on this high-end artisan market. There was a time when Paul Reed Smith’s guitars were, seemingly, so expensive only ‘doctors, dentists and lawyers’ could afford them. As of 2020, a classic USA Core-level Custom 24, which is the epitome of 35-plus years of high-level guitar making, costs from £3,549 at full retail. You’d be lucky to snare one of those artisan-made instruments of anything approaching a similar specification for that money.
“Choice is great but finding your fit – and deciding what to buy – is probably harder than it’s ever been”
While I’m sure many readers would baulk at paying sums like these for a guitar, it’s easy to get into this price point and above with mainstream brands from Fender’s and Gibson’s Custom Shops, Martin, Taylor… Pioneers of quality, detailed making like Collings, again with an awful lot of experience, will cost substantially more. Quality craft from hugely experienced makers, or even new kids on the block that you’ve never heard of, costs.
This is the area in which Knaggs operates. A small workshop of 10 (not all full-time) staff means for this world they make quite a few instruments, around 40 per month, which is about what PRS makes of its Core setnecks every day, and around a 10th of what Gibson USA produces in the same time. Nik Huber and his small team, one of the more established ‘boutique’ makers, have still never made more than 300 instruments in a year.
So, how can we compare and contrast an artisan-built instrument against a production factory build? With difficulty. They are both, outwardly, perfectly good guitars but with considerable contrast on virtually every level, from the business model that they’d made and sold, to the raw materials and their cost, the hardware, pickups and electronics, and, ultimately, the feel and sound quality. Yet the build of the Fret-King is tantalisingly good, like many lower-ticket guitars these days .Yes, we’d be tempted to look at the electronics side, maybe upgrade the pots and experiment with the wiring, and we might upgrade the tuners and the bridge as well. If we did that, despite adding cost, it would narrow the gap still further.
But it’s more of a lifestyle choice, isn’t it? You simply might prefer the backstory of the Knaggs, the experience of the craftspeople who made it, the players who use guitars like this on stages around the world. You’re buying into a top-level world, even if your musical abilities are far from professional. Aside from the fact the Fret-King was originally designed by Trev Wilkinson – whose world-class hardware is used by some of the industry’s top makers including, most recently, John Suhr – and that it’s factory-made in India, there is little else to go on. Yes, a smattering of artists have enjoyed Fret-King over the years, but there really is little backstory and zero marketing to sell the dream.
Then there’s the real-world choice we all have in today’s market. Both brands face colossal competition at their respective price points and style. The Fret-King holds its own rather well, and the Knaggs is a very good example of the artisan or boutique build. Even though our specific model is a celebratory limited run of just 11 guitars, the standard unreliced Choptank, which starts around £3,700, is just as good from our experience.
Sadly, neither brand will have the resale value of more mainstream names: a Tele style from Fender’s Vintera range would probably sell faster than a Fret-King; a Fender Custom Shop reliced Tele would probably be the same over the more niche Knaggs.
You don’t need to enter the small workshop world of the boutique builds to enjoy a great guitar, especially as you simply may not be able to justify the cost. If you don’t ‘get it’, don’t buy it. When it comes to choice, we’ve never had it better, though sadly this is a time where simply popping into your local music shop to try and find that guitar that speaks to you is getting harder by the day. And it’s those special guitars that we’ll wager become an important part of your playing life irrespective of origin or price… or even what your mates tell you. Choice is great but finding your fit – and deciding what to buy – is probably harder than it’s ever been.