Fret-King Black Label Elise 'JE' at Musikmesse

Fret-King announce the brand new Fret-King Black Label Elise 'JE' - John Etheridge artist guitar.

Designed in conjunction with the highly respected and often emulated jazz/rock supremo himself, the 'JE' has an impressive specification.

John is held in high regard as one of the top guitarists in the world. In a career of decades he has worked work with the likes of Stephane Grappelli, John Williams, Dizzy Gillespie, Yehudi Menhuin, Nigel Kennedy and of course legendary jazz/rock fusion group The Soft Machine.

Not just another great guitarist, John is a master of the instrument and he knows how to use it to best effect in an enormous range of settings. He is fast, a great chord man, inventive but subtle, as good with a pick as finger style, as at home on acoustic as on electric guitar. John needs a guitar that can offer a wide variety of tones and a huge range of styles.

Carved from a solid mahogany blank, the Elise 'JE' body features an offset heel and lower horn scoop for enhances upper fret acccess. Acoustically tuned chambers, a full length centre block and a double carved solid maple cap create a light, vibrant semi-acoustic body. This, combined with the Fret-King long-tenon neck joint, mated precisely to the the body under the neck pickup, maximises the retention and transmission of the Elise's fundamental acoustic properties.

The ebony fingerboard with 45mm nut width and traditional block inlays provides a supremely positive playing feel, whilst the elegant retro-styled ebony tailpiece with stagger drilled through body stringing further enhances the Elise's inherent tonality, and provides perfectly balanced playing tension.

Two Wilkinson WVC'ˆdouble coil pickups give the Elise the authenticity, definition and power required for everything from mellow jazz to full-bore blues. The addition of the Fret-King 'Vari-coilâ„¢' allows you to wind the WVC pickups down to single coil progressively, opening up a whole raft of useable tones.

'What I love about the Elise is that not only can you get all those classic semi-acoustic tones,'