Fret King Elise GG

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Barnsie
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Joined: Mon Nov 14, 2016 4:58 pm

Fret King Elise GG

Postby Barnsie » Mon Nov 14, 2016 10:21 pm

I was looking for a comfortable and versatile (read swiss army knife) electric guitar.
I normally play 60s/70s rock on my Les Paul Studio but wanted something else to cover all bases.
Visited all sorts of guitar shops and tried dozens of guitars but nothing made me want to take it home, until.....
I spy a red semi acoustic with odd pickups and too many knobs and switches, and some bloke called Gordon Giltrap's name on it.
It felt good, balanced well, sounded great and all those knobs and switches did something useful.
I was totally smitten and had to have it.
Just have to finish paying Intersound of Dursley (great guys) for it.

One question to Gordon, Why is there now a MK2 version of your signature electric when the first version is so awesome?

John
A newcomer round these parts.

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GORDON
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Re: Fret King Elise GG

Postby GORDON » Mon Nov 14, 2016 10:39 pm

Hello there.

As wonderful as the original one is,it did to a degree baffle a few players with the transducer at the bridge and the active electronics.When I started using it I found that I was using less of the under saddle and more of the pickup ( bridge and neck) combination far more.This doesn't mean that the guitar lacked its original charm, far from it.

Trev Wilson felt that he wanted to create a newer model that would have a broader appeal to players, hence the new model with the mini humbucker in the neck position and the full humbucker at the bridge,with the "roll" control that brings in single coil to humbucker in such a subtle way.

We also thought it would be lovely to have the luxury of an ebony fingerboard,and now the tailpiece,bringing a subtle change to the string tension.

Having said all this I still have a fondness for the original,a truly beautiful and versatile guitar,and Im truly delighted that you like it so much.You are indeed a man of taste sir and I thank you for taking the time to post on this forum of ours.May the guitar bring you years of playing pleasure.Be well.G

Barnsie
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Joined: Mon Nov 14, 2016 4:58 pm

Re: Fret King Elise GG

Postby Barnsie » Tue Nov 15, 2016 6:56 pm

Thank you Gordon.
I collected it from Intersound this morning and haven't put it down since.
I love the under saddle piezo, but I don't currently own an acoustic, so this is my only option.
I'm looking at splitting the humbucker on a push pull tone pot giving even more versatility.
John

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Bob Wilson
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Re: Fret King Elise GG

Postby Bob Wilson » Thu Dec 08, 2016 3:40 pm

There is a great write-up on the GG MkII Elise in the new online Guitar Interactive Magazine. Pages 68 and 69.
Another award coming up hopefully Gordon :D
Be well
Bob
Lives touch and paths cross for a reason - be grateful for these meetings and grow as a person

paganskins
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Joined: Fri May 04, 2012 1:33 pm

Re: Fret King Elise GG

Postby paganskins » Wed Jan 25, 2017 8:59 am

Chasing the hybrid guitar thing I've just picked up a Mk1 GG Elise second hand, it's in near new condition but en route the battery had become unclipped and free to move around the control cavity and potentially bash into the various electrical components.

It all seems OK apart from the following, does this sound right to you Gordon (and other Mk1 owners)?

I can get and blend both pickup sources using a mono cable but using a stereo cable I can only get the magnetic pickups regardless of where the piezo/mag selector switch is. I was under the impression using a stereo to 2 x mono lead (y cable) I should be able to send the piezo to one amp and the mags to another.

Also the taper on the piezo volume doesn't seem right, I'm getting very little volume reduction down to to about 2 or 3 then the signal drops off very steeply.

A small sealed unit which was glued to the outer wall of the cavity also had become unstuck but I don't think it could move much as the various leads running into are holding it pretty much where it should be.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

DAVE FITZ
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Re: Fret King Elise GG

Postby DAVE FITZ » Fri Feb 17, 2017 8:52 pm

I had a similar problem with this wonderful guitar, the review in guitarist said it would split the signal via a y lead. It will not.
When I enquired about it with Fret king they put me through to Trev Wilkinson who was very informative and said it would not do it as it had not been designed that way but he offered to rewire it for me in the Fret king workshop.
However I have a strat fitted with a piezo and I had a look at it and fitted the same 9 lug smart socket to the elise and it works fine.
The part cost about £3 and is simple to fit.
Hope this helps
regards Dave.

DAVE FITZ
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Re: Fret King Elise GG

Postby DAVE FITZ » Fri Feb 17, 2017 8:58 pm

P.s mine had the battery loose too. the wonder of gaffer tape sorts that out.

paganskins
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Re: Fret King Elise GG

Postby paganskins » Mon Feb 20, 2017 8:48 am

DAVE FITZ wrote:I had a similar problem with this wonderful guitar, the review in guitarist said it would split the signal via a y lead. It will not.
When I enquired about it with Fret king they put me through to Trev Wilkinson who was very informative and said it would not do it as it had not been designed that way but he offered to rewire it for me in the Fret king workshop.
However I have a strat fitted with a piezo and I had a look at it and fitted the same 9 lug smart socket to the elise and it works fine.
The part cost about £3 and is simple to fit.
Hope this helps
regards Dave.


Thanks for your reply Dave.

Yes, in the meantime my tech has had a look at it and come to the same conclusion. He's made the mod you describe above and also managed to fit a low profile switch to the control cavity cover plate so I can go between stereo or mono operation.

And yes I'm going to augment the battery clip to make it more secure.

Karajaal
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Joined: Sat May 26, 2018 7:44 pm
Location: South East London,

Re: Fret King Elise GG

Postby Karajaal » Mon May 28, 2018 12:37 pm

Hi Everyone. I'm new to this even though I was online when the internet was a Unix command line interface. Please bear with me if I get it wrong. The reason I'm here is because a few weeks ago I spontaneously on the spur of the moment bought a mark 1 red Fret King Elise GG. I must say it's the best guitar I've ever had. It plays and sounds beautifully even when not plugged in.

My problem is quite simple though. There is no user guide? I don't understand? It wasn't till I found this site that I realised that the guitar is battery powered active circuity. And try as I may I cannot fathom the complex controls.

Could anyone point me in the right direction for the user guide for the best guitar I've ever owned?

Best wishes and thanks in advance

Karajaal

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GORDON
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Re: Fret King Elise GG

Postby GORDON » Wed May 30, 2018 9:07 am

Hello Sir.Ring Tom at JHS...JOHN HORNBY SKEWES,the number is on their website.So glad you like the guitar,I loved it and used it for quite a while and there are YOUTUBE clips you can view.The three way mini toggle switch activates the saddle pickups when in the forward position,middle is both saddle and magnetic pickups and when switched to the rear it mutes .The three eq control at the bottom activate the transducer,giving loads of tonal choices.But give Tom a ring for more detailed info and tell him I told you to get in touch.

Be well.

G.

Karajaal
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Joined: Sat May 26, 2018 7:44 pm
Location: South East London,

Re: Fret King Elise GG

Postby Karajaal » Wed May 30, 2018 2:11 pm

Thanks a million for your help. I'll contact Tom ASAP.

Once again thanks for your help and a brilliant guitar

Cheers

Karajaal

rickguitar60
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Joined: Wed Dec 11, 2013 9:41 am

Re: Fret King Elise GG

Postby rickguitar60 » Fri Nov 01, 2019 3:32 pm

I've had a GG Elise mk1 for many years. I use the piezo saddle pick up most of the time. Selling shortly if anyone's interested.They are great guitars and no longer available. Just got too many guitars and they are all great in their own way and style.
rick.fbennett@ntlworld.com

Ant Little
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Joined: Thu Aug 12, 2021 3:29 pm

Re: Fret King Elise GG

Postby Ant Little » Mon Aug 16, 2021 6:10 pm

Hello, I know I'm responding to an old post but seeing this thread a while back eventually led me to acquire a Fret King Elise GG mk1 last week. I've been playing guitar for 40+ years, and have some very nice guitars already but as others have also said I was attracted by the concept of being able to get so many sounds out of the same guitar. First impressions were very favourable, its a great looking guitar, sits on a strap well and is comfortable to play, and its acoustically quite resonant. After plugging in it did take me a couple of goes to work out how the controls operated, but I found a youtube video where Gordon demonstrated the guitar and that was very helpful. This isn't the first guitar I've tried with both magnetic and piezo pickups, but its the best one I think. The acoustic sounds aren't bad, but I love the ability to mix the humbuckers with a bit of the piezo - this guitar really does have a very wide range of good sounds. I was playing at the weekend with a friend of mine who has one of Gordons Vintage signature acoustics, so out of interest I put my acoustic down for a few numbers and picked the Elise GG up. On a clean amp setting I was getting some acceptable acoustic sounds with careful use of the pickup volume and tone controls. But turn the tone down and the piezo off and it sounds like a Jazz box. Tone up a bit and its sounding like a 335. The only sounds I didn't really get were those clean single coil Fender type sounds, but I wouldn't expect that of a semi with humbuckers. I guess the mk2 with the coil taps was the answer to that. Frankly I'm amazed how good a mid priced guitar like this is, wish these sort of guitars were around when I was learning to play !


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