CONNECTED BY MUSIC
FRET12 is our riff on the stuff we think is cool — especially guitar and live music. This is our motivating creative outlet, doing things our way. The hum of a tube amp turning into sonic bliss. Musicians with purpose. The nomadic nature of touring. The calm and the chaos backstage. The unsung roadies who make it all happen. Road-worn gear. Unlikely tribes, united by the love of music. The perfectly imperfect. This is what fuels FRET12 to create, connect, and roam the winding road of music. We find beauty in the toil, trouble, and laughter — and we strive to capture that in everything we do. We make as much as we can by hand, keep things simple and smart, but mostly, we just roll with it when the inspiration hits. At the end of the day, we’re here for the music.
Visit us our shop located in the Salt Shed, 1357 N. Elston Ave.
Fridays & Saturdays 11am-7pm
FRET12 is our riff on the stuff we think is cool — especially guitar and live music. This is our motivating creative outlet, doing things our way. The hum of a tube amp turning into sonic bliss. Musicians with purpose. The nomadic nature of touring. The calm and the chaos backstage. The unsung roadies who make it all happen. Road-worn gear. Unlikely tribes, united by the love of music. The perfectly imperfect.
This is what fuels FRET12 to create, connect, and roam the winding road of music. We find beauty in the toil, trouble, and laughter — and we strive to capture that in everything we do. We make as much as we can by hand, keep things simple and smart, but mostly, we just roll with it when the inspiration hits. At the end of the day, we’re here for the music.
BACK TO CRAFT
The FRET12 Studio is located on Jefferson Street in Chicago, a reminder of our Detroit roots. The gritty, hard-working concrete loft once housed printing presses and later a fencing studio before we took it over in 2008.
This is where we design, screen print our art, brew candles, film, sew, wrap mummies in guitar strings, mod fixtures for the shop — we figure it out here.
FRET12 SHOP
We take pride in the diversity and culture of our great Midwestern cities and embrace the patina that comes with decades of industrial use. That's why we opened our first physical shop in Chicago’s historic Salt Shed concert venue — the raw steel, rust, worn concrete, and heavy timbers feel like home.
We’re energized by the tour buses rolling in, and the concerts that bring new, diverse audiences to our doorstep. There’s nothing like the feeling we get when someone discovers FRET12 for the first time — and the bemused look on their face when we try to describe what it is.
