Frantic Frets opens in Milton

Frantic Frets Music and Antiques in Milton aims to be more than just your typical music or antiques store.

The business is based around the house of owners Al and Mary Knight. Al Knight said he envisions Frantic Frets as a neighborhood meeting place, where people can hang out and play music.

Al has been playing music and collecting guitars since he was 14. The Knights were in business together in a retail flower shop in their former hometown of Mountclair, N.J., for nearly 20 years. They moved down to Delaware when Al retired from school administration and Mary got a job as the development coordinator for the Center for the Inland Bays.

“We swore we would never do retail again,” Al joked. “I kind of want this to be people coming to visit me. Like it’s my living room. It’s not like going to be Guitar Center.”

Frantic Frets - named after the frets of a guitar and the name of Al’s band in New Jersey - consists of two small buildings: the guitar room off the main deck and the antiques room.

The guitar room is filled with colorful guitars, acoustic and electric, including a paisley-style Fender Telecaster and a double-necked electric. Al said his personal favorite is a Godin-made three-voice guitar, so named because it includes an electric guitar, acoustic guitar and synthesizer in the same instrument. He plays one himself, and he said there is one for sale at Frantic Frets.

The antiques room holds a number of vintage items, as well as additional acoustic guitars, which Al described as “beach guitars,” guitars that are ideal to be played at the beach. Right now the antiques are in a detached building next to the house, but eventually they will be adjacent to the guitar room, Al said.

The Knights have been visiting the Delaware beaches for years, but they found Milton to be home. “We rented a place in Broadkill Beach and fell in love. We want to be near the water. We decided we wanted to look for some property down here,” Al said.

Frantic Frets is at 26374 Broadkill Road, and will be open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Wednesday, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Thursday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday, 12 to 5 p.m. on Saturday and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday. For more information, visit Frantic Frets on Facebook, at www.franticband.com or call 302-402-3055.