I was expecting to get a comment like this and just a few hours after putting up the pics here comes Lou with his message.
I must explain. This is an an absolutely wonderful guitar. I love it in every conceivable way. It turned out just about perfect and its the best I can possibly make. However, I do have this uneasiness about it. Its too fancy and ornate. Everyone like Lou knows that I don't like fancy and ornate guitars because it signifies shallowness and I am definitely not shallow. Fanciness does not add anything to how good the guitar is. As crazy as it seems to the PRS generation - who are to be found at music stores around the world buying guitars as we speak - I would much rather build a "Home Depot" or a "Horror Show" guitar. Also, I get satisfaction in messing with the mindset of the PRS generation who have been fed a bunch of bullshit and have eaten it up and are asking for more.

I did not pick this bodyblank. It was given to me all glued together and rough cut to shape by a local custom furniture maker, who also happens to be a guitar enthusiast. I approached him some time ago to do some rough planing and sanding of boards since I do not have the heavy-duty machinery that is needed. We agreed to trade, his services and some wood, including this body blank for my work of building him a Zachary guitar. This was supposed to be his guitar. He picked the woods entirely and it was exactly the way he wanted it. I had no say in it. He also offered to rough cut the contour of a Z3 body after making an outline of my body shape template. This is where the mistake was made. I don't blame him because it could happen to anyone. He placed the template on the body blank and traced out the shape of the guitar, not realizing that the template was upside down. Perfect for a left handed guitar but obviously not right for a right handed Z3. When he brought me the body blank cut to shape I noticed the silly problem. I could no longer build him a Z3 and the only thing that would barely make it is a Z1 shape. I was happy that at least I did not have to throw away the wood. I did not mind that it was to be a Z1. I considered the whole situation as an act of God.

So this is how I ended up with this ornate piece of wood. It wasn't my decision and normally I would not have built this guitar. Seeing how ornate the wood was I figured that I might as well go all the way and make it as ornate as possible with natural shell fingerboard markers and gold hardware.

I have to admit that it is very nice. On closer examination its really not like the artificial guitars that others would do. I take solace in the fact that the wood is not "perfect" and the grain is not uniform. It does not have that unnatural wallpaper look of a mass produced guitar. Instead of a thin veneer, the top is more than half the thickness of the body and its made of three pieces. The back is also three pieces of an unknown, somewhat flamed, yet very soft wood.

So there you have it. As fancy and as ornate as I get. I received more wood like this so there will be more like this to come.

I received this email concerning this gutiar and my comments about it.

I have been watching your site for a couple of years, and am very intrigued by your work. You are very right that fanciness does not make a guitar one bit better. However, I must disagree with your statement that fanciness indicates shallowness. Just as a figured top cannot make a guitar sound or play better, it cannot make it sound or play one bit worse, all other things being equal. Therefore, if a striking example of the grain patterning which occurs naturally within wood as it lives and grows as part of the tree turns you on, the same guitar with it is a better guitar, for you, than it would be without it. Aesthetics cannot detract from quality. It is only when visual aesthetic concerns supercede aural aesthetic concerns (as they indeed do in many mass-produced guitars, witness the appearance of laminate guitar tops where the surface is actually a photograph of highly figured wood!!!) that it is clearly detrimental to the quality of the guitar. I am a wood nut. I am also a sucker for one of a kind or unusual, hand made objects of all descriptions. I am very intrigued by a guitar that allows the wood to breath, and live, and would allow me to be aware, as I play it, that it is indeed wood. There is nothing about a more highly figured wood that detracts from this idea.
Keep up the good work, hang in there.
There NEED to be guys like you out there bucking the system and trying to swin upstream. It is good for ALL of us.    Wendell

My response:
I agree with everything you say. I was not correct to dismiss beautiful wood. I suppose I did not explain myself that its not the wood that is at fault for me not liking it or feeling guilty about using it, its the fact that it has been turned into a gimmick by others. We all know that figured wood, in particular flamed or quilt maple has been overdone to the point of being shallow, cheesy and irritating, at least for me. This is due to the marketing techniques of many companies that use it as their main selling feature and consumers who may be limited in their knowledge of guitars use it as a requirement for what they think is a high quality and superior guitar. Both manufacturers and consumers are wrong. Manufacturers use it to mislead and many consumers believe the lie. I will use figured wood in the future but will consciously try to keep away from figured maple, unless I get a very good deal on it that I can not pass up. I will try to use figured wood that others do not use or dismiss as not meant for guitars. I always want to be different as you know. You are very correct in that beautiful wood definitely does not make a guitar worse and in fact it does add to its appeal as long as we keep in mind that its just a very minor part of what makes a good guitar.

Alex, Thank you for selling me this wonderful instrument. I've had this an hour and the UPS guy tried to deliver me only the stand. I made him go back in the truck and look for her. No way he was going to get away without giving me my guitar!
First impressions - What feel and sound (I never thought an electric would sound this good acoustically).
Fabulous setup, sweet pickups (first notes played were in honor of EVH, followed by Queen, SRV, Duane, Rush, etc.),
Craftsmanship - What sustain - even on my practice amp that breaks up when it shouldn't.
Wonderful neck - You can feel everything - body fit - balance - And this is my first hour with it...
Wonderful case, fit, stand is very well engineered. I'm not a big praise guy, BTW, just an honest one. Paul Morrison

Thanks for your gesture to put my daughters' name up on the site - She would like you to know what she looks like (the pic below was the day of her first communion this summer). She loves the guitar and I sit with her around a very soft area and let her try the guitar out with me. She's getting the ol' Smoke on the Water" down pretty good!     Take Care, Paul

Gibson Les Paul Guitar