|
Body
Style |
Body
Wood |
Neck
Wood |
Fbd.
Wood |
Scale |
Frets |
Pickups |
Switching | Neck Joint |
Weight |
Price |
|
Z2-B4 |
Mahogany |
maple |
Maple |
30" |
25 Large |
ZachAttack |
3-way pickup select 2-way coil select |
Screwed |
7.6 lb |
$2600 |
Quote of the Month
Subject: PRS Guitars I think YOU! are the real Wanabee! Theodore Budden <theodorebudden@gmail.com>
I have a dream.
Yes, to actualize a PRS existence. Everyone knows this is my intention. The very philosophy and principles I value, admire and emulate more than anything in the world. The secret cannot be held any longer. To sell my name and soul to the CNC devil, is to become free from the oppression of handcrafting instruments one at a time. For Art is agony. To lead a life of a hermit is non conducive to finding the most quilted of quilts or the most flamed of flames. PRS has achieved the ultimate goal of every instrument builder, as demanded by the thousands of discriminating guitar aficionados word-wide; the army of non players who still buy guitars and collect them. PRS speaks their language.
I envy and can only dream of the fame and exposure generated by that expansive and ominous NAMM booth. With a wireless mic in front of my face I cannot even imagine the honor, privilege and humbling experience of becoming the pitchman for the ignorant masses of guitar consumers in the thousands, for whom I could never ever have too much respect.
The world knows by now that I certainly do not build guitars because of any visceral need to create or any calling to artistic expression. I could care less about that. I will do anything to get away from actually making guitars and to have total control over my creation. I wish to be rescued from the shackles of hands on creativity and rather be a marketer for mass production, passing it off as hand-crafted.
Instead, I covet only the "golden calf” and to be hallowed by a large international following of "gear queens" and anonymous “guitar forums posters”. Its not artistic fulfillment I am after. Its the cliched adoration of nameless guitar magazine reviewers, which would make me hear the chime of success and fulfillment. I dream of becoming a faithful and obedient servant of the medicine man Carlos Santana, to whom I would sell my name and my soul and willingly except him as my master and spiritual leader. I dream of setting up a line of CNC machines which spew out thousands of glossy, generic, lifeless, plastic covered guitar shaped objects, instinctively worshipped everywhere by every non-player hack who walks the earth. I wish to reward the ignorant and the stupid who don’t know guitars or music, with their nirvana of glossy plastic aspirations. My dream is to pay pro players just to have them play my zero vibe objects and to perpetually spend a fortune on full color page magazine ads buying my way into guitar brand eternity. I dream to bastardize the dignity, values and the image of pro players with the corrupting temptation of money, strapping a PRS on them all, regardless of how stupid they look.
I dream of becoming a cheesy salesman and one day, in all my acquired skill and wisdom, be able to finally sell guitar cables.
Actually, I just realized that I fell short in being like PRS with this instruments. Sorry, I will try harder next time. As you all know PRS uses the "finest tone woods in the world" but I chose to use what they call "junk wood" for this instrument. Come to think of it, you will not even find this wood in the PRS garbage bin, it will go directly into the wood stove. As you know PRS has dedicated buyers who scower the world for the finest, most figured and flawless woods they can find, just for you guitar afficionados. They know what you want and what you need. I mean, as you can see, this piece of wood is full of flaws and even has a large crack on the back. Maybe I should shamefully hide all this and not use over 80 high definition images to show off the flaws. How would this look with a plastic finish over it, I wonder? What was I thinking? I have to work much harder on becoming like PRS. Let me know how I do in the future.
Some notable features:
Strangely, this is the first Z2 bass. Note, it is a short scale bass offering very easy playablity and making it absolutely perfect for the guitar player who wants to play bass. The body is 1-piece. This is alsot the first Z gutiar with a contoured top. The most important thing about a short scale bass and what makes it work is the new ZOG short-scale bass string set.Let's talk ZOG short scale bass strings
Ludwik has this to say:
As everyone knows, a 30" short-scale bass sounds warmer and softer, as well as being easier to play. The downside is that the bottom E string is virtually useless - it's too loose and flabby to produce much more than a dull thud. Unless, of course, it's fitted with ZOGs. In fact, I'd say that ZOGs are pretty well mandatory for any bass, whatever the scale length. Best Ludwik (UK)
ZOG is one of the most important things when it comes to basses working properly. To me ZOG strings are so obvious to use that I don't even think of it but there are many out there who are trying to use a short scale bass with conventional strings. On a short scale bass, standard strings are even worse and they do not work.
"Warmer"
A short scale bass does not sound "warmer". Its all because the strings are flopping around, especially the lower the strings go. Conventional bass strings are muddy, not "warmer". Mud is mistaken for warmth."Softer"
This is also a function of the under-tensioned strings. The shorter scale, naturally lowers the string tension and this is interpreted as a softer feel.Regular strings are bad enough on long scale basses but on a short scale they do not work at all.
As you know, the shorter the scale, the higher the tension should be as well, to compensate for the lowered tension. As the scale of an instrument is lowered, the string tension drops as well.
Or in other words, the shorter the scale, the strings will be even looser, hence the "softer" feel.I would like to line up all the idiots who play short scale basses with regular strings and have not even noticed there is something seriously wrong. I am not sure what I would do them. Just give them a lobotomy and get it over with. No sense in trying to explain it to them. If they haven't noticed anything wrong up to now, regarding their short scale bass strings, then they are beyond hope.
* * * * * * * * * *
Got to play that short scale last night. What a beast. Jeff is very happy with it and so am I. Man what a great overall tone. Beats the shit out of his birdsong. Playability is so fluid and easy. Jeff has been playing non stop and really sounds great. We recorded it last night with a nice ribbon mic and got great results. I love the quacky out of phase sound, but the low end punch of the neck humbucker is the best driving bass sound I've heard.
Nice job Alex. I'll be sending my Relic 301205 to you for refretting by the end of this month. Peace, Zach (RI)
At last! Back to the Z2! I love the contoured top and I hope that you will incorporate it into a guitar some day soon. Just a little more fluid motion to the fastest guitar shape around! The shape really works as a bass too.
The bass is gorgeous. The buttery mahogany colour and the pale of the maple neck are obviously classic. Even the colour of the crack on the back gives it more character! Dude, I need to find the dumpster you're finding your wood in! Treasure. Jeff
,
Now you are just being mean. You're adding insult to injury here. First the Moderne, now this? I can't seem to get the drool off my chin these days! -Mark N.
Cool Z2 Bass! I have always thought the Z2 would make an incredible bass. I was right! I brought up the idea of a Z2 Bass with Alex a while back, but my idea was shot down in flames. Apparently Alex has changed his mind. Because the Z2 is the finest guitar body design on the planet (and I shall have one, one fine day), it only stands to reason that it should be made into a bass as well. This Z2 is one of my favorite Zz of all. What a beautiful bass!Congrats, Alex. Ted
Killer! I just love the look of that new bass. Something about the proportions and relationship between the shape/height of the pups/pup covers and the body sculpting, color matching, etc.....it all just worked out fantastically well. Straight up bad ass Z bass. Eli
Wow, that is one extremely cool bass!! Extremely Cool! I figured the next guitar would be out of the ordinary but I wasn't expecting a Z2 bass.
I do play a bit of bass just to put song concepts together but unfortunately I could not justify owning that one.....! Mark Miller
Wow. That's all I can say.
The Z2 shape is perfect for a bass - in a way even better than for a guitar. The contouring of the top gives the rather brutal functionality of the Z2 shape an unexpected elegance and grace. And I love the typical Zachness of the "flaw" in the wood at the back. I do hope you'll make a Z2 guitar at some point with a contoured top.
As everyone knows, a 30" short-scale bass sounds warmer and softer, as well as being easier to play. The downside is that the bottom E string is virtually useless - it's too loose and flabby to produce much more than a dull thud. Unless, of course, it's fitted with ZOGs. In fact, I'd say that ZOGs are pretty well mandatory for any bass, whatever the scale length. I used to have a Gibson EB3 bass so I'm very well aware of the problem. If only I'd known then what I know now, I would never have got rid of it..... Best, Ludwik
Wow yes, I love that piece of mahogany and the light weight. Looks really comfortable. Certainly it will sound wonderful and have precise fretwork like a proper Z.
Beautiful with the offset contrast of the maple. I am extrremely envious of the contour top. Frank B.
Tonight I received a text message from my guitarist and best friend Zack Fenner telling me to check out your newest Z2-B4 and buy it. I've been a fan of your work ever since Zack got his first Z2. The Z2 is by far the easiest playing and best sounding guitar I've had the pleasure of putting my hands on. Your Z2-B4 0403010 is the bass I would have asked you to build for me. A Z2 body with a short scale neck. I've been playing a short scale bass with your ZOG strings for the last 3 years; your ZOG strings made a huge difference on it. The E string definitely made the biggest difference in sound, full with a lot of punch even when in Drop D tuning. The balance of tension between the strings makes a very consistent feel when playing finger style. Plucking through the strings, your finger lands on a string of higher tension then the one you're plucking. They've made me very happy and earned me a lot of complements on my tone.-- Jeff
A real surprise seeing that bass last night. The Z2 is an incredible body for the bass, almost looks designed particularly for that and any bass player who lays eyes on it is going to want it. Have you noticed the bass guitar culture that has erupted in the last 10 years or so? Somehow it has evaded the whole cheapening process that has happened to the electric guitar industry. It still has it's own brand of cool that doesn't care what the world at large thinks. Not nearly as many sell out endorsements and the like. This bass will not go un-noticed by the players out there. Beautiful work! Tony
Hello Mr Zachary, I am wanting to build a bass too. Will you please teach me all your secrets? Please, huh Please. Master Tinker er (LOL)
Nice one Alex; I was expecting another guitar. Your creative juices are flowing. Eagle
Took a look at the new Z2-B4!!!....Fucking awesome!!!!!....Loooooove itttt!!....You are killing them mate!! Two massively big thumbs up! Keep churning out that work my friend while you still have it in you. Your art in indesputable. You are the BEST in what you do! Cheers, Orlando
Alex, Just saw the new bass on the site - WOW....not fair!!!!!
It looks awesome, my friend - a hot-rodded sports car of a bass with some attitude and a few track scars... Jay
Hey Alex,
Been playing the hell outta the bass since I got it. I did some recording with it for my band and they were loving the sound. Neck pickup in humbucking through a SansAmp BDDI into my Mesa Walkabout 15 with a ribbon mic about 1' off the cone center. Punchy and meaty mixing well with the song.
Also, I brought it to a jam party this weekend. Even direct into a Fender Bassman, everyone loved the sound. I let a few of my friends play it and they were very impressed with the feel and setup. The carved top got a lot of praise.
I included a few pics I took with Zach's Z2-T.
--Jeff (owner of this instrument)
I got some time to study the 040310 bass that you mentioned you had a “bump” in the road with, looks like whatever that bump was it was well worth it.
That bass oozes sensuality. It seems all the extra attention sprouted some nice subtleties for the Z2’s top style.
This was like a whole new take on the Z2 style to me. Beautiful work!Well, the finished product sings.. (much like all your other work) it’s also got a live-organic sense to it. That’s why I want one of your creations so bad, they make you want to pick them up and press them close you your body, like dancing with a beautiful girl. Yordys
