This song opens with Buchanan's mumbled spoken word intro over quiet organ and then yields to spine-tingling, sorrow-laden Telecaster that cries and screams in existential torment before giving way in turn to percussive flurries that bends into cries of passion.

I find that the Tele is a very unique instrument in terms of feel, vibe and tone. I don't think many really understand it or like it. It would not be the first choice for most people, despite its tradition and history. I was the same way. I never liked country music and hated Teles for the longest time. In the last few years or so, after listening to some Tele greats and getting into the simple and direct roots type music, be it blues or country or rockabilly sounds, I come to realize that a Tele will do everything you need. Roy Buchanan proved this. It may be the greatest style of guitar ever created for versatility. So the F1 was a real landmark for me. I am particularly proud of it. Its now the first guitar I pick up when I want to play. Mark Miller has done a great job demonstrating its true tone. What you are hearing there is actually the F1 tone. The pedal only works on what signal it receives, this is why its such a transparent pedal. With most pedals, the pedal itself simply masks the tone of the guitar and you get the sound of the pedal and not the gutiar. So that F1 sounds exactly the way it does, better than I had ever hoped for and this is why I am so happy about it. I worked very hard on the string stagger of the pickup, to get it right.

Notice the amazing and rare one-piece Swamp Ash body, the expensive handmade Stainless Steel compensated saddles, the modified Tele bridge plate that I use exclusively, the custom feather-light aluminum knobs, the vintage-spec neck pickup and the ZachAttack humbucker neck pickup with the coil switch. This guitar can go from the biting and piercing Tele bridge tone to a dark smoky jazz Ed Bickert sound, all in one guitar.

Sound files of this F1 060806
My recording equipment is still awful but you will get some idea anyway.
Recorded through the Zachary SuperNatural (prototype blue amp), the Zachary SuperNatural pedal, string were ZOG 9s. Amp volume was quite low and totally clean. The distortion you are hearing is entirely from the pedal.

060806_01    both pickups on, neck in double coil mode, Zachary pedal drive only at 10 o'clock.

060806_02   both pickups on, neck in single coil mode - at 2:09 switched to bridge pickup - at 5:21 switched back to both pickups, neck in single coil - at 6:30 switched on the pedal Boost - at 6:50 switched to bridge pickup for the ending. Pedal Drive only at 10 o'clock throughout.

060806_03 - no pedal, just clean amp, neck pickup in double coil mode, tone pot turned down to about half.

 

Mark Miller    - plays Roy B. 060806  and the Zachary Pedal

060806 Moonstrings          060806 Morning          060806 Roy B. Blues           060806 T Bird Blues          060806 Blooze Blooze

* For more commentary go to the VideoFiles page.

 

Videos

Roy B. 060806 - 01        Roy B. 060806 - 02       Roy B. 060806 - 03    

Wow man, that is one ugly mother of a Tele, just the way a guitar named Roy B. is supposed to be! :-)
No tummy cut? No forearm contour? No wave cutout? You've really gone back to the roots on this one.
Somebody's about to get all the twang he can handle. :-)   YUF (Belgium)

Exactly right. This guitar had to be the total "Roy B. experience". Its based very closely on the very early Telecasters of the early 50s, called the Blackguards.
I purposely did not want to use any contouring. The woods also needed to be correct.
I only added the Zach features to make it much more playable than the original. Things that Leo Fender would have done had he been a guitar player or a guitar builder.

Your latest creation is like a Tele on crack. Fender only wishes they could build something so solid like that. It is a nice tribute to the originals, though...but with Zachary flair and balance thrown in. I love that the dots match the neck ferrules. Roy would be proud. Man, that guy plays with such pain. -Zach (RI)

Alex, You've made world guitar history with this incredible guitar, 060806. I can't get over it, I can't get under it, I can't get around it... I'm in love. Of course, that should be no surprise to you, as I am in love with every single one of your guitars. I don't even have to play the guitar to know what it sounds and what it feels like. I can tell just by looking at it what I want to do with it.

I could go into all this gibberish about the wood and the hardware and this and that and blah, blah, blah, but that is not my concern at all, that is not what I do. I'll leave all of that up to you. What it really is, I will remind you and your Z fans once again, is the materials in your hands. No one else can do what you do. It's all in the way you handle things. You could make a piece of Styrofoam sound good. It's not the guitar at all, but it's the man behind it. All good things come from someone's thinking mind and skillful hands. There is no other way to do it.

For those who have the balls to take the challenge, you could line up a few good Tele players and blindfold them. Then pass around a bunch of Telecasters and a couple of F1. In the end, ask them all which ones they like the best and, of course they will pick the F1 every time. There is no doubt in my mind. I once made such a challenge to a few guitar player acquaintances of mine, that we would make such a challenge with Chinta and a few other guitars in a music store they claimed were great. None of them even had the balls to try it. The contest never even got off the ground.

Now, these F1 are special because the Tele is one of my favorite solid body electric guitars of all. It's in my top three. Of course, it isn't a Tele anymore, it's an F1, it's a Zachary. Again, you have buried the competition and have taken over the market. You're most definitely in the biggest, baddest cat in the fuckin' hunt. When the guitar builders finally get smart and try to copy even some of what you are doing - the world of guitars and guitarists just might be a lot better off. Roy Buchanan would have been proud to own this one. You're the man, Alex. Keep up the nice work.   Ted

I got to your videos page and dowloaded all the Mark Miller vids. Great stuff! That guy really has a great handle on many facets of the blues. The tones from the F1 are otherworldly. Telecasters are obsolete now. Hell, any electric guitar, if it's not a Z, is obsolete. Ted