I am the original owner and purchased this guitar from Alex in December of 1999. He and I established a friendship (He introduced me to Frank Marino/Mahogany Rush and I turned him on to Shawn Lane), and I quickly formed a tight attachment with this guitar once it arrived. It is my primary instrument and I played it heavily (but lovingly!). I do have a strong sentimental attachment to this guitar.

This is an _amazing_ guitar, folks, and I feel that Alex is one of the most honest, passionate, and one of the unique visionaries of electric guitar lutherie today. Many people don't understand with his views, but he builds great instruments. What makes him unique is that he doesn't do it for the $$$$ -- he puts his heart into every guitar he builds to make a statement about the state of the art. Each Zachary guitar is unique. I have never played or owned another guitar that matches this one's resonance and overall responsive tone. You will not believe how great this guitar sounds. I attribute these features to the guitar's deep set neck pocket, oil finish, fixed bridge, and korina body wood.

This featherweight guitar is made from an incredibly light and resonant oil finished korina wood body, mahogany neck, fat slab rosewood fretboard with 24 frets at 24 3/4" scale. As you can see it has dual DiMarzio humbuckers and a fixed brass bridge with strings-through-body configuration. The wide-thin neck on this guitar is set and glued in the body. The bridge pickup is a DiMarzio Fred and the neck is a PAF pro. You'll notice that there is a single volume pot, one three way pickup selector, and one coil tap switch.

The tone on this guitar is hard to describe.. I can say that the first time you play this guitar unplugged you'll probably be astounded by its natural resonance. It's hard to believe that this is a solid body electric guitar. The tone is warm and dynamic.. touch sensitive, and extremely warm and juicy. It has a 'blooming' characteristic if you dig into the notes hard. If I had to compare any guitar to this, I'd say the closest production class guitar was a custom shop Fender Tele Jr., which was an all mahogany set neck telecaster with P-90s and a chambered body. It came reasonably close to this Z1's resonance and overall vibe. Of course this guitar is suitable for all styles of music.

You'll also notice that the wood Alex selected for this body has a small area of rot and even a termite hole! This was intentional and is a result of Alex's guitar building philosophy. Rest assured -- this guitar has been 100% reliable and stable since purchasing it. I strongly encourage you to Check out the Zachary guitars web site and read his philosophy if you're not familiar with his work.
Rich (California)