Jealous Again!
So much for wondering if you had a break over Christmas! All I can say is ...uuuhhnngg (with drool and stuff)! I can't believe this beautiful guitar (090108) is going somewhere to someone else! This thing is a heartbreaking, amp melting, teary eyed beauty! Paduak is my absolute favorite wood and I would love it if you could reserve some for me. You have built a few Paduak guitars and they are all heart stopping beauties. I know I'm playing with fire mentioning this but I can't help it. Part of playing rock 'n roll guitar is gettin off on your own instrument and these sure do it for me.

I would never ask you to do "one like that" so please don't hear that in what I am saying. The white stripe is absolutely brilliant! You are such a creative design genius! And a 26" scale? It must just rip, absolutely rip! Please upload some sounds of this guitar.

By the way, I am completely ruined for other guitars now. I can barely play my own any more and am sick and losing sleep over one day having one of yours. I really am losing sleep! I dream a lot and your headstock seems to find it's way into a lot of my dreams. Really! Once I dreamt you were with me and you had my new guitar and you were playing it for me. It sounded like a piano and I woke up kind of crying. Really! Weird huh? Don't get creeped out O.K.?

There is this thing in me (for the first time) that wants more than 2 guitars and you've got 'em all! My dream list of Zachs would include a Z2 trem, a Z3 an F1 and a G1-T(Bigsby). Could you imagine? This would never work with my wife but I could probably squeeze two into the "but honey, I need them" file. Oh how I digress. Any word on the F1? I am sure I can double stop and finger pluck that thing into submission. I constantly dream of that too. The funds are in by the way. I just can't wait to open up "that" case for the first time. I am beginning to loose control over how I feel and what I say when it comes to your instruments, your art. You should be "Man of the Year" in my books and I am dangerously close to becoming a fan boy! (I think it's already too late) Yes Alex, I did enjoy the "pornography". You kill me. All the best, Tony

090108 has to be one of the most conspicuous guitars that I've ever seen you put out, with that big woody slash contrasting with the dark red hues. Just for that I'd give it 5 stars for having a more original finish than your average guitar on the market. Congratulations! Now that I think of it, why not call this little baby "SLASH"? a woody slash across the body, this guitar slashes the competition. -Justin

My reply: Its not a "finish", its the natural beauty of the wood and the way I joined the various pieces.

Hi Alex, Just got a look at the gorgeous new Z2-T - what an amazing looking guitar. Unbelievable piece of wood for the body and a killer rosewood/ebony neck just like mine. No need to comment on playability - was just playing mine (300607) last night so words here won't do it justice. I like the pics that show the whole guitar - just looks LETHAL. Looks like it's gonna be a good year...... Regards, Mark

I think my other guitars detect some strange vibe. They are righteously in fear of The Big Dog. I will have to play it before I come up with a name as its more about the tone than anything else. You are a genius. I was only checking the site weekly, I did not expect such quick work. Like I said, the computer is not my primary mental focus after 30 years of keyboard slavery. I have been making music, cooking, sailing, going to the beach and riding my bike. The weather here is awesome. Life is good.

You Are The Man. The Money Will Be On Its Way Tomorrow. Please enjoy the guitar often if you like and share it with anyone you trust who would appreciate it. Enjoy it as much as possible until the day it is shipped. I am not concerned with minor and reasonable light use as it is not going to spend much time in a case or on the wall and I expect to play it extremely. To be honest, other than playing them, I baby my guitars and they don't get dropped, buckle rashed or heavily dinged or burned by cigarettes etc. Amazing design. Exceeds my expectations visually - the rosewood neck and the wood stripe - over the top in a good way. I can't imagine exceeding this guitar - you are setting the bar way too high.    Frank B. (future owner of this guitar)

Hi Alex, 090108 looks terrific. That Paduak is some nice wood and the stripe is very striking. Looks beautiful. Now that I own a Z2 I appreciate these even more. Its amazing to me how comfortable this guitar is and how quickly it seems to be familiar, like I've always played one. I should be able to try it out with the band tonight, unless this snow cancels practice. thanks again,    Bruce (owner of 101207)

Funny, my wife looked over my shoulder the other day as I was closing down my computer. One of the windows was on your web site where one of the bimbo pics was up. She says "What Was That?" I told her it was a guitar site with a sense of humor. I don't know if she believed me but maybe she thought I needed some extra attention because things worked out well for me later that night. Have a great day.   Frank B.

Alex, 090108 looks like you breathed a strange and violent life into her.

During the summer of 1996, I took a trip to the Amazon River Basin in South America. Myself and a few scientists I met there took a boat three hundred fifty miles up river into the Pacaya District with a half Indian, half Hispanic ex-con and river pirate turned "tour guide". The scientists were looking for certain places, certain insects, and certain reptiles, and I was looking for adventure, hunting, weapons, a good time, and delectable foreign pussy. I found all of the above during my tour. The best one I had was dark brown skinned, 5'4", with ample, perky breasts, a mixture of Native American and Hispanic, black hair, tight... ahem, uh, I digress, where was I? Oh, yes, we were touring the Amazon River Basin and one of the places we ended up was in the high jungle, near Brazil.

Around midnight, upon one of the final waterways to the village our trusty guide was (hopefully) seeking the way to, I was sitting in the center of a small canoe with about seven people in it that was being pushed by a clunky, old boat motor that threatened to give out at any moment. I sat in the boat, alert, tense, and ready to respond to any sudden emergency, when, out of nowhere, something suddenly stung me smack in the center of my back. It was a sting unlike anything I have ever felt in my life. The pain was absolutely incredible.

Not wanting to rock our tiny boat and tip it over into the water where the who-knows-what might want us for dinner, I kept my feet and my ass firmly planted where they were and flung my shoulder blades together in hopes of crushing or shooing away whatever it was that just stung me. I let out a frightening yell, "OH, FUCK!" I screamed. "What!? What!? What's wrong!?" The others in the boat yelled back. "Something just stung me in the back! Holy fuck, man! Swat it! Get it the fuck off me before it stings me again! Holy fucking shit, hurry!"

Someone pulled out a flashlight and shone it upon my back. Someone else swatted at my back several times and finally yelled, "Got it!" The little fucking bastard that stung me turned out to be some kind of rare, vicious wasp our Indian guide immediately recognized. It fell into a little puddle of water that had leaked into the bottom of the boat, and was still flapping its vicious little wasp wings and flailing its legs and trying to fly when I grabbed the flashlight from my fellow traveler and got a real close look at it.

The illuminated colors of this mean little prick danced around in the artificial light, and when I looked into its eyes, the colors appeared to change from bright red to amber and from amber to bright red. It was a horribly frightening sight.

As with all of God's creatures, that little thing had only one purpose in its entire life, and that purpose was to eat red meat and blood, get tough, sting motherfuckers - and to make sure it hurt.

He had served his purpose. I relieved my fine little friend of his duty by placing the sole of my shoe over him and crushing him into the bottom of the boat and turning him into a squish of harmless pulp.

I was the last motherfucker he'd ever sting. And that was that.

The moment I saw your 090108, it immediately reminded me of that wasp. The colors of the beast, of the beasts body and fretboard, switch and swim, horrifying and delighting the senses all at the same time. The viewer wants to pull back in horror, yet wants to be mesmerized by the beauty of the thing all at the same time, wants to embrace it, to hold it, to unleash its power, to make it fly and sting all over again.

Your creations are beautiful in their own way, defying all conventional standards, and serve a single purpose. They are contoured, shaped, and formed to do what they are made to do, just like that vicious little wasp that attacked me in the boat, without mercy, without warning, without explanation, without apologies, by being what he was born to be and doing what he was born to do -- and nothing else.

This guitar is a giant stinger in the back of the entire guitar industry as people know it. It is a burning jab in the back, face, and sides to all conventional guitar pickups, strings, tremolo, headstock, body shape and contours, construction, efficiency, beauty, playability, tone, power, and strength.

Those who really know something about guitars only have to lay eyes on a guitar like this and they instinctively know what it is -- and they want it -- have to have it!

If you keep building things like my Wasp, you may have to register them all as assault weapons and they might force you to either get a permit in order to continue building, or to stop building such dangerous things altogether.

We must be very careful at this point. This guitar could fall into the hands of some complete lunatic who might do something stupid while wielding it. The best thing you can do right now is box it up and send it to me where I will make sure that no one ever sees it or touches it again -- 'cept me, of course. X

That guitar is a motherfucker, Alex.

Keep it secret, keep it safe,     The Notorious Terrible Ted Noiz

Alex – I am always checking out your website and have been admiring your recent work… damn, that Padauk Z2 you recently completed is absolute genius. I know I cannot wait for the day when you tell me that you are working on mine!! At least that is one less person ahead of me!   Regards, Steve

            I got the guitar and it is plays as good as it looks, which does not surprise me. Was perfectly tuned out of the box which is impressive. I am getting used to the action which is light. At first I tend to overplay and pick harder than necessary - probably because of playing the other guitar with 11s. This one has superb sensitivity to hammered notes and riffs and is very dynamic. I prefer the single coil sounds clean - very transparent. Maybe my favorite is the neck single coil when clean. The tone and volume controls are very useful and not too dark. Also the resonance and balance is superb. It is extremely flexible in sounding good both clean and high gain. Almost has a p-90 growl. These pickups are very unique. I love that they are not dark, but also that they are not raspy.

Without question this is an amazing design. I have a couple of guitars that sound good overdriven and not great when clean, this one is better in both. Killer rock guitar that also sounds amazing cleaned up. I have noted that severe trem action still keeps it better tuned than any other trem guitar I have ever used, which makes it actually quite useful, which is what I wanted. Very easy on the fingers as well, this can be played for hours without fatigue. I'll record some clips when I discover the sweet tone spots. Already I have played some crunchy rock songs I previously recorded on other guitars and this one eats them up. Also works wonderfully well with no pick and just the fingers.

Stands: I need to get a right angle cable so it does not tweak in the stand. Very solid design and super high quality.

I'll be in touch, have some tunes/videos next week, as you know it takes a bit of time and right now I'd rather just play it. Gotta go out of town for the weekend (I'm bringing the guitar but no recording gear). Thanks for all - you are quite the artist and your achivement is greatly valued and appreciated - I have a long way to go to discover all it will do.    Frank

             Drop D is to Die For. Well I am having too much fun to write e-mails. This guitar is starting to play itself. I am amazed now. It has a mind of its own and it is making music without me thinking about it.
Did you do this on purpose? I hope its not evil. (well not all the time anyway). It will reveal my dark side but I promise to control it.
And SPANK. It likes to be played hard too. Glad I got the 10s. Less fatigue more playing time. Good tone.     Frank

           OK I could not leave the house until tomorrow because I cannot stop playing this guitar yet. It is too good. I finally learned to let it play itself. I am using a lighter pick than usual. I don't have a clue how every single chord can be perfectly in tune and harmonically balanced in every single position. This works perfectly for my style as I use a lot of open strings and let the natural reverb of the guitar body happen. Every other guitar I have played has at least some minor imperfection. You made them all disappear. You must make these with robots. (just kidding!)

Well I need to go to sleep and then drive to the mountains tomorrow and then when I get the house up there warm I can start playing again. (actually I'd rather stay here and do recording - but songwriting is good too) I promised Judy (understanding wife) we would go to the mountains this weekend. We were supposed to go today but there is no way I would miss the UPS truck. She says the guitar is beautiful and obviously my best and she is not easily impressed. I'll write a song for her.     Frank

           I have spent many hours with this instrument now, and quite honestly I have found that all my other guitars are now inadequate. I have created several songs that would not have come to me without this guitar. You are the first arrogant person I have met whose feelings are justified. (although I am reluctant to fuel the fire on this subject) I am grateful to own one of your instruments. If you tire of trying to sell them or deal with morons I wound not be suerprised to find that I could sell every one you can build and insure that each will find a deserving player who will be enlightened as to what a real guitar can be. (Although I see it must be kind of an entertaining sport to you) You are the proven Stradavarius of solid body electric guitars. (I can only imagine what a Z archtop would be like!!) I would not sell my Z2 for any price unless I could first secure actual possesion of a replacement. It is priceless. Thank you, I am anxious to send you a deposit for at least two more guitars. Naturally I expect a long wait. Let me know when you feel I am deserving to rejoin the list. Perhaps you will first wish to see what I am able to do with the Z2 recorded, that is quite alright. I am confident and perhaps even for the first time arrogant in my ability now that I have this most powerful instrument. I hear things in my playing not found in any recording made possible by the guitar.     Frank