I bought this huge limited addition book called "The Blackguards". Its a book written by some rich collector who has the largest collection of Broadcasters / Telecasters from 1950-1954, the first 4 years of production. This book may not be of too much use for the average person but it has all the technical specifications that I needed. Measurements and great close up pictures of this very primitive guitar. I also played as many Telecasters as I could over the last 2 years in research for the Zachary F1 model I developed. My goal is always to familiarize myself intimately with a particular guitar model that I will be using as reference and inspiration. My goal is to preserve these classic models but give them the Zachary upgrades that they always needed.

There is truly a unique Telecaster character. It is different from any other guitar. The primitive nature of this guitar, the simple hardware the unique pickups, the shape, the wood, the scale length, all must be correct for it to be a Telecaster. If things are correct, you will get a true Telecaster experience.

With this guitar I have recreated the Telecaster once again. I was very conscious of preserving its character. I am not here to destroy or change what is good and unique about it. I just hate it when someone makes or buys a guitar in the shape of a Tele with all the wrong hardware, etc. and think they got a Telecaster. They don't have a Telecaster. These are people who shop for guitars with their eyes only and not with knowledge of guitar history and design. I think this is very disrespectful and shows their disgusting ignorance. Yes, I know this is the majority of the ignorant guitar consumers. They piss me off continuously but what would the major guitar producers do without them. They would go out of business.

So here is a guitar which preserves the Tele character and sound. I must use the correct steel bridge with brass saddles, correct Kluson-type tuners, exact body shape and thickness and correct neck scale. I even placed the string ferrules uneven in the back of the body, like the Blackguards had. When you drill trough a thick piece of hardwood with a thin drill, the drill wonders. A touch of authenticity.

However, I took some artistic liberty with the woods on this one. I wanted to use this new wood I found called Avodire, I am told its a cousin of Mahogany. Its like a blond Mahogany from West Africa. I love it. It is the same weight as Mahogany and carves the same way. I think its so cool with that wild flame in the top half of the body. Remember this is a one piece body. I want people to realize that its very difficult these days to make guitar bodies from a single piece of wood. The new wood is just not as wide, they don't wait for it to grow that big before they cut it. I also really wanted to have a red neck and keep the red theme using the same wood throughout the guitar, like the neck position dots and the neck screw plugs. The theme of the guitar is the first thing I decided on before doing anything else. I envisioned this simple theme with blond and red for the wood and traditional nickel for the hardware with some black parts (tuner buttons, pickups and switch knob). Remember there is no stain of any kind on this guitar, its totally the natural colors of the woods.

The guitar is incredible sounding. It truly sounds like the ultimate Tele. Its such a versatile guitar. I have decided to go with the ZachAttack soap bar humbucker in the neck. This adds total flexibility to the guitar. With the humbucker either in double or single coil mode and together with the strong bridge pickup, you get a lot of great sounds from this setup. Truly a Nashville session guitarist's dream come true. The poorly spaced knobs on Leo's control plate give the appropriate space for a mini coil switch for the humbucker. So by cutting the coil you get a traditional Tele sound in the neck position as well. To compete with the humbucker the Tele bridge pickup is overwound to 10K, so it has a lot of muscle.

The sound is truly like the best Tele you ever heard but on Steroids. Its the same traditional sound but there is just a lot more of it. In comparison a regular Tele sounds small and weak. This thing is got balls. Playing it through the blue Zachary SuperNatural amp is pure heaven. As super natural as you can imagine. I have not heard any better, that's for sure. If anyone has, I would like to know about it. This was truly a "WOW, Holy Shit" experience plugging this guitar in for the first time. This is no joke, exaggeration or marketing or any of that. I am speaking purely as a guitar player telling you of my experience. This guitar sounds huge and thick and what's really strange for a Tele, it has tons of sustain. The bottom is really big and the highs piercing but never harsh. Like a true Tele it does not have any muddy midrange. In the tone department this thing is ultimate, not just for a Tele but according to the standards of any guitar.

This guitar also feels great with the Zachary Optimum Gauges strings. Totally balanced and Twang all the way. The fingerboard is 12" radius.
A Fender Telecaster feels like a little toy and sounds like one as well compared to this guitar. This guitar is tough and fells big and bold. It likes to be played hard. A regular Tele is like a castrated eunuch as opposed to this King Kong with huge balls.

 

All the videos below were done wth the Zachary Amp (Blue prototype) and the Zachary pedal.

Redneck 130106 - 01

0:00   neck humbucking, tone on full
0:44   neck humbucking, tone turned down
1:10   neck single coil only
2:09   neck humbucking + bridge
3:05   neck single coil + bridge
3:45   bridge only
4:30   Z pedal Drive turned up more, to max I belive, I don't remember about the Boost.
6:28   neck humbucking, Z pedal off

Redneck 130106 - 02           bridge pickup only, tone on full

Redneck 130106 - 03          bridge pickup only, tone on full

More video and audio recordings on the VideoFiles page.

The latest video of me playing this guitar is found on YouTube      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZibPG3flxm8

Hey, Alex, I had to stop in and drop a few lines about your 130106.

This guitar is everything I love about all of your guitars in a nutshell. It's all there for the asking. All you have to do is pick it up and plug it in. This is true Zachary style; simple and perfect.

This is the working musician's guitar and it is the best working musician's guitar in the world. This is the kind of guitar someone earns his living with, like a lumberjack does with his chainsaw or a professional golfer does with his golf clubs. This is the guitar a professional guitarist reaches for every time, the one that never fails, the one that instantly becomes the favorite and the one his guitar player friends are envious of and always offer to buy from him for whatever price he might ask.

I could go on and on about this and that and the other thing, but what I really want to say about this guitar and your talent is this: Alex, sometimes I think you don't realize what you really have in your talent and your guitars. Your guitars are world class instruments. That is not just some talk, not an exaggeration, not another boast from a Z fan. That is just the plain truth of it. No one can match your skill. No one can do what you can do with a few chunks of wood and some metal parts.

This 130106 is the kind of guitar that should be in the hands of players like Roy Buchanan, Danny Gatton and Frank Marino, so that the world can hear them. I mean exactly that. This guitar should not be some guy's hobby.

I hope that this guitar is the start of something new for you. I hope that you will think differently about what you are doing and about the marketing of this instrument and bring it, not to us Z fans, but straight to a pro player, a musician, to someone like your friend, Bobby Simcox, for example, who will realize immediately what this instrument really is and what it really means to the world of music and put it to work for him.

You have a great and genuine love, passion and enormous capacity for what you do and it shows in everything you do. You need to see to it that this guitar falls into the hands of someone who does not necessarily feel deeply about what you do - but who feels deeply about what he does. When these two worlds come together it will be quite a wonder to see. I think that you are the Master Craftsman who truly loves to build. I think that you should seek out a Master Player who truly loves to play his Telecaster and give him the Telecaster he has been dreaming of all this time.        Ted Noiz

Hey Alex - Just wanted to drop you a line to say I think you've finally nailed down the F1 concept the way I expected you would. This model is now most definitely a Zach in full bloom, it reminds me of when you nailed down the first Z2 with the 2 switch/1 knob electronics and Zach Attacks. The earlier F1's were nice, but more like "transition" instruments between a "T" style and a full-on Zach. This one has your fingerprints all over it.

I don't think you need to worry about anyone thinking this is one of those "boutique" bastardized "T" style instruments. Most manufacturers (I don't need to mention who they are) blur the original concept without adding anything of their own (save for "Figured" tops, HB's w/mounting rings, and complex active electronics). Those instruments are perfect examples of "muddied" concept and execution, bringing nothing new to the table regarding the instrument they portend to "update."

Use of a "classic" body shape in and of itself does not indicate successful homage to and/or continued development or evolution of an original design. It is clear that you intend very much to honor Mr. Fender's spirit in your design, were he alive today I think he would be very interested in what you have done with the guitar. Clearly you have been doing your research, having experienced countless classic Tele's, Esquires, Broadcasters and "Nocasters," it is evident that you have been looking to these instruments for inspiration. Good for you - Many people do not understand how devastatingly effective that "primitive" design is in the right hands, you are simply breathing life into an alternative version that is all Zach in presentation but all Mr. Fender in spirit.

This is the nicest "tribute" instrument you have done, in fact you have moved it from the class of "tribute" to "Zach" with a classic twist. It is an interesting to then look at the PRS McCarty model, which is a hollow attempt to claim great "DNA" by association. In this case, you have moved the design into your own "space" and will be able to "riff" off it successfully for years to come. And you can do it without any obvious name-checking or puff-piece promotion.

By the way, the "name" and concept gave me a good laugh. It's great to see you having some fun here, with an instrument that undoubtedly took you awhile to build.
Rob Frankel