The christian god is both a joke and a lie so you seem to be doing a pretty god job of emulating him. The christian thing was really a red flag for me. Stay on whatever crack you've been smoking because when it wears off you're going to have a lifetime of embarrassment to deal with. Never been to a skatepark in my life so I'm not going to bother getting into how off you were with your assessment of me. You are probably as off with your own assessment of your skill level as you are with cold readings of people from the internet. Chris Connor "Christ"opher Connor
Even if I was an idiot or could not comprehend your information it doesn't take away from the fact that your a meth smoking troll with a horrible website and attitude. Good luck you crazy crazy bastard! Mike Nielsen
I think this individual needs a lobotomy, with committal to the Royal Melbourne Psych Ward to be followed. Once released, maximum dosage of Risperidone and supplementary cognitive behavioral therapy is advised. Dr. Julian Thompson PhD (7-string metal player, currently recording an album)
Body
Style |
Body
Wood |
Neck
Wood |
Fbd.
Wood |
Scale |
Tuners |
Frets |
Pickups |
Switching |
Neck Joint | Strings |
Weight |
Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ZLP-H14 | Top: Maple Core: Mahagony Back: Mahogany |
Rosewood |
Ebony |
26" |
Kluson-style |
26 Large/Medium *Dual Size |
Neck: Neck 10K Bridge 12K GraphTech Piezo bridge with Fishman preamp |
Magnetic Volume 6-way Mag pickup selector Preamp Volume 3-way Preamp select (Mag/both/Piezo) 2-way Mag direct/Preamp bypass |
Glued |
ZOG 11 RW |
6.8 lb |
$ Priceless with case |
Mag Pickup Sellection: 1- neck, 2- Neck + Bridge parallel out phase, 3- Bridge, 4- Neck + Bridge series out of phase, 5- Neck + Bridge parallel in phase, 6- Neck + Bridge series in phase
YouTube Vids: 150512_01a 150512_01b 150512_02 150512_03
One reason I hate CNC computerized machine-made guitar manufacturing is because it has devalued the unique abilities and achievements of the individual. It has resulted for most people in a loss of perspective for what it takes to actually make an instrument by hand. They see an infinite number of generic manufactured inorganic products at their local music store but they have no connection to any of it. They don’t have any knowledge of how these were created and where guitars come from. The purchasing experience if a guitar is the same as buying a garden utensil. Guitars have lost their essence as musical instruments and are nothing more than any other manufactured product. They may even all come form the same factory, processed by the same labor force.
The consumer only sees the artificially low prices dictated by an evil empire utilizing its massive army of slave labor. These prices are deceptive as a valuation of to the skill and talent needed to actually make something like that by hand. The glut of thousands of sterile and identically mass-produced units from dubious parts of the world results in the guitar losing its emotional and intrinsic value as a musical instrument. No surprise here since there is no emotional investment on the part of the individuals involved in producing it, its made by a cookie cutter then transported in shipping containers by the thousands; it all results in debasing the instrument and the skills required for instrument making. This I find detestable and a true assault on the individual. The juveniles don’t care. They have never been taught or experienced anything else. What’s a guitar to them? Its nothing more than a plastic controller, not unlike their video game controller, which undoubtedly is interchangeable with their guitar at any time. In fact if the archaic and outmoded strings could be eliminated and replaced by buttons and a joystick; that would be perfect. No, this is no longer your father’s guitar playing or your father’s guitar. In fact, most younger consumers have no connection to guitar history, the instruments and its players and they could not even imagine that guitars go back further than a few years, when they were first invented by the smart people at Nintendo.
Of course if the most you have ever done is to screw in a light bulb or maybe been so daring as to install strings on your guitar, you would have no conceptualization of what I am talking about. You would have no understanding or appreciation of what it takes to make a guitar by hand and by one actual person. You may not even have an appreciation for individuality or creativity at all. Most likely you would be younger, inexperienced, unknowledgeable and own a 7-string guitar but if you are really a bad ass it will be an 8-string. You would also have no idea of how comical this actually is. Why stop there however, several of the main brands catering to this market but do not actually make any guitars, can call China and have a boat load of new 9 string plastic controllers cranked out in no-time; now that would be the shit. Yes, the hip-hop video game generation has found guitar playing. I don’t think they will be slowing down Clapton solos to half speed and learning them note for note any time soon. That would require an actual inclination to learn how to play the guitar. Even the notion of learning an instrument is outmoded and sounds totally absurd. The age of virtuosity was supplanted by the cell phone. As expected the new guitar consumer, who hangs out at the local skateboard park also has an amount of self confidence which is grossly incommensurate with their abilities and achievements in life. This would be fine if we were back in 1969 and I was talking about the Woodstock frauds. Even before the mountains of litter and feces from the original occupiers was cleaned up and before Hendrix’s body went cold, those people were well on their way to rule the world, which they currently do, the results of which you are witnessing and enjoying as we speak, but that's another long conversation for another time.
Chances are that since the guitar media works very hard at keeping you stupid, so you don’t realize that its a monumental task to create something you see on this page, virtually from the raw wood of a tree. Of, course I am not talking about a circle jerk buying a pre-finished Fender-copy body and neck and getting your next door neighbor to screw it together for you with some over hyped and overpriced pickups you bought. That is not guitar building, in case you have not realized it yet.
True instrument building is starting with a blank canvas and without a rigid idea or any expectation of defined results. This is the opposite to mass production, where every action and specification is scripted and programmed into a bar code for reason of efficiency and as an antidote to the unskilled, low wage labor hired to execute the menial tasks. Having a bar code on a guitar is totally vomit inducing but of course I would not be surprised if the latest smart phone user would scratch his head at that comment in bafflement. Uniformity and consistency are the hallmarks of mass production, specifically because these are the results of programmed manufacturing, where even the menial labor is nothing more than a necessary evil to the reluctance of any corporation, which would rather also bar code its work force and it will come to that as soon as they detect no opposition form a docile population drugged and dumbed down by the media. The bar code is the ultimate symbol of control; the removal of free will. Its coming, they must be drooling at the thought of it but first they must take your weapons away, as they do at any airport, for your safety of course. Any atrocity can be perpetrated in the name of security and compassion. Millions can be killed and children and pregnant women can be burned alive as long as its for a good reason approved by Liberalism and supported by Hollywood. Hell on earth is here, but one’s Hell is another’s Heaven.
True creativity must be the opposite of this method of uniformity, equality, consistency and conformity and the ugly results it produces. These are all very dirty words in my own dictionary. In fact, contrary to the diseased Liberal mind, these words engender feeling of disgust, repulsion, fear, depression and anger within me, to the point of militant rebellion. I cannot overstate the sickness I feel when witnessing the results of such a pathological and destructive anti-human philosophy. A doctrine which culminates in the oppression and the debasement of everything good within the human spirit.
Spontaneity cannot be overvalued and over-celebrated. Spontaneity is the opposite of control and the bar code. It should be the only game plan, for it brings tremendously satisfying unforeseen results. The ignorant consumer looks for the preplanned, which only a digital robot is programmed to produce. Even a so-called “custom” guitar by definition is not a spontaneous work of art. All the possibilities are within the piece of wood, not forced upon it by the builder or the consumer. It is an indiscretion to force something from the material it does not want to give naturally. But of course Liberalism is always about going against nature, or God for that matter. Everything they do is to do the unnatural and to do it by force. Since the first law of nature is that doing the unnatural can only be done by force. Its precisely what makes Liberalism so despicable and why millions eventually must die and even more have their spirits crushed from the resulting brutality. All this in the name of forced compassion; tough love taken to its ultimate extreme.
People never do learn from history because the new generation will be even stupider than the one’s before it. The 8-string skateboard park punk will never accumulate the brilliance of past virtuosos, he will never even know they existed, all he will know is a few death metal riffs from youtube. From Clapton to Crapton in one generation, that was fast. I still remember SRV was here not that long ago, now it seems like ages have gone past and stuff like that is considered stupidly irrelevant. The debasement of culture at warp speed. Your masters in Hollywood know how to pump the sewage into your brain and remove your brain at the same time. Everything is in the NOW, history is non existent and must be wiped out. Any hint of knowledge or wisdom learned must be avoided for its contrarian to the current group consciousness and one does not want to be ostracized at the skateboard park or the tattoo parlor or the college coffee shop. Ignorance rules and is worshipped. To make it more effective, there should be guards on every corner who would ask you a few test questions. If they decided your response was too intelligent or even slightly hinted at subversiveness, they would hit you over the head with a blunt object to give you concussions and instill just the right amount of brain damage. Then they would let you go, so you can pay your taxes. This horrific world sounds preposterous but you cannot tell me that you don’t feel it coming, instigated by the most evil people in the world. The very people who engineer every aspect of the world around you. You are nothing more than an ant and you know it.
Think about this the next time you are at your local music store or searching an online retailer for that fancy guitar with all the bells and whistles for $399 including the gig-bag. If you have even the slightest understanding of what it takes to make anything by hand you will know there is something just not right about what you are purchasing, everything about it is artificial, including the price. Globalization is here and everything in your life is off that shipping container, just off the boat and you will eventually know that your own self worth has also been cheapened in the process while you have made yourself just a bit more unessential, while you pick up your last pay-check. You are the victim and have just put your own head on the chopping block. Fast forward 30 years and you should realize that you cannot get away with anything the lucky hippies got away with as they became the ruling class. You live in a different world and your choices and opportunities are virtually non existent. The best you can ever hope for is some kind of an inheritance or government food stamps, otherwise you will be stuck in that basement, smoking dope and making posts on circle jerk forums all day, oh yes and hacking away at your $399 plastic controller and your cheesy digital amp from a far off place you helped build and which will decimate you.
There are some interesting and praiseworthy aspects of the guitar on this page, which may not be apparent to the casual observer. The body of this guitar is unique in that I found this really thick and wide piece of Mahogany. I was very happy about it because its very rare to find such a piece of wood. In fact, it is was so large that it exceeded the capacity of my tooling to work it. Spontaneity and creativity emerged after a few days of me feeling dejected and unable to find a direction. These are some of the reasons why hand-craftsmanship is a slow process. Its the same for all traditional crafts, where the artist must wait for guidance. These are times I totally attribute to a higher power in guiding me. As usual, following a period of bitter anguish and doubt, I was spiritually guided through a series of revelations, which may seem preposterous to the progressively worldly, who grew up in a Communist God-hating home. I attribute these revelations to a higher power because I am fully aware that we have no control over anything. If you think you do, you are the biggest fool in the world. I received the answer to slice a strip off the entire body width in order to make it thinner, even after the body was cut to shape. This was a tremendous act of ingenuity and risk taking, since I have never done it before, nor had I ever heard of this done before but of course I cannot take credit for it, the answer was given to me as a gift.
The problem still remained that my 14” band saw did not have the capacity to re-saw the full width of the body. In order to protect the safety of the thousands of tinkerers in my audience, I will not disclose how I did it. All I will say is that it was a very dangerous procedure and it should never be tried at home boys and girls if you are not gifted with the guidance and the protection of a higher power. Suffice to say that the back of this guitar is separate from the body but cut from the same piece of wood. The back was sliced off the body, the body hollowed out and the back glued back on. This is why it blends in with the sides (the core) of the body so seamlessly that its virtually undetectable. This is because its from the same block of wood.
The top is re-sawn from one piece of Flamed Maple and then book-matched. The neck is a 26” scale solid piece of Rosewood with an ebony fingerboard and abalone markers. I was also conscious of following a historic vintage Gibson theme; depicted by the tuners, P90 pickups and the antique radio knobs. It all has to fit and match without hacker violations.
I have a hard time playing most other guitars and one of the reasons is that most do not have 24 frets. What an absurd way to make a neck with less than a full two octaves but this should not be a surprise coming from producers, who were never known to be guitar players themselves. All they can do is follow the flawed pattern, which other non-players initiated and based on what sold in the past. Guitar players, proficient or not, have proven through the decades to be a mindless and ignorant lot, unaware of anything technical when it comes to guitar related product designs. After all, many think that if there was anything wrong with guitar string design, the expert string companies would have taken care of it decades ago.
Another novel departure here is the Piezo pickup in the bridge saddles. This guitar was completed 6 weeks ago but I went through hell with the electronics. It all started with the conventional Graphtech preamp and the standard recommended wiring, however it did not meet Z standards. For one thing, and I don’t want to single Graphtech out, all preamps color and weaken (thus degrade) the magnetic pickups. As absurd as it is, the standard wiring of these Piezo systems from both Graphtech and Fishman, require that the magnetic pickups also go though the piezo preamp. I immediately had a problem with this and thought it was absurd. What are they thinking? I was told that "top pros" don’t have a problem with it. So much for "top pros" and their intelligence, that was always suspect to me and should be to you also. Never buy anything endorsed by a “pro” famous or not. I suggest you educate yourself enough to be able to tell on your own what is good and what is not. Don’t rely on marketers to tell you. Remember, endorsers are nothing more than prostitutes, being paid to bring legitimacy to a product in the mind of the ignorant consumer. If we work together and everyone get’s a brain, we can end the despicable act of product endorsements; there is no need for it.
Having the magnetic pickups go through the piezo preamp may have its purpose, such as what they claim as buffering the magnetic signal in terms of impedance matching with the piezo and also switching through the preamp between piezo/both/magnetic but you will never get the true magnetic tone of your wonderful guitar and magnetic pickups unless you bypass that preamp. So what I knew I had to do is to have the option of bypassing the preamp.
You see two switches. On is a two way switch which simply bypasses the preamp and Piezos completely and cuts the battery power to the preamp simultaneously. Clever, I know. This turns the guitar into a regular (magnetic pickup only) guitar, sending the Mags directly to the output jack; not even sensing that there is a piezo installed. Therefore the Mags are wired to both the preamp and also direct to output jack and this switch toggles between these two options; either pure Mag output or Mags through the preamp output. This actually has some tone versatility advantages and is usable since the Mags through the preamp results in a bit lower volume and reduced highs, as if there was a tone control and it was turned down a bit. Not having a tone control this comes in handy for jazz type playing or generally a darker tone, even with some distortion.
What you see in most of the pics below is the original GraphTech preamp. These pics were taken prior to the preamp change. I decided to go with a Fishman preamp instead, so I removed the Graphtech and rewired the guitar with the Fishman preamp. The look of the guitar from the outside did not change and looks identical but the internal wiring incorporates the preamp change. You will see the designated pics with the finalized Fishman circuit.
The other switch is for preamp switching, which selects through the preamp either Piezo alone, both Piezo and Mags together or Mags through preamp alone (giving the slightly reduced and darker Mag signal).
The Mags have a master volume (the larger knob) and a 6-way rotary switch, giving all the available sounds from two single coil pickups. The Mag pickups are custom wound (to my specs) Seymour Duncan Antiquity P90s.
You see why its so important and what an advantage it is that every Zachary guitar is built for me and NOT the customer. A Zachary guitar must be right for me or else it bothers me greatly. I don’t care about what anyone else wants. It must be perfect for me and that is my only goal. Those among you with lower intelligence always fail to comprehend this concept. I suggest you find a union job where someone with a 75 IQ can do very well indeed and retire like a king; you need all the advantage you can get. Better than you deserve for sure. That just proves that there is no equality or fairness in this world, no matter what the messiah of the Atheists continually tells you on a daily basis, while punishing the achievers. Instead, all we can hope and work for is a utopia where all fruits and rewards are based purely on merit and earned worthiness. America has no balls, only circle jerks remain. Its your last chance to escape the hammer and sickle regardless of who you are, white, black, yellow, brown, straight, gay, trans-gender or even a domesticated animal.
Simply beautiful, Alex. I truly hope that whomever gets this guitar posts some videos, it just bleeds olde time smoky jazz club. Elegant lines and truly classy contrast but it still maintains a masculine look.
This one is a late night Manhattan and cigar! Regards, Jeff
Love the latest guitar, it's amazing. I never could figure out why you get such angry responses to your website. Damn, it's pretty simple, if you don't like someones philosophy or what they are selling just don't ever visit the site. Granted you have a unique way selling your product. You are very aggressive, attack quickly, and don't put up with stupidity. Bad business model in todays fantasy world but something that's sorely needed. People get angry because you tell it straight. You don't suck up to your customers; if they are wrong or simply ignorant, you let them know. Although sometimes I think you go a little too far, who am I to say. It's your adventure and you get to control it. Doesn't matter what me or anyone else thinks. We live in an everyone gets a trophy and everyone is equally a genius society now. You can be a master guitar builder in your mind these days. Just sit on the internet all day, read and watch YouTube demos and presto you're a master luthier without ever building not one instrument. Or you can just order up a robot to do it for you if you have the money. I am just totally fed up and disgusted with people anymore. There are a rare few that can even hold an intelligent conversation. Mindless bunch of parrots who refuse to use their brains and do the hard work it takes to improve the human experience. Eagle
150512; this is truly a beautiful work. I know there is no need for me to substantiate the previous comment to you.
By the way, nice freestyle Little Wing jam (YouTube) on your awesome(Not For Sale) Tele! I really enjoyed it. Yordys
Very beautiful and extremely innovative. I am sure there is nothing else like it anywhere. Especially love the attention to detail on the top mating the body with the thin edge and the fret marker dot pattern. Great wood combo for tones. It should be quite a powerful beast with 26 scale 11s and P90 - a crunch master supreme. Also the hollow and the piezo will yield some incredible tones I am sure. I am hoping to hear some amazing music from it, soon I hope. This would be another Z I would love to own, alas if I did not already have three I would seriously consider it. Its almost worth the cost of a trip out to your shop just to have the chance to play it. This one deserves to go to someone who can make real music with it; as a serious live performer and/or to record some real tunes. Way too much there to just hang it on the wall as a pretty thing, though it certainly is. Frank B
Ouch. It must be hard to separate your business from building. However, that is one of the things that sets your guitars apart right? Just that they were built for yourself makes those instruments different and the amount of care that you must put into their creation must be amazing. I certainly hope that your customer will stay with you. You almost need to find a way to separate yourself from the creation of some of these instruments, tell yourself that it is an extension of your being and not your whole self. Allow them to reach out in the world and expand your self. Wow, do I sound like a buddhist monk or what? Jeff
NOTE: These are the finalized electronics with the Fishman preamp
Hey, Alex! I really appreciate your guitar building philosophy, and your Z's are the best guitars out there =) Your last bunch of ZTs is rly sexy. Sometimes I wonder why do you bother explaining some dumbasses what's right for them. IMO everyone who doesn't understand that your instruments are completely different from any stuff made to earn money should just be ignored. Hope you just don't stress too much, cause your health's rly important for the guitar world. Peace man, rock on! Tony P
I appreciate the encouraging words. These people do drive me insane and make me sick. You noticed how much I stress about it. The reason I bother with them is because I figure if they learn more they will appreciate my work more. Alex
Alex, all the ignorance didn't stop you from contributing to the world and to the music. What is more important - your instruments take a place in the heart of many awesome musicians. I can only hope I'd ever be able to create something as important as Zachary guitars =) All the best, Tony P
This latest creation, this 150512, is especially magnificent, as I have always loved hollowbody electrc guitars and have owned several over the years. I hope to have one of these intense Zachary Hollowbody Guitars ASAP. You see, a Zachary Guitar isn't just everything I want in a guitar; it's more importantly everything I don't want in a guitar... a lot of bullshit!!!!!!!! like bar codes and RFID chips and paint smeared all over the beautiful wood.
"True instrument building is starting with a blank canvas and without a rigid idea or any expectation of defined results."
This is perhaps the biggest reason for all the suffering and misery in the world, past and present.
There are just too many assholes in this world who haven't got the balls or the gumption to wake up in the morning and look at themselves in the mirror and then look to that blank sheet of canvas and start something productive with their lives. They make themselves miserable with their own cowardly evasions. And what does misery love? Of course, misery loves company. And so instead of doing the right thing each morning when they wake, getting up, getting happy and getting excited about the endless possibilities that lie before them -- they submit to their misery and rottenness and expect the rest of the world is to do the same.
This is where the rest of us, the creators, the producers, i.e., the productive, have the extreme pleasure of meeting people who are just plain too cowardly to get up in the morning and sit still and look at that blank sheet of canvas in front of them and start to do something with it, to take their chances -- win or lose.
Yeah, you hit the nail on the head with this one. Perfect.
Anyway, congrats, Alex, she's a thing of maximum beauty. Shaped and plays like a beautiful woman, to be sure. I get a very light and sensuous vibe from her. Very fucking sexy and glamorous. She looks like my Rita Hayworth posters. Ted Noiz
Alex, I saw the vid of this new Hollow and the one with Dandelion and the carbon pick. You're getting great tone with the pick. You didn't talk one bit about it however. Ted
Alex, Congrats on the new guitar. It surely is a masterpiece of artistry and function. The tonal switching options are a big plus with this guitar. I know you're not selling this one...except to me when I finally beg you for it. ;) Thanks again for the switch for my guitar, I installed it and it works fine. I know you don't have a facebook account but I have some music up there under my new band Minor X which you should really listen to. I have two songs up that really showcase both Zachary guitars I own. I set up my walnut Z to be permanently in drop D tuning with ZOG drop D set and it sounds fn killer. Thanks again for your great work and fantastic customer support. Enjoy Life! Zack
PS. I swear I'll get that wood to you eventually. Life's been hard for about a year now. Things are looking up though and I will eventually pull my head out of my ass.
Alex, First of all, the new hollow is incredible. As a Z Hollow owner I can confirm that the Z Hollow is the King of Z's, and this new Hollow is on another level. It just doesn't get any better than that - unrivaled quality and versatility. That's the only guitar 95% of all guitar players would ever really need. Tonally, mine can go from archtop to heavy to Strat to Tele to 'almost acoustic'. It's not just the variety of tones but also the quality of the tones - sounds fab through any amp - big, fat, clean and pure tones just begging to be recorded. It also feels very natural to strum the hollow like an acoustic guitar and this one will actually get a great acoustic type sound in addition to everything else. Great job, man. I'll take a new (Tone Lube) pedal. They look awesome and glad it finally came together. Also, throw in 8 sets of 9.5 ZOG's. I would get one of the carbon picks but I just lose the things all the time. Thanks! Mark
finalized electronics with Fishman preamp
Zachary Hollowbody Guitar