192-140618 Z-Strat – Zachary Handcrafted Guitars | Bass| Pedals | Strings

Inspiration

Let's take the quintessential vintage Stratocaster, make it perfect and bring it up to date for the modern player. Remember the Strat was designed before Rock 'n Roll was introduced. Elvis was still a delivery boy.

So, what do you do to create the ultimate Strat? You improve the neck width, you give it 24 Stainless Steel frets and 3 different frets widths on the same neck, you put a tremolo system on it which works as well as a locking trem, you put a zero friction nut on it, you sculpt the neck joint in to a curve and increase its length, you vastly improve the neck coupling with steel inserts and machine screws, you add a spike anchor and angle adjustment screw, which the neck rests on (not the wood), you improve the pickups and balance their output. You put a humbucker on it, which can be switched to single coil mode. Did I miss anything?

Of course you know all of this because you are are a very knowledgeable guitar player. I think there is only a handful of you in the world. The guitar consumer has never purchased any guitar based on quality, design or performance.
It is true that one can never underestimate the intelligence of the guitar consumer. Paul Reed Smith knows this more than anyone and used it to his own advantage.
PRS is one of the brightest people I know. His Silver Sky Strat is an abomination but it does not matter. He knows its guitar players he is dealing with.