242 – 271122 ZT-Tele

Body Style:  ZT (Telecaster)

Body Wood:  Knotty Pine (1 piece)

Neck Wood:  Maple

Fingerboard Wood:  Maple

Scale:  25.5"

Frets:  24 Stainless, 110/57

Fingerboard Radius:  10 -15 inch

Tuners:  Gotoh Kluson-style

Pickups:  Zachary Hand Wound neck - P90, bridge - Fender Nocaster

Controls:  master Volume and Tone, 5-way rotary switch

Pickup Selection, 6-way rotary switch:
1- neck;   2- neck+bridge parallel in phase;   3- bridge;
4- neck+bridge series in phase;   5- neck+bridge out of phase;

Neck Joint:  bolt-on with Spike isolation coupling and angle adjustment,

Strings:  Zachary Optimum Tensions, 10++ RW set

Weight: 6.64 lbs.

Price:   $2500 USD + extras, + case

Inspiration 

As you may not know, I was not the first to make an electric guitar from Knotty Pine but I introduced it as a viable option for professional guitars and celebrated its virtues back in 2001. The guitar consumer did not get it and was not ready for a Knotty Pine guitar at that time having been inundated by PRS propaganda featuring the most gaudy wood possible. The subliminal messaging and what shaped their opinion was that the more fancy the wood, the glossier and thicker the paint, means the better quality the guitar. This is what the ignorant guitar enthusiast will instinctively assume of course.
Knotty pine has now been normalized and permitted to be accepted and is even deemed as cool by the guitar marketers, especially for custom shop small production instruments. The funny part is that now you will pay a very high premium and can only get a Knotty Pine guitar from a Custom Shop. All it takes is a little hype from the corporate establishment and its partners the mainstream media. These Satanists are seriously deviant when it comes to marketing. We have seen this process play out in many different situations and industries.

I had just acquired some very nice Knotty Pine, which was wide enough to make 1-piece bodies from. This is the first in a series of guitars built from this wood and there will be many more I hope. I made a traditional P90 pickup for the neck position but with AlniCo 2 magnets to match a Fender Nocaster pickup I already had. What I had to do is to correct the pole-piece stagger on the Fender pickup. They purposely make their pickups with the incorrect stagger, meant for antiquated flatwound strings because that is what the guitar consumer demands, even if the volume of the strings are not equally balanced. That would not bother them but it bothers me.

I wanted this to be a full size Tele, having the traditional 25.5" scale neck but to keep it very simple and raw; pure business and no frills, as usual for a Zachary Guitar. A handcrafted guitar should never look or feel like a mass produced instrument. This notion has not occurred to the guitar consumer.  PRS lovers need not apply, nor will they. I certainly hope PRS will not copy me and start offering Knotty Pine guitars. That would be hilarious but their customers would put them out of business in revolt.Â