187-270218 Z5 SOLD

                   187 - 270218

I have always been a Strat lover - and I still love my 1986 American Standard Strat with Lace Sensor gold pickups. But.......... quite honestly, for any Strat player the Z5 is the holy grail of guitars - there is no comparison and no going back. I loved the Z3 I got from you, and challenged you take it a step further and you exceeded expectations with the Zachary Z5. Constantly amazed at the quality and play-ability of my Z5 with the spiked neck joint - was actually wondering whether it was a one-off or whether you could actually do it again. From what I'm seeing here you have done it - and probably raised the bar once again in the process. OMG just did a quick eBay check and it's loaded with 'Fender Custom Shop Strats and EVERY SINGE ONE OF THEM is more expensive than this guitar - a pathetic testament to the average guitar consumer!! It's just UNBELIEVABLE that players are not beating down your door to get one of these. The value in terms of cost/quality is absolutely through the roof. 
Regarding tuning all I can say is I had it here for about a month now and played it at home and didn’t touch the tuning then I took it to play with my friend so I had to check the tuning before I played. It was dead nuts in tune - hadn't’t touched the tuning since I unpacked it. Very impressive.
Mark (owner of this guitar)

Body Style:  Z5-T

Body Wood:  Mahogany, 1 piece

Neck Wood:  Maple

Fingerboard Wood:  Pau Ferro

Scale:  25.5"

Tuners:  Gotoh sealed

Frets:  24 (Large) Stainless Steel

Pickups:  neck & middle - Fender 57/61; bridge - Zach Attack

Controls:  master Volume and Tone, 3 on/off, 1 coil split;

Neck Joint:  Spiked, machine screws / metal inserts,

Strings:  Zachary Optimum Tensions, 10+ RW set

Weight: 7 lb.

Price:   $2500 USD + extras, + case

Inspiration 

I haven't built a Tremolo guitar for a long time, so it was a welcome challenge once again, when I was commissioned to make this instrument. The customer knows me well enough to only have 3 preferences; give me a tremolo, round the edges and do not use a rotary switch. I hope that was it and I did not miss anything. 

I wanted to combine two vintage-powered Strat single coil pickups with a Humbucker but to also be able to cut the coil of the Humbucker and make it single coil. This Zachary Tremolo guitar works like a charm, as always, and stays in tune like no other non-locking trem guitar. The trem action is very light and responsive, also as usual for a Zachary guitar. The body is one single piece of light-weight Mahogany stained orange and then oiled. I chose to use very large and tall Stainless frets.

When making a tremolo guitar, my goal has always been to make it better than the Fender Stratocaster. The Stratocaster is a masterpiece in many ways and remarkable and revolutionary for when it was released in the early 50s. However, there are flaws in the design which were either never address or only partially addressed. Nobody seems to care. One cannot totally fault Fender for this because largely the consumer, the guitar enthusiast world-wide dictates as to what guitar companies produce and what they design. Guitar companies do not have a vision, they are not interested in innovation and they are not technically or passionately driven to do the right thing, when it comes to revising and improving a historic model. All they care about is sales and staying in business. This is why the consumer then becomes the dictator of guitar products. This sounds perfectly admirable, however, the problem is that the guitar consumer is not an informed individual but more driven by nostalgia and aspiration, instead of technical knowledge. The technical knowledge of the average guitar consumer ranges from poor to dismal. Fantasy, not rationality rules the purchasing decision of the guitar enthusiast. 

This is where someone like me comes in. Making guitars entirely by hand, I concentrate in doing the right thing. I throw out whatever is wrong and keep everything which is right, in terms of traditional guitar designs like the Stratocaster. The danger in doing this, is that the guitar consumer will not be knowledgeable to appreciate it or to even notice the innovation and improvement. Commercially, this is not a good business move. However, I am not concerned about that. Making a small number of guitars per year, my concentration is on my own excitement and satisfaction in creating instruments I am personally challenged and inspired by. I make the best instruments for ME, not the guitar consumer. If you are a guitar enthusiast, who happens to be in congruence with my aspirations and philosophy, then we can work together and I will be happy to make you a Zachary guitar. 

My message to the new CEO of Fender. Adopt my business philosophy if you want to destroy the entire company. The guitar consumer, the dwindling number left, will see to it that you go down and fast. So just keep making what Leo created in 1954, its what everyone will always demand. Can you imagine if every other industry functioned this way?

Take  look at the YouTube video of this guitar in action.