188-200318 Z-Strat – Zachary Handcrafted Guitars | Bass| Pedals | Strings

Inspiration

I saw a picture on the internet. It was an image of an old beat up modified Strat with two humbuckers and just one volume knob. This was what they called a SuperStrat. These guitars were ubiquitous in the 80s and literally defined a whole genre of music. These were the shred-machines of the day. Every player seemed to have one. Where are those players now, famous or not and where are all those moded Strats? They must be either in walkers or dead. Eddie Van Halen really made this style of a guitar popular and it had become the standard rock guitar. It was excepted universally to play this type of a guitar; a Strat with humbucking pickups and a Floyd Rose locking tremolo bridge. Players either took thier Fender Stratocaster and and hacked it up like Eddie or bought a model already designed this way, which ever manufacturer was mimicking. Every guitar brand had a version of this FrankenStrat. If one played rock in the 80s, this is the guitar which was mandatory.

The photo I saw on the internet really brought back memories for me, so I just had to create such a guitar. All this coincided with my recent finding of an original early 60s pre-CBS Stratocaster blueprint, which really excited me to have a very correct plan of the Stratocaster. I designed my new Z-Strat body to be an exact and accurate replica of the original vintage Stratocaster in every way, in terms of its shape, dimensions and contours. I mean exact!

I did make one modification to the body which adds and improves both aesthetically and functionally the original Fender Stratocaster body, without changing its dimensions or proportions in any way. I corrected and improved the neck heel area, which I always found unappealing and crude, lacking design in functionality and aesthetics.

Of course the other indispensable additions and improvements to the Stratocaster are my Spike neck-joint, my Zachary headstock design, my zero friction Mission Impossible nut and string retainer bar material, and the amazing tremolo and my personal unique setup. This results in amazing tuning stability under the most aggresive tremolo abuse. As you can see in the video of this guitar, had I been around and active building and innovating guitars in the late 70s and early 80s, the Floyd Rose and other awkward locking tremolo units may not have ever even existed. This is simply because there would have been no need for them to exist. My tremolo system with all the components working together as a system, along with my Zachary setup of a guitar will give you virtually PERFECT tuning, under the most extreme tremolo action. I am sure you will agree that this is absolutely extraordinary and revolutionary. You would not dare try this on any other non-locking tremolo guitar. There is no more need for cumbersome locking systems, with all their extra weight, maintenance hassle and tone killing properties. which is what makes them unappealing.

I am now hooked. There will be more of these amazing Z-Strats to come. Playing one of these Z-Strats will make you ashamed to have ever owned a Fender Stratocaster or its countless lame-ass clones; the most recent being the PRS Sliver Sky - John Mayer abomination. Even the name is stupid and pretentious.
Shame on these people and those who are stupid enough to buy them. Kick yourself now for being an Idiot. You included John Mayer, even if you are a very gifted player.