Zager ZAD-50CE Natural

Natural spruce top, mahogany body. Finishis high gloss and very nice. Dreadnaught. Grover sealed tuners. Nice thin neck. High quality Fishman electronics with onboard tuner and EQ.
High quality hardshell case was not included, but is a terrific value in itself, very nice.

I play mostly bluesy southern rock along with some modern rock. The sound is very well balanced, bright but not overly so, sustain is excellent, kinda reminds me of a piano. I get lots of compliments on how this guitar sounds. I want to find something I dislike about this guitar, but I honestly cannot. The closest thing I can come up with as being a problem would be that it is not for the heavy handed player, BUT it is not intended for such a player. I grew up on the older Martins and such and developed a heavy hand, as a result with this SUPER easy playing ZAGER I tend to go through strings. Not The guitars fault, MY fault. I am learning to ease up and it still produces tons of sound and is saving my hand as well.

Set-up is superb. I purchased a "blemished" model, the supposed blemish was so small and minor that I am not sure I would have noticed it except for the fact that I had purchased it damamged and was looking for the damage. All hardware is perfect. The action is so good that I am able to play material previously nearly impossible for me.
Everything is TIGHT.

I have only owned this guitar for a few months so I can't really say too much about reliability. I can say, however, that it appears to be very well made, solid, and has great "quality" feel to it.
I already have used it on several gigs without a back-up and will again.
Zager offers a lifetime guarantee against defects of any kind, so I am not concerned about future trouble.

Have not needed any repair. Warrenty is lifetime.
Customer service has been courtious, very, very fast and professional, probably the best I have ever encountered in any industry or profession.

I have been playing for 42 years. I own much Martin and Ovation acoustics.
I would for sure hunt down another Zager if something ever happened to mine. I have played (not owned)quite a few high end Taylors and at least one Guild, they are great guitars and a few played real nice, but they cost many times what my Zager cost and in my opinion did not really sound any better overall, and I prefer the action/playability of my Zager.

Features : 9
Made in 2008
solid top spruce
mahogany sides
volume, 3 EQ, presence built in digtal tuner.
fishman clearwave electronics
dreadnaught with venician cutaway
rosewood bridge
rosewood fretboard
grover sealed tuners

Sound : 10
I play a lot of fingerstyle and modern rock and this guitar is right at home in most styles that I need it for. Even barred Cmaj7 shape chords played on the sharps makes me sound like I should be sitting in with the local jazz quartet, (I am in no way that good...) Sounds great unplugged,I have a modeling amp and when plugged into the amp, anything is possible even shredding death metal if that is your thing, but clean sounds really sweet and crisp, almost a wet sound, bright attack but not too bright, I don't think it would have any problem cutting through most mixes. Effects like reverb and chorus on clean sound spacy,classic rock, AM gold kinda stuff. distortion sounds like my electric, not quite the growl of a solid body, but convincing enough. No hums or buzzes, that goes for the frets too, I can see in a few places where frets have been taken down lower,part of the process there is so much debate about. Bottom line is, I don't have to press hard anywhere on the fretboard to get a clean tone. Me happy.

Action, Fit, & Finish : 10
Everything is clean on this guitar. In my alvarez (regent) there is glue and sawdust everywhere and looks slapped together, the zager is clean, I can find no flaws in either the build quality, or the finish and function of its moving/vibrating parts. Thing is wicked nice to look at. Again, the action is way low, but somehow it works and doesn't buzz. The top has a knot/swirl in the grain of the spruce, I was aware of this before I bought the guitar, so I wouldn't call it a defect, but I was given to option of another one if I wanted, I think it adds character. But it was nice they offerred the info and the choice,more on customer service later.

Reliability/Durability : 8
I guess it depends on who's gigging it. Somebody takes care of it and doesn't pull a Jimi on it... and I don't see why it shouldn't last, Lifetime warranty comes with it, I plan on using it if it falls apart but I will try to take better care of my instrument than that. I would play this live, even if anything went wrong, I would just have everybody do the unplugged thing. It cuts pretty good even unplugged. I haven't put the strap button on it yet, but they did give me one free I guess because I asked for it.

Customer Support : 10
Well, I can vouch for the customer sevice, I had a bit of a change of heart after just a day or two with it and thought I might like to send it back, I wrote and told Dennis junior this and he got me a return label emailed right away. I ended up putting off sending it back unitl I could better evaluate it and put some veteran ears (two twenty year veteran musicians and one professional engineer) to work on it. Now I am getting begged by one evaluater to let him record it in his home studio. All along I got quick responces to my questions and every message was aimed directly at me and my purchase, nothing even resembling an automated responce. That is hard to find anymore folks

Overall Rating : 10
I have been a musician for twenty five years off and on, five years of trumpet in school band. A lay off of a few years , then ten years as a drummer/ percusionist, and most recently a student of the guitar. I bought a Zad-50Ce to satisfy my curiousity as to whether it is or is not a great value and a great sounding instrument. I had been looking for an upgrade in playability and tone and my search led me to learn about Zager's guitar offerings. I read lots of great reviews, glowing testimonials, yada yada... and was darn near convinced to buy one right then. Then I went looking for anything negative about them, I mean, somebody's got to have an issue, right? What I found was a lot of comparisons and references to really cheap "throw-away" type shopping club starter guitars. Lots of bad things vs. lots of good things, only one thing to do. I took a leap. I received my guitar and spent a few weeks getting to know it. I can honestly say that after spending considerable time with it my hands, my conclusion...1. This aint no cheap piece of crap, it feels just like the really nice and much more expensive acoustics at my local guitar center. Then there's 2. ... that this is my sound. This guitar has incredible tone, one thing that trips me out is when tuning to a pitch, I can actually feel the guitar come into pitch and the body start to resonate purely as I fine tune it. It comes alive! Every string is like that, and once it is in tune ( I change tunings a lot) it stays right there until I put the guitar down. Harmonics are beautiful and have a kind of "smokey" flavor to them, don't know if that makes sense but it is how I would describe it, very pleasing and they ring for days. The clean full tones that come out of this thing are making me sound a whole lot better than I really am, the wider string spacing aint no gimmick it really is nice once I got used to it. I am not muting strings anymore so being able to finger pick open or barre chords really opened up a new direction and made my random pluckings sound like a much more polished player, everybody's results are different, but I just wanted to let anyone out there who is considering one of these guitars, I am a regular guy who didn't have a lot to spend and I think I got the deal to beat all deals when I got my Zager 50 cutaway. Sure I could have scraped up a couple grand to buy an heirloom, "name" guitar, But being in that club aint as important as making good music, and I got me a great sounding guitar. If it were lost or stolen I would try to find the low life that took it and smite him repeatedly. But failing everything else, I would buy another one. Definately. these would sell at twice the price.

I just recived my ZAD50CE a few days ago. It's natural finish was beautiful and flawless. The built in tuner made the initial tuning, which was all I had to do to start playing just out of the box was easy and quick. the cutaway design was comfortable. The only complaint, was that the shipper managed to break one of the strings and I had to replace it. Fortunately, an extra set was included in the box.

I have played a number of different guitars, including ovation, Gibson, Alvarez, Guild,amd Martin. This guitar sounded as good or better than all of these. It was clear and bright with rich bass tones. For the price it is by far the best value on the market

This guitar was ready to play from the box. The shipper managed to break one of the strings, but after changing it with the additional set included in the box and some minor tuning it was ready with the best action of any of the guitars that I have played in the 15 or so years I've been playing. I would recommend this guitar to any one, no matter how long they have played. Denny's string science makes this one fine instrument

I have only owned this guitar for a few days so I cannot make a fair evaluation in this category. I will say it seems to be of sound construction and the finish is superb.

Customer support has been responsive and friendly from the moment I first started investigating this purchase. I have allways gotten a response within an hour of any inquiries.

I have been playing for 15 years more or less. the only thing I wish is that I had bought this guitar sooner.

I purchase my Zager ZAD-50CE online from Zagerguitar.com. I received the guitar four days after my online order, I also ordered a case. The Zager ZAD-50CE is an acoustic electric, and includes a built in tuner and equalizer. Other than an initial tuning, the guitar was flawless on arrival, I was very pleased with finish and sound.

Produces great quality sound, very rich with a full deep base.

The finish was flawless, no cracks, scratches, or rattles, just a very deep looking lustrous shine. The only thing I had to do before the guitar could be played, was tune it, and that was very easy with the built in tuner.

I have only had this guitar for a couple of weeks, but going by the look and feel, this instrument appears to be very durable and reliable. The finish looks to be of very good quality, as I previously stated.

I can tell you this, the customer service was a very nice surprise. I spent some time looking at other guitars along with the Zager before making my purchase, I must have contacted Zager five or six times during this time frame. Every time I called, I spoke to someone...Every time I emailed them, I received a response within an hour. Each time, I dealt with someone that was very knowledgeable, helpful, and extremely friendly. I can't say that about some of the other companies that I contacted.

I'm 55 years old, a beginning guitar player, so I'm no expert...but I really like the ZAD-50CE, and am very happy with my purchase. I enjoy the sound quality, the finish, and it's overall look, along with an unbelievable customer support, I don't think that you can go wrong for the money.

I received by new Zager ZAD-50CE over a month ago and I could not be more pleased. Besides the absolutely beautiful natural finish, it sounds great! It is a venetian cutaway design, and is an acoustic electric. It has mahogany back and sides, solid spruce top, and as I stated above, the high gloss finish is beautiful! It also comes with an onboard equalizer and electronic tuner, which works great.

Best of all, besides the features I just described, the sound is incredible. I used to play regularly many years ago, but once married with kids, family, job, etc., my guitar playing days gathered dust for many years. A close friend of mine has been actively playing guitar for all these years and has acquired a number of high quality guitars, ie, Martin, Taylor, Ovation, Alvarez, just to name a few. When we get together, I have to say the sound of my Zager is at least as good as ANY of his high price pieces. My wife, who plays piano and has an ear for music herself, really thinks my Zager sounds noticeably better than any of my friends instruments. And I have to agree!! It has an extremely rich, full sound, that fills the room when I play, whether finger picking or strumming with a pick.

As I have read and heard from many previous Zager owners, I expected the guitar to arrive in ready to play condition, and it truly was. I had also purchased the optional hard shell case with temperature & humidity sensor inside. It was packed very securely and arrived in perfect condition. the only issue I had was with the humidity sensor in that it did not seem to work accurately. When I notified Denny Zager of this condition via the website, I had a reply within minutes. He is sending me a free replacement and a new set of strings for my "inconvenience", which there really was none to speak of. I cannot say enough about their customer service, starting with the purchase of the guitar over the web, the tracking information and updates during the shipping process. They really do care about their customers, and they have demonstrated that to me. I am a sales rep myself, and I know a thing or two about customer service. Denny Zager "walks the talk"!!

As I had stated earlier the finish on the guitar tis absolutely beautiful! My fried with his very expensive guitar collection was simply amazed at the overall quality of my Zager guitar. He is even thinking of adding a Zager to his own collection!! This guitar looks and feels as if it will last for many, many years to come. And guess what? If I have an issue (ANY issue) with my guitar, I have a lifetime warranty to go along with it.

The customer support has been fist class from start of purchase to delivery and beyond. As stated on the Zager website, it has a lifetime warranty!! Since I had an issue with the humidity sensor and notified Zager via email, I had a reply literally within minutes--and this was on a Saturday!! Not what most people consider a business work day.

Once I made the decision to get into playing guitar, I had thoughts of trying to find a Martin or a Taylor, or something in that neighborhood, possibly on Ebay at a reasonable price. It was actually my wife, assisting me with due diligence in researching all of my options, who found the information on Zager guitars. And with some investigation and shiopping, decided that it was worth the "chance" to go ahead and buy a Zager guitar. Compared to what I would most likely have had to spend on one of the makes I had mentioned above, the deal seemed too good to pass up. So I ordered the ZAD-50CE in Natural finish. I could not be happier with "our" decision! It truly does play as well as my friends much more expensive Taylors and Martins, and I have to say, I think it even plays nicer as well.