Frankinstein Guitar Works Z2800

Let me start by saying that this is my 3rd amazing guitar (see reviews for El Binga and Flamer) built for me by Seppo at Frankinstein Guitar Works. The first 2 we laboriously went over every detail. This one was different. He called me up and said I have an amazing piece of Austrian Pine salvaged from a lake that was carbon dated to be 2800 years old, interested? I said of course I am, what do you have in mind?!?!?! So he told me he wanted to build a "Z" guitar (modified Les Paul shape in tribute to Tony Zemaitis) with a burled Madrone top and stop tail piece. I did not hesitate and told him to put my name on it. I did not give it much thought until he called a couple of weeks later and told me as soon as I let him know what pickups I wanted he would have it finished. I chose a DImarzio DP163 Bluesbucker for the neck position and a USA Peavey EVH Wolfgang black back for the bridge, both in cream and black zebra. I chose a 3 way switch with a push/pull coil split on the neck pickup. Here are the details: It is a 2 piece Austrian Pine body, with a 2 piece burled Madrone top. Burled Madrone is a VERY, VERY RARE wood and it looks like tortoise shell pickguard material. Very beautiful and 3 dimensional. Unllike any maple top you have ever seen and it has to be seen in person to be fully appreciated. The bridge is a compesated stop tail piece, like a PRS. It is 24 3/4 scale maple neck. with rosewood fretbaord, 12" radius and 22 med/jumbo frets. Grover butter bean tuners on a classic 3+3 heastock and bone nut. The controls are simple, one volume. one tone with chrome speed knobs and a 3 way switch in between them. As mentioned before the volume knob pulls up to split the Bluebucker in the neck postion. Chrome pickup rings, dot inlays and a tweed case finish it up. To give you an idea of shape, it is like a Les Paul Special in that it has a flat top and sides, but the single cutaway shape is modified ala Tony Z. Do the research on Zemaitis and you will know what I mean. The finish is a orange burst lacquer on the top and hand rubbed oil for the rest. It is set neck with a carved heel for limitless access to the higher frets.

As awesome as this guitar looks, it is the sound that fully blows me away. Before I ever plugged it into my amp, I gave it a full work out accoustically. I was immediately struck with how loud it was, how much natural sustain it has and how easy it was to pull squeeling pick harmonics with no amp. Have you tried that latley? It usually ends up sounding like a rattle of some sort. Not this baby, they squeel as if amplified!!! The unplugged tone is rich and full, and the sustain is quite amazing. Then I plugged it in and Holy *@%$ this thing ROCKS! Almost unlmited sustain at low volumes, medium volumes and up, forget about it. The neck pickup has that seering SRV+ sound, when split it is a Strat as you can get. The bridge pickup is just plain BROWN as it should be. Pick harmonics pop off the strings with ease from both pickups. A turn of the volume knob will clean them up nicely. My main amp right now is a ealy 90's Carvin X100B 2x12 combo with vintage RCA and Telefunken preamp tubes and Mullard EL34 power valves. I also have a rack full of stuff, ADA MP-1, Rocktron, etc, a Crate GLX65 that I keep at my rehearsal studio and assoted Mesa amp in an out of here. I also have used it in my computer for recording. I have not found an amp or setting that makes this guitar sound bad. The split coil DP163 give as bell like a strat tone as you would ever need. Clean the unsplit DP163 can be jazzy, or even a little snarlley, but never muddy. Hit the overdrive and hold on to your hats, because then the full nature of this beast is revealed. It SINGS with sustain and articulation that almost leaves me speechless!! The bass is tight and the highs are fluid. In any pickup setting it gets the most from the amp. My favorite is the seering, snarling blues tone from the neck pickup and the Carvin maxed out. I play all genres of music from blues, classic rock, jazz, shred, 80's hair metal and even a bit of country from time to time. So my guitars need to be versatile. I was at first a little skeptical when Seppo suggested a pine guitar, but considering the age of the wood and the original Tele's were pine. Add to that that all accoustics have some sort of pine or spruce in them and it was an easy pill to swallow. I am SOOOOOO glad I did!!! The use of the standard Alder and Mahogany woods is stupid. I agree they have there place, but think outside the factory for once and give something else a try. You might be like me and realize what you had been missing!

The guitar palyed great when I took it out of the box. It had a set of Black Diamond .009-.042's nickel wound strings. I let it acclimate a little and did a general set up. truss rod and bridge adjustment. The action is about 2/64ths, maybe 3/64ths at the 12 fret, low E string. It is BUTTERY smooth and fast, no dead spots, no major rattles. A tiny bit of buzz, as can be expected with action that low, but not enough to be heard most of the time, I find it very acceptable. The frets were dressed perfectly, the danish oil and carnuba wax finish is sweet. The lacquer top had a few minor imperfections, but nothing to be bothered with. The controls and wiring are perfect and very quiet as is the nut cut. The bookmatching is excellent. I am HYPER critical about how my guitars play. If this had gone to anyone else, they probably never would have changed a thing and it would still play better than 98% of the guitars out there. Now it plays better than 99.9% (not 100% because nothing is perfect) of the guitars out there. It palys so well in fact, that I have lost all joy in going to music stores and checking out guitars. They all play poorly by comparison. I give this a 9, not due to action or fit, but the minor flaws in the lacquer. Once again, most people would probably never have noticed, but I inspect every detail with a very high level of scrutiny.

I have palyed this guitar live with no backup many times. It is rock solid, stable as can be. No tuning issues of any kind. The streap buttins are Jim Dunlop lock and are awesome.

One telephone call directly to the builder, how much better can you get!?!?!?!? This is number 3 with no issues yet.

I am a 20+ year pro player. I have owned literally 100's (maybe 1000's) of guitars. This is the 3rd Frankinistein and the best yet. My oversized collection of guitars is shrinking rapidly due to Seppo's expertise. Have you ever played a guitar and just new it was special, that is was more than the sum of it parts? You new it had "something" that you could not put your finger on? Well this guitar has IT, in spades, whatever IT is. It is more than just wood and steel, it has feel and tone that give it a living personality. Others have played it and immediatly they were unhappy with there own guitars because they knew what they were missing. I even had a novice player play it and declare he had found the key to being a great player, having a great guitar. The only thing I wish was different is the body is very small. I am a very big guy so it is a bit of a mis-match. But I would not change it for fear of changing the magic formula somwhere and not have the holy grail of guitars anymore!!