Zachary Guitars Z-1

Well, here it is. I am the current (and probably final) owner of the infamous Home Depot Dumpster guitar, serial # 071199 (also the date of manufacture). Completely hand made in Canada by the enigmatic Alex Zisky himself. 10 piece solid KNOTTY PINE body, maple neck and fretboard. Volume control, coil splitter and pickup selector only. DiMarzio humbuckers; Air Norton in the neck position, Tone Zone in the bridge. Wax over oil finish, tool marks left in and accentuated with dark stain, a few decorative burns here and there and three antique nails thrown in for good measure. Completely adjustable Schaller type bridge on string-through body. Black finish non-locking Kluson tuners with red tortoise keys. Thin wide neck with 12" radius and 25.4" scale. Some owners have complained about the limited access to the higher registers caused by the body design, but I haven't found this to be a problem. This is a tough category to rate, as other Zachary owners have commented, simply because a Zachary guitar is designed NOT TO HAVE a lot of features. It doesn't need them.

The pine body and minimalist finish make this the most resonant solid body guitar I have ever played. You can play it unamplified for practice and still hear yourself perfectly well, but the real magic starts when you plug it in. Perfectly clean sound, nothing to hide, no need for tricky amp settings, effects or distortion unless you want them. Although it would seem to be best suited to shredding, heavy metal music, the Z1 is remarkably versatile. The pot (a mini!) is as smooth as any I have ever used, and I've never missed the tone control. The natural sound of the guitar is bright as hell, and the volume pot is set up without a capacitor, so rolling it down a bit automatically cuts back the brilliance. Nice. Great variety of sounds available with the selector and splitter, and the pups perform well in single coil mode. I play mostly blues stuff, and this guitar will cover anything a Les Paul can do, only cleaner, and can give you a pretty good Texas blues Strat sound, too.

Suffice it to say, this is the best playing solid body guitar I have ever owned. Ever. Bar none. The closest second was an ORIGINAL '57 Strat, and even it didn't sound this good. Even with the intentionally rustic finish and unusual wood, it's obvious that this machine was built by a real craftsman. The neck fits perfectly in the socket, which is nearly twice as big as the socket on a Strat or Tele. The frets (24) are big, beautifully finished, and the intonation is dead on. All the hardware is top quality, everything works beautifully, and I haven't had to adjust a thing. Now for the tough part; other people. I have had other players actually bust out laughing at the first sight of this guitar; the laughter stops as soon as they play it. If you have a fragile ego, I'd recommend signing on the dotted line for a PRS or other veneer-and-inlay covered geegaw. If you want a no-screwing-around PLAYER'S guitar, contact Alex and ask him pretty please to make one for you. This is the only Zachary I've ever played, the freakin' thing is made out of PINE, and it slays anything I put it up against. I can only imagine what one of the Z2's made of hardwood must sound like.

Other owners have commented that Zachs are fragile - I want to know what these people are doing with their guitars! This guitar is about as soild as anything else I've got, and I baby my guitars anyway, so I expect it to outlive me pretty easily. A no backup gig is asking for trouble, but this guitar has never let me down.

Alex IS Zachary guitars. He is passionate about his work, and is not shy about expressing his opinion regarding other guitars on the market. On the other hand, he is the first to admit that his guitars may not be for everyone. He answers emails promptly, is friendly and helpful, and builds a great guitar for a great price. He does NOT build guitars to order, and will not alter the basic layout or design of his guitars. Alex makes an honest attempt to place his guitars with people who will appreciate them, and routinely turns away potential buyers who don't "get it." If you're lucky enough to come across one of these guitars, you're doing yourself a disservice if you don't try it out!

I've been playing off and on for 27 years. I have owned a great many guitars, but currently have a Tacoma Roadking DM8C, Alvarez Masterworks MD95, Washburn Flint Hill (for company to play), a hot-rodded Alvarez AE40, a Telecaster, and a great Samick Jacaranda parlor guitar. I play through a Cyber-Twin (insert booing and hissing sounds here), but I have played the Zach successfully through other amps, both tube and solid state. If this guitar were lost or stolen, I would buy another Zachary as soon as Alex could build it. Although the Z1 is my favorite electric, bar none, I would like to see what Alex could do along the lines of a pure blues single coil guitar, maybe with a chambered mahoghany body. Are you reading this, Alex?

Ok, so now I can tell you all how this went. I emailed Alex about a handful of times, just to know about the history of the guitar, how to travel with it etc. Great guy who answered all emails, sometimes within hours, and always gave in depth answers. He's a great guy who really cares about who gets the guitar as opposed to selling one. He's obviously very proud of the work he does(in case you havent seen his website)and others may think he's a jerk about it. Unfortunately, the only way to experience a Zachary guitar is to buy one from him, unless you're as lucky as I was to find one through my buddy.

One of the first Z-1's sold, and the only purple one to exist so far. Very simple guitar, consisting of a purple-stained korina body, set mahogany neck with a 24 fret rosewood board. Bizarre shape, but it's shape serves a practical purpose..I'll discuss later. Sperzel locking tuners, gold hardwate, Dimarzio Fred and PAF Pro pickups with coil tap. 1 volume knob, a toggle, and the coil tap switch. Came with custom fitted hardshell case.

It has a very rich and resonant sound, even unplugged. The humbucking mode does a convincing fat Les Paul sound, better than most more expensive LP contemporaries. It's a bit brighter and lighter in tone, but still very thick. In single coil mode, it's not unlike a good strat, it's just a much sustainier Strat type of guitar. Unlike other guitars with coil taps, the changes are dramatic, and it really does sound like you switched guitars. Despite the simplicity of the controls and guitar design, the sound is pure and has a large set of balls for such an assuming little guitar.

It was fine, no glue spilling over in frets or in the neck pocket, nothing like that. The purple stain was applied nicely, and everything is great. There are imperfections in the wood, but thats life. If your guitar is too perfect, then it was probably just pooped out onto a conveyor belt. I can live with the wood imperfections, I bought a guitar to play, not to keep in a glass case.

It hardly ever goes out of tune, but since I have yet to sweat all over this thing in a live situation, this is left blank until further notice.

As far as Alex goes, Ive never spoken to him. The guy i got this from is Michael Ferrucci of Fine Fretted Friends in Livermore California. He let me come in his shop on his offday and play this Zach for hours through a Marshall JCM 2000. He's one of the coolest guys on the planet, and will bend over backwards for you. 10 for Michael, can't say anything about Alex yet.

Been playing since '93 at the age of 11. I dont regret buying this guitar. its other people's loss when they only think a great guitar has a brand name and stupid godzilla inlays. This guitar works because of it's simplicity. have you ever had a REAL pizza Margherita? As opposed to an overly cheesed and meated-out stuffed crust dealio? The real pizza is just like 3-5 ingredients, choice ingredients, put together properly. Its also the best type of pizza in the world. Thats like the difference between this simple, unassuming beast and your typical overpriced Nu-metal guitar. Nothing fancy on this guitar, just the essentials, put together properly. Theres not a whole lot of guys doing this sort of thing. I can think of a guy like Pete malinoski who makes simpler, smaller guitars that focus on practicality than flash. I think Alex's guitars can eat most other guitars for lunch. The main thing though...its EASY to play. Its a combo of the weird shape, and the stained oil finish. and the light korina body. Everything seems to make sense. It looks kind of a cross between a guitar that Prince would play and one that Bo Diddley or Billy Gibbons would play. Lots of people seem to hate Alex for being somewhat arrogant or whatever, but he's put his money where his mouth is as far as Im concerned and built one the guitar world's best kept secrets.

This Zachary Z1 was made on 040499. Made by Alex in Canada. 24frets.
Soild body, with the most amazing birds-eye maple top. The controls are one volume knob, 3 way selector and two split switches.
P/ups are H/H. The model of the pickups are Fred special at the neck and steve morse special at the bridge. Passive electronics.
Body os mahogany and a birds eye maple top. Neck is also birds eye maple but with very little birds eye and a ebony fretboard.
Finish is natural so you could see the beauty of the wood.
The body is shape is kinda different you have to see it to believe it. Some people find it's ugly but some people found it to be very beautiful. I found it to be the latter! Bridge is a stoptail. Locking tuners are gold Sperzel locking nuts. Neck scale is 25.5. Came with a custom G&G case. I gave an 8 for features cause the guitar does not have much features and that is the way it's suppose to be.

I play blues, rock, christian stuff, a bit of jazz and use a Rivera amp with it. Noisy? I can't hear anything from it!
It just has the most amazing sound. The variety is so much even though there is just a volume knob. Before i bought it i thought it would be a one trick pony but this guitar is versatile.

I just love everything about it. The only dislike? I would not call it a dislike but this guitar just does not fit me. I tried to play it many many times but my hands just can't get use to it.

Ok! This is where Alex's guitars shine. The set-up absolutely perfect. The action - perfect!
Everything was perfect just not for me! Sob!
The top is just an amazing piece of book-matched Birds-eye maple! Stunning!
No flawa whatsoever

Some people say that this guitar is filmsy. I don;t think so. I checked out every part of this guitar. The neck joint is so tight nothing could go in!

The finish is thin but i think it will last. Alex's guitars are suppose to age with time and age gracefully i think they will!

i think this guitar would outlast a lot of us here and still be very playable.

Definitely can depend on this guitar. It's quality is just so high it beats a lot of big brands.

But i don;t think anyone should play without a backup cos' there is always a time your string might break and you don;t want to be changing strings while playing right?

I have never deal with alex but i heard his service is great and he answer every mail you sent.

I think as long as Alex is around he would repair his guitars.

Been playing for about 6 years. I own three Zions(amazing guitars too), a carvin and a Taylor.

If it's stolen i would probably get myself a Z2 with Wilkinson tremolo and the hopefully the same type of wood and pickups. But Alex is not cheap, at USD$1800/- i don;t think i could afford to get one of his guitars. Currently i'm dead broke!

I love this Z1 cos' the top is so beautiful. The sound is so amazing, the quality is just so high, the craftsmanship out of this world...........

I was actually planning to buy it on behalf of my newphew but seeing the beauty of this guitar, i decided to keep it for myself. However, after playing it i discovered that it just does not suit me and so very unwilling and after many days and nights of thinking about it, i decided to sell it.

i just cannot play it well. Not Alex's fault, just some guitars just fit you some don't (i think players would know what i mean)

I hate nothing about this guitar. Only one thing i hate is, myself for not be able to fit into this guitar! Arghhh!

Fave feature, the wood Alex used! Check Zachary guitars and look at the model i have and you will know why.

I compare it to Zions, Gibsons, PRS, Fenders, Andersons, Suhrs.....many other brands and i think it's up there with the big boys. But Alex's guitars have a special vibe, i can't exactly put my finger on it! Alex should know what i mean. Just a very special guitar.

i bought it from this friend of mine as a package deal. It made more sense at that time.
Now i think i stole the guitar from him at a price that is out of this world. Fantansic value i got!

I do hope the body shape is like a Z2 then maybe it would fit me more and maybe a tremolo?

The thing i want say is that Alex makes guitars with mojo. People say bad things about his guitars without trying. Frankly i was very skeptical about the claims he made but after playing his guitars, i'm just blown away and convinced.

There are many times i wish i had the dough to ask Alex to make one similar to this one but in a Z2 or Z3 trem model but i cannot afford it. I would like to advise anyone to give Alex's Zachary guitars a try if you have the dough. You would be amazed as i was. His guitars may look ugly to some but one thing that cannot be denied is that his guitars have mojo and blows a lot of big brand guitars away.

When you are buy a guitar. Don;t just buy it becos' of the brand. Buy it cos' it's high quality and it plays great. A Zachary is very very high quality and plays great.

Try it you will not regret it.

Lastly i want to say that i wrote this review cos' i admire Alex for his devotion,philiosphy in building guitars, the work his puts into his guitars and to do justice to his guitars.

Alex should be praised for being so bold as to go against the flow and come out of the norm to build guitars that are different. I hope many musicians would give his guitars a chance, check them out and not 'dis' it by just taking a look at it.
Get past the looks department and you will be convinced that Alex's guitars are awesome guitars.

I bought this guitar on ebay about 6 months ago, and it really was an incredible find. I got it for $850 all said and done. It's custom made, you can read the details in the other reviews. For pictures, check the website: zacharyguitars.com. Here are the basic features:
body-basswood, dyed yellow
neck- mahogany, with rosewood fingerboard, 24.75 scale, 24 frets
hardtail bridge, string through
2 dimarzio steve morse humbuckers, one volume control, 3 way pickup selector, and 2 way hum/single toggle
gotoh tuners

the electronics are sparse, but they are really all that anyone would need. and for me, the less knobs the better.
the finish is natural, you really feel the wood, and I love that. I don't feel plastic or polyurethane, just wood.
I give it an 10 although there aren't that many fancy features- but everything it has is very well made, feels great, sounds great. the features are simple adn perfect for me, no extravagance

this guitar is extremely versatile. The steve morse pickups are brighter than most other humbuckers out there, but they sound great. The single coil sounds are great too. The guitar can't really cop a straight les paul tone (too bright), nor does it do a perfect strat (although it does sound alot like a good tele on single coil mode), but it has a lot of great useable sounds in it. It is a real work horse, that gets a million different sounds.
I use it to play jazz, latin-jazz, hard rock, funk, pop-- to play with any kind of group of good musicians that need a guitar player. It does eveything very well.
This guitar is pretty bright sounding, probably too bright for jazz traditionalists, but I like a brighter, slightly gritty jazz tone, and through a good amp, it can do that perfectly. I usually go through a fender blues junior, and the extra brightness brings out the best in this mid-heavy amp. It breaks up beautifully, and both humbucker and single tones are useable.
For latin jazz, this axe is awesome. It's brightness really lets it cut through the band. When I select the single coils, I can really cop a tres kind of sound, and with the humbuckers, it plays melody beautifully.
The guitar sounds awesome for rock... I've played it through a marshall jcm 900 half stack, adn the 2-12 combo of the same amp. The guitar shimmers through these amps, a really balanced cutting tone, that sits well with a band. The bridge pickup is great. There are so many useable tones on this thing! The humbucker is great for lead stuff, and I just switch to the single coil for rhythm work.
For pop/rock rhythm guitar playing, this is an awesome axe. Like I said, the brightness really lets this guitar cut through a live band. It accentuates the percussiveness of the electric guitar.
Just an awesome guitar that does a little bit of everything pretty damned well. I'd give it a 9.5, but I can't, so I'm gonna have to say 9.

This guitar was shipped to me cross country, and it arrived at my door set up perfectly. Usually Alex (the heart and soul of zachary guitars) sets up his guitars with 10 gauge strings. But I asked for 11s, and he set the guitar up perfectly for me with the thicker strings. The action is medium low, no fret buzz problems. The guitar has a fairly wide neck, almost as wide as an acoustic's neck, but for me it feels great. I love the feel, and the wider string spacing makes for good vibrato and bending.
The finish is very basic. No plastic coat, just pure wood. I love it, although it might not be great if you're pretty brutal with your guitars.
The neck is screwed in, and perfectly set up. The is no gap in the neck joint, and the and screws are sturdily set up, deep inthe wood. Check the pictures on the website. They're beautiful.
This guitar just feels great. No physical flaws at all, it screams quality.

I've only had this guitar for 5 months, so I can't really say. But, everything seems really solidly built. I gig 3-4 times a month, and lug this guitar all over new york to practices and rehearsals, and it's held up well so far. This guitar seems like it will survive for years to come, but who's to say what will happen?
Well, I don't bring a backup to gigs, more out of lazyness than anything else. I know this is an invitation for disaster, but I don't play that aggressively, and like I said, I have faith in this thing.

I've emailed alex a couple of times, and he's always prompt and helpful. He was very friendly and accomodating, and did his best to make the process of buying and then shipping this instrument easy. He really cares about his guitars. I've not had any problems, but I'm sure he'd be very helpful if anything were to happen.

I've been playing seriously for about 7 years, and I'm a full time music student (jazz performance) in New York. I play all day, every day, though not exclusively this guitar. This is my most versatile guitar though. I also own a fender d'aquisto archtop (great affordable jazz archtop), and a danelectro 56 u2 (awesome guitar too, great for all things not requiring too accurate of intonation). I own a fender blues jr amp, though I play through all sorts of other amps in rehearsal spaces and performance venues.
I love this guitar's versatility. Every sound it has is musical and practical. It's both great humbucker and single coil sounds. I also love it's simplicity. One knob. Perfect.
Please, don't steal any of my shit. That would make me very sad.
'nuff said.

Overall 9.5. I felt compelled to write this review since I bought the guitar that Mr. Goldberg had, returned and reviewed. I have been playing for more than 30 years and have played virutally every guitar on the market. The Z-1 is a unique hollowbody design hand-made in 1999 and is a one of a kind guitar; literally. There is no other one like it in the world. It is a piece of art as well as an incredible guitar. It is a true hollowbody made in Canada by master craftsman Alex Csiky. This is the second guitar I haev purchased from Alex and I play and own the best, PRS, Suhr, McInturff. In fact, I am having a Suhr guitar made especially for me as I write this review.
I stumbled upon Zachary guitars abotu six months ago and consider them the best product on the market. It is a must own and a PRS killer. The Z-1 hollowbody has a volume control and 2 switches for the pickups with five positions. The guitar has gold acccoutrements adding to the shere elegance of this 24 fret instrument. With the advances in electronics in the past five years leading to digital effects there is no need for more controls on the guitar. The Z-1 is a pure and absolutely beautiful guitar that can be played through a Roland 120, a Peavey 410 Ultra, a Mesa Boogie, a Marshall or a Peavey Transfex 212s Pro which has a MIDI output.
The finish is natural wood, front and back with a Rosewood fretboard. The neck and frets are so wonderful you can play complex lead guitar riffs, jazz or blues with an unparalled ease. The fretwork is clearly better than that on the PRS McCarty Hollowbody I own. Don't get me wrong, I love my PRS but the Z-1 is better! As noted in the previous review, the scale length is 24 3/4".
The guitar comes with 2 humbucker pickups that sound clear and fantastic through my numerous amps and effects. The reported fret problem is really a non-issue. There is no problem playing on the first 20 frets. Frets 21 and 22 are quite playable for singel or double string notes but not easy for full chords. I have not found a guitar that allows for easy chord work with frets 22-24 although my other Zachary is the best yet.

This is the most quiet guitar I have ever owned. My Suhr and other Zachary are also quiet as is my PRS McCarty Hollowbody. They are all much more quiet than my Les Paul Customs, Strats, Guilds, Other PRS guitars, Gretsch instruments, music man, G & L. It has an incredibly rich sound that is malleable with digital effects and various amplifiers. It is almost indescribable in that I play the note on teh fret or the chord and I am able to adjust the sound from the full, rich tone of the instrument to anything I desire.

The factory set up was perfect. I have been in search of the great action on a guitar for 30 years. The Zachary has it as does the Suhr. This is just a great guitar to play. It is fun and easy to move from one fret to the next whether it be close or far. The other reviewer notes he would not take the Z-1 hollow body to a bar gig. I may not either. It is not a particularly fragile instrument. In fact, immediately prior to this review I accidentally caused the Zachary to hit another of my guitars. To my pleasant surprise, there was no damage. This is a piece of art, remember but you can play it.
Alex has intricate instructions at his website regarding how to care for his guitars. This in no way should be a liability but it is testimony for his unyielding dedicaiton to building and preserving his instruments. I strongly disagree with the reviewer who concludes the wood is easily damaged. This statement is false, in my opinion. And remember this is the opinion from a guitarist who has played for more than 30 years and a professional with 2 doctoral level degrees.

I am confident this guitar will withstand live playing. The gold hardware will last given the fact that gold is the toughest natural metal in existence. This is a dependable guitar. I have been playing my other Zachary evey day since I got it and it has withstood that somewhat limited test of time. I have had no problems with either of my Zachary guitars. I would never go to a gig without a back-up but if I had to I would take the Z-1 hollowbody.

I have had lots of contact with Alex. He is friendly, responsive and extremely helpful. I have no doubt that any problem that might arise would be handled by him quickly and without a great deal of hassle.

A Zachary is a must own for serious guitar players and collectors. They are one of the world's great guitars. It is an exhilarating feeling to know one owns a truly unique instrument with no other one in existence in the world. I feel honored to own my 2 Zachary guitars and I plan to buy a third. I am a high end player/collector. In my opinion it is better than the PRS. I now play my 2 Zachary guitars, my hollowbody McCarty and my Suhr. I am awaiting a McInturff Taurus. If you want to be thrilled about a guitar a Zachary is a must own for the experienced player. If you are a collector, these guitars should absolutely be in your collection.
Just a quick comment about me. I am not a friend a Alex Csiky of Zachary guitars nor did I know him before I took a chance and bought one of his instruments. With 2 doctoral level degrees and a science background I realize my enthusiasm may seem unusual. But this is the first guitar in years that has made me excited to be a musician. These are my personal opinions from a person with lots of music and real world experience.

Alex at Zachary Guitars located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada ($1850) hand-made this guitar.
CAVEAT: If you have not stopped by Alex's website (http://www.zacharyguitars.com) you should do so before reading this review. He builds guitars using a very specific philosophy, and builds them unlike any other guitar around. Therefore, the ratings and numbers given here are quite subjective...i.e., they are graded on their own scale rather than compared to another manufactured guitar. The fact is that Alex makes these guitars one-by-one by hand, and suits them to his own playing style. If his style and tonal choices are for you, then you will be more than pleased with his guitars. At any rate, anyone who can take a piece of wood, and craft it into a working guitar gets my utmost respect, and Alex has done just that (in a very UNDERstated sense.)
This guitar is a 24 fret, fully hollow-bodied guitar in the shape of Alex's distinctive and unique Z1 body style. The top and back are flat (not carved) birdseye maple. The sides are mahogany, the neck is glued in mahogany, and the tuners are Gotoh Kluson-style vintage with orangish pearloid buttons to minimize headstock weight in a 3x3 layout. The fingerboard is made of rosewood, and the inlays are figured maple dots in a unique "stairs-like" pattern. The scale length is 24 3/4", and the nut is made of some graphite-feeling "Zero-Friction" synthetic material that he will not reveal. The guitar is set up with .010-.046 strings, and the strings are fed through the back (very interesting on a hollowbody.) Like a PRS hollowbody, the only thing preventing this guitar from being *truly* hollow is a wood post under the bridge. The strings are fed through this block.
The electronics are simple, yet effective. There are two passive, hot, humbucking pickups to balance out the mellowness of the hollow body. In the bridge position is a DiMarzio Super Distortion, and in the neck position is a DiMarzio Fred. There is a volume pot, and two mini switches-- no tone pot. The first mini switch is a three-way pickup selector that selects one, the other, or both. The other switch is a two-way switch that splits the coils for a quacky, snappy sound.
There is no lacquer finish on any of the wood-- Alex chooses (for tonal reasons) not to use any lacer at all- he chooses to use a hand-rubbed oil and wax. It's the polymerized oil which seals the wood. The feel and smell, along with the tone of the unfinished wood is very "earthy" and natural. You truly feel that you are playing a natural work of art.
The neck of this guitar is wider than normal, and thinner than normal. I suppose "normal" is a subjective term, however, this neck felt unique to me. The neck lends to fast playing, and allows your fingers to flow through scales and arpeggios quite nicely. The fretwork is impeccable, and the intonation is dead-on. The combination of the shape of the headstock (an extension of the neck wood) with the material of the nut lend this guitar to stay perfectly in tune, through furious bends, and playing. Very impressive. In fact, this guitar stays in tune almost as well as my PRS with locking tuners.
The guitar came with a vinyl tolex covered, hard-shell rectangular case with locks, and the inside has plush black lining, and is form-fit to the guitar.
Overall, the features of the guitar were nice, but lacking, IMO. The exclusion of a tone pot was very discouraging to me. I use mine often. Also, I wasn't the biggest fan of the Z1 body style. It just didn't seem to fit my body well. It may have had to do with the fact that I am used to carved tops, and this is flat. Another huge problem for me is the minimal access to the upper frets. The upper bout of the guitar starts at the 15th fret, and the lower starts at the 17th. Thus, on a 24-fret guitar, I can only play up to the 16th! This, IMO, is the biggest problem, and could be considered a design flaw. If one doesn't use the upper register too often, then this would not be a proble

Now the *sound*.... THAT is an entirely different issue altogether. This guitar sounds simply beautiful. I am a gigging, semi-pro musician who has been playing guitar for about eight years, and is VERY anal about my tone. This guitar certainly passed MY test. Here is my rig:
I own a six-space rack system with a corresponding pedalboard. I constructed the pedalboard myself using supplied bought at Home Depot. I bought a piece of 36" x 15" plywood, screwed in steel corner protectors, glued on aluminum edge reinforcement, covered the top with industrial strength Velcro, and screwed rubber stoppers to the bottom. I then went to an electrician shop and bought a 36" power strip with 8 plugs spaced nicely apart (the kind you find in study cubicles from college.) I obviously attach the pedals and power using the other side of the Velcro. For actual power, I went to Radio Shack and bought five "9-volt battery eliminators", which I highly recommend. They are small; they clip onto the actual +/- battery thingy inside the pedal, and the plug is a far cry from a wall wort-- only about 1" x 1" x 2".
When I first got the rack, I experienced unbearable hum and buzz due to excessive 60 cycle ground loops in the places we play. To combat this, I got an eight channel Ebtech Hum Eliminator 1 space rack unit. This worked like a charm. I also re-wired my rack and pedalboard with George L's cables- custom length high quality patch cabling best suited for pedalboards and racks. I use a Monster Cable in between my guitar and the pedalboard, and a Spectraflex cable in between my pedalboard and my preamp.
So here's how my signal path went for this test: Z1 Hollowbody (set-up w/ D'Addario .010-.046 strings) -> Geoffrey Teese Real McCoy Custom 3 Wah -> Fulltone Fulldrive 2 -> Lovetone Meatball Envelope Filter (this effect has its own effect loop- in it I have a Rocktron Purple Haze Octavider; when the Meatball is off, this is bypassed completely) -> Ernie Ball Volume Pedal -> Peavey Rockmaster Preamplifier loaded w/ four NOS 12AT7 tubes (1 rack space) -> Hum Eliminator Channel #1 -> Alesis NanoCompressor [(1/3 rack space) signal splits into stereo here, each going to Hum Eliminator Channel #'s 2 and 3, respectively] -> Rocktron Intellifex On-Line (1 rack space) -> Hum Eliminator Channel #'s 4 and 5 -> Peavey Classic 50/50 Stereo Power Amplifier (2 rack spaces) -> 2 Mesa Boogie 1 x 12 cabinets housing Celestion Vintage 30 speakers.
Along with the above mentioned pedals, my pedalboard is the home for a Korg DT-3 tuner in the "tuner" jack of the Ernie Ball Volume Pedal (not in-line), the three channel switch box for the Peavey Rockmaster preamp, and a Digital Music Corporation Ground Control MIDI controller using a second Ernie Ball Volume Pedal as a continuous controller/expression pedal. Thus, I have four cables which end up coming out of the pedalboard. One is the power supply, and the other three, tied together with cable ties, go to the rack: the Spectraflex patch, the switch box wire for the preamp, and the MIDI cable for the Intellifex.
Fed through my setup, the guitar sounds simply incredible. It has a lush, natural tone. The bright maple top and back are balanced with the softer mahogany sides and neck, and the rosewood fingerboard to make a very gorgeous, unique tone. The single coil settings make little to no noise (buzz) at all. In fact, I really like the sound of the split DiMarzios. It had a real nice quack to it. One thing I found rather strange was that Alex placed his "neck" pickup about an inch after the end of the fingerboard. It almost was as if there is a bridge and middle position pickup with no neck one. When I inquired about this, Alex told me that he spaces the pickups at a set distance apart to increase the "quack factor" as he so eloquently put it. ;-) I guess it worked. Because of this design move, however, the single coil sounds are more pleasing to my ear than the humbucking ones. Ideally the neck 'bucker should be placed und

Alex set up the guitar flawlessly. The action is perfect with just enough bounce and tension. As far as pickup configuration, see my above comments on the neck pickup placement.
The finish on the guitar is beautiful. He has a very specific and unique philosophy, and again, if you haven't checked out his website, do so, or you will not understand what I am talking about. The wood is natural, and looks and feels great. Sanding is perfect. There is no surface finish- it is a soak into the wood finish. The only criticism is how delicate a soak-in finished piece of wood is. I would NEVER consider taking this guitar to a bar gig-- it's too fragile, and too temperamental. The wood is easily damaged, and the wax finish is easy to ruin. If you are careful, however, you should have a problem, I have just had too many "oops!'s" at gigs to risk it.

Again, I would NOT take this guitar to some of the venues I play at. It just seems far too delicate, and if you check out Alex's guitar care instructions at his website, you'll see what I mean. The list is too long for me to be concerned about the care of it while on the road.
That is NOT to say, however, that the guitar is poorly, made. In fact, it is quite the contrary. It is EXTREMELY well made, it is just... well.. fragile I guess. The strap buttons were normal (gold hardware looked real nice.) Overall, however, I would choose to use this guitar for home or studio playing rather than in a live situation.

Alex is not a big company or corporation-- he is one man. One man who stands by his work, and is proud of what he does and why he does it. I respect that.
With that in mind, Alex, has been extremely responsive, and helpful. This guitar was a project, or challenge, if you will that I posed for him. He made claims that his guitar could do certain things on a public news group, and I called him on them, and he took my challenge to build me a hollowbody guitar, and he did it. Now that's passion.
Alex is friendly and knowledgeable, and was a pleasure to deal with. He responds to email quickly, and takes his job seriously.

Just to fill you in, I ended up returning the guitar to Alex. He gives a one-week trial testing period (nice) but makes you pay for the shipping if you don't like it (not-so-nice.) IMO, Alex should have eaten the shipping cost since I was calling his bluff with what I had interpreted to be an outrageous claim (that his solid-bodied guitars are the next "PRS KILLER") No big deal, however, I still enjoyed playing the guitar while I had it in my possession.
Is it a PRS Killer? No way. At least not the Hollowbody model of the Z1. I have been playing PRS guitars since I started playing electric (years) and I must say that it would take one HELL of a guitar to "blow away" my PRS Hollowbody. Is it better? Again, IMO, no. Alex criticizes the big companies like PRS and Gibson for using "eye candy" to sell their guitars as opposed to tone and playability, but even so, my PRS are still the best out there, IMO. Is it a great guitar? You bet. If I could have had better access to the upper frets on the guitar, I without question would have kept it. The tones it gave were so unique and lush.
Overall, Alex builds a great guitar, and I give him all the credit in the world for meeting my challenge to him. Great job, and keep up the hard work.
-Jeff Goldberg
------------------ "We regret more the things that we didn't do than the things we did." -Sugar Packet Fortune

Well Zachary fans, here is the review you have been waiting for... The beautiful mahogany Z-1 with holes that is featured on the web-site, and is no doubt the reason your're interest was piqued in the first place, is mine. And in fact I am the first purchaser of a Zachary guitar. As you can tell by the picture, my guitar is a Z-1 with holes. One-piece Mahogany body and neck. DiMarzio PafPro in the neck and Super Distortion in the bridge, with the standard Zachary control setup: volume, three-way switch, and coil-splitter. The volume control has a cap on it which maintains the highs when volume is reduced. And although I have used a similar setup before, it is particularly effective with the Zachary since there is no tone control. The volume control is very smooth and well tapered, and together with the setup, really makes controlling an amp (with the guitar) easy. These are things you notice after awhile with a Zachary. Control placement is excellent. The neck is pretty thin by vintage standards, and I'll have to say I had some reservations at first. Since my main guitar at the time was a 72 Hard-tail strat, but as Alex said you become accustomed to what you play, and he was right. Because I have been playing it ever since. Frankly, the guitar could be considered a wood sculpture, and as such be a considered art, but hey you get to play it too!

The sound, electrically, could be described as sort of a combination of a single-coil guitar and a humbucker style guitar, but that would not do justice to the complexity of the sound. It is really hard to describe the difference, but you would have to take a mass-produced humbucker type guitar and plug into the same amp side-by-side to see how much more acousticically detailed the sound is that fires out of the speaker. It's just better! As I said, acoustically, the guitar is very loud. Probably as loud as some of the electric-acoustic guitars when played unamplified. The single-coil mode, while not a strat sound necessarily, will produce a very good quack-like in between sound, and a powerful tele-style clean bark. In the bridge position, you'll find that the split coil sound is as usable as the dual coil. In fact I play my guitars in single coil mode most of the time. I have always been a Fender freak, so needless to say me using a humbucker equipped guitar is pretty much a milestone... but maybe I just never tried one that had the character I was looking for... who knows. I play R&B and blues, so I'm more interested in a clean, undistorted sound that will get edgy when pushing the amp. I'll have to say I have always preferred the sound of old pickups because they have a sort of subtle quality to them that is unmistakeable, but they are not too good for pushing an amp and you end up using a distortion pedal. Which changes the sound of you're amp. Not Good! Considering these guitars have new pickups, I have been enlightened to the advantages of a dynamic wide-range pickup! Needless to say, There are a lot of usable tones in these guitars, Nuff said!

Alex sets his guitars up with straight necks, and fairly high action, which is the way I like them. He uses different scale lengths, so string-bending is relative, to some extent, by you're scale. My mahogany guitar has jumbo frets, but my pine guitar has smaller medium frets. The neck is also a little wider on the pine guitar, although Alex swears it's the same. (sorry Alex). As I said before I consider these guitars art, so I apply a different subjective rating system to them for fit and finish. They are hand crafted, one at a time, and as such, not like assembly-line products you might buy at the store. They are organically beautiful, smell and feel like wood, and they're ain't no metal-flake, flamin' plastic paint to be found. Just a little metal and natural wood. And boy do they smell good! How many guitars can you say that about!! Did I mention I love these guitars?

What a deal, a great form-fit hard shell case included! I think these guitars will be around for a long time. They are over built, and since wood is the main ingredient, what can you say about the durabilty of wood? The electronics are very well done and simplicity seems to be an integral part of the design. In addition, let me say right here and now, this guitar stays in tune better than any guitar I have ever owned!!!! Sometimes I can't believe I haven't tuned the darn thing, and a week has gone by! Wow.

Alex is very conscientious about keeping up with his customers. I know he's working on guitars, so he can't check his e-mail every hour, but he always gets back with me, and he really cares about his product. I don't believe one would have to worry about ownership realated problems with a Zachary!!

Hey Alex is not a manufacturer, he is a craftsmen. He does not mass produce a product for everyone. He can make some adjustments to his basic design, but is not trying to make clones of something else. Or appeal to everyone. If you think you're pre-conceived notions about what a guitar should be like are right, you just haven't tried anything else. It's really about thinking different. I feel like I have more than just two new guitars. I have a relationship with an artist/craftsmen and small businesman. Not a giant corporation that is churning out rehashed memories. There is a difference!! I have some old guitars, the ususal suspects, and I take them out and play them accasionally, but they are just not as pleasing to me anymore. Vintage guitars are appealing because they are more than just guitars! They have memories tied to them. Sweat, painful fingers, dirt, smoke etc. They are like antique furniture. Zachary guitars are more than just guitars in my humble opinion... That's why I was the first person to buy one, and I'm the first person to own two of them! (I bought the cool knotty pine guitar too! but that's another story). I hope this helps people make up their mind to try one because I think you will be pleasantly surprised!

My Zachary guitar (S#070699) was manufactured on June 07, 1999 in Ontario, Canada. It features a solid korina body, glued-in (set) mahogany neck, and 24 fret rosewood fretboard. This guitar comes equipped with a DiMarzio PAF Pro in the neck position and a DiMarzio Fred in the bridge and has the standard Zachary Z-1 electronics configuration (one three position pickup selector, one volume pot, and one coil tap switch.) My guitar weighs 5.5-6.0 pounds (relatively lightweight.)
My Z1 has a german made brass string-through body "hardtail" bridge that has a black finish, Gotoh "vintage" (non locking) tuners. The nut is some type of metal and might be made from polished aluminum.
This guitar came with .010 gauge D'Addario strings installed and I will keep the same type of strings on this instrument.
The finish on my guitar is "standard" for current Zachary guitars. It has a dark hand-rubbed wax based finish on the korina wood body. Alex Csiky, the owner and luthier at Zachary guitars believes that the thick plastic finishes applied to most guitars today causes a tremendous loss of acoustic resonance and overall "tone" so his guitars all have a very natural "wood feel".
The headstock is a direct extension of the mahogany neck and is curved at the end. It is not slanted. You need to look at Zachary Guitar's web site at http://www.zacharyguitars.com to see pictures instead of my explanation. This type of headstock will prevent you from hanging the guitar by its neck but it is unique and works well.
My Z1 came in a very high quality locking case and its interior was specifically tightly form-fitted to the shape of the Z1 -- a VERY nice touch!
The fretwire installed on my Z1 is a tall/thin variety similar to the type found on most Anderson guitars.
The neck on the Z1 is very comfortable -- it's slightly wide and thin and should be suitable for any style of playing. My fretboard has offset dot inlays on the face (similar to a Kramer Nightswan.) The inlays appear to be made from maple wood instead of plastic, pearl, or abalone. The rosewood fretboard is "thick", similar to a "slab" fretboard. It is important to realize that each Zachary guitar is COMPLETELY hand-built. No two Zachary guitars are ever the same. Not only does Alex seem to like to experiment with various body, neck, and fretboard woods and pickup types, but since the guitars are made by hand by Alex, they each will have a different feel and sound. There are no cookie-cutter guitars here, and I am sure that they are all exceptional.
The serial number is stamped on the back of the headstock, and the headstock has what appears to be a branded "Z". The body also has a branded "Zachary Handcrafted Guitars" stamp just above the neck.
The Z1 provides all of the features that I require in a guitar, so I rate it 10 in this category.

As I mentioned previously, my Z1 is made from a korina body, mahogany neck, and rosewood fretboard. Alex indicated that he is a big fan of korina wood and he likes to use mahogany necks with korina bodies to offset the brightness of korina.
My Z1 sounds *amazing*. I have owned several dozen guitars in the past 13 years of playing and this is by far the finest sounding guitar that I have ever owned and among the best sounding amplified guitars that I have played. I can honestly think of only one guitar that I've played that can match the type of tone that this guitar provides.
My Zachary guitar is tremendously resonant when unplugged, it almost sounds like an acoustic guitar. I've never heard any solidbody (or even semi-hollow) guitar that has had such acoustic resonance. As I said earlier, Alex believes that a thick plastic finish on guitars kills the resonance so he hand rubs a wax finish onto his instruments. I believe that the combination of the korina body wood, mahogany set (glued) neck, string-through-body tremolo, and the natural finish provides this amazing tone.
Fretted notes "pop" off of the fretboard and bloom. You can actually feel the guitar's sound through your body if you're playing through headphones. I also noticed that I was able to find "sweet spots" on this guitar where some notes really sound louder or more dynamic than others, I've never noticed this on another instrument before. The guitar is acoustically nearly too loud for "silent" headphone playing with my POD, anyone in the same room will be fully exposed to my playing.
The guitar obviously also sounds amazing when amplified. The Fred pickup sounds very dynamic, but provides a lower output and is a little less focused than what I'm used to. It has a nice juicy top end through distortion. The PAF Pro is a versatile and warm sounding neck pickup. The guitar sounds great for any style of music, from metal to rock to blues to clean. The Z1 has a unique voice but can get close to nailing Strat-like tones in split coil configurations and honking, deep sustain Les Paul tones in full-coil modes.
Killer tone, amazing resonance, and long sustain. I have never heard anything like my Zachary guitar, and it sounds absolutely amazing so it really deserves the highest rating here.

This category is possibly one of the most difficult to explain or rate because one needs to understand the philosophy about Zachary guitars before making judgements of the overall appearance of Alex's guitars.
Alex seems to be uninterested in competing against other guitar manufacturers to build the prettiest guitars. I have the impression that he feels that the concept of 10 or AAA tops and other "tone woods" is simply false marketing hype and generally unnecessary to produce a good sounding guitar. He also seems to dislike the fact that most popular guitars are now mostly made by machine and are no longer unique. He values the fact that his guitars are completely hand made and that each Zachary guitar has its own character and is completely unique.
I have to admit that I was pretty skeptical at Alex's claims at first. I am sure that many of you have gone to a local guitar store like Guitar Center and have spent hours playing and comparing various Fender guitars and many sounded dead or flat like I have. In my mind, I attributed the flat sounding guitars to poor sounding body and/or neck woods, so I felt that higher-end guitars made from quality "tone woods" will sound better.
After hearing my Z1, I absolutely no longer doubt Alex's claims.
Alex believes that just about all wood is "tone wood", and has even gone to the extreme of building a guitar body out of 10 pieces of pine wood in his local home depot's trash to prove his point. Although he always builds his necks from premium woods for stability, the bodies on his guitars are not always cosmetically perfect but they will almost certainly sound amazing.
As I have said, my Z1 sounds AMAZING, but the body is not cosmetically perfect, but this was intentional by Alex and is fine with me. The various anomalies give my guitar a unique character, and kind of reminds me of the spirit behind Fender relic guitars. I must say that it is important to know that although the body is not cosmetically perfect, nothing harms the guitars playability.
Despite the imperfections in the body wood, the mahogany neck and rosewood fretboards are absolutely perfect.
The action was a little higher than what I was used to on my guitars, but nothing that I could not easily adjust to. I usually play with very low action .009 gauge guitars so the .010 gauge Zachary feels different to me. I will leave this guitar set up as it was from the factory.
The neck is almost completely straight. There is very little relief here. As mentioned in a previous review, there is a double-action truss rod in the guitar and will probably never need adjustment.
I will rate the fretwork at a 9 out of 10. There were no protruding frets and the work was very clean, but not as "pretty" as the rounded ends that you'll find on something like an Anderson guitar. This seems to be all visual anyway.
Alex raised the D string poles in the pickups for this guitar. I asked him why he did this and he said this was to compensate for the small core in the D string. The pickups are fairly far away from the strings but it is clear that they were installed and adjusted with care.
The electronics cavity is covered with a piece of stained wood (instead of plastic or metal on some other manufacturers.) All wiring and electronics on the guitar was VERY clean and extremely well done.
When changing the strings last night, I unscrewed the neck and bridge pickups to take a look at the body underneath them. I found that Alex autographed the guitar in the neck pickup cavity and the "Zachary handcrafted guitars" stamp is located in the bridge cavity.
If you want a glossy, 10 top quilted maple mirror finished guitar, then Zachary guitars will not rate as high as an Anderson or a PRS guitar for overall finish, but if the guitars visual appearance and overall finish perfection is not a primary concern, this guitar rates extremely high.
My biggest complaint with the guitar is the fact that access to the higher frets is difficult for me. The body/neck

I haven't taken my Z1 out of my home, but it feels extremely solid. I suspect that because of the lack of a solid finish, the guitar will receive various scratches, dings, and dirt/wear on its body from my playing. This is okay with me. I fully expect that the guitar will stand the test of time and will age incredibly gracefully. I can't wait to see how my Z1 will look, feel, and sound 10 or 15 years from now.

Top notch. I bought the guitar from Alex at Zachary guitars. He built my guitar, and spent a lot of time answering my questions patiently before AND after the sale. He is clearly very passionate about his guitars and I am sure that he will stand behind his products.

I absolutely plan on buying another Zachary guitar. Since I've received my Z1, I've thought about comparing it to the guitars at my local music stores and I just can't think of anything that even comes close.
There are many things that I love about my Zachary guitar. I love its sound and unique body and headstock. I love the dual humbucker config and the string-through-body bridge. I love the fact that it has only one volume knob and NO TONE pots and that there will never be another Zachary guitar like mine. Additionally, I love the Zachary guitar philosophy and the risks Alex has taken to produce these.
I feel like I am playing something special that was produced by a real innovator, and I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to buy an early Zachary guitar.
This guitar is an absolute keeper. It has replaced my loved #1 guitar and I just can't imagine anything topping it.
These guitars are just exceptional values and I strongly suggest that if you're looking for anything like a Zachary guitar that you take the chance and go for it!
I hope that Zachary guitars receive the type of recognition that they deserve, and I hope that Alex's philosophies cause each guitar player to reconsider what is important in an high quality electric guitar.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or comments about these instruments!

This is a completely hand-made solid body guitar with an original design (i.e., not your standard Strat/Tele/LP look). The Z1 design comes with or without a series of a dozen or so "tone holes" in the body (I chose the hole-less model). Zachary Guitars are made using a wide variety of wood. In my case, the body and neck are crafted from dark walnut, with a pleasing natural finish that looks great with the gold hardware. The guitar was built in 1999, and weighs in at about six pounds -- lighter than my Fender Strat.
Unlike most electric guitars, this guitar does not have a true cutaway section in the body where the neck is joined. Rather, the body is notched such that the fingers can access most (but not all) of the higher frets. In other words, if you play anything past the 17th fret, your fingers will be at an angle. Frets above the 20th are virtually inaccessible. I was told that this design results in a much stronger neck-body joint, and improves the overall balance of the instrument.
The fingerboard (25" scale length, 24 frets) is bois de rose wood, and the neck is glued on rather than bolted. The fingerboard is very flat (the neck radius is 15 inches) and also a bit wider than most guitars. The bridge is fully adjustable, and the string are inserted through the body. One minor complaint I have is the lack of fret marker dots on the neck. The fingerboard has the standard markers (inlayed maple), but the top of the neck is bare. I was surprised to discover that I've become rather dependent on these markers.
Perhaps the most unique aspect of a Zachary guitar is the headstock, which is a pure extension of the neck, and exactly the same width as the neck. The headstock is not set at a backward angle as with most other guitars. Consequently, three string trees (two strings each) are used. A side-effect of the narrow headstock design is that you can't hang the guitar on the wall using a standard wall hanger.
Other features include Gotoh sealed tuners (with plastic keys for reduced weight and better balance), a metal nut (made of some undisclosed material), two DiMarzio humbucker pickups (PAF Pro and Fred), and a hard shell case. I was expecting a generic case. Rather, I was pleasantly surprised when I saw the high quality case, the inside of which was custom fitted for this guitar. The guitar comes with standard strap buttons, which I'll be changing to locking buttons.

I've played this guitar through a Peavey Classic 30 amp (with and without a Tech 21 CompTortion pedal), and through a Line 6 POD into a power amp with studio monitors. I have no complaints at all in the sound department. In fact, I'm very impressed.
Switches allow you to select either or both of the pickups, and they can be switched to single-coil or double-coil mode. The net result is five sound combinations, which makes for a nice variety of tones -- including a you'd-swear-it was-a-strat "quack" when both pickups are selected in single coil mode. When the volume switch is reduced, there's also a slight treble cut. I play mostly blues, and it's perfect for this style of music. But, I think, the versatility of the pickup switching makes this guitar suitable for just about any style, including jazz, rock, and country.

The guitar was shipped to me from Canada in the winter -- from a cold humid climate to a warm dry one (San Diego). It arrived. in perfect condition, and was only slightly out of tune. I checked the intonation and it was dead on. The action was perfect for me.
The frets are a bit taller and wider than those found on a Strat or Tele, but I found that I quickly got used to them. The fretwork, overall, is flawless. The neck has a nice feel to it, and it is very easy to play bar chords at the first fret (something that can't be said for all guitars). I had no problem at all adjusting to the slightly wider neck.
If you're looking for a shiny, lacquered body, this guitar is not for you. The body is crafted from a single piece of dark walnut with a simple oil resin finish. It actually feels like wood, not a piece of plastic. From an aesthetic point of view, the instrument is very striking. The term "work of art" may sound trite, but I can think of no better way to describe it.
This guitar has minimal switching hardware (described above). There is no tone pot -- which is not a big deal for me, since I rarely touch that knob on my Strat or Tele). I found, however, that adjusting the volume also has an effect on the overall tone: reducing the volume also cuts the treble.
Adjusting the truss rod involves removal of the neck pickup. According to the owner's manual, the truss rod is a "double action" truss rod that consists of an active and a passive rod. Supposedly, this eliminates the need for periodic adjustments. Time will tell.
The guitar stays in tune quite well, but not as good as my Fender Telecaster. I do a lot of string bending, and the two high strings do tend to go flat occasionally. It's not a major problem. Maybe some new strings will help.
The guitar I purchased was listed as a "prototype," and was discounted $500. I was told (before purchasing it) that there was a minor workmanship problem on the back of the body, and the problem and remedy were thoroughly described to me. The flaw appears to have been fixed perfectly, and I probably wouldn't have noticed it if I weren't looking for it. It has absolutely no effect on the sound, playability, or overall appearance of the instrument.

I haven't had this guitar too long, so I can't make any real-life claims in this area. However, the guitar simply oozes quality workmanship. Despite its relatively light weight, it has a solid feel, and I really don't anticipate any problems in terms of durability.
The hardware seems to be about as high quality as you can get. As I mentioned, the body has a very simple natural finish. And, it has no pickguard. As such, it is prone to scratches and normal wear -- much more so than a guitar with a thick lacquer finish and plastic pickguard. In other words, I expect the finish to get marred over time. Personally, I don't have a problem with this, as it will only add character.

The guitar has a one-year warranty. I was kind of expecting a lifetime warranty, but I can't complain too much, given the price. The luthier (Alex Csiky) is available for questions and advice, and he has always replied to my emails promptly. Zachary guitars are sold directly, so this is an instrument that you must buy without seeing it or playing it. I was, naturally, a bit hesitant about this arrangement. Before purchasing, I asked for some additional photos, but he couldn't provide any. However, he recently acquired a digital camera, so you'll probably have better luck if you request additional photos.
If you don't like the guitar, you have seven days to return it for a full refund. The net effect, then, is that you pay round-trip shipping for the privilege of trying it out -- which can be a bit pricey if you don't live in Canada. But after seeing and playing this axe, returning it was the last thing on my mind.
Besides the lack of photos, my only other complaint is that I could not use a credit card for payment (which seems rather odd). I had to send a cashiers check, which was an inconvenience, and delayed my gratification about 3-4 extra days while the check made its way to Canada. I've been told that Zachary Music will begin accepting credit cards soon.
Zachary Music has an informative web site (www.zacharyguitars.com), with a detailed list of instruments for sale. Even if you have no intention of buying one of these, you may find the site interesting.

I've been playing guitar for more than three decades, and I've played a fairly wide variety of instruments over the years. Other electric guitars I currently own include a Fender American Standard Stratocaster, a Fender American Standard Telecaster, a Gibson "Lucille", a Steinberger Spirit GT-Pro, and a Yamaha Pacifica. The Zachary Z1 is, by far, the most beautiful guitar in my collection. But more to the point, it has a great sound, feels good, and is supremely playable. The main problem, at this point, is that my other guitars are being ignored. I just can't put this baby down.
Value, of course, is subjective. The pricing on these instruments seems quite reasonable to me, even if you don't get the $500 prototype discount. You can factor in a free hard shell case, plus additional savings in sales tax (unless you live in Canada). The shipping cost, however, was more than twice what I expected based on my past experience with shipping guitars.
I like the idea of owning a guitar that's not mass-produced. And, this is my first new guitar purchase that didn't leave me with a gut feeling that I was getting ripped off. What do you give up by choosing a Zachary over a factory-made guitar? Well, you're not paying a premium for having a recognizable name on the headstock, and you're not getting gouged by obscenely marked-up "AAAAAA" quality wood. Rather, you're getting a unique hand-crafted instrument made by a skilled luthier with a keen sense of detail and (apparently) a great deal of pride in his work. I have no idea how the value of this guitar will change over time, and frankly I don't care about its "collectibility." This is a keeper.