GregP

Frets? The above advice was probably given with regards to the back of the neck, not the fingerboard side.

The only Alex Laiho exposure I have is a lesson from some Guitar magazine. He was pretty sloppy, but I still wished I could do half of what he was doing.

Yup, that's what I would use it for. I'm not good at wiring diagrams, though-- I always have to call in the knowledgeables when I do my own wiring. Sounds like the way to do it. My apartment has a dodgy earth, too, so I had the landlord retrofit it with ground fault detecting outlets. If there IS a ground fault, it will shut down (theoretically) right at the outlet. Kind of like having a breaker on the outlet itself, but for ground faults rather than overloads. And yes, you've seen me on the sustainer thread! I haven't a clue what those guys are talking about half the time, but I'm sure interested in sustain devices in general. I get the vague feeling I gave you no help. Greg

Is it just because it's a photograph rather than an in-person thang, or is the body going to be hella thick? 2" at the thickest part is already considered pretty hefty for a solidbody. What's she measuring up at right now?

Wow, that would be great. I don't own a resonator yet. However-- I liked an earlier suggestion, which was to really think long and hard about custom, and see if we can swing it. That way she gets some "say" in what goes into the guitar. I've contacted a well-respected custom builder with an enquiry, and have also gotten the "top bird" ( ) excited about it, so if it happens at all it looks like it's going to be custom. Greg

One of my guitars came equipped with Mighty Mite humbuckers. They sounded pretty good. Previously, I had always swapped dissimilar pickups; for example, a Duncan Little 59 humbucker into a tele-style bridge. In any event, I thought to myself, "Well, I have a Seymour Duncan JB and Jazz just sitting around, so I might as well drop those in-- surely they're better than the MM ones." I'm frankly not fully convinced. Don't get me wrong, the JB and Jazz are fine. Good, even. They perform exactly as the SD website describes, and I have no reason to revert back to the MM. BUT, there was nothing inherently wrong with the MM pickups. They were slightly lower output, so the sound was overall a bit chimier, and they sounded very very good, actually. If I had never swapped them out, I wouldn't have been happy simply and ONLY because of knowing that I had a JB and Jazz just sitting around. But in retrospect, if I hadn't been compelled to swap them out, I WOULD have been very happy with the sound the MMs were producing. And they're not going to the "junk bin" now, either. They'll go into a guitar for sure. Greg

I don't truly think (or more accurately, I just don't know) that this is a lap guitar, but it's worth mentioning that "Hawaiian" guitar is often played lap-style with a tonebar of some sort, rather than fretted. A lap guitar will have high action and no need of proper frets. Maybe it doesn't need "fixing". Greg

I can relate, but if that's the case, YOU shouldn't have asked me to provide examples that you had no intention of reading or responding to.

Mick, I appreciate your words, but man, you OVER-apologized! Nobody's opinion is above being questioned. I think you might be right about that piece of metal, though. Weird design choice. Perry, maybe I'm just reading incorrectly, but I took all of that that to be "You're right about some of that, but let's not forget that nobody's perfect." I don't think I needed to be asked to "provide examples" for that conclusion to be drawn. Me: "There are glaring flaws," You: "Provide examples [implied message: I don't see any]," Me: "How bout these?" You: "OK, but nobody's perfect." Well, that was kind of my original premise, no? Except that he sold it for $1200. I agree for the most part. Especially for things like finish, which I mentioned and gave him credit for when discussing his inconsistent-seeming or incomplete-seeming oil finishes. The poor ability of photographs to convey real-life impact can't be the scapegoat for everything, though. If only! It can go the other way, too-- good photography can flatter unrealistically. Except that he himself states very clearly and MANY times that he is NOT a custom builder and therefore does not take requests. He says it less politely, too. Or how good it is. --- To anyone who thinks I have an agenda or am wasting my time: I would've been happy saying a lot less, but well, it is what it is. There's some value in the exercise, and I personally hardly ever feel like my time is wasted here. I would've been happier spending 30mins on the topic instead of an hour fifteen, but that's at least partially my own fault. In the bigger picture, this forum rarely goes "off-topic," because even in debates like this we're talking about guitars. I know more about guitars now than I did when the thread started. Even just analyzing how Zachary's "samurai" headstock could be improved is worth something. Greg

greg, please show us some examples. Seriously. The only thing I noticed was where he dyed his inset logo on his headstock, the dye bleed into the surrounding grain. Other than that, I couldn't see any obvious flaws. Oh for crying out loud. I don't sit there and browse his site all day, I just look at the particular links you guys have pointed to plus a few others that I stumbled across while reading other articles. I'm not going to retrace my steps to find everything, you'll just have to look for the specifics yourself. Examples that I SAW, but which I don't have a handy link for: - a big frigging HUGE friggin gouge out of the fretboard from a file. I know that's what it was, because I did it myself when building my lap steel - a Wilkinson bridge with a mother huge gap on one side as well as an upward angle. Maybe I just don't know Wilkinson bridges, but the ones I've seen are parallel to the guitar's top, even when there's a gap to accomodate upward bends. - The strings on the samurai headstock sometimes (but not always) literally touching (rubbing against) the wraps of the strings on the other posts - What SEEMED to be half-finished work on rubbing his oil finish. In this case, I'll grant that here at PG, photos don't always give a finish justice. - botched fret ends - Again, what SEEMED to be tight or too-deep nut slots. Without having the guitar in hand, it's hard to say for sure. But the wisdom I've always held to is that you don't want the nut slot to be so deep that it's as deep as the string's entire diameter (ie. the whole string is completely "enclosed" in the nut). There are plenty of shots showing his deep nut slots - His setups! The SG page someone linked to as an example: strings wound 6.. 10 times around a post??? The neck pickup is WAY too high to not have the magnetic field affect the string when it's pressed down. Again I ask: how can you trust a luthier who wraps 6 times around a string post? - Gluing on neck joints is sometimes messy and not properly cleaned up. And then dye is applied over it which brings attention to it because it looks different than the surrounding wood. - Some guitars (again, not all) have their outside strings too far in from the edge of the fretboard. You can definitely argue that this is personal taste, but then-- why isn't it consistently in that far? - The holes for his "Z1" bolt-on necks... why not at LEAST round the edges over? It's attention to detail. And then there are just general observations: - The samurai headstock, as I said, looks cool. I LIKE it in concept, just not in execution. There are many reasons that I'm sure you can all see, but since I'm going to be "called on it" apparently, let me ennumerate AGAIN: 1. The strings are NOT pulled straight as he says 2. There is NOT the benefit of less friction as he claims, since he's still creating an extreme downward angle over the nut 3. Why trees at all? Why not use one of those string retainer "bars" that are often on floyd-equipped guitars? You can get them with "Mission: Impossible Top Secret Slippery" (copyright Zachary Guitars) substance, too. Or at least, Graphtec. - Why no other finish than hand-rubbed oil? Fine, he believes in it. So do I. But someone that I put in Myka's or Perry's calibre should at least have the ABILITY to do a more typical "plastic" finish. My money is on that he doesn't know how. - That said, why not some shellac via French Polish? Only hand-rubbing required. And he could charge people extra for putting a secret ingredient into his "formula" that he's amazed that in the centuries of French Polishing nobody has discovered? - The hypocricy! Far too many times do you find guitars that are examples of what he's supposedly "against." And what about the Line 6 amp, while he calls people who use digital "idiots"? Two small examples. - Again with the reviews. I'm personally convinced that they were written by the same person, and I have given general reasons why. I am not going to go through them sentence by sentence. At some point in time, somebody else is going to have to do some frickin work to prove THEIR point. - I haven't heard any excuse at all for why every one of his webpage headers have OTHER brand-names on them. OK, so it's not a "build quality" issue, but it IS a professionalism issue. And although only seemingly one small point in this point, that's HUGE for me. I don't go to Scott French's site and find hidden, "Ibanez PRS Strat Hendrix G3" in his page headers. For that reason alone, I do NOT place this guy in the same category as the people I respect. Holy flippin' heck. You guys are killing me. In my head I thought, "does he know how to do any other wiring?" so I went against my better judgement to check some of the pages myself.... Well, he does, as it turns out, but I found some stuff. http://zacharyguitars.com/181097pics.htm : - saw problems with string pull (though, he used a retainer bar! Installed crookedly, mind you. Not on the samurai... why?) - a plastic, too-deep, tight-looking nut - electric tape on a pickup (??) - some random piece of metal near a vol knob, looked like a screw or nail that had to be removed so he just snipped it off and filed down. - a rat's nest of wiring, - a ding in the upper bout, * the letters "JB" hand-carved into the bridge pickup with an Xacto and "Jazz" into the neck one!! - The little cavity "holes" are kinda neat at first, but serve no real purpose and have no covers. Fine, it was probably an early one, but he charged $1200 for it. I could have sworn I've seen people burned at the stake here for worse. http://zacharyguitars.com/261003pics.htm : Just at random... I'm not intentionally singling out the "bad ones," just getting a cross-section: - Not a "flaw" but wait.. what do I see? Figured maple which he supposedly thinks is a crime against man - Check the close-ups of the headstock again for the usual string pull problems. This time, with new and unimproved effed up string trees - The nut. Maybe I'm just crazy here. If a pro can tell me that it looks like a well-made nut, I'll rescind that point - The bridge. wth is going on there? Am I insane or is it incorrectly installed? Or more accurately-- it might be correctly installed to match the neck height, but that would've been a workaround. I wanted to make sure I'm not just going crazy, so I did some image searches and NEVER found a Wilkinson bridge installed that high and with such obvious gaps. - The heel. A "smooth" heel doesn't make it an ergonomic one. Have a look at that lump and tell me that even if it's the right size, it doesn't look weird and "off". - The ninth pic down (in total, including the main one) shows the bridge again, and also the bridge pickup... what's that gunk under it? Should we even be able to see under it at all?? - Holy schnikeys, there are too many pics to count down to them, but just look... you'll see some sloppy fretwork including one heck of a gap under one (again, not necessarily an issue, but why not under the others, and why not at least an attempt to fill it in?), what seemed to be frets not mounted straight-in, and some inconsistent and sloppy-looking dressing of the fret ends. - what is WITH the extra wood between the last fret and the pickup? It's not in all of his guitars, but it's in several of them. I can't honestly call that one a "flaw", but on a guitar posted here you can bet that the regulars (including pros) would say, "I would lose that extra bit of wood. If you're not going to put a fret in there, it looks kind of like you were too lazy to cut it to the correct length." - no 24th fret marker? Again, it's just one of those things that a pro probably wouldn't overlook. Most guitar makers want it there just to emphasize that it's a 24-fret model. But in any event, the absence of a marker where every other marked fret has them is off. I'm not saying every guitar he's ever built is a piece of crap. What I AM saying is that a ) he's not a professional in my (and other people's) definition of the word. b ) there are enough flaws in enough of what I've seen that I do NOT put him into the same ranks as Myka, Perry, or Scott French. Sorry, but there's no way. c ) he is a hypocrite and I suspect very strongly that he has also told mistruths (example: the "stories" of his alleged customers) d ) he uses pseudo science slightly less often than Ed Roman, but he uses it. I agree and half-agree on other points: - he does have some neat designs. So do junior hobbyist members here. - People need to make informed purchases all by themselves to a certain degree. How can I argue with that? But there ARE governing agencies over this sort of thing for a reason. It's not business ethics to fleece someone just because you can, so I don't buy the argument that it's their own fault and only their own fault. - Most of his "design principles" I actually agree with - Not a point made yet, but: I REALLY like that kind of humbucker cover, ever since I saw Yamaha using them. So much nicer-looking to me than traditional 'buckers. In any event, there you have it. I don't even CARE that dang much, but you guys really have my card for being someone who doesn't avoid debate/challenge when called upon. If you're going to do it again, though, I suggest that you at least address some of the points *I* have made, such as the webpage header thing. I understand that I have the burden of proof for much of what I've said, but others have conspicuously avoided or simply not bothered answering questions and problems I've posed. Greg

Wrong. I DID look at the closeups, and even as a non-expert I can see some serious flaws. I mean AMATEUR flaws. Sorry, Mick, but I absolutely do NOT have to put him in that same category. If you want to buy that he's the real deal, that's fine. You're allowed to. But I think you've missed some very telling mistakes. Mick, there's a difference between "wrong arguments" and "arguments I don't agree with." Celine Dion doesn't get any points from me, either. Partially, but not "only". You're going to have to give me credit for some freakin' intelligence here. If I respond any more than that, it means making new points and debating. For someone that *I* know is full of BS. For the record, I understand that he probably makes better guitars than I could. But a "hack" is not just someone who does a bad job. I get to do a bad job and not be a hack, because I'm an amateur hobbyist. That's not a hack. He is a hack because he has pretenses of being a professional. Besides, that numpty doesn't even use pickguards. How can he be a real luthier? As for the above photo-- is it just me or was the point missed? It wasn't about the mosaic guitar, but the fact that he's using a Line 6 amplifier.

I'm going to call that as my excuse, too. I literally stared at my computer monitor for much of today wondering, "what should I do?" And since I never answered that question, I just continued picking at the scab.

<shrug> There's a lot to debate in what you say. I'll give you the tailpiece/bridge one-- it rings true to me that some early bridges looked like this, though the groove in the back looks odd and out of place. Have you looked at the close-ups of the headstock in the "SG" page? Any opinion on why he puts misleading text into his webpage headers? What evidence do we have that he sells all of his guitars, and how many of them ARE there for that matter? Using his website as a source is "begging the question" and doesn't actually prove a point. There are good points to be made that are NOT "shooting fish in the sky," and they've been made. As for putting him together with Perry, Myka, or Scott... let's not, and say we did. Why so passionate about this guy and his "work"? I'm glad they're exciting and inspiring you, I guess, I just hope that you maintain your critical eye and don't let that inspiration ruin any of your builds. If you're going to take inspiration from his minimalist headstock, that's great... but improve upon it, and do it RIGHT. Greg

Looks like a stop tailpiece to me, too. And the closeups on the headstock... anyone wanna play "spot the problems"? Other amateur errors in other pictures around the site (I know, 'cause I made them, and when I made them I said "crap, I gotta make sure I never do THAT again!") include file gouges right into the fingerboard from when he was working at the fret ends. <shrug> I still totally agree with Perry-- it's amusing to give this guy so much free publicity, but it's hard not to laugh. Actually, on that point: The more I read the site, the more I actually have to laugh at the guy's sense of humour. His vitriotic character is showing itself to be just that-- a "character." It's hard to be too mad at the guy when you can't help but suspect he has a lot of fun being this over-the-top Ed Roman type guy. But then, the "snake oil salesman" parts bring the humour down a bit. For example, embedding all kinds of actual brand names and famous players into his web pages (the SG page's header is "Gibson SG" not "Zachary SG", and the video page's header is "Vai Satch Petrucci G3" if I remember correctly)... so what would have been a really funny larf is a bit ruined when you know that he would gladly fleece an unsuspecting buyer.

You can definitely have ground problems even if your ground wire is soldered to the back of a pot. It'd be tricky to diagnose over a forum, though, especially for an amateur like me. Whenever I rewire a guitar, though, I make sure I put in a star ground, which means every single ground wire goes to the same place (often a metal washer) before being sent to ground. With only one path to ground, current will always go the "correct" path. You can very easily ensure no ground loops this way. Greg

What does the time have to do with it? If anything, the fact that his "company" goes back so far and yet doesn't seem to have any legitimate reviews online (forget Harmony Central for a moment and try to do a Google...) is worrisome and further evidence against--and not for--the legitimacy of his business and client base. I AM basing it on hooks and repeated motifs, not to mention vocabulary. Each review I read, I would read a sentence and say, "whoah, sounds familiar". For example, the pattern by which the features are illuminated. The over-use of adjectives. The fact that each review calls him "Alex the genius" or "Alex the master". The very structure in which the praise is presented. The phrases which amount to, "some people may not buy into <design feature X>, but I'm sold on it!" that persistently dot the reviews, the same way he tries to defend his own design features on the website. There are some almost identical phrases used in many of his "letters," and those letters invariably praise Alex for the same things. This guy has a high self-opinion, or a crushingly low one that manifests itself in these fake letters. I'm sorry Mick, but it's really very obvious. It's so obvious to me that it's painful to try to illuminate it. It's like saying the sky is blue and having someone ask you to prove it. It's so self-evident that it seems like a waste of time to bother with the proof part because it's dripping from every sentence. How to choose which sentences are proof? As far as I know, hotmail and aol e-mail don't include regional IP header information since they're sourced from a central server where the web-based client is hosted. Is it REALLY going to make you happy if I write to a bunch of people? And what does it prove? I'm surprised you're surprised. But for the record, you have no reason to be ...he doesn't have a plug up my butt. My comments ARE fair... I don't mind being one of those standing up and saying "The emporer has no clothes" but it's really circumstantial that I've been pulled into saying it more than once. My comments are primarily simple counter-arguments ... I'm not forwarding any sort of agenda of my own. I'd be quite happy to say my piece about it and move on, actually. This post, for instance, is simply in response to some direct questions to me individually. I don't wanna just ignore you, Mick! That's not in my character. Greg

I honestly don't think it takes a genius to see that they're in all likelihood written by the same guy and that the writing style matches that of the website and incidentally a few of his website customer reviews. I guess we'll have to agree without proof we each just have our own perspectives, but I invite you to read the reviews and the website and reach your own honest conclusion. In terms of morality, I agree-- it's not any worse than writing your own review in a magazine as a reward for buying advertising space. I find that to be reprehensible, too. Greg

Yup, you're right and I'm wrong. Not sarcastically. I just had a look and he didn't post any actual customer complaints there. My mistake. You may not care, but surely you can see why writing reviews of your own guitars is not proof of any customers at all, never mind satisfied ones. Couldn't Google any other reviews that weren't written by him either. Whoah the bus there. Being able to criticize someone or find fault in their methodology, approach, marketing scheme, or whatever is not analagous to a luthiery inferiority complex. I can watch a movie and think, "What the heck was this director thinking? Worst movie ever! And the acting sucked." But that doesn't mean that I'm secretly sad that I've failed as a movie director or that I'm jealous that I'm not at least as good an actor as Keanu Reeves. I've never even TRIED to be either, and I'm not discontent that I'm neither. I'll leave it there for now.

His site is riddled with dissatisfied buyers. He puts them into his "idiots" page and then mocks them. The fact that he even HAS an idiots page (and mocks people right on his homepage) completely negates any semblance of "professionalism" that you're trying to ascribe to him. I don't wanna pick at each of your points, none of which are exactly "facts," but here's one that stuck out: The reference to satisfied customers at Harmony Central. A ) Harmony Central's user reviews are positively notorious for unreliability, so it'd be a moot point already; but more importantly B ) I read most [edit: all, just went back to make sure I wasn't blowing smoke out of my butt without the FULL picture] of the reviews. They are all written by the same person. Probably Alex. You're an expert in guitars, but I'm an expert in writing style... these are all the same person, without a doubt. Disgusting. I'm honestly boggled at the level of support you're putting behind this guy, but this will quickly escalate into a full a debate I guess, and I'm not sure either of us care enough to bother.

Being able to sell something isn't a sign of anything except somehow knowing how to sell something. Just sayin'.

Some very nice guitars with their own strengths. My vote goes to Godin. Man, that's some clean work.

Sounds like your bridge pickup isn't grounded properly. Time to do a visual inspection and dig out the multimeter.

Perry et al re: getting custom--> I agree, but although I get to pick, I also feel I have to be reasonable. If I either choose not to or simply "can't" talk her out of the idea, I still don't wanna stick her with a price tag she wasn't counting on. Mick: my guitar isn't actually abandoned... I just don't have access. I finally brought my materials and tools back from my dad's shop (where I was previously working) to my apartment because a co-worker has a shop that he's offered me the use of... and I still haven't gotten around to it. Not time weeknights, and on weekends there are always other commitments. Going to a shop once every month is no way to go. Really, what I need to do is revisit my strategy or shelve this project for later and do something simpler. If I were going to spend money on building, it would be as described earlier-- with a Soulmate neck and the rest of the fittings. It's not a terrible idea, though. There's a guitar-building workshop that's held twice a year around here. You walk out with a telecaster build. But it's nowhere near as "involved" as the ones you mention. I actually borrowed his contour guage and took the neck contour at a few different spots, thinking, "Well, I can always carve the neck at home while I'm waiting to do other work." But then I thought, "ah, but that'll screw up gluing the fretboard." Easy... just glue the fretboard! "Oh yeah, I'm still not sure the inlays are working out... I should get a new fretboard and just do dots..." etc, and got mired down in the very reasons it's halted to begin with. <chuckle> Godin: yeah, the LGXT (as mentioned earlier) is sweeeeeet. I actually brought the subject up with her yesterday... said something like, "Y'know, you don't HAVE to get me something in return..." and she was sort of hurt. She said, "fine, you can just think of it as a wedding present" and I didn't push it.

Can't get more aggressive than with a neck-through.