Mickguard Posted June 29, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 29, 2006 Your absolutely right that 90% of this topic amounts to nothing more than a red herring. Well, it got sidetracked a little... I've actually found the thread helpful here and there --it's made me look at a few things twice, if nothing else. And that's always a good thing. As for Alex/Zach joining the board -- that would be a good thing. Maybe you guys can promise to back off a bit and treat him with some respect if he did come around? There's a no-flame policy here--maybe that should hold true for external sites too. I think he'd bring a lot of interesting ideas here--I'm always interested in knowing people's work methods, especially people who have been doing this for a while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Posted June 29, 2006 Report Share Posted June 29, 2006 If he's willing to accept that people with their own opinions that differ from his aren't neccessarily 'idiots' that would be cool. I could nag him until he tells me where to get that busywood stuff Haha! whilst writing this I was browsing his site somemore, and I noticed this : *If I spot a victim in all of this, it's anyone who spent that much money on one of his guitars. GregP - anonymous guitar forum poster and budding luthier (Ottawa Canada) http://www.zacharyguitars.com/Products_Prices.htm Seems hes hidden quotes all over his site for us to find! I'm not sure whether hes doing this for a laugh or not; just to see how we respond Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drak Posted June 29, 2006 Report Share Posted June 29, 2006 As for Alex/Zach joining the board -- that would be a good thing. Maybe you guys can promise to back off a bit and treat him with some respect if he did come around? There's a no-flame policy here--maybe that should hold true for external sites too. I think he'd bring a lot of interesting ideas here--I'm always interested in knowing people's work methods, especially people who have been doing this for a while. This is the whackiest thing I've read at PG in an entire month! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickguard Posted June 29, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 29, 2006 This is the whackiest thing I've read at PG in an entire month! I ain't nothing if not wacky... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
verhoevenc Posted June 29, 2006 Report Share Posted June 29, 2006 My personal favourites remain the HUGE ones he's got of mattia, and especially garehan's right at the top of his front page! lol... ah.. wonderful Chris PS: Someone should build a Zachary uitars replica and chronicle the 10-20 man hour process that it is lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikhailgtrski Posted June 30, 2006 Report Share Posted June 30, 2006 Mick just pointed out I've been quoted on Zachary's main page (with an unsurprisingly childish dig at my non-pro status and prediliction for posting lots to various forums). I'm really quite amused :-D Today I just happened to read the acknowledgements page in the back of my Hiscock book... where a certain resident "hobbyist guitar tinkerer and full time guitar forums poster" is listed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregP Posted June 30, 2006 Report Share Posted June 30, 2006 Haha! whilst writing this I was browsing his site somemore, and I noticed this : *If I spot a victim in all of this, it's anyone who spent that much money on one of his guitars. GregP - anonymous guitar forum poster and budding luthier (Ottawa Canada) http://www.zacharyguitars.com/Products_Prices.htm Seems hes hidden quotes all over his site for us to find! I'm not sure whether hes doing this for a laugh or not; just to see how we respond Weird. With the pronoun "his," the quote could very easily be misunderstood. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickguard Posted June 30, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 30, 2006 Today I just happened to read the acknowledgements page in the back of my Hiscock book... where a certain resident "hobbyist guitar tinkerer and full time guitar forums poster" is listed. You mean Guinness the Cat? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
verhoevenc Posted July 1, 2006 Report Share Posted July 1, 2006 I went and watched some of the videos... Is he sitting around in his breif's in that first "me myself and I" video?? Also, I watched that crazy fast guy in the porn room hotel... adn any time he hits the low E with any significant force you can here somem ajor rattle/buzz..... quality? Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Posted July 1, 2006 Report Share Posted July 1, 2006 Is he sitting around in his breif's in that first "me myself and I" video?? Check the idiot page for yet more from crafty and mattia btw Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickguard Posted July 1, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 1, 2006 Is he sitting around in his breif's in that first "me myself and I" video?? Check the idiot page for yet more from crafty and mattia btw Okay, you guys haven't figured him out yet? My take on it is that here's a guy who owns a music shop. So you figure he deals with dozens of guitar geeks every day. Maybe for every one cool customer who walks, he has to deal with ten dork. People who wouldn't look twice at a $300 guitar. Or even a $500 guitar. People who treat HIM like dirt, because, after all, he's behind a counter. So he decides to get even. He starts building guitars and calls them the coolest thing on earth and jacks up the price so those same dorks who need a price tag and a fancy brand name will feel comfortable buying his guitars. And it works! Well, he can't believe this is true...so he ups the ante, starts making fun of them --posts an 'idiot' page where a lot of things people say are, in fact, true. Or should at least give a prospective customer pause for thought. But that only makes it worse! He keeps getting more and more people wanting to buy his guitars. So, he thinks, okay, then, I'll post some videos of myself in my underwear playing the guitar. People will see that 1) I can't play, 2) the guitar doesn't stay in tune, 3), the strings break anyway, and 4) I'm in my damned underwear! Who the hell will take me serious after this? But, no! Not only are people not turned off, his inbox is getting flooded with orders! The guy can't win for losing... In the meantime though, he's starting to get a little more serious about this guitar-building thing. Starts developing his own ideas about how they should be, tests them out. Starts believing that he can build a guitar after all ... Which is where the tragedy part comes in... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oz tradie Posted July 1, 2006 Report Share Posted July 1, 2006 I think it's a given that his website has received alot more hits since this thread started. All courtesy of PG. I had a 'Captain Cook' a bit earlier. What can I say, I also found his videos (complete with underwear) rather.........illuminating. Mickguard........ I guess the lack of trousers while playing must help in the overall resonance through strings, down right leg, up the other leg and somehow enable better tonality through lack of chafing. ***? Corduroy is another tonekiller !! lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickguard Posted July 1, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 1, 2006 Mickguard........ I guess the lack of trousers while playing must help in the overall resonance through strings, down right leg, up the other leg and somehow enable better tonality through lack of chafing. ***? Corduroy is another tonekiller !! lol The wife keeps trying to throw out my ratty ol' 15 year old boxers...what? and ruin my tone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Posted July 1, 2006 Report Share Posted July 1, 2006 Okay, you guys haven't figured him out yet? My take on it is that here's a guy who owns a music shop. So you figure he deals with dozens of guitar geeks every day. Maybe for every one cool customer who walks, he has to deal with ten dork. People who wouldn't look twice at a $300 guitar. Or even a $500 guitar. People who treat HIM like dirt, because, after all, he's behind a counter. So he decides to get even. He starts building guitars and calls them the coolest thing on earth and jacks up the price so those same dorks who need a price tag and a fancy brand name will feel comfortable buying his guitars. And it works! Well, he can't believe this is true...so he ups the ante, starts making fun of them --posts an 'idiot' page where a lot of things people say are, in fact, true. Or should at least give a prospective customer pause for thought. But that only makes it worse! He keeps getting more and more people wanting to buy his guitars. So, he thinks, okay, then, I'll post some videos of myself in my underwear playing the guitar. People will see that 1) I can't play, 2) the guitar doesn't stay in tune, 3), the strings break anyway, and 4) I'm in my damned underwear! Who the hell will take me serious after this? But, no! Not only are people not turned off, his inbox is getting flooded with orders! The guy can't win for losing... In the meantime though, he's starting to get a little more serious about this guitar-building thing. Starts developing his own ideas about how they should be, tests them out. Starts believing that he can build a guitar after all ... Which is where the tragedy part comes in... You know that almost seems plausible Mickguard........ I guess the lack of trousers while playing must help in the overall resonance through strings, down right leg, up the other leg and somehow enable better tonality through lack of chafing. ***? Pure BS. Trouser damping has no noticable effect on tone. Semi-nudity and increased skin-to-wood contact enhances the connection between the player and the instrument and makes the guitar playing a more sensual experience- resulting in a more organic tone and a 16% increase in sustain. The underwear thing makes me think even more that this may be his sense of humour...I just cant see anybody recording that video and not chuckling to themselves afterwards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
verhoevenc Posted July 2, 2006 Report Share Posted July 2, 2006 Maybe he's a rugged genious playing a trick of fantastic proportions. This could all be some sort of psychological experiment to see how much people will listen to things, and ignore other things, etc. And still buy the guitars for inflated prices even after notification from several sources on his OWN site that they blow ass. Or maybe I'm giving him to much intellectual credit lol Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickguard Posted July 5, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 5, 2006 Maybe he's a rugged genious playing a trick of fantastic proportions. This could all be some sort of psychological experiment to see how much people will listen to things, and ignore other things, etc. And still buy the guitars for inflated prices even after notification from several sources on his OWN site that they blow ass. Or maybe I'm giving him to much intellectual credit lol Chris Heh heh...so I watched most of the videos he puts up on his site. It only confirms my belief that he's making fun of his 'customers'. I mean, in every single video, the guitars just sound like absolute crap--even in the hands of people who can obviously play, like that Simcox guy, the guitar just sounds bad. Weird, huh? And then I started to notice how most of these people seem to own two ro three or even six of these guitars. Which, considering the guy hasn't made too many guitars, narrows the customer pool down considerably--I bet there aren't more than 10 Zachary owners out there. Of course, that part doesn't make them bad guitars. Just food for thought. Anyway, I'm leaning toward the idea that Zachary guitars is either performance art or a sociological research experiment, or both. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xtjdx Posted July 5, 2006 Report Share Posted July 5, 2006 I officially deem this thread comedy gold. I do not like Zach's guitars or his business model (the "I am the best so I will talk trash about manufacturers who are doing better than me because that assuredly means I am the best" method). I also despise his mentality that some people don't "deserve" his guitars. Hell, if he deserves them, then anyone does. However, I do appreciate that he enjoys what he does (or at least seems like it) and doesn't let trash talkers stop him (although it's obvious he takes it all wayyyy too seriously and personal). That said, shouldn't he have made a much better video where he plays halfway decent and doesn't break a string? That is the most illogical thing about this whole mess. Anyway, thanks for giving me a good laugh today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fryovanni Posted March 17, 2008 Report Share Posted March 17, 2008 No comment on his site, too much has been said two or three times already. String tension however, is not something that is beyond our control. Most manufacturers offer a wide variety of gauges. You can select the appropriate guages to develop a very well balanced set of strings in terms of tension. Not any real mystery there, nor is it something that is "new" or developed by this fella. If you want to use the same gauge strings(which was something that was required when string manufacturing was not where it is today), then you would have to look at varying the length, However your variance in length would be huge and not very sensable. Rich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supernova9 Posted March 17, 2008 Report Share Posted March 17, 2008 What makes his site annoying is his contradictory rants. He blows it - real bad - when it comes to equal tension strings. He raves about them guitar strings and sells them, and rants about 25" Fender scale as opposed to the shorter Gibson scale but when it comes to his bass strings, it's ... hey...equal tension on what bass? Short scale? Long scale? Medium scale? Standard? There's no "standard" scale on bass and I do not think that there's equal tension on those bass strings put on any scale. One Size Does Not Fits All! And that Klon pedal thing he totally chainsaws to the ground. It's just annoying to read, very amateurish, and unprofessional and, frankly, un-knowedglable. Want equal tension on any guitar or bass strings? Go for a Fanned Frets. Use (almost) any string set you like. Not until then can we start to talk about equal tension. He seems like a cross between Yngwie Malmsteen and Ed Roman put in one person. I kind of like him anyway to put humor into the business. He builds guitars out of IKEA furniture desktop tables and living room tables too. Not everybodys sense of humor though. As for the head with increased mass and continues beyond the nut, people solved that many years ago. It's called headless. As for the Harmony Central reviews, that Klon pedal has just as many 10's too. Even more 10's that there are pedals ever made! Go figure. Please don't give HC as a review measurement standard for any quality of any manufacturer. Z may make terrific guitars, and must have something going in spite of it all. But to me it seems sort of too niched and geared towards metalheads, hard rockers and posers. Granted, they should have their share too. He seems like a 30 something year old guy that used to smoke pot a lot in his teens, and stayed mentally in his teens regardless of he's 40 50 or even senior citizen. /Honch So you joined today just to resurrect a long-dead thread? I smell a troll. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DC Ross Posted March 18, 2008 Report Share Posted March 18, 2008 Speaking of string tension, as an experiment I just put a custom set onto my Strat (9, 12, 17, 32, 44, 54), and the tension is very even between the strings. I think next time I'd go with a thicker 2nd and 3rd and thinner 4th, 5th and 6th. Maybe 9, 13, 19, 30, 42, 52. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickguard Posted March 18, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 18, 2008 I smell that I just happened to jump by this forum, oops terribly wrong a mistake from my side, and it's definitely not a place for me to stay. It took me 2 days to figure out. That must be a record. Thanks for the stint. .. see you! Well, errh, not... Oh now now, Honch. Don't be so sensitive. Especially in THIS thread. Just because one guy calls you a troll doesn't mean the rest of us aren't interested in your viewpoint, or questions, or projects. If you're interested in building guitars, this is a great forum for that. Plenty of info. Plenty of other stuff too. Anyway, for the rest of you--- he has the right to resurrect the thread, just like the rest of you had the right to **** all over it and Zachary guitars while it was current. Doesn't matter if he joined today or five years ago. There's no rule saying you can't revive an old thread. If the moderators wanted to close it, they would have. They didn't. So Honch, go ahead....although, as you may have noticed, as soon as the Zachary name gets mentioned, some of these guys start feeling all twisted inside. Maybe stick to more neutral topics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dean Posted March 18, 2008 Report Share Posted March 18, 2008 This thread is a great learning tool,if nothing else.This generation is all about the hype,just talk the talk ,you don't have to walk the walk.NOW DON'T JUMP ON ME TO FAST,NOT EVERY YOUNG PERSON IS THAT WAY,just most.At some time,this country got to where you can say anything ,and don't have to back it up.And god forbid if someone calls you a lier,cause all the no nothings will back them up.Everyone wants to be the boss,and most of the bosses I have had in the last fourteen years,could not do the job they are boss of ,if their life depended on it.I guess it comes down to people have no respect for themselfs.People that handle money can not count change for god sake.This is the I am entidled generation,look at me,Oh and to the ones that have bought a guitar from him,I bet thier friends tell them it is the best thing they have ever heard or seen.JMO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwedishLuthier Posted March 18, 2008 Report Share Posted March 18, 2008 I smell that I just happened to jump by this forum, oops terribly wrong a mistake from my side, and it's definitely not a place for me to stay. It took me 2 days to figure out. That must be a record. Thanks for the stint. .. see you! Well, errh, not... Hånk, please do not take offence from that. This thread was very …well…amusing when it was active. It might have been a better idea to start a new thread, direct to this and ask your questions in a new fresh thread. Now if someone is to answer any questions related to earlier posts in this thread they have to dig really deep. Very few are willing to go through 15 pages to understand what it is all about. Och så behövs det fler svenska byggare här. Vi är ett par stycken, men det är alltid trevligt med fler landsmän… Sorry for that folks… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted March 18, 2008 Report Share Posted March 18, 2008 I have never heard the word "Honch"...but Hank is a common english nickname.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joshvegas Posted March 18, 2008 Report Share Posted March 18, 2008 I have never heard the word "Honch"...but Hank is a common english nickname.... Is it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.