Paul Zach's Tundracaster Guitar

Delivered To The Customer On 12/30/2005

Technically, I started working on Paul's guitar back in December, 2004, when I laminated up several neck blanks one cold Saturday afternoon. His project was put on hold for a few months while I worked on some other things, and finally in June it came time for me to gather more information about what he wanted in a guitar. I met with Paul prior to a Remedy Drive show on 6/18/2005 to discuss the details of his guitar. There simply wasn't enough time that day to go over everything, so we finished up the planning over the phone about a month later while he was on his honeymoon.

Please note that I did not call him on his honeymoon, he called me! I am generally not in favor of using valuable honeymoon time discussing guitars. After a brief chastising from me, I decided it was Paul's decision about how he should spend this time normally reserved for *ahem* other purposes, so we went ahead and finialized all of the details. ;) If, dear reader, you ever want me to make a guitar for you, don't worry: I won't call you on your honeymoon. I'll wait until you're in the bathroom...

Anyway, here's some of the hightlights of the specs for Paul's guitar:

Body: Tundracaster shape, mahogany core with curly maple top and back, drop top, cheese-belly cutout, mild top horn cutaway.
Neck: Maple with Mahogany accents, 24 3/4" scale, maple fretboard bound with mahogany, abalone dot inlays, graphite nut.
Electronics: Two Lindy Fralin P90s (5% overwound bridge, 5% underwound neck), Graphtech Ghost piezo pickup system with onboard preamp, two volume knobs (magnetic and piezo), 3-way pickup selector switch for magnetic pickups, 3-way switch to select between magnetic and piezo pickups (or both), stereo output jack.
Hardware:All black hardware, Dunlop strap locks, Gotoh tuners, hardtail string-through bridge.
Finish: Tru-Oil. Paul likes the natural look and feel of wood.

	I really like the beautiful piece of maple on this guitar. It has some curl to it, but not so much that it's obnoxious. The grain behind the curl is very pronounced as well.
	This photo highlights the drop top and the cheese-belly cutout on the back. Also less pronounced is a subtle carving in the top around the lower horn cutaway.
	The two knobs are both for volume, with the upper knob controlling the magnetic pickups and the lower knob controlling the piezo. The larger three-way switch is for the magnetic pickups, with the smaller one switching the guitar between magnetic, piezo or both.
	The full-shot of the back of the guitar gives a good view of the intricate neck laminations, the carved heel and the matching control cavity cover cut from the back wood.
	The piece of maple on the back isn't as fancy as the one on the front, but it's still pretty.
	Here's a good view of the carved heel that allows easy upper-fret access when playing.

See pictures from the delivery and first performance of this guitar!

This page last updated on 05/13/2009