play it again, zach!

Jules Yap·
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once in a while, you get a really far out hack and this one, about ranks up there. not your regular diy but when pj doland tipped me on it, i was impressed. zachary of zachary guitars builds guitars out of ikea table tops!

guitar

he writes, “this is one of the most interesting guitars i ever built and it is also one of the best. this amazingly figured top is from ikea furnishings. i bought one of their unfinished end tables for $15 and i can get three guitar tops from it. what a shame that they would use such amazing ‘tone-wood’ for their cheap furniture. it’s a sacrilege.” link.

Jules Yap
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27 Responses

  2. idiots……. guitars are made of wood….not plastic………..supposedly…..hopefully…….let the wood resonate. dont bury it under 15 layers of PRS laminated plastic crap. who knows what’s underneath? ……wood….hopefully…..guitars should be made of ALL woods for DIFFERENT tones. Not just the ones gibson, fender or PRS use……

    by the way……wood glue is stronger that wood……

    Reply

  3. Leave it to you knuckleheads. I see no reason to raise my nose. One piece ash or knotty pine, I dont mind. As a musician, I make them all sound good. And from the looks of things so does Alex.

    Reply

  6. i never knew guitar bodies come apart at the glue line…

    i guess the 30 guitars i have built didn’t know that either…

    douchebag Anonymous1… if you don’t know anything about gluing, building guitars, better keep that mouth shut..

    there are people who love that pine…. take a look at TDPRI.

    Reply

  9. Tone is tone… every material has a distinctive tone ‘signature’. Ry Cooder got those great guitar sounds of the 70’s from fibreglass body guitars made in the 60’s, by a Japanese surfboard manufacturer. Tone snobs suck. Pine rocks.
    Zach, I’m sure Ikea’d love to stock designer Ikea electric guitars, you could have your photo on the tag as the designer.

    🙂

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  10. leo fender’ first esquires were made of pine as well as old amplifier cabinets, and piano tops,pine is an amazingly resonant and lightweight tone wood.I would like to hear that thing first before i make any assumptions.

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  11. Zach- all these naysayers are just jealous because not one of them have the talent to build a cool guitar like you. You got mor talent in your middle finger than they have in their entire bodies. Nice work man

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  12. Oh lord, six pieces of wood for one body?
    I think it sounds just like the 15$ you payed that wood… cheap and orrible.

    Paint it and cover that wood, please…

    Reply

  13. 1. Tone wood is wood that holds a tone. It’s not synonymous with a particular tree.

    2. Early telecasters were made of pine. Yes, it dings very easily, but the tone is very good.

    3. Shut up.

    Reply

  15. It’s a cool idea. Tone is all subjective. Randy Rhoads polka dot guitar was the biggest piece of crap made. Look it up. Yet he seemed to get amazing sounds out of it. You play long enough and you KNOW it’s all about the hands of the player. So all you guitar snobs, put your precious guitars away in a glass cabinet and wank to them all day. I prefer to actually PLAY mine. In the immortal words of Frank “Shut Up ‘N’ Play Yer Guitar”.

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  17. I own two Zachary guitars already – and another that was just made recently is waiting for me…

    They are fantastic guitars. Best I have ever found. And I have been playing guitar for about twenty-eight years.

    You can’t beat Zachary guitar, strings, stands, amps, pedals. Period.

    zacharyguitars.com

    Reply

  18. I am super serious. I want to but one of these bad boys. How much? If you are interesting in making another of these sweet axe’s LMK. Peace out.

    (PS Wood grain is cool, paint is not)

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  19. He’s using the phrase ‘tone wood’ facetiously – as well as “amazingly figured.”

    Just a tip for the humour impaired. 🙂

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  20. It is well documented that the owner of IKEA was a person of interest after the war concerning his Pro- Nazi beliefs. Ironicly out of his structured, utilitarian, cold, neat, structured world of boring “furniture” comes an instument of great creativity and chaos. Ironic.

    Reply

  22. For what it’s worth, pine is a softwood, not a hardwood, and has never, throughout recorded history been considered a “tonewood.” Zachary’s claims that guitar makers don’t use pine because of aesthetics could be true, I guess. But you’d think if there were any real tonal benefits to doing so, then someone else would have hit upon the idea in the last 4 decades.

    “Knotty” anything certainly isn’t going to be considered a tone wood because knots will make the top vibrate unevenly. This is less of an issue on electrics, but think about how many times you have ever seen knots on any guitars. This Zachary person’s reference to “select AAAA IKEA pine” make me think the whole page is a hoax. Or a weird joke.

    At the end of the day. I wouldn’t pay 1500 for that guitar.

    Reply

  24. zach, having said all that, i didnt mean to sound like i was tearing you down there, im a big fan of your other guitars and have been for years, they have been one of many inspirations that has shaped my own guitar building and i owe a lot to you. My all time favorite is still that wildwood you did years ago. Hands down, one of the most beautiful pieces of woodworking i think ive ever seen.

    -christus

    Reply

  26. thats the first time ive ever heard eastern white pine called tone wood… better not sneeze near that thing… you might dent it…. i get what you’re saying about the character but there are plenty of other woods out there with plenty more character that would work much better for a guitar. It looks like you’ve got an oil finish on it too which is like just begging for the top to be destroyed with everyday playing… You’re obviously good at what you do, the fit and finish seems to be superb.. Just seems like a waste of time to me to make one out of pine, even if its just a top… Especially if some schmucks like ikea did the laminating, they probably just press fit a bunch of barely straight pine together… id be terrified of that top coming apart with too much humidity…

    Reply

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