Greco Zemaitis GZMF-501

Today, i'm gona show you guys one of my favourite guitar, which is also one of my dream guitar. The Greco Zemaitis GZMF-501, a cheaper version of the Tony Zemaitis guitars. The Zemaitis GZ series offer the legend and quality of handcrafted Zemaitis guitars at a affordable price. The GZ Series is manufactured by under license by Greco – Japan’s pre-eminent quality guitar builders. With more than 40 years of experience in designing and building high quality guitars, the small team at Greco is proud to be making these prestigious instruments. By choosing the finest materials such as mahogany and maple, by using only top-quality electric components, and by adhering to the original Zemaitis philosophy of quality and innovative guitar building, a new generation of Zemaitis guitar has been created.

 

 

 Before showing you guys the pictures, let me just tell you a bit about Zemaitis Guitars. I know you guys can't wait to see how cool it looks like, be patient alright! =p

R.I.P Mr.Zemaitis

Antanus Casimere Zemaitis, or Tony, was born in London, England in 1935. As a child he was constantly designing and building – everything from model flying airplanes to handmade bicycles. His creative talents first led him to cabinetry where he learned invaluable skills in working with wood, design and decoration.

In the 1950s, as a young guitar player, Tony was unsatisfied with the available guitars of the times. So taking cues from a friend's classical guitar, he decided to build his own - the first Zemaitis guitar! From then on, it was a lifelong quest to hone his craft and experiment with new designs and materials in order to improve every guitar he made, a characteristic that would follow him throughout his life. 

In the early years, his creations first found attention on the London blues and folk scene where he performed alongside players like Davey Graham, Long John Baldry and Spencer Davis – all who fell in love with the great sound and playability of Zemaitis guitars.

He always works to improve his designs, he hit on a major guitar innovation with the now famous Zemaitis Metal Front^™. The original idea was to shield the guitar and reduce hum. The first was made for Tony McPhee of the Groundhogs and the idea was successful in more ways than one. Not only did it reduce noise, but the highly decorative, individually hand-engraved pieces became a signature piece of art favored by rock's elite. Next, he introduced the beautiful Zemaitis Pearl Front^™ guitars with an exquisitely inlayed front with a mosaic of abalone that twinkled and changed color in the light. These top of the line guitars soon became another signature model.

It was the combination of quality, craftsmanship, innovation and determination that won this British guitar maker fans from all over the world. After 40 years of handcrafting fine guitars and having virtually created the 'boutique guitar' Tony retired in 2000. He passed away on August 17, 2002.
 
OKAY! Enough for histories and here are the pictures!

Natural Finish

Natural Finish

Natural Finish

Black Finish

Great Engraving

Perfect Artwork

Even the Pick-Up frame is beautifully done

Custom Zemaitis Bridge and Tail-Bar

Marvelous Jack PLate

Coolest Head Stock you'll see

Zemaitis logo

The most gorgeous Truss Rod cover in the world!

What do you think??? Cool aight? I bet to those who don't own a Zemaitis, you're drooling now! Haha! Ok, for the specifications of the guitar :

• Body: Solid Duralumin Top, 1-piece Mahogany back
  
  
• Neck: 1-piece Mahogany
• Fingerboard: Ebony
• Frets: 24 Frets
• Scale: 25"(635mm)
• Tuners: Schaller M6
• Pickups: DiMarzio PAF (DP103)×2
• Controls: 2Volume, 2Tone, 3Way Toggle Switch
• Bridge: GZ-BR (ZEMAITIS Original Solid Duralumin)
• Tailpiece: GZ-TP3 (ZEMAITIS Original Solid Duralumin)

This gorgeous baby has a Set-In neck, as the neck joint is the critical part of a top quality guitar. Tony Zemaitis only use Glued-In Joints. He experimented with various types of Set-In neck joints with the aim of achieving the best results and designed a special technique where the neck was set further into the body than mainstream construction methods. The Zemaitis neck joint enables the neck and body to have more surface area in contact. This increases the durability of the whole guitar as well as enhancing string vibration, tone and sustain.

The finish of Zemaitis guitars is another key quality of the instrument. Tony had a special hand-finishing technique involving multiple coats of hand-applied lacquer and rubbing-down by hand in-between each coat.  This process takes 4-5 times longer than a typical 'spray finished' factory-guitar but it gives you the wonderful look and feel of a hand-built vintage guitar. They continue this art of hand-finishing at their small custom shop where their master craftsmen hand-polish each individual guitar.Tony chose the method because it gives the guitar a very strong but thin coating. This enables the natural acoustic qualities of the wood to come through and gets a better sounding too!

In true Zemaitis tradition, they hand-craft using only the very best materials and components like : Honduras mahogany bodies and necks; ebony fingerboards; DiMarzio pickups; hand crafted bridges and tail-pieces; hand engraving; hand-polishing - Zemaitis guitars are the best quality that money can buy!


Other than the famous Metal Front, Tony also introduced the Pearl Front which features an exquisitely inlayed front of abalone mosaic.

Yeap. Tell me bout it. Haha. Okay, here's the price for GZMF-501, its Retailed around Rm12K +
Friends, remember that if you have any guitar or equipments that you're looking for, you can look for me or drop me an e-mail through : nicholaslai1004@gmail.com  and i will respond to it a.s.a.p. Thats all folks, have a good day!



By : Nicholas