Tony Zemaitis / Custom 6 String / 1978 / Natural / Guitar
Here is quite something. This is an original 1978 6 string acoustic guitar, hand made by Tony Zemaitis for his friend, the multi instrumentalist and producer John Edged. It is inscribed and signed by Tony to this affect on the label inside the sound hole and engraved on the truss rod cover, probably by gun engraver Danny O'Brien - It certainly looks to be his work.
For those who are not familiar with John D Edmed here is a tribute page written by a friend of his - http://davedrapercreations.co.uk/artwork/john-edmed/
For those who are not familiar with Tony Zemaitis, you are probably not reading this page in the first place but in case you have forgot, he was probably the biggest single English cult guitar maker in the 70's and 80's. His hand made guitars were prized instruments made for and used extensively by the likes of Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood, George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Marc Bolan, Joe Walsh.... etc etc. With a client list like that, you would expect something quite special and this one is no exception.
The thing I like about Mr Zemaitis is he was apparently, never fazed by all his celebrity clients, if he liked his milkman he would make a guitar for him, if he didn't like you, you wouldn't get a guitar from him no matter how much money you threw at him.
There is a good resource for Zemaitis guitar info at the Zemaitis owners club website here
Tony Zemaitis obviously liked his friend John Edged quite a bit and built this guitar for him right slap bang in his peak of perfection period - 1978. Like all Zemaitis guitars it is unique, this one is an all mahogany top, back and sides, round hole, fairly large body, slightly bigger on the upper bout than D-28 but about the same on the lower. It has the most stunning bridge, sound hole inlays and vintage type snowflake fretboard inlays and fretboard binding. It has a beautiful mellow, warm tone that is also rich and unlike anything else. I will get Dafydd to do a demo as soon as I can...
This guitar has been for sale on consignment at a couple of UK based, vintage guitar dealers including Vintage and Rare in London where it was tagged at £12,000. we have bought it outright ourselves now and are pleased to be able to offer it for sale at a much more reasonable £5,995.
I do not think you will find an original 70's Zemaitis guitar for less than this and if Zemaitis is somewhat lacking from your collection, this is going to be a great starting point that can only appreciate in value...
ATB Guitars, UK
Hello we’re ATB Guitars.
We are one of Europes leading sellers of vintage and rare guitars. We only sell vintage Gibson and Fender electric guitars from 1950 until 1975 and have an extensive inventory to browse in our bricks and mortar store in Cheltenham, UK or in our online web store.
Payment and p/x:
All prices are in UK GBP £ Sterling. Payment can be made by Paypal, bank transfer, cash, or money order cashiers cheque etc.
Should you not be absolutely delighted with your purchase you may return it to Cheltenham, at your own expense, within 7 days from the date of delivery for a full refund. The item must not have been altered or tampered with in any way, and it must arrive in the same condition as it left us.
Postage and shipping:
We ship within the UK by Royal Mail Recorded (small items under 2Kg), TNT or UPS and Worldwide by Royal Mail Airmail Signed For (small under 2Kg) Parcelforce, UPS or FedEx. All shipping prices include expert packing, cartons and packing materials but not insurance which is typically around 2% of items value. Currently approx shipping rates for a single guitar are as follows:
UK excluding Northern Ireland and Highlands £29
Most of mainland Europe £49
U.S.A. £129
Asia £149 - £190
Rest of World including S. America £149 - £275