Greco Zemaitis, metal top
"Normally", a guitar is made of wood. Solid wood, laminated wood, all kinds of wood. Guitars made of other materials are "rare", eccentric, special, and in most cases, technical masterpieces and a feast for the eye. One of these other materials is metal, mostly used for the top of the guitar, and often engraved as part of the "theme" of the guitar. Some artists specialize in engraving these custom made metal tops, like for example Phil Cooper from engravedguitars.com. Other artists / luthiers take the whole picture; they actually build the guitar and provide it with a unique metal top. Guitar builder Tony Zemaitis was one of them.
 |
| greco zemaitis black top |
Zemaitis guitars, some history
Zemaitis guitars was founded by Tony Zemaitis, born in 1935 in London England. In his younger years Zemaitis was trained in cabinet making, and actually build for some years high quality furniture. As Zemaitis started to play guitar, he didn't have the funds to buy a decent guitar. Zemaitis borrowed a guitar, and using his skills, made a copy of the guitar. After this one he build more guitars, improving the guitars and his skills.
This eventually lead to the building of, in that time, "rare" 12 string guitars in the 1960's. Zemaitis name was established, and in 1965 Zemaitis became full time guitar builder. Zemaitis made guitars until he retired in 2000.
Zemaitis became famous with his engraved metal top guitars and his pearl inlayed top guitars. Zemaitis guitars were played, and collected by some famous guitarists like Ronnie Wood, George Harrison, Eric Clapton and Peter Frampton. Although Zemaitis was a master in making the guitar "look good", he never did any concessions to the purpose of the guitar: his guitars should play and sound great. Tony Zemaitis passed away in 2002.
Fortunately, Zemaitis legacy lives on in Zemaitis International, founded with the support of his wife and son, and Zemaitis friend and co-worker and engraver Danny O'Brien.
Lot's of information about Zemaitis and his guitars can be found on the Zemaitis guitar owners club website.
This eventually lead to the building of, in that time, "rare" 12 string guitars in the 1960's. Zemaitis name was established, and in 1965 Zemaitis became full time guitar builder. Zemaitis made guitars until he retired in 2000.
Zemaitis became famous with his engraved metal top guitars and his pearl inlayed top guitars. Zemaitis guitars were played, and collected by some famous guitarists like Ronnie Wood, George Harrison, Eric Clapton and Peter Frampton. Although Zemaitis was a master in making the guitar "look good", he never did any concessions to the purpose of the guitar: his guitars should play and sound great. Tony Zemaitis passed away in 2002.
Fortunately, Zemaitis legacy lives on in Zemaitis International, founded with the support of his wife and son, and Zemaitis friend and co-worker and engraver Danny O'Brien.
Lot's of information about Zemaitis and his guitars can be found on the Zemaitis guitar owners club website.
 |
| greco zemaitis black head |
Greco guitars. some history
Greco Guitars is one of the famous Japanese guitar builders. Founded in Japan in the early 1960's, Greco at first built original, "non copies" guitars in the FijugenGakki plant. With the increasing popularity of, mostly, American guitars and models in the 1970's, Greco started to make clones of the originals: Fender's, Gibson's, Rickenbacker's, Ibanez's, and yes, also Zemaiti's. Around 1974, the quality of these copies made by Greco was excellent. Due to the sublime quality of the Greco guitars made in the late 1970's and 1980's, some Greco guitars are very vintage and collectible. Japanese guitar builders like Greco and Tokai have a good name when it comes to quality.
Greco guitars are still in production today; the current series is the Greco Zemaitis, licensed by Zemaitis International.
Greco guitars are still in production today; the current series is the Greco Zemaitis, licensed by Zemaitis International.
 |
| greco zemaitis top detail |
Greco licensed by Zemaitis
Zemaitis International, Tony Zemaitis's legacy, currently runs 4 series: the Custom, Acoustic, Bass, and GZ (Greco Zemaitis) series. The original Zemaitis metal and pearl tops are highly collectible, as they were not produced in large amounts. No wonder the Zemaitis guitar owners club warns for fake, counterfeit guitars.
The Greco Zemaitis doesn't come cheap, but compared to an original metal or pearl top Zemaitis, for reasonable prices, considering the work and craftmanship which has been put into the guitar. I especially like the metal tops, as pictured in this post, but also the pearl inlayed tops are true masterpieces.
Greco has a long history in building quality guitars, and in my opinion, Zemaitis International did well in choosing Greco as a partner for their "budget" series. The popularity of Zemaitis in Japan even resulted in the building of the Zemaitis Museum, where lot's of Zemaitis guitars, two of Tony Zemaitis's cars, and personal items are on show. All part of guitar history!
The Greco Zemaitis doesn't come cheap, but compared to an original metal or pearl top Zemaitis, for reasonable prices, considering the work and craftmanship which has been put into the guitar. I especially like the metal tops, as pictured in this post, but also the pearl inlayed tops are true masterpieces.
Greco has a long history in building quality guitars, and in my opinion, Zemaitis International did well in choosing Greco as a partner for their "budget" series. The popularity of Zemaitis in Japan even resulted in the building of the Zemaitis Museum, where lot's of Zemaitis guitars, two of Tony Zemaitis's cars, and personal items are on show. All part of guitar history!
 |
| greco zemaitis red head |
 |
| greco zemaitis red back |
No comments:
Post a Comment