The New Zack Myers After a Few Months

Toledo Bob

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Mar 24, 2014
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Upper Columbia River Basin just south of Canada.
Hi Forum Gang. I have had my new ZMSETG for a few months now. I have played it at rehearsals, during practices and on stage live. I dunno. After this passage of time and hours of play time, I guess I have to say that it prolly won't end up being my Number One. Don't get me wrong its a well made quality guitar. No quibbles there at all. PRS did it right. However, the guitar I own doesn't have "IT". That is, the intangible and mysterious allure that places a guitar in the Number One slot in my modest stable of wooden addictions. I am saddened to say that it doesn't call to me beyond the gig bag and says, "Come, play me and we'll have fun". I am curious if any other ZMSETG owners have experienced this or am I standing alone in the field? Again, its a great guitar but it just doesn't excite me enough to move it into #1 position. I don't want to mod it because my experience has been that modding does not always produce a #1. No flames, please. I am asking a serious question here of a new instrument. So lets hear it from other ZMSETG owners. Is your new ZMSETG moved to #1? If so, why so. If not, why not. Thanks... Another question is what makes a guitar #1 in your experience?
 
Hm...I can't speak to the ZMSE specifically, but to me...I don't have a #1. I have a "Kid in a Candy Store" complex. Today I picked up my Orianthi and played it for a bit and loved it. Last night I picked up my Lynch Skulls and Snakes LTD. Loved it too. Very different guitars. Tomorrow it might be my BC Rich Mockingbird or my Kramer Pacer.

I figure it's better than having a meth habit. ;p
 
I read the same things in other threads here (another user complained that he wasn't jivin with his ZM), it's kinda worrying me as I wanted to get one...
Going through the reviews, it seems that this guitar is a bit "lifeless" and is very well made but it's not "speaking".
Weird
 
I have had mine now for awhile, and even though the finish and QC on it is great, it is not my number one SE I go for.
That would be the 2012 SE Tremonti Custom.
I am not bonding with the ZM like I thought I would.
Part of that is the wide/fat neck, as I prefer thin necks.

If I do not bond with it more, I will end up giving it to my youngest son who already has a 2012 SE Semi-Hollow.
He likes semi hollows, and he is use to the wide/fat neck.
 
I contest the idea of a #1. If you are going to have more than 1, does the next one have to be better than the 1st in order to be purchased or kept? And what constitutes "better"? Does it have to play better or sound better or look better, or all 3? And lastely, who says the ZM has to overtake whatever you have as your #1?

This isn't a flame. I just don't think I can choose from the few I have and pick a #1. They all sound different and feel different. I do like how they all sound and feel. I pick from them when I have a different job to do. If I didn't like all of them, I would have sold them. If I didn't play one because it didn't make it to #1, I'd sell that one too. I do understand the "it factor". And if that is what you are saying the ZM just doesn't have, then I can understand. All of mine have "it", and the ones I have found that didn't I sold. I just have a number of guitars that have "it" and they don't have to make it to #1 to be "it" guitars.

If your ZM doesn't move you, move it along.
 
If the guitar is not singing to you, that's OK - not all guitars sing the same way to everyone.

I ignored my MIM Strat for about a year up until recently. It wasn't singing to me, and I was really digging my PRSi and my Gibson LP Deluxe. But recently I've been playing with various new OD pedals, and naturally wanted to compare the sound of HBs with single-coils, and my strat is my one true all-single-coil guitar. Even my tele has the classic bridge single-coil but a HB for the neck. So I grabbed the strat, and I've been having a whale of a time wailing away.

Maybe put the ZM away for a while, then come back to it. If it still doesn't grab you, sell it, and get something else that does sing to you. You'll probably get a good price for it. Unlike children, you can get rid of a guitar if you don't really bond with it. ;)
 
I read the same things in other threads here (another user complained that he wasn't jivin with his ZM), it's kinda worrying me as I wanted to get one...
Going through the reviews, it seems that this guitar is a bit "lifeless" and is very well made but it's not "speaking".
Weird

They sold thousands of these things already, and a couple people say they're not into it. Hardly a large sample size upon which to base a conclusion, isn't it?

The power of the internet...
 
i am like others in this post that don't have a number 1. Not 1 guitar calls at me in my harem. They all do for the mode I am in. with a pending house move, I have the ZM out the most due to not having to mess with getting a guitar out of a case. And, I am having a blast with it!!!! Until the goldtop or the SC HBII starts calling me from inside their cases!!!!!
 
For me, I prefer to rotate through my modest group of guitars. I love variety. I am not stuck on one neck carve, body shape, scale length, set pf pups, etc. They all get played. And, I appreciate them as tools, toys, art, and pieces of craftsmanship. At this point, though, I am trying to limit my attachment to objects.
 
Thanks fellas for the overnight feedback. It is good food for thought. I am WAY old school because, well, I am officially "old" LOL. Not as old as the oldest forum member :) but I can see him from here. Since I use my guitars as primarily tools for making music, I do switch them around depending upon what I expect to play at the next gig. I am not putting down my ZMSETG in any way. #1 guitar ... let's see how do I arrive at my #1. Maybe like you too. My #1 is also old school. When I play it it always makes me smile and sometimes tugs on those deep emotion strings when I play it. I don't run pedals preferring to get my sound from my fingers and my amp. Blues is my heart music. Maybe that's it! We all know our sound comes first from our fingers. Perhaps my #1 makes my fingers sound way better than similar guitars and builds? This could be why my #1 causes me to feel like a "playah" while non-#1s just cause me to sound like, well, OK. Again I dunno. Just some random thoughts after years of playing. I look at SRV. He played his #1 Strat above all of his others. Why? He is reported as saying something like, "I like the way it sounds". Way much too philosophical thinking for this early in the morning. hahaha. Have a great day everyone.
 
I think my ZM is overall the best humbucker-equipped SE I have ever played. I had 245s, SECU24s, Santanas in the past, even a Marsden for a few days. I have an Akesson, which I also think rocks, but if I had to pick one, I would chose the ZM for the hollow-ness and flat out sustain.

As I have posted before, as have others, I think the 245 pickups are a little compressed sounding - my same nitpick as with the Akesson, same pups. I'm not a big tinkerer, but I will probably get a more open, 57/08-esque set for replacement at some point, but I do really dig the ZM.

As for a #1, I generally have a "top 3" and that usually is comprised of something with 408s, something with 57/08s and a CE ;)
 
The ZM is a game changer for me. For the price, there is ABSOLUTELY nothing in its league. As a guitar and with price aside, it's still one of the ones I pickup the most to play. The 245's are hot, the semi hollowness whispers to you and the solid half lets its true singlecut personality out for some screamin' and sustain'. I love it.

My USA Tremonti's are still fantastic instruments, but this has a personality that is so unique I can't deny how much I like it.
 
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They sold thousands of these things already, and a couple people say they're not into it. Hardly a large sample size upon which to base a conclusion, isn't it?

The power of the internet...

Didn't want to bash the ZM absolutely, it's just saddening to read more and more people not bonding with that guitar, the most common thing that pops out here and there is that the guitar has no "soul"
Just worried, actually, because I really want to get one when the second batch will arrive here, and I can't try it out
 
Didn't want to bash the ZM absolutely, it's just saddening to read more and more people not bonding with that guitar, the most common thing that pops out here and there is that the guitar has no "soul"
Just worried, actually, because I really want to get one when the second batch will arrive here, and I can't try it out

very hard to judge something as personal as a guitar "feel" based on internet comments. FWIW I love mine.
 
I am not bashing my ZM, as I stated earlier, it is flawless, and the stock pickups are great clean or for heavy metal with the gain turned up on any of my amps.
It is the neck profile, I just find it easier to play a 25" scale and a wide/thin pattern/thin type of neck.

Maybe after spending sometime with the Kingfishers neck and thick strings I will enjoy the wide/fat neck more.
But even my SE Santana (24.50" scale, wide/fat neck) does not get as much play as the 408, SE Tremonti Custom, and the SE Custom 24.
I am a digger of thin necks, they just feel better to me and easier to fret.
 
the most common thing that pops out here and there is that the guitar has no "soul"

If I had a guitar for every time I heard someone say that a PRS had "no soul" then I would have an atomic sh** - ton of guitars. Wait a minute. I guess I do :)

My soul-less ZM has 18 other soul-less PRS stablemates lol. Not bashing on you 089Ray, just that concept in general w.r.t. PRSes.

I HAD a soul-less guitar, so I understand. I think it was around two years ago. Very popular manufacturer. Asian-made. Gorgeous instrument, excellent fit & finish, decent price. Sounded and felt like I was playing through...well...quicksand or some other metaphor, you get the idea. I didn't feel like the instrument was working with me, but rather against me. Took it back for another, brought it home...same thing.

I distinctly remember grabbing my SE Santana at the time right after and immediately thinking "aaahhh that's more like it."

I certainly don't feel my ZM suffers from a lack of soul, FWIW. The only way you will truly know is to play one. If you are that worried, make sure you buy from a vendor with a liberal return policy.

I am a digger of thin necks, they just feel better to me and easier to fret.

Corey - you should try one of the S2s if you have not already. I used to favor WTs but the Pattern necks on the 408s (Siggy, PG, etc) really started making me appreciate a little more meat. The S2 carve is a really comfy middleground.
 
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I have had a lot of SE guitars, and still have a couple, and nary a one has ever un-seated my USA PRS guitars in their coveted numbers one and two status. That said, I still really like them for what they are. They're great to have around. In fact, I just took home my Mira and brought in my SE Santana because the Santana's neck is a bit more stable as the humidity fluctuates wildly during our current monsoon season.
 
Corey - you should try one of the S2s if you have not already. I used to favor WTs but the Pattern necks on the 408s (Siggy, PG, etc) really started making me appreciate a little more meat. The S2 carve is a really comfy middleground.
Thanks Carl, my dealer called me a month back that he had an S2 singlecut in, and I may play it if he has it still.
I would like to get a USA Tremonti down the road since it has a thin neck.

I like the pattern/thin neck on my 408, but I do not think it is as quite as thin as the SE wide/thins.
 
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