Do you remember Tony Zemaitis
 

Tony was a luthier who lived and worked in London. He made a guitar for George Harrison which looked a lot like the picture below.

https://photos.smugmug.com/Zemaitis/...tar_FBV-XL.jpg

I had a customer who wanted a reasonable copy of this guitar. So, I made him a redwood toped OM some time ago with the Zemaitis bridge and rosette. The rosette, which is a stylized lotus was done by Harvey Leach. Same with the Lotus on the head stock.
At any rate the top cracked after he had owned it for about 5 or so years and I decided that a retop was in order but this time in Englemann, which was closer in looks to the original, and probably will get even closer as it ages. I saved the original rosette and bridge and was able to reuse them.

The body is macassar ebony and the binding is Bubinga which I think turns out to look a lot like leather.

hope you like it, thanks for looking

https://photos.smugmug.com/Zemaitis/..._103037-XL.jpg

https://photos.smugmug.com/Zemaitis/..._103107-XL.jpg

https://photos.smugmug.com/Zemaitis/..._103124-XL.jpg
https://photos.smugmug.com/Zemaitis/..._103215-XL.jpg

https://photos.smugmug.com/Zemaitis/..._103242-XL.jpg

That label was made especially for this guitar by the customer. It has an Indian motif with the Sanskrit symbol for oooommm. (Get it? :))

Great job John. It looks incredible this time around as well! The rosette really pops on that Engelmann. It all works together. This has to be a rewarding retop.

Beautiful.

Very cool project. Gorgeous back and sides! I hope Harvey Leach has recovered from the fire.

thanks Ryan. I'm pleased with how it turned out. Retopping is such drastic surgery and getting that rosette out in one piece and re-inlaying it halfway decently was challenging. I think it looks better with the white top than it did with the redwood, though I am not an impartial judge. Redwood is not my favorite. Not my first choice for either its looks or sound.

Hey thanks guys.

I appreciate your comments for sure

Yes I do remember tony Zemaitis and his guitars. I think (?) I met him once as a hanger on with a luthier friend who met up with him.

His Wikipedia entry speaks about his electrics which were, I seem to remember incredibly heavy, but doen't mention his acoustics.

I remember his enormous 12 strings.

Interesting project John!

I've played somewhere in the region of ten Zemaitis acoustic guitars over the years but only a couple of the electrics. They were certainly characterful instruments. Yours looks considerably more refined than the originals...

Interesting. I would like to see one of his guitars. I'll be in Manchester, cardiff and Bath at the end of this month. Any leads about where I might find a copy?

That's pretty cool. Did he have a sort of cult following? I'm curious what it was that motivated George Harrison to commission one. Do you have any opinions about their sound, fit and finish etc.

Do you remember Tony Zemaitis
 

Zemaitis guitars were the spoils of war for British rock stars in the 1970’s and commanded high prices even then. They were used a great deal by the Rolling Stones of course as well as Donovan (he’s still got his) and others at the time. George Harrison had a matching pair with heart-shaped soundholes if I’m not mistaken.

You have to put Tony Zemaitis’ work in the context of the times as by today’s exacting standards the build quality is often rough with sunken and cracked tops being pretty common due to the bracing.

The last one I played was a couple of months ago. Every time I see one I ask to be allowed to try it just in case I’ve missed something. It had a very dry sound, thumpy and slightly woolly with an extremely skinny neck as I recall. The dealer wanted something in the region of $8000 for it.

So essentially yes, they have a fan base but due to the build quality there are not that many left (not that there was exactly an abundance to begin with) for us to compare and contrast.

Thanks for the Zemaitis story Mr Watts. Name is well known, but not today status.


This is a very nice looking guitar !

I had always assumed that the acoustic guitars which Tony Zemaitis built were mostly 12 -strings.

The most iconic recording of a Zemaitis 12-string is of course the one and only time that Jimi Hendrix was captured on film playing an acoustic. This video makes one thankful that Hendrix decided to devote his talent to electric rather than acoustic.



Another interesting vid features the very wonderful Molly Tuttle wrestling with a Zemaitis 12-string twice her size (and winning).



There are a few other interesting Youtube vids featuring Zemaitis 12-string acoustics, as well as his solid body electrics.

I actually kind of like Jimmy's acoustic blues on the zemaitis and Molly's presentation is great. That guitar is dry sounding.

Blast from the past!!! I remember that inlay but I think I did the work for the customer without knowing who was building the guitar so John I never knew it was you!

As for the fire... well I wasn't involved in one so my recovery is going well! knock on wood...

Harv

it was very nicely done Harvey, that and the headstock inlay as well.
I'm really glad you dont remember the fire. That can be so traumatic.

All the best

I owned a Zemaitis acoustic many years ago. It was a Maccaferri type guitar. Big chunky neck. It had been made for a musician called Allen Bradley here in UK if I remember correctly. It was a great guitar, though as others have noted, quite rough round the edges. I wrote to Tony Z asking him a couple of questions (no internet then remember) and he wrote me a very full and charming reply. He was clearly a lovely chap. I still have the letter, but not the guitar!
Nick

Great story Nick. He sounds like one of those characters it would be fun to meet. Are there any picutures of him on the internet? Did he have any apprentices that are still making instruments?



Great s

Here he is
 

Tony with his wife.https://photos.smugmug.com/Zemaitis/...4954979E-S.png

And George Harrison playing his guitar.
My understanding is that he made guitars for quite a few notables, including Eric Clapton.

https://photos.smugmug.com/Zemaitis/...AB269F18-S.png

Here he is
 

Tony with his wife.https://photos.smugmug.com/Zemaitis/...4954979E-S.png

And George Harrison playing his guitar.
My understanding is that he made guitars for quite a few notables, including Eric Clapton., Keith Richards, Joe Walsh to name a few.

https://photos.smugmug.com/Zemaitis/...AB269F18-S.png

Beautiful restoration work, bro!
May I send you a guitar that needs a new top? And back? And probably new sides while we're at it...?

SK

I don't think so. Recently there was a series of guitars with his name on made in Korea I think.
I'd love to know what happened to my early one.

Thanks Bro
and sure, I guess just send the neck and a general idea of what you want, flat top, arch top, classical, hurdy gurdy, what ever.

Ah yes, so glad you were not in a fire. I was confusing you momentarily with Howard Klepper.

Very interesting guitars and great stories. Two questions please

How were you able to re-use the rosette? I can see saving a round rosette, but....

Is the bridge all one piece?

Thanks, Ed

I cut the rosette out of the old top after the top was removed. saw first then files. I left the old top wood under the rosette in place for support while cutting it out, then once out and trimmed to its original deminsions fastened the face of the rosette to a plastic caul with double sided tape and thinned the back of the rosette by removing the original top wood. So the rosette was held together by tape and caul. But,before I taped and thinned the rosette, while it was still thick but trimmed exactly, I used it to scribe a line on the new top to mark out where the new cavity it was going. I routed out the cavity just a hair deeper than the thickness of the rosette and filled it with epoxy and set the rosette in. The caul held the face of the rosette level with the surface of the top while the epoxy set, so that very little sanding was necessary to even out the rosette with the top. The old rosette was getting thin, having been leveled once in the original top so this technique kept me from having to make it any thinner.

The bridge is one piece with the exception of the two dots which are bridge pin heads cut off the pins and glued to the top.

Beautifully done on the rosette - thanks

Ed

I love the sound of Zemaitis acoustics, they are unique in appearance, and may come off sounding dry to some, but their midrange tone works in the music that I like. I especially liked to hear Ronnie Lane of The Faces play his.

Man ... I just love the quirky aesthetic to this Zemaitis inspired guitar John!

As a primarily electric player for some 30 years, I'm familiar with his electrics (I'd think most of thegearpage folks would be), did not know he did acoustics.