Scott Baxendale sent me a 50s Harmony H-162 that he had done his conversion work on to check out. So we take a look at it, laying out the conversion process, and also looking at my Baxendale mandocello, and my Dan Lambert converted/repaired Buck Owens American. We end with a look at my refinished Waterloo WL-14, that also has a dual pickup system, and under-saddle, and a magnetic sound hole unit.

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Today we get introduced to Gabe Tonon, and he shows off his 50s Esquire with a long throw Bender, and his two 60s maple-cap Fender Telecasters with Glaser B-Benders. Gabe is a wonderful player you can see opening for Zach Top in 2025 with Jake Worthington. 

Find Gabe here:
https://www.instagram.com/gabe_tone_on/

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Today we look at one of the rarest and coolest members of the Telecaster family, a December 1950 Fender Broadcaster. To  give some context, I cover what Fender was up to in late 1949 through the Summer of 1950 with the single and dual pickup Esquire, and how the addition of a truss rod caused the Broadcaster to be born. We also take a look at what makes the Broadcaster different feature wise from the later Telecasters, including the unique blend control that would be phased out in 1952.

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Today we look at this cool Glaser B-Bender equipped Strat that I put together using a Glaser made neck from the 80s, and a non-tremolo swamp ash body. We get to hear the Seymour Duncan Hot Strat Stack pickups, and get a bit of history along the way. 

Much thanks to Jason Cornelius for the buddy deal on the Glaser neck, and to Brad Paisley for donating and painting the body.

Get a Glaser bender on your Strat or Tele here
https://www.glaserbender.com/scheduling-and-options

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A comparison between flat wound, pure nickel, and ground wound strings on my Tele. I was inspired to do this by the back of a set of D'Addario strings, showing a chart of their string offerings, from mellow to bright. Today, we start at the mellow end of the spectrum with the flat wound, going mid-way through the chart to the all-steel half-round set. 

Thanks to Andy Pitcher at D'Addario for supplying the various strings.

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#askzac #daddariostrings

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I love honest, beat-up, Telecasters. Today we tell the story of one of the most aged butterscotch Telecasters I have laid eyes on. Besides telling its story, we also compare it to a near mint 53 Telecaster. Thanks to Andy T, for letting me borrow his beautifully aged Tele. 

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#askzac #52telecaster

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Today I sat down with one of the finest solo-Jazz guitarists of our time, Tim Lerch. We discuss how a non-jazz player might get into solo guitar, his influences, his highly modified Fender Nocaster, and how he approaches tone and touch. Much thanks to Tim for taking the time for this interview while he was in Nashville teaching at a guitar seminar.

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#askzac #timlerch #jazztelecaster

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Earlier this year, I did an episode on the Buck Owens "American" guitars made by Harmony from 1969-1971. Mine was in pretty good condition, but missing its headstock overlay, and having survived a neck break. The day after I released that show, the head broke off again on its own. With learning there was a major structural issue, I turned to a Harmony restoration specialist, Dan Lambert, of El Paso, Texas. Dan had to rebuild the neck and extensively repair the headstock. Today we look at all the repairs and upgrades he did to the instrument, including recontouring the original ladder braces.

Dan will be posting videos showing the repair process on this guitar on his YT channel.

Dan Lambert's Youtube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/@danlambertguitar6049/videos

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Gibson has never been known for their amps. Though we may revere certain models, they pale in collectability with those made by Fender of the same era. After years of slow amp sales, Norlin, the owner of Gibson from 1969-1986, decided to start a new amp division under its own name, Lab Series. To design the new line, they turned to another division they owned, Moog, and they were tasked with making a transistor amp that sounded like a tube amp, and looked traditional, yet cutting-edge circuitry. Today, we look at the Lab Series line, and go through the unique features that made this a favorite for B.B. King, Ray Flacke, Ty Tabor, Alan Holdsworth, and Ricky Skaggs.  

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We all have a tone obsession, but when is it healthy, and when is it not? I asked Barry O'Neal of Xact Tone Solutions to have a discussion on the "tone suck" of certain pedals, and it quickly morphed into a philosophical discussion on the potential pitfalls in the pursuit of tone.

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#askzac #xacttonesolutions

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