We refine or totally reimagine guitar building to craft instruments that are highly versatile and infinitely usable. Every design is hand-drawn, then meticulously refined digitally until every detail is correct.
These design principles inform our DNA, and it starts with the pickups.
Hand-wound Zona pickups took a year of R&D to perfect. Featuring in all guitars, Zona pickups are articulate and expressive.
Each pickup combines two different coils: the first giving a clear open voice, the second giving warmth and character. The result is a pickup that delivers different tonal styles, like having access to multiple guitars at the flick of a switch.
Played live or in the studio, tones ring like a bell and are never lost in the mix, whether through the cleanest amp or a wall of pedals.
Our wood choices don't follow convention, either. We won’t use woods that are endangered, at risk, or from a rainforest. Instead, we source from local wood yards and mostly use offcut stock to minimise carbon miles.
Excitingly, these alternative wood choices don’t compromise the look or tone of the instrument. In fact, top-grade cherry wood, black walnut, and English oak (alongside maple and ash) create rich sound and great texture and weight.
We take classic design and build norms back to first principles and then see how we can do even better.
Controls are configured to give optimum flexibility from the simplest and most logical layouts. Our bridges are made to be acoustically transparent, which allows for a sonically-invisible connection between the body and the strings. Tuned ported weight relief keeps weight down and greatly enhances body resonance. We use a combination of hardwood fronts and softer body woods to further improve on instrument tone.
At Zona, no 'what if' is left unexplored in the search for a more perfect instrument.
Influenced by '60s and '70s European and Japanese guitar design but with original shapes and curves, a Zona feels familiar but looks distinctive and unique. Equally, every line is considered from an ergonomic standpoint, giving a high level of comfort, playability, and ease of use of controls.
We finish our guitars with subtle aging and tasteful relicing, utilising either Nitrocellulose or oiling. The final result is a cohesive, hugely functional, and good-looking instrument.
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