ZAD-80 OM

[FYI, note that reviews of this guitar appear under several model descriptions, including "ZAD 80 OM", "ZAD-80 OM", and "ZAD80-OM".] Martin OM shape; solid cedar top; laminated Indian Rosewood back and sides; neck wood unknown (sapelle? bubinka?); lacquer finish; rosewood fretboard and bridge; thin oval neck, gold Grover tuners; soundhole and top edged with abalone inlay; fretboard inlays in a tasteful kind of maltese-cross shape; no electronics. Really quite an elegant and beautiful guitar. Very light weight. Price paid included Martin hardshell case. Like Martin OM except nut is 1-3/4" rather than 1-11/16"; frets are filed down a bit shorter than usual and guitar is set up for extra-light gauge strings. The relatively low initial cost of the OM-80 (considering the appointments which are closest in the Martin line to the four-thousand dollar OM-41) is, I'm guessing, achieved by a combination of (a) Asian manufacture, (b) laminated back and sides, (c) cheaper-than-mahogany neck wood, and (d) cheaper-than-ebony fretboard and bridge. The tuners, so important, are excellent. I find the cost-v.-quality design decisions to have been excellent in this guitar. I'd like to have had a choice of solid rosewood for the back and sides to see if it would have been worth the price difference. It might well not have been. Don't know.

Zager markets the playability of its guitars above all other features, to the point that it seems like hype, but I have found their claims in this regard to be 100% justified. The use of extra-light gauge strings on a guitar that is in every respect set up for extra-light gauge strings produces the most forgiving touch I've ever experienced on an acoustic guitar. Since I bought the Zager it's gotten 90% of my play time because it's so comfortable and because my fingers can handle hours a day on it. Much of this can be explained by the extra-light-gauge v. the medium or medium-light gauge strings on my other guitars, but that's the simple genius of the Zager. Denny Zager set out to make a guitar that was easy to finger, so he started with extra-light strings and made everything work around that. It's not rocket science, really: it just works! The finish on my OM80 is excellent. There is one tiny spot of missed lacquer on the top that you have to look hard for, but other than that the guitar is solid and beautifully constructed, down to the details.

Produces abundant volume, probably due at least in part to the thinness of the woods which reverberates well even with the extra-light gauge strings. A bit on the bright side, and extra-light strings of course bend easily so you have to exercise care not to go sharp unintentionally. However, this problem is mitigated by the fact that the guitar produces excellent volume with a light touch. My Taylors (GS8 and 610), my Takamine (EAN10C), and my sister's '69 Brazilian Rosewood Martin D35 all have a fuller, mellower sound, but the Zager's sound is very nice, and is growing on me. It's also a very new guitar - I've had it a month now - so the tone will round out with time.

It's a new guitar, but appears to be very well built. As I've mentioned it is light in weight, so I'm guessing the woods on the sound box are thinner than on, say, my Taylors. So probably if you stepped on the guitar it would give way a little sooner than the Taylors. However, I don't recommend that for either manufacturer's guitars. 8-)

Denny Zager Jr. (the luthier's son) answered all of my emailed pre- and post-sale questions about the guitar very quickly, and altogether satisfactorily. Zager Guitar has a sterling reputation for customer support and service, and nothing about my limited experience with them has given me any reason to doubt its justification.

I've mentioned my other guitars; I've been playing nearly 50 years, with a few breaks in there. Something I wished I had asked? Well, it wasn't obvious about the laminated (rather than solid) wood used in the back and sides, though I did find out about it before purchasing (from reviews here) and decided I was okay with it, given the guitar¿¿¿s price and reviews. Overall, I'm very, very happy I bought this guitar - which was, unfortunately, one of the last OM80's in the Zager inventory. It has made it possible for me to play all the hours I want to play, and as such, will contribute immeasurably to my progress on the difficult fingerstyle pieces I favor these days. After noticing this phenomenon I thought "Well, I'll practice on this and then use my other guitars for recording and performance," but I'm slowly getting to like the Zager so much I have a feeling it won't get left out in the cold for those uses, either. The Zager is unique among acoustic guitars for the unusual, interesting, and exceedingly relevant design priorities that produced it. Now that Denny Zager is retiring from the guitar sales business, I hope a few other manufacturers pay attention to the incredibly good reviews of these guitars here on Harmony Central and adopt Denny Zager's priorities in some of their models. Otherwise, Zager's exit leaves a gaping hole. If you're lucky enough to find one used, buy it.