Paul Rhoney's Meazzi Zodiac clone

[Paul Rhoney]

I'm sure I'm not the only one here who is a huge fan of obscure 60's Italian guitars and design. At some point in time I was checking out cool guitars at fetishguitars.com, and I found some pictures of the Meazzi Zodiac. I loved it and went looking for the real deal to just buy one, but I have still never found one for sale. Of course, I figured I could probably build one, and I did. My wife fell in love with them too, and mixed the color for this one herself. It's not all finished, needs some fret and nut work, amongst other things but sure looks good in photos.

[John Sonksen]

very cool! I like these weird guitar's from this era, out of curiosity is there any neck angle on this or did you just run the fret board higher for that TOM?

[Paul Rhoney]

There's a neck angle, but honestly not enough.

[Jason Rodgers]

That is all sortsa funk-ay. I, too, dig those 60's - 70's European electrics, particularly some of the East German and Russian stuff. Wicked.

[Edgar Jessop]

Forgive me for asking, but does pressing the vibrola arm down raise the pitch of the strings?

[John Sonksen]

Forgive me for asking, but does pressing the vibrola arm down raise the pitch of the strings?

actually I see why you're asking that Edgar, seems like the strings should wrap around the tailpiece if that's the case.

[Paul Rhoney]

The tremolo is basically non-functional. You can pull up or down on it and there's almost no change in pitch, either direction. The strings are supposed to be loaded in from the front and wrapped around over the top of the bar. Doing that though, there's absolutely no break angle behind the bridge. Poor planning on my part, simply put. Thus my earlier comment about there not being enough neck angle. If I had planned better I would've made the neck angle steeper, so that the bridge would have to be raised higher, making the break angle behind the bridge better. I'm going to make a few more of these, and I'll be using different trem units entirely, but either way I'll plan better and make them work right. And someday I'll probably make some mods to this guitar so that the trem works right, but it's not terribly high on the priority list. This guitar was just a "for fun" build for my wife, and she isn't exactly what you would call a heavy trem user.

[Chuck Raudonis]

I wonder what would happen if you wrapped it UNDER the tailpiece. It looks like there is room under there and that would give you back your vibrato and actually increase the break angle. Just might save the day if there's room under there.

[Paul Rhoney]

Wrapping it underneath lifts the spring cup up, causing the spring to fall out. Doesn't just not work but also looks really funny.

[Pete Halliday]

Very neat! What is/where did you find that tremolo?

[Jason Rodgers]

So that would be a set/tenon neck with no easy fix for angle, yeah?

I was trying to think if there'd be some way to mount the strings and wrap them around correctly, but then thread them through the ball ends so there is more break angle. Would that work?

BTW, your headstock is way cooler than the Fender-esque original.

[Paul Rhoney]

Very neat! What is/where did you find that tremolo?

I bought it off a guy in Mexico through an ad on another forum. I'm pretty sure it came off of a 60's Italian guitar. I've seen identical units on some original Eko's.

So that would be a set/tenon neck with no easy fix for angle, yeah?

That's correct.

BTW, your headstock is way cooler than the Fender-esque original.

Thanks!

[John Meyers]

Paul another killer build! The way to fix the trem is to make or find a peace of chrome rod and bend it in a squared off upside down U shape and add it in front of the trem unit. This would give you the break angle you need and still look old school to stay with the theme of this build. I think some of the Fender Jags use this set up, but not 100% sure. You could probably make this as well. The idea is the strings mount the way they should on the trem and then they run under the U shape peace to the bridge, having the U shape lower than both the trem and the bridge giving you the angle needed. I hope this makes since. You could also mount a string tree the type that they use on the headstock with the locking nuts. The kind that goes across all the string.

[John Meyers]

I did find this that could work. http://www.allparts.com/Jaguar-Jazzmast ... 53-010.htm
You could also look for places that sell vintage parts and maybe find something.

[John Meyers]

This is what I was looking for. http://www.ebay.com/itm/One-1-Vintage-o ... 1c29a80ac7

No major modding needed that I can see. you would just have to make sure the width would work. I think it would look cool and very querky(?) I like these guitars, this is a good thing.

[Jason Rodgers]

That "Buzz stop" might work, but the pickguard would need to be modified.

[Markku Nyytäjä]

Very cool. To be played in a slim fit suit and and a polo shirt, go-go girls in mini dresses dancing i the background.

[John Sonksen]

Paul, this is starting to remind me of another forum I go to, we were talking about food and I commented on how I really like butter but mostly eat smart balance margarine, as I'm cutting out saturated fats. This was immediately followed by a huge thread with people telling me how terrible margarine is and offering all of these alternatives to what I was doing, or alternately how dumb I was for not just eating butter. It took quite a bit of explaining from me about how I wasn't just eating the nasty hydrogenated spreadable stuff, and although it was a compromise on taste I really wasn't too bothered with the whole situation. Eventually I explained how happy I was that everyone had decided to come in and fix a problem that I didn't think I had. From that point on it became a meme, "fixing the margarine problem". So now when anyone on that site recommends a fix for a problem that the OP isn't bothered with or doesn't think is a problem, that person is fixing the margarine problem. This may be an example of that.

If your wife isn't gonna be banging on that thing then I wouldn't bother with it. The tremolo looks great as does the whole guitar, and really you and she are the only ones who have to live with it so it's all good! Long story, just thought it was funny how this thread has evolved. Also I wanted to thank you for the link above, lots of great guitars there!

[Jason Rodgers]

Paul, this is starting to remind me of another forum I go to, we were talking about food and I commented on how I really like butter but mostly eat smart balance margarine, as I'm cutting out saturated fats. This was immediately followed by a huge thread with people telling me how terrible margarine is and offering all of these alternatives to what I was doing, or alternately how dumb I was for not just eating butter. It took quite a bit of explaining from me about how I wasn't just eating the nasty hydrogenated spreadable stuff, and although it was a compromise on taste I really wasn't too bothered with the whole situation. Eventually I explained how happy I was that everyone had decided to come in and fix a problem that I didn't think I had. From that point on it became a meme, "fixing the margarine problem". So now when anyone on that site recommends a fix for a problem that the OP isn't bothered with or doesn't think is a problem, that person is fixing the margarine problem. This may be an example of that.

Um, YEAH... what else are forums for?

[John Meyers]

Um, YEAH... what else are forums for?

Yeah, no joke! We know he is ok with it but if I had a guitar and could do a quick and easy fix that I had not thought of I would be glad to hear from everyone about this. We know he was just posting pics and info but this is a forum and not a place to just post pictures. Also butter is better for you than any margarine or should I say plastic. This is a forum and you made a comment and I am commenting on it.