Zager Guitar Reviews

Zager Zad80 Guitar Review by Georde McQueen

2011-07-03T23:01:00.000-07:00

George McQueen
Model: zad80

How did you hear about this brand?
Orignially, I was searching internet with words for "easiest acoustic guitar to play"

How does this guitar compare with your old guitar, other guitars, or guitars you've tried in stores?

First guitar I bought was from a friend (Tennessee Crafters brand)and I struggled trying to learn with it. After finding Zager Guitar, I purchased a ZAD50 and immediately, I was able to make progress and start playing rhythm in a group which meets every week. Learning chords was so much easier and my fingers did not hurt like before. Guys in the group could hardly believe I progressed so quick. The dreaded "F" chord was quickly conquered and can now be played with 4, 5 or 6 string form. Due to the reasonable cost, I bought a second ZAD50 to leave where the group meets. I have picked up guitars in stores, and there is no comparison. I decided to up the grade a notch to the ZAD80, and it is falling right in line with the ZAD50s I have. The 80 is a fuller sound. I compared it to a friends Two Martins (one is a 1974 D-28)and a Takamine. Obviously all guitars sound different, but the 80 blended right in with his guitars. It had a pleasing slight brighter sound than his. Needless to say, he was very impressed as the least costly of his guitars was about $1500.00

What's your favorite part about this guitar?

Fuller sound, beautiful inlay and color and ease of chording. It is hard to pick one specific thing, but I suppose I still have to say ease of playing is still right at the top. I have to say ease on the wallet is also a top choice....with the price, I was able to get the guitar, case, additional strings, T shirts, capo and a year of the student Library for much less than what my friend paid for his least expensive guitar.

If you didn't know the price of this guitar what would you estimate the price to be?

$1600-$2400........basing this on comparison with what friends paid for their instruments.

How would you rate customer support?

I could not walk into any store and receive more informative service than what is provided by the folks at Zager guitar

Would you recommend this guitar to others…if so why?

Ease of play, beautiful construction, great support and ease to the wallet

Additional comments:

Just thanks to Denny, Dennis and Jill for their service and support.

Zager zad80 Review

2011-06-23T20:17:00.000-07:00

How did you hear about this brand?

I discovered it while browsing guitars on eBay. I had never heard of the brand and went to your site to check it out.

How does this guitar compare with your old guitar, other guitars, or guitars you've tried in stores?

My Zager is simply a pleasure to play compared to my other two acoustic guitars (a steel-string and a classical - both in the $750-1,000 price range). I am a hobbyist guitarist and my Zager has gotten me back to playing more regularly. The action on my other steel-string is so high in comparison to the Zager. I can see why I was getting so frustrated with learning new chords on that one.

What's your favorite part about this guitar?

The low action and easy playability. My fingers aren't as sore as they used to get on my other guitars. And the tone is just sublime. In fact, the more gently you strum with the pick, the sweeter the sound.

If you didn't know the price of this guitar what would you estimate the price to be?

$1,500-$2,000

How would you rate customer support?

Excellent! You are very responsive to emails and your how-to videos are very helpful.

Would you recommend this guitar to others…if so why?

Absolutely! Particularly to a beginner so they have a positive first experience with guitar. It may cost more than those mass-produced starter guitar packs that fly off the shelves, but it is so worth the investment. Zager Guitars are beautiful instruments and obviously made with care and great attention to detail. Great bang for the buck is an understatement!

Zager EZ-Play ZAD-50 Review

2011-06-15T02:45:00.000-07:00

Purchased From: Zager Guitars

Features:

A beautiful dreadnaught guitar with solid, transparent, high-gloss spruce top and enclosed Grover turners. Made in the USA, October 2008. Center-stripe inlay on back and bottom and abalone inlay around sound hole. Twenty hand-filed frets and a hand-carved nut for low, buzz-free action. The professional, hard-shell case comes with temp and humidity reader. And an electronic tuner was included as a gift, along with a couple of picks and a free guitar lesson on zagerguitar.com. By the way...the case was shipped at no additional shipping charge with the purchase of the guitar.

Action, Fit, & Finish:

The guitar arrived setup for playing right out of the box. I only had to fine tune it a bit. The action is light and easy. This, of course, is what Zager EZ-Play guitars are all about. Strings are a bit more distant from one another through the hand-carved nut and bridge, which Denny Zager carves himself...on each and every guitar. I've only had the guitar for a few days, so my review is bit limited.

Sound Quality:

The sound is bright and light. I would prefer a more warmer sound. I guess that could be achieved with heavier gauge strings. It comes with light-gauge Martin strings...and an extra pack!

Reliability/Durability:

The guitar is light weight, but still feels solid. The finish and tone I expect to improve with age. It comes with a bottom strap button only.

Customer Support:

The customer support at Zager Guitar is second to none. Every customer is made to feel like family. You can write to Dennis and get a reply in literally a few minutes. Whatever it takes to support their product and make a long relationship with the client will be done.

Overall Rating:

I've been playing guitar on and off since the early 70s. For what I paid for this guitar, I'm amazed at the quality, benefits and customer support. I have PEACE OF MIND with this purchase. You can't put a dollar amount on that. The quality of the instrument is more than I paid for. I got this on sale for $200 less than retail, at $495. In an music store this guitar would probably sell for $1,200. Buying a guitar online is generally a risky venture. I wouldn't hesitate to buy from Zager Guitar again. Their customer support and amazing return policy eliminate the anxiety of online purchasing. The guitar can be returned, if I decide to, for a full refund...and Zager will even pay the return shipping. Unheard of with ANY other guitar manufacturer.

Zager ZAD 80CE Review By Mike Bossinger

2010-07-27T05:03:00.000-07:00

Features : 10

Acoustic/electric model
Transparent finish, dreadnought body, gold grove tuners,Rosewood fretboard,2010, 21 frets,solid cedar top, fishman electronics with on board tuner, 3 piece Rosewood body

Sound : 10
Suits my style perfectly, flat-picking and finger-style. I am currently using an Ibadan Troubadour Acoustic amp. Has a rich full tone which you can vary from bossy to bright. A very good sounding guitar.

Action, Fit, & Finish : 10
The action is why I selected this brand. The Zager lives up to it's E-Z Play name. I have played many fine guitars and I rate this one with the best. With the hand modification that Zager does to his guitars you won't find a better action anywhere! I haven't! No flaws on the guitar whatsoever. Beautiful finish with inlaid abalone around outer edges and sound hole.

Reliability/Durability : 9
Absolutely will withstand a lot of playing. Very well made. I can depend on it.

Customer Support : 10
No repairs as yet. It has a full lifetime warranty. Everyone I have dealt with so far at Zager have been wonderful. They really care about their customer.

Overall Rating : 10
I've played off & on for about 20 yrs. I also own a Fender DG-16E-12 string, An Ibadan AW100, Ibanez AEF-37, An Aria 12 string, Gibson 6 string Electric. If stolen or lost I would absolutely replace it with another Zager. I love the ease of play and the rich full tone. I considered other more expensive makes such as Martin, Taylor, Washbasin and Take mine. I tried them at local music store and I like the Zager best. I highly recommend this guitar to anyone looking for quality, sound and value. If you are just starting to play this guitar will encourage good practice habits as your fingers won't get as sore as with other guitars. I normally don't give out "10's" on product review, but I can't seem to find any faults with this guitar or their company. I am also going to take Zager's online lessons to better my playing. Check them out at www.zagerguitar.com and take time to read some testimonials there. You can hear Denny Zager play each of his models and hear their fantastic tone.

Zager ZAD 80 Review by Dave

2010-07-13T23:10:00.001-07:00

Features :

Made in 2010 modified by Zager in Nebraska. It has a solid cedar top with laminated rosewood sides and back. No electronics. Gold plated Grover tuners. Thin neck of rosewood. The only thing missing from comparable models (and not all in my research) is that the saddle and saddle are corian, not bone.

It's a standard dreadnought with the features you'd expect. This is a really beautiful looking guitar.

I thought the ZAD 80 compared VERY well in features and price with these models.

Sound : 9
I tried the 50CE first and found the sound too "brilliant" for my taste. But the sound on the 80 is a really nice, warm sound. This is what I was hoping for when I traded up from the 50ce. Very similar to some of the higher end Martins and Taylors I've tried, not quite as resonant or rich but pretty darn close. I want to try slightly higher gauge strings as I think that will make it a little more resonant and probably louder.

An experienced guitarist friend said the sound is very well balanced.

If you like a rich, warm sound you'll like this guitar.

Action, Fit, & Finish :
The action is very low, just as the web site explains. The extra light strings make it play almost like an electric. This is also one of the reasons I went with Zager: you get a good sounding guitar that is already set up well so you don't have to take it in and incur extra expenses.

The 50CE I got first had buzzing issues. They worked with me to try to get rid of them, but I could never fully to my satisfaction. The 80 has NO buzz (well, my instructor can make it buzz but he's pretty heavy handed), it feels really solid everywhere on the fingerboard. Not trying to discredit the 50, I may have gotten a lemon.

Can't find any flaws with the setup, I think it's excellent.

Reliability/Durability :
It has a high gloss finish that should hopefully stand up well. I'm an amateur who doesn't gig (my biggest concern is that my two young sons will knock it over :)). The construction seems very solid, but I can't really speak to this topic as I've had it less than a week.

Customer Support :
Zager is very good to deal with. They answer questions via email very quickly, and the phone support dude is great (that's right, it's a guy that picks up not a voice mail system).

I got the 50CE. Played for about 3 days. Went on vacation for 10 days. Came back and played for another 2 weeks. Tried to fix the buzz and became increasingly unhappy with the brilliant sound. Talked to Zager about it. They offered to send me the 80 so I could try it. No charge to me for shipping either way. I'm sending the 50ce back today and applying the cost to the 80. In my opinion this is EXCELLENT customer service.

Overall Rating :
I've been playing for about a year. Had an entry level guitar before this one. So my biggest hurdle to overcome in this purchasing experience is my own lack of knowledge. I've done a lot of research over the past month, including playing a lot of high end guitars, and have become much more competent when it comes to judging guitars.

The ZAD 80 competes VERY well with other guitars in the $900-$1500 price range. You get a lot of value when you purchase this guitar. And you'd be supporting an excellent independent family owned business by purchasing here.

The main reason I'm writing this review is to provide some useful information to folks looking at Zager, as I have learned a lot during my purchase experience (info I would have really liked to have).

If you are looking at Zager Guitar, don't worry about purchasing online as this is not an issue. I recommend the ZAD 80 over the 50ce as the sound is better (at least to my taste) and you get something that has higher quality materials for a small increase in price.

Email: davidmoenboingsoftware dot com

Zager ZAD 80OMCE

2010-07-05T05:38:00.000-07:00

Product: Zager ZAD 80OMCE

Submitted at 02:22pm by Steve Parker
Email: parkersmearthlink dot net

Features : 10
Purchased April 2010 with the Zager Guitars Pro Wood Cased which has a built in humidity sensor. Cedar top, cutaway, Grove tuners and Fishman electronics. A orchestra model so is a bit smaller than full size dreadnought making it much more comfortable and easier to sit and play, even if not in the "proper playing position".

Sound : 10
Very nice mellow sound with the cedar top which I prefer over spruce top guitars I have tried. Have not purchased an amplifier for it yet but have hooked to friends Fender Frontman 25 amp, it will blow you away. I haven't been playing long, but have two friends that have played for over 40 years. Both were very impressed with what can be done with this guitar, which is saying alot, being they were both quite skeptical about me purchasing it over the internet without ever seeing or playing it.

Action, Fit, & Finish : 10
Absolutely nothing negative to say. This guitar came ready to play and was simply beautiful. Everyone I have showed this guitar to have inspected it like they were purchasing it themselves and could not find any blemishes.

Reliability/Durability : 10
Haven't had the guitar long enough to determine the durability, but first impression (and that of others who have played it) can't come up with anything that would make me or them doubt any facet of this Zager. I see no reason to doubt that this instrument will last me the rest of my life. The top rating is based more on others statements than my own personal experience or knowledge.

Customer Support : 10
The customer service was truly unexpected. I received email responses almost immediately from any question I sent them. They have a great website with play lists and lessons available. The lifetime guaranty plus the full 100% refund on initial purchase was more than I could find anywhere else. I feel confident that if at any time in the future there were to be any sort of problem, Zager would handle it promptly and courteously.

Overall Rating : 10
Only been playing a couple of years, but as mentioned before, friends of mine have played for over 40 years and my rating reflect there comments and my own novice perception. I would not hesitate for a moment to replace this guitar with the exact same model and style should something dreadful happen to it. It would have been nice to have some information shipped with the guitar about the Fishman electronics. The only other thing I can think of that would help me is to have a short list of various amplifiers or some guideline on what to look for in an amplifier to match the guitars capability.

Zager Baby Zager Review By charles levy

2010-07-03T02:37:00.000-07:00

Features : 10

The Baby Zager is a 3/4 guitar that has a flawless finish. I don't know all the names of the woods and components used but compared to everything I saw at 2 local dealers, this is the finest look of all.

Sound : 10
I am a novice player but I can tell you that it sounds better than my best friend's well-aged Martin. He is so envious. The 3/4 Baby Zager Guitar is playabe by my six year old - although she isn't really playing it.

Action, Fit, & Finish : 10
The Zager guitar came perfectly tuned and seems to stay in tune well well.
Flaws? None at all. I'm a surgeon and I look for flaws for a living.

Reliability/Durability : 10
The straps button are solid, tuning hardare top of the line; so I guess it will last a long time. Hopefully my daughter will be enjoying it many years form now.

Customer Support : 10
Well, ordering this guitar online was as easy as any online purchase. The Zagers responded to the purchase with notifications of the order, when it was sent and when it would arrive. Bingo - there it was! They included a new set of strings and a pick with the guitar.
I have since ordered a case by phone and they handled that as nicely as before.

Overall Rating : 10
I and my wife are novices We did our research at local stores and online. We wanted a guitar that was easy on the fingers, sounded like a great guitar and that would be a bit smaller for a young child to play if she became interested. The popular wisdom is to get a fine guitar rather than a cheap one as the child will instinctively not play a bad sounding guitar. The Baby Zager sounds so good that she is picking it up and strumming it on her own - Just like they predicted she would!

Email me for more information: stinger89 at comcast

Zager ZAD 50 Sunburst Guitar Review by Neil

2010-07-02T02:50:00.000-07:00

Features : 9

As near as I can tell, lamimate back and sides. An abalone inlay around the sound hole. Nice mahogany neck. Great sealed tuners. What else? Oh, it's a dread. It is set up with the Zager Guitar easy play system that I have grown quite fond of. Denny sets the guitars up with super close, fast action with slightly wider string separation on the fret board. Easy to play and bar chord.

Sound : 9
The guitar has a super sound. Not as strong as my Yamaha FG 180. But when in tune, it has the most wonderful harmonics--like little bells ringing in tune. I install K&K pure sound systems in all of my acoustics and this one sounds great when amplified. I run through a Mackie CFX into Mackie SRM450 powered speakers and it is a truly wonderful combination. I would rate higher but I know the sound of my 180.

Action, Fit, & Finish : 9
Very nice set up. No buzz no rattle. Everything clean and tight. Finish uniform and without flaw.

Reliability/Durability : 9
The guitar seems to be very well built. It is manufactured by the same company that makes SIGMA. Denny selects the guitars and sets them up himself and he trys out each one and it must pass his inspection. I have had it about a year and am resting the Yamaha so the Zager gets played a lot and I detect no signs of any distress.

Customer Support : 10
Denny Zager provides excellent one on one support and can be reached personally if any problems should arise.

Overall Rating : 9
I have been playing for over 30 years and have tried many different acoustics. I have the 180, a very nice CONN 12 string, a USA Strat, a super Greco Les Paul Custom (lawsuit) and a G&L ASAT. I really like this guitar and would recommend it to the beginner (its easy to play and sounds great) or to a more experienced guitarist for the same reasons.

Zager Guitar Review

2010-07-01T00:05:00.000-07:00

Features : 10

A clean perfectly matched Spruce Solid Top, Laminated mahogany sides and back, great sounding electronics with volume, bass, treble, mid and presence. It also has a built in tuner that shows every note using lights and a led needle. The tuning heads are sealed Grovers. Body style is cutaway, with 21 frets. Action compares with my Start, unbelievable! I have been playing this guitar 3 to 4 hours a session, an hour on my Guild was about all that I could do and it had great action. The ZAD just plays better!

Sound : 10
I only have about 15 hours on the guitar, but has a very nice balanced tone, I already like the sound better than my '68 Guild and it is just starting to play in. With my Fender Tube amp it sounds great too.

Action, Fit, & Finish : 10
I frequently play up to the 19th fret and it plays as good as many electrics and better than any acoustic that I have ever played. I have owned Martin D32, and D18, both reworked nut, bridge and frets. This is better, similar tone to Martin, Also I have owned Gibson Hummingbird and a couple of Ovations, I'll keep this Zager...

Reliability/Durability : 10
Right out of the box, I checked the tuning and I do like to bang a bit, and then I finger pick, and strum along, after the initial string stretching it holds the tune fine, and it is a fine sounding tune.

Customer Support : 10
Higher than 10, I bought a second, but after playing it I decided for a little more I might get a better guitar. Denny sent it out as soon as I called and just said send back the one that you don't won't, we just want you to be happy with your guitar. When I mentioned that I replaced a couple of strings to get rid of an initial buzz he sent me more strings. Couldn't be nicer or more prompt.

Overall Rating : 10
I have been playing over 30 years and currently own a 68 Guild Jumbo Auditorium, '85 Fender American Strat, and have owned dozens of guitars over the years, some I wish that I had kept(2 Martins). This ZAD50-CE is more than I expected, I am past pleased, I am amazed that I have this playability, sound and looks for less than $800. I never heard of Zager guitars until a month ago, but KNOW THIS I will be putting the word out to every player that I know. Thank you Denny for exceeding my expectations!