"Man, I really like your Paul Reed Smith…oops, sorry!"
"My God…that is a beautiful guitar! What is it?"
I've responded to the previous statements time & again since acquiring my Zion Primera in 1996. But, to be fair: it seems that more and more people (here & abroad) are familiar with Zion Guitars…and rightfully so.
I've been playing Zion Guitars from the beginning. I was fortunate to meet Ken Hoover (Zion founder & visionary) circa 1975 in Greensboro, NC. I was a frequent visitor during the early days of Zion Guitars and will always regret selling my first Zion, a prototype for the Radicaster (Tyler, you know how to reach me if you get tired of it!).
I am a full-time professional musician involved in a wide range of projects-from jazz to roots rock (read more about me here: www.scottsawyer.net). In the past, I've owned many "vintage guitars: Gibsons, Fenders & more. For years, I bounced back and forth between hollow-body, semi-hollow and solid body guitars (depending upon the gig or recording session). Until I settled on the Primera, I played mainly Ibanez hollow and semi-hollow bodies as well as Fender Strats. But, I digress.
I'm here to talk about the Primera. It is quite simply the most versatile guitar that I've ever played. Mine is EXCEPTIONAL (#018). I really can't tell you much about the guitar in technical terms as I've always been most interested in how a guitar feels and sounds. Mine is equipped with a Fralin humbucker in the neck position and a Seymour Duncan "JB" in the bridge position. Sperzel tuners. AAAAA quilted maple top on a beautiful mahogany body. Push-Pull pots (1 volume & 1 tone). My current string gauges are .011, .014, .018p, .032, .042, .052.
When I got the Primera, it simplified things for me tremendously: I take it to virtually every gig & recording session. I'm equally at home with my Primera playing a wide-range of music including jazz (standards, bop & modern), blues, funk, roots rock, r&b...WHATEVER. It sounds great through a variety of amps at all volumes (loud or soft) including Matchless Chieftain, Fender Pro Junior, Polytone Mini-brute, Fender Vibrolux, Deville and Deluxe Reverb. Most importantly, my Primera "speaks" very evenly: a balanced sound the entire range of the instrument. The tapped single-coil sounds have character and the humbucker sounds are never muddy. I've used it on a wide-range of recording projects, including "major-label" releases. More than one listener has mistaken it (sonically) for a hollow-body guitar.
Please feel free to e-mail me if you have any specific questions and I'll do my best to respond within a reasonable amount of time. If you're considering a Primera (or for that matter, any Zion model), I can assure you through my personal experience that Dale Brown and the folks at Zion Guitars will do everything in their power to keep their customers happy.
In a nutshell, the Zion Primera is an exquisite instrument. I couldn't recommend it more highly. - Scott Sawyer (Revised February 2008)