Best of 2003: Best Custom-Built Guitars

Zolla Guitars
8360 Clairemont Mesa Boulevard, Suite 104, Clairemont
www.members.cox.net/bzolla/index.html
858-576-9655

Bill Zolla has been building custom guitars, necks, and bodies since 1979. Each instrument is built to order according to the buyer's choice of fret size, nut width, etc. The BZ Series bodies are hand carved from selected tone woods like swamp ash or alder, with fingerboards made from hardwoods like maple with rosewood or ebony. Standard equipment includes Seymour Duncan pickups, Wilkinson tremolos, and Spirzel tuners. The BZ-1 costs $1725; a BZ-2 series guitar starts at $1825 and the BZ-3 is $1950 -- with extra built-in features and custom accessories on the higher priced editions. The Gun Guitar looks like a rifle with frets and strings ($1595). The Log comes in 4-, 5-, and 6-string versions and has bark left intact on the body and laminated to the headstock ($1900 to $2300).