B
braintheory
Well-known member
Got this Etherial Zatha last week and have been quite impressed! It’s unlike anything I’ve had yet in both sound and playability. The body & neck is all carbon fiber and the the fretboard, frets and nut is all stainless steel. Weighs just 6.05 lbs and sounds very tight, punchy and even. Wasn’t sure how I’d feel about the thin and scooped neck shape with fanned frets, but it plays as sleek as it looks. Made in Australia
Probably won’t be for everyone sound-wise, even if you’re open minded (aka not a stubborn, dumb “purist” lol). It is much tighter and more modern sounding than literally all my other 29 guitars that are either wood or 2 all aluminum EGC’s (even when I tried my Tone Specific PAF style pickups in it), so I really like that quality about it and it does sound very cool unplugged too (very tight, snappy and aggressive). It’s also very articulate, but where it really lacks compared to my wooden and even metal guitars is that it’s very dry sounding and doesn’t have any warmth or anything at all pretty about its tone. Also, probably since it’s only 6.05 lbs, it lacks bottom end oomph vs my other guitars that are almost all heavier. So it has its pros and cons sound-wise, but no other guitar I’ve tried can at all match its strengths, which to me are impressive and unique
The stock BKP Aftermaths (very sterile pickups) kinda worked very well in it actually, but far improved imo with all the other stuff I’ve tried in it (Wagner Iron Man, Scott’s Sunset Strip pickup, and my various Tone Specific’s). Non-wooden guitars like this that aren’t warm sounding (also the EGC’s and Aristides I had) tend to bring out a lot more the differences in pickup swaps IME vs the other end of the spectrum like a super warm, rich sounding Mahogany Les Paul type guitar. Anyway, it’s something unique and I’m very impressed. I think somewhere in my top 10 of what I’ve got. Not top 7 though. I do all my extensive comparisons and homework on these things before forming firm opinions, so there’s never any honeymoon phases or annoying internet hyperbole with me on this stuff. Very cool guitar overall
Probably won’t be for everyone sound-wise, even if you’re open minded (aka not a stubborn, dumb “purist” lol). It is much tighter and more modern sounding than literally all my other 29 guitars that are either wood or 2 all aluminum EGC’s (even when I tried my Tone Specific PAF style pickups in it), so I really like that quality about it and it does sound very cool unplugged too (very tight, snappy and aggressive). It’s also very articulate, but where it really lacks compared to my wooden and even metal guitars is that it’s very dry sounding and doesn’t have any warmth or anything at all pretty about its tone. Also, probably since it’s only 6.05 lbs, it lacks bottom end oomph vs my other guitars that are almost all heavier. So it has its pros and cons sound-wise, but no other guitar I’ve tried can at all match its strengths, which to me are impressive and unique
The stock BKP Aftermaths (very sterile pickups) kinda worked very well in it actually, but far improved imo with all the other stuff I’ve tried in it (Wagner Iron Man, Scott’s Sunset Strip pickup, and my various Tone Specific’s). Non-wooden guitars like this that aren’t warm sounding (also the EGC’s and Aristides I had) tend to bring out a lot more the differences in pickup swaps IME vs the other end of the spectrum like a super warm, rich sounding Mahogany Les Paul type guitar. Anyway, it’s something unique and I’m very impressed. I think somewhere in my top 10 of what I’ve got. Not top 7 though. I do all my extensive comparisons and homework on these things before forming firm opinions, so there’s never any honeymoon phases or annoying internet hyperbole with me on this stuff. Very cool guitar overall
