Ask Zac

Today we sit down with the incredible father/son guitar team of Stuie and Sonny French, of The French Family Band. They tell their tale of how they moved from Australia to the United States in 2019, and quickly made an impact on the Nashville music scene through their shutdown era livestreams, and their more recent appearances on the Grand Ole Opry. Gear wise, Stuie shows us his modified Jason Isb...

Ricky Skaggs released Highways & Heartaches in September 1982, and the album quickly moved to the number 1 spot on the Country Album chart, and spawned 3 number 1 singles. Besides being a well polished example of Ricky's Bluegrass/Country hybrid style, it also spearheaded the neo-traditionalist movement that brought an end to the more pop oriented "Urban Cowboy" era. The album f...

What is the best speaker for my Deluxe Reverb, is one of the most asked questions of all-time. A friend recently asked me about doing an episode on this topic, and added that I should give it some added weightiness by finding out what all the pros I know use. So I queried Brent Mason, John Leventhal, Tom Bukovac, Duke Levine, Luke McQeary, JD Simo, Guthrie Trapp, Redd Volkaert, Steve Wariner, Jame...

In the 1960s and 70s, the JBL D120/K120 was the top choice  for the touring pro who didn't want to worry about blowing a speaker on the road. However, in 1983,  Electro-Voice released the EVM-12L, and soon after everyone from Eric Clapton & Stevie Ray Vaughan to Mark Knopfler and Larry Carlton were using EV speakers in their rigs. Today,  I lay out some history/context, and compare it wit...

The hardtail Strat is a different beast from it's tremolo equipped brother, with a tone, and feel of it's own. Today we look at the history, and spotlight the famous players, all with a beautiful 1957 hardtail Stratocaster. Follow me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/askzac/ To Support the Channel: Patreon  https://www.patreon.com/AskZac Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Venmo @Ask...

Vince Gill is at the top of his game. He recently completed a 4-night run at the Ryman where he played a three-and-a-half hour show each night, still singing & playing the songs in the same keys, or higher. Gill is some kind of superhero, as artists half his age could barely do this. Today we sit down with Vince, as he shares stories about some of his favorite guitars and a life well lived. To...

Brent Mason, Redd Volkaert, Johnny Hiland, J.D. Simo, and Daniel Donato reunited with Don Kelley on August 5th 2024 for a one-time concert to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of Robert's Western World. Besides being a fete for one of the longtime anchors of Broadway's club scene, it was also a celebration of Don Kelley, and the incredible alumni of his band over the last 40-years. Today, w...

In the Spring of 1956, Leo Fender introduced the greatest little solid body of all-time, the Fender Electric Mandolin. Nicknamed ,Mandocaster, by collectors, they were designed to replicate the sound of Tiny Moore, and Johnny Gimble, the fiery 4-string mandolin playing veterans of Bob Wills Texas Playboys Band. The instrument was not a success as Western Swing's popularity was waning by the t...

Have you ever wondered how we got light gauge strings? To give some context, until 1962, strings were 12-52, or heavier,  with a wound third, and nothing lighter was available unless you used a banjo string. How about this, did you ever wonder why every string manufacturer has a 10-46 set that has the exact same gauges, 10,13,17,26,36,46? And the same with 9s and 8s?  Today we tell the tale of the...

For years I went back and forth between 9s and 10s on my Telecaster, always frustrated with both gauges for different reasons. 9s, although easy to bend, were just not as full sounding, and I had to be careful not to "overplay" them, as they really needed to be played with a light touch. 10s, while certainly fatter sounding, always felt a bit too stiff for my liking. There just seemed to...

In the summer of 1968, Fender released their most unconventional finishes to date, the Blue Flower & Paisley Red finishes. Available on only the Telecaster and Telecaster Bass, their striking appearance was made possible by a new product line from Borden Chemicals of Columbus, Ohio, "Cling Foil." This new "beautifully embossed" & "beautifully printed" foil was...

To Support the Channel: Patreon  https://www.patreon.com/AskZac Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Venmo @AskZac  Or check out my store for merch  - https://my-store-be0243.creator-spring.com/ The Blues Brothers movie was a blockbuster in the summer of 1980. Even with a 27.5 Million dollar budget, that's 102 million in 2024 money, it managed to make that back in a couple of weeks. A sequel wa...

 To Support the Channel: Patreon  https://www.patreon.com/AskZac Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Venmo @AskZac  Or check out my store for merch  - https://my-store-be0243.creator-spring.com/ Today we look back at Delbert McClinton's 1989 Alligator Records release, Live From Austin. The year it was released, I was 16 and a drummer friend gave me this album on cassette, and I completely wore...

To Support the Channel: Patreon  https://www.patreon.com/AskZac Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Venmo @AskZac  Or check out my store for merch  - https://my-store-be0243.creator-spring.com/ Nashville is a "Telecaster-Town," a common phrase bandied about, and many will stress the  importance of Tele ownership if one wants to work as a pro guitarist in Music City.  Surprisingly, the Tel...

To Support the Channel: Patreon  https://www.patreon.com/AskZac Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Venmo @AskZac   Or check out my store for merch  - https://my-store-be0243.creator-spring.com/ A discussion with my friends, JD Simo, and Dan "Danocaster" Strain about how they set pickup height on Telecaster type guitars. The discussion begins with a look at Simo's 2nd Danocaster, and...

To Support the Channel: Patreon  https://www.patreon.com/AskZac Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Venmo @AskZac   Or check out my store for merch  - https://my-store-be0243.creator-spring.com/ Tips and tricks to help you unlock a wider array of tones from your Telecaster. We look at a combination of picking hand placement, and some counter-intuitive pickup choices to create a wider array of sound...

To Support the Channel: Patreon  https://www.patreon.com/AskZac Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Venmo @AskZac   Or check out my store for merch  - https://my-store-be0243.creator-spring.com/ Today we look at forgotten R&B guitar greats Chips Moman, Tommy Cogbill, Booker T. Jones & Joe South. They each played on huge hits, yet are rarely hailed, and worse yet, many times their parts are...

To Support the Channel: Patreon  https://www.patreon.com/AskZac Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Venmo @AskZac   Or check out my store for merch  - https://my-store-be0243.creator-spring.com/ Today's episode features two legends of the Nashville music scene, Joe Glaser and Steve Wariner. Glaser's innovations include a neck plate mounted bender system, 3-pickup Tele-style builds, Plek f...

To Support the Channel: Patreon  https://www.patreon.com/AskZac Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Venmo @AskZac   Or check out my store for merch  - https://my-store-be0243.creator-spring.com/ If you play gigs with an electric guitar, you have most likely been told to "turn it down" multiple times in your performing career. To help you address this common problem, we look at a variety o...

To Support the Channel: Patreon  https://www.patreon.com/AskZac Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Venmo @AskZac   Or check out my store for merch  - https://my-store-be0243.creator-spring.com/ Albert Lee shares the background and process of recording Emmylou's seminal Luxury Liner album released in December 1976. From the gear he used, to how the musicians were presented with the tunes befor...

To Support the Channel: Patreon  https://www.patreon.com/AskZac Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Venmo @AskZac   Or check out my store for merch  - https://my-store-be0243.creator-spring.com/ Nacho Banos, the patron saint of the Telecaster, compares a 1950 Broadcaster and a 1953 Telecaster backstage at a Brad Paisley concert in Zurich, Switzerland. He takes us fully down the rabbit hole comparin...

To Support the Channel: Patreon  https://www.patreon.com/AskZac Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Venmo @AskZac   Or check out my store for merch  - https://my-store-be0243.creator-spring.com/ My first memory of seeing a guitar in person was seeing a Buck Owens “American” guitar leaning against a couch at a neighbor’s house while visiting my grandmother in the mid-1970s. Soon after seeing it, I u...

To Support the Channel: Patreon  https://www.patreon.com/AskZac Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Venmo @AskZac   Or check out my store for merch  - https://my-store-be0243.creator-spring.com/ One of my Patreon members offered to send me his PRS NF-53 to check out, as he was curious as to my take on Paul Smith's version of a Tele-Style guitar. Being both a Telecaster fan, and having a great...

To Support the Channel: Patreon  https://www.patreon.com/AskZac Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Venmo @AskZac   Or check out my store for merch  - https://my-store-be0243.creator-spring.com/ Ever wondered how Leo Fender came around to making the G&L Broadcaster after a decade of Music Man guitars, and the early G&L designs with active electronics and too many knobs and switches? The tru...

To Support the Channel: Patreon  https://www.patreon.com/AskZac Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Venmo @AskZac   Or check out my store for merch  - https://my-store-be0243.creator-spring.com/ We kick the episode off with a direct comparison using my 2023 Danocaster guitar which is equipped with a bridge that handles both top loading and string thru. We then take a look at the history of Fender&a...