Zion Radicaster Black 1996

You might not have heard about Zion Guitars before but if you're into boutique American guitar brands, you should definitely add it to your arsenal. 

In the 1980s Ken Hoover, a highly skilled luthier created a brand that would later become recognizable and appraised among the American top musicians scene. He cooperated with Tom Anderson from whom he sourced wood parts in the 1980s., Later in the 1990s he was building his own master built instruments. With 100% certainty, we can say they are on par with the best boutique builders of that period. 

Radicaster was a less conservative approach to a Stratocaster-style guitar. Featured smaller, contoured body with a thinner lower horn and a slim D-profile neck. This particular guitar gives you the classic sounds of a properly built Stratocaster, with big bell-like tones with a bit of hot-rodded rock tones in the bridge. The pickups are original Seymour Duncans from the 1990s, which to many are superior to currently produced ones. 

The wood is carefully selected and lightweight, and the whole guitar feels significantly lighter than the regular Stratocaster. A radical lower cut allows for easy access to higher frets, which is improved further by a comfortable neck profile. The fretboard made of ebony looks aesthetically pleasing and adds a nice, bright attack to the alder body snap. The neck is made of birdseye maple and has a nice worn-in feel to it.

The guitar rings and sustains for a long. Locking tuners helps stay in tune properly. The original bridge was replaced with a high-quality Wilkinson VSVG bridge, which works smoothly and keeps the tuning on point. 

The guitar is in perfect technical condition, set up, and ready to play. The visual condition is good, one can tell it has been played a lot. The neck has significant natural wear, the body has signs of use as well. There are no major damages to the paint or wood. 

Specification:

• Body: Alder, contoured
• Neck: Birdseye maple
• Neck Profile: modified D
• Fretboard: ebony
• Fretboard radius: 12"
• Inlays: abalone
• Nut: bone
• Bridge: Wilkinson VSVG (replacement, original bridge included)
• Pickups: Seymour Duncan from 1990s: SSL-1 (neck), SSL-1 (middle), JB59 (bridge)
• Tuning keys: Sperzel Locking
• 5-way switch, master volume, master tone 
• Hard case: yes
• Relic: natural