Zager ZAD50CE OM Acoustic Guitar Review

This review was submitted by Guitar Jar contributor: William

I have been a musician for approximately 15 years now and I have played just about every type of music from country to metal.

…the Zager is the first one I reach for…

Over the last 3-4 years however, my style has really mellowed and I only play acoustic/indie music now. I have turned off the Marshall 1960 vintage full stack and switched over to the smaller AS50D acoustic amp, for a smaller coffee shop venue.

After selling a Zager (third party) acoustic guitar about a year and a half ago, and then reading other reviews on them, I was really interested in finding one.

I knew I could buy them on eBay from Zager or straight from Zager via their website, but I wasn’t sure about spending the money.

And then, low and behold, I came across one used in a local music shop that I frequent!!! I picked it up and played it for just a few minutes and knew that I had to get this guitar home as part of my collection! And this love story begins!

Features:

Sitka Spruce Top
Mahogany Back & Sides
Abalone Rosette
Mahogany Neck & Headstock
Grover Tuners
3-Tone High Gloss Sunburst Finish

Now, I am assuming that those are all laminate, BUT this guitar truly sounds fantastic for what it is.

Ease of use:

When you see the whole “Zager EZ-Play” tag, naturally you can get a bit suspicious.

I honestly expected this to be just another sales pitch like Esteban guitars on QVC. But boy was I wrong…

Now do I honestly believe that Zager is on some “cutting edge of science”? No. But I do know that this guitar is setup amazingly well and the string choice is perfect.

I’ve had other guitars professionally setup but they didn’t operate this well.

When Zager makes the claim that you can play these acoustics for 2-3 hours without your fingers hurting, they ARE TELLING THE TRUTH!!!

Sound Quality:

Sound quality for this guitar is absolutely wonderful. This guitar has a rich, full tone that I was completely surprised by.

This is a $500 guitar and I would put it up against any sub-$1500 guitar you can find!

Reliability:

I have only owned the guitar for a week now but I wouldn’t think that reliability was an issue.

Zager does offer a lifetime warranty on all of the guitars that they sell, and if you don’t like yours, you can send it back for a full refund.

Unfortunately, since I bought mine used and not from Zager, I don’t get that lifetime warranty but then again, I don’t think I will have any problems with it.

Overall Rating:

If you couldn’t tell before now, I absolutely love my Zager.

I am not naive to think that it is the best guitar ever made. But I can tell you, for a guitar that is only $500 new (and I paid $200 used), you won’t find a better guitar in that price range.

And just to clear things up so you don’t just think I’m a noob with no clear judgement on equipment, let’s go through my inventory:

Martin DC-1E
Takamine EG523SC Jumbo
Ibanez Exotic Wood
Schecter C-1 Elite
c. 80’s Les Paul LE Quilt Top
Fender Standard Strat

…A few other lower end guitars
Marshall 1960V (vintage) Full Stack
Marshall AS50D Acoustic
c. 80’s Fender Ultimate Chorus 2×12
Behringer PMX2000 PA

…and the list really does go on

When I’m at home, and I want to play my guitar, the Zager is the first one I reach for. Just sayin’.

This review was submitted by Guitar Jar contributor: William