I'm going to document my rehab of this poor, abused instrument. I knew it was a "project" when I bought it. I have been looking for a ZB "fixer" for a while, to use up parts that I've made and acquired while working on other ones. Turns out there were some surprises in store!
First a pic of the front, showing what a beauty it is.
A pedal got busted in shipping. The pedal rack is amazing filthy and filled with metal filings. Also the pedal spacing is strange - some closer; some farther apart. Hmmm...
I had never seen these kind of pull rods. The spokes are soldered to the adjusters, so only the other rod can screw. I have since seen this on 2 other early ZB's.
Judging from all the extra holes, it looks like things have been moved around some.
The back rail and pedal rod linkage seemed okay, but dirty.
I'll leave it at that for now. Surprises ahead...
"To live outside the law you must be honest." (Bob Dylan)
Slowly taking everything out and figuring out what I'm gonna need. Removed the flat bars (bell cranks) and the mounting plate was such a mess with holes that I decided I'll just replace it. Then I started removing the back rail, which holds the L-shaped pedal rod connectors. There seemed to be more screws than usual...
Lo! And behold! Someone cut the back rail into a bunch of small pieces, and then screwed them all back in again. But why???
With all that removed, the body looks like someone used it for practice with a shotgun.
Removed the changers (dirty as expected) and it appears that the original underside paint was red. So after I repair all the holes I think I'll make it red again. I've seen a few ZB's with matching paint color underneath.
Looks like the rain has stopped so time for some outdoor projects.
"To live outside the law you must be honest." (Bob Dylan)
Great to see your new project underway Eric! Thanks for posting the great pics and commentary as you progress on the rebuild! I’m looking forward to learning from your efforts on this new project, as in your prior ZB rebuild and setup posts.
That’s sure a classy early ZB! Very cool!
Looks like it’s already presenting some surprises and challenges… You do beautiful work, and it will be cool to see how it all comes together! Your underside refinish direction sounds like a nice choice and should look really sharp. Replacing the Swiss cheesed metal will be a nice improvement too. Keep up the great work!
'52 Fender Dual 8, '65 ZB Custom D10, '67 ZB Custom S12, 2004 Kline S12, 2022 Jackson Pro V, Victoria 45410, guitar & harmonica player too.
You are educating us non mechanics and showing parts and wood parts and things is really neat. I guess this is like restoring an old classic automobile? Show us the finished product please, when you finish.
You are educating us non mechanics and showing parts and wood parts and things is really neat. I guess this is like restoring an old classic automobile? Show us the finished product please, when you finish.
Hi guys & thanks for the encouragement.
I spent most of the last month doing outdoor projects. But did make a little progress on the ZB pedal bar. I needed to start with the pedal bar because it will determine where to mount all the guts.
Here's what it looked like when I got it...
It was a puzzle getting all the pedals properly spaced. Some had really been hacked. I used nylon spacers where needed. The pedals were originally painted black, but I think I'll leave 'em raw.
There are still a couple deep gouges in the front, but that will just prove it's age
"To live outside the law you must be honest." (Bob Dylan)
Looking great Eric! Nice work polishing the pedal bar. Getting the pedal spacing sorted out must have taken a while! Seems like the shaft bosses on the pedals had their lengths hacked a bunch - maybe at the same time as the pedal rod crank mount rail on the body got chopped into segments (as shown in your prior posts). A prior owner got pretty creative - Yikes! My D10 ZB of similar vintage has the three E9 pedals closer together than the C6 pedals - rather than all evenly spaced. I wonder if yours were originally set up that way? Seems like both approaches are common. Your nylon spacer approach looks like a nice way to get it back into good shape, and it looks sharp with even spacing. Keep up the great work! Thanks for posting your progress!
'52 Fender Dual 8, '65 ZB Custom D10, '67 ZB Custom S12, 2004 Kline S12, 2022 Jackson Pro V, Victoria 45410, guitar & harmonica player too.
In between all the spring projects I've been able to make a bit of progress on bringing this old ZB back to life.
Patched all the holes in the cabinet and painted it. Sanded/polished the end plates.
A few years ago I bought a back rail off someone parting out a ZB. So I've gotten it cleaned and fixed up.
This is the new rail. Had to replace one of the pedal rod linkage pieces. And of course clean all the gunk in the pivot bolts.
back rail preclean.jpg
New rail installed. Had to modify the pedal bar to make them all line up.
Also had to replace all the bumpers.
back rail installed.jpg
Next task will be to mount the middle rail that the flat bars (bell cranks) attach to.
middle rail pre.jpg
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"To live outside the law you must be honest." (Bob Dylan)
That looks fab. Congrats on your progress and for what it's worth (very little) I hope you leave the topside unchanged and with the original paint and finish. The white necks and pickups are such a cool look and very ZB! Who also doesn't like a natural layer of maple with a cool original (?) translucent red front and back apron? Have fun and thanks for sharing. (:
Oh yes - I intend to leave the finish alone!
Just going to polish up the metal.
The fretboards are in pretty decent shape, and they are the original style with Zane Beck's written name.
"To live outside the law you must be honest." (Bob Dylan)
Looking great Eric! Nice work on cleaning up all the extra holes from the prior modifications, and painting the underside! Cool that you're going to keep the original top side finish- it looks great and is in nice shape. I sure like those white necks, pick-ups and Zane Beck signature fretboards. Really sharp!
Looking ahead, you mention that it has very early original pull rods with soldered/round couplers. Most of the rods of my D10 , #1011 are that style, while some have been replaced/modified. Are you going to replace those with the newer style hex turnbuckle couplers to make it easier to adjust- or keep the original style? I'll be facing that decision when I refurb mine. I kind of like the idea of keeping the early design intact as a restoration, since it's an early ZB, but adjustment would sure be easier with hex turnbuckles. Curious which direction you are thinking of going on yours.
Keep up the great work! Thanks for posting the updates on your project!
'52 Fender Dual 8, '65 ZB Custom D10, '67 ZB Custom S12, 2004 Kline S12, 2022 Jackson Pro V, Victoria 45410, guitar & harmonica player too.
Brian, I've thought about it a bunch.
It's not a museum piece, having been trashed so thoroughly. And the two rails inside have been replaced.
My goal is to make this ZB functional, playable and serviceable for another 50 years
With that in mind, I am going to replace all the pull rods with actual turnbuckles.
All the future owners will thank me, I am sure.
"To live outside the law you must be honest." (Bob Dylan)
Good call Eric! That makes a lot of sense. You're really doing a great job in repairing the holes and replacing the chopped up rails. Updating the rods to hex turnbuckles for easier adjustability clearly improves function for the future, and fits with your overall build direction.
My D10 has earlier pedal castings, red pick-ups and "pick guards", other little quirky early details, and I think it's not significantly altered from original as far as I can tell - so I'm toying with more of an original configuration restoration approach. The pull rods are the round/soldered style like yours except for 6 or 7 that were converted to turnbuckle style - mostly on the knees. I'm still pondering direction at this point before I start in on restoration...
Thanks for your great ZB posts!
'52 Fender Dual 8, '65 ZB Custom D10, '67 ZB Custom S12, 2004 Kline S12, 2022 Jackson Pro V, Victoria 45410, guitar & harmonica player too.
Hi Eric, That would be wonderful! Having the additional old style pull rods would sure make it easier to get mine back to its original configuration on all of the pulls. It also helps firm my restoration decision - I think I'll go in the "return to original" direction to preserve the early features when I do the rebuild. I'm happy to pay you for the rods and shipping. I'll send an email to work out the details.
I'm also looking forward to seeing the upgraded rodding you do on yours!
Best wishes, Brian
'52 Fender Dual 8, '65 ZB Custom D10, '67 ZB Custom S12, 2004 Kline S12, 2022 Jackson Pro V, Victoria 45410, guitar & harmonica player too.
Nice. I bought one, kind of a basket case, and as a novice, decided to part it out. It wasn't beyond me, being a machinist for fifty years, but there had to be something simpler lol. Good luck. I have played guitar for sixty years and Rusty Young is what got me started and he could play a mean ZB. I figured if it was good enough for him it would be good enough for me. I in turn wound up buying two double necks. They were too much to deal with as a beginner. So, they were sold. I finally wound up with a great price on S10 Dekley which I am now learning on. I had given up twice and said, not this time. I am getting better.
Well, I'm making a bit of progress on this project.
Finally got a bit of time yesterday to work on the keyheads.
Someone had changed the old Kluson tuners out for Grovers, and hogged out the holes.
I usually end up replacing old Klusons with Gotohs (look the same and work 10 times as good).
But the holes were too big. There's a company that bought the Kluson name and makes modern versions for retrofitting old guitars. They also make bushings for this exact problem, when someone enlarged the hole. So I got some bushings (in black) and they work great! I already had 20 gold Gotohs waiting for a project, otherwise I would have used the new Klusons.
Jerry - you sold me some ZB parts a few years ago, Some are ending up in this project. Thanks!
Here's pics...
Keyhead 1.jpg
Keyhead 2.jpg
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"To live outside the law you must be honest." (Bob Dylan)
Such a sloooow, sloooow project
But I finally repainted the necks and got a dead pickup rewound by Tom Brantley (who is great!).
Completely re-wired with shielded cable and new switches. Made a new control plate out of aluminum.
And I'm about ready to re-install the changers. Had a couple custom vinyl fretboards made by EZ Steel Guitars, since I want to keep Zane's name on there.
new wiring.jpg
new ctrl plate.jpg
new fretbds.jpg
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"To live outside the law you must be honest." (Bob Dylan)
Nice work Eric! it’s really cool that you are so thorough in working through what it takes to retain early ZB details like the Zane Beck script signature on the new fretboards. The new white fretboards and underlying painted necks look really sharp with the retained and restored pickups. Nice solution on restoring the headstock tuner holes too! Cool rig!
'52 Fender Dual 8, '65 ZB Custom D10, '67 ZB Custom S12, 2004 Kline S12, 2022 Jackson Pro V, Victoria 45410, guitar & harmonica player too.
Thanks Brian
Alright!
Finally got the changers installed. The new fret-boards on. And strung it up today!
Electronics all work great and it sounds wonderful.
But I keep pressing the floor searching for pedals...
So the top side is all done and now I get to start on the real mechanics. Oh boy!
One changer installed...
one changer in.jpg
Early ZBs had solid bridge parts (left) and later ones had a separate cap (right)
Just a little history FYI. Not sure if Zane made the change or Brumley. Anybody know?
This guitar has the solid ones.
Old vs New Fingers.jpg
I sort of mangled the custom fret-boards I had made(aargh!), so had to have some more made by Decals.com. Thicker vinyl and I actually read and followed the instalation instructions this time.
I've got 2 more so if anyone needs a couple...
closeup ZB sig.jpg
It's looking and sounding like a steel guitar again. Finally
strins on front.jpg
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"To live outside the law you must be honest." (Bob Dylan)
Someone cut the back rail into a bunch of small pieces, and then screwed them all back in again. But why??? 
