Tony Zemaitis (1935 – 17 August 2002) was a British

luthier A luthier ( ; AmE also ) is a craftsperson who builds or repairs string instruments that have a neck and a sound box. The word "luthier" is originally French and comes from the French word for lute. The term was originally used for makers o ...

from

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. He is mostly known for his "metal top"

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...

s, which were used by some notable rock musicians. Under the leadership of his son Tony Zemaitis, Jr.,

Zemaitis Guitars Zemaitis Guitar is a guitar brand owned by Japanese Kanda Shokai Corporation,luthier A luthier ( ; AmE also ) is a craftsperson who builds or repairs string instruments that have a neck and a sound box. The word "luthier" is originally French and comes from the French word for lute. The term was originally used for makers o ...

's death in 2002.

Early years

Zemaitis (birth name Antanas Kazimeras Žemaitis) was born 1935 in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

of Lithuanian family. He left school at the age of sixteen to help with family finances and took up a five-year

apprentice Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...

ship as a cabinet maker, but it was only when he found an old, damaged guitar in his family attic that he found his real passion in life. In 1957, after completing his national service, Zemaitis began producing a few basic guitars in order to learn about construction, soundhole shapes,

tonewood Tonewood refers to specific wood varieties that possess tonal properties that make them good choices for use in woodwind or acoustic stringed instruments. Varieties of tonewood As a rough generalization it can be said that stiff-but-light softwood ...

s, and string length. He also experimented with building different multi-stringed instruments and some of these made their way to the folk scene. In 1960, having realized that musicians needed simple and light instruments, he began selling his guitars at prices which covered the cost of materials, and by 1961, after being mentioned in the music press, Zemaitis started to be approached by leading players.

1970s: fame

In 1970 Zemaitis started experimenting with placing a metal shield on the top of the guitar body to eliminate microphonic noise through the guitars' pickups. His first metal-top guitar prototype was purchased by

Tony McPhee Anthony Charles McPhee (born 23 March 1944) is an English guitarist, and founder of the blues rock band Groundhogs. An early version of this band backed Champion Jack Dupree and John Lee Hooker on UK concerts in the mid-1960s. He is often credit ...

; the second was built for

Ronnie Wood Ronald David Wood (born 1 June 1947) is an English rock musician, best known as an official member of the Rolling Stones since 1975, as well as a member of Faces and the Jeff Beck Group. Wood began his career in 1964, playing guitar with a nu ...

of the

Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the g ...

, (who was in

The Faces Faces are an English rock band formed in 1969 by members of Small Faces after lead singer and guitarist Steve Marriott left to form Humble Pie. The remaining Small Faces—Ian McLagan (keyboards), Ronnie Lane (electric bass, vocals), and Kenne ...

at the time). Wood played the instrument on The Faces' ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British Record chart, music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show ...

'' appearance in 1971, and the shiny appearance of the guitar raised much interest from other guitar players. Zemaitis asked gun engraver Danny O'Brien to create artistic images on the top and other metal parts of the guitar, and he started building custom-order guitars for rich and famous musicians. His most famous guitars are Ronnie Wood's 24-fret metal-top guitars: Zemaitis built four for Wood, which he used from 1971 until 1995. He also built Ronnie Wood's "Desert Island" (or "Slide on This") metal disc top guitar,

Keith Richards Keith Richards (born 18 December 1943), often referred to during the 1960s and 1970s as "Keith Richard", is an English musician and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the co-founder, guitarist, secondary vocalist, and co-princi ...

' 5-string "Skull&Bones" guitar,

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is often regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s list of ...

's "Ivan the Terrible" 12-string acoustic guitar, various acoustic guitars and resonator guitars for

George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician and singer-songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian c ...

, and bass guitars and a resonator guitar for

Ronnie Lane Ronald Frederick Lane (1 April 1946 – 4 June 1997) was an English musician and songwriter who is best known as the bass guitarist and founding member of Small Faces (1965–69) and subsequently Faces (1969–73). Lane formed Small Faces in ...

. In 1978, he made a unique acoustic bass for

David Gilmour David Jon Gilmour ( ; born 6 March 1946) is an English guitarist, singer, songwriter, and member of the rock band Pink Floyd. He joined as guitarist and co-lead vocalist in 1967, shortly before the departure of founding member Syd Barrett. P ...

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philo ...

. From the mid-70s, Zemaitis started decorating the tops of his guitars, other than the metal-tops, with elaborate pearl inlay, using figures such as dragons and skulls and bones, or with a mosaic-style inlay. These Zemaitis guitars command the highest second-hand prices.

1980s

In the 1980s Zemaitis launched a "student model" guitar that could be upgraded when the player could afford it, but this proved to be too popular and time-consuming. This model threatened to overshadow all other guitar production and was discontinued. By the 1980s Zemaitis was taking more orders for guitars than he could produce and he was having to turn down work.

1990s

In the 1990s, Zemaitis guitars became very collectable and forgeries began to appear. These forgeries in both new and second hand guise, while looking genuine, used poorer-quality materials and did not sound like a genuine Zemaitis. During his 39 years of production, Zemaitis had a policy of never making two guitars the same, and he limited himself to making only ten guitars a year to ensure the quality of each instrument.

2000s

Zemaitis retired in 2000 and died two years later. His guitar-making style was carried on by

Zemaitis Guitars Zemaitis Guitar is a guitar brand owned by Japanese Kanda Shokai Corporation,Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. Led by his son, Tony Zemaitis Jr., the company continued to employ Danny O'Brien as an engraver. In 2007, American economist-turned-fraudster Al Parish bought an acoustic guitar made by Zemaitis and owned by George Harrison for $150,000.

Early years

1970s: fame

1980s

1990s

2000s

See also