Z-12 Development by Dean Coy [aka dcskunkworks]

This was originally posted April, 2006 in the old GbL Gallery in the Owner Custom section:

The Z-12 is an ongoing development of dcskunkworks and G&L. G&L has kept me supplied with the necessary bodies, neck, and hardware,
and I do the assemble and modification necessary to create the Z-12 prototypes.

The design features I sought to include in these guitars are: to keep the identifying headstock shape and get the guitar into production without
a lot of extra production phases for the factory to deal with. I’ve had the idea ever since I bought my first Comanche 6, back in 1995. I knew that the
Z-coil pick-up would be perfect for a 12 string, with it's clarity and high definition, but it was not until I found the LSR tuners, that I could achieve my
design goals.

Starting in 2002, I assembled my first proof of concept guitar with three Z-coil pick-ups on an old style Legacy body, with a stock Comanche neck with
stock tuner locations. I played this guitar and then took it to Jeff Pevar (guitarist in CPR, CSN, Graham Nash) to solicit his comments about it. During this time,
it was shown to David Crosby who expressed interest in having one made for him.

In 2003, I took this proof of concept guitar to G&L to see what type of reaction it would draw from them. VP's David McLaren and Paul Gagon both played it
and gave it very favorable responses. And G&L’s Marketing Department wanted to see it’s continued development. G&L endorsee, Will Ray, asked me to convert
one of his signature Z-3 WR models to a Z-12.

I presented it to him at the 2004 NAMM show. Here is Will with George Fullerton, holding the Z-12WR model.

After NAMM, I was able to have the factory make up four necks with undrilled headstocks, so I could make my own tuner
layout and routing, to accommodate both sets of tuners.

The factory also created a body for David Crosby’s guitar which was finish in Natural and featured a G&L decal on the upper bout
and only two Z-coil pick-ups, a three way toggle switch, Volume and tone controls. The middle pick-up was dropped as a cost saving.

I assembled his guitar and presented it to him at his home in Central California in May of 2005.

The guitar was used as a back up twelve string on the 2005 CSN tour.

In mid 2005, I visited the factory and acquired an ASAT Classic semi-hollow body, which I combined with one of the Z12 necks and
used it as a test bed until early 2006. It was on this Z 12 I recorded, a sound clip, using Apple's Garage Band. All guitars on the track are the Z12

Z-12 Soundclip

The next improvement came in matching up Gotoh 12 string bridges to the G&L Saddle Lock bridge.
This gave each string individual adjustment for proper intonation.

In December of that year, I was given a Mahogany ASAT Deluxe finished in Clear Red.
Since the pick-up routes were made up for humbuckers, I modified a set of Z-coil pick-ups to fit those routes.

With every Z-12 I've assembled, improvements have been made to the design. The latest design change
made is to have the tuners installed without any routing on the headstock.

With the addition of the CNC neck machine at G&L, I’m awaiting some new necks with a modified headstock shape
to continue development on the Z-12 and possibly an ASAT-12 as well, we’ll see, ... more to come ... Dean Coy.