Luthier Mateo Rufini is a builder of many fine, handmade stringed instruments in Italy. He builds everything from Violins to Classical style guitars and of course his own line of Electrics. This is his newest design and the first built of his Zyco solid body model. The Zyco is a Rufini original design with a single cutaway, ribcage cut away and easy access to the upper frets.Â
The body has a matt, Ice Blue finish with open pores, so you can see the grain of the wood. The neck is made of one-piece European Flame Maple. The silver anodized brushed aluminum guard looks classy and modern against the light colored body. The guitar uses a Mastery hardtail / chopped Tele-style bridge with two intonated nickel-plated brass saddles for some real snap and bite.Â
The hand-wound pickups by Valenti in Italy sound great. The neck is a thick yet focused P-90 and the bridge is a Humbucking Gold-Foil pickup. It has lots of spank and a nice crisp top-end with a lively mid-range bite . It can overdrive a tube-amp nicely, while still retaining a bell-like Fullerton CA kind of vibe to its tone. The pickups are wired in the middle to have an out of phase, Strat type tone, then there's a Low Pass Filter (LPF) to darken the frequencies. The LPF works on all pickup options. The out of phase honk in the middle position is achieved by reversing the magnets on the neck pickup. The pickup can be easily reversed if you prefer a more traditional tone in your guitars middle position, though we feel it sounds great the way it is.Â
The Zyco has a large 50's Tele type of neck profile. It's a fat C shape with comfortable, pronounced shoulders. Â
Specs:
Model: Zyco Prototype
Body wood: Swamp AshÂ
Body finish: Ice Blue (matt)Â
Neck: 1-Piece, 1/4" Sawn European Flame Maple, AAA Figure
Neck Finish: Matte, Natural Amber
Nut: 1 11/16" (Bone)
Fingerboard Radius: 9.5"
Neck profile: Med C - Chunky .85"-.97"
Frets: 21 Nickel/Silver Med Jumbo
Bridge: Mastery Bridge Hardtail
Pickguard / Back Plate: Brushed Aluminum
Controls: 1 x Vol 1 x Tone 3- way switch, LPFÂ
Tuning gears: Kluson, Nickel
Weight: 7lbs 6oz
Case: Original Rufini-branded HSC Included, COA and spec-sheet included
