He repaired his first guitar in 1952 and built his first instrument –a classical nylon-string guitar in 1955. History īorn Antanus Casimere Zemaitis, of Lithuanian descent, Tony Zemaitis (as he is known to his friends), began a five-year apprenticeship as a cabinetmaker in 1951. The brand's slogan is 'The Elements of Tone'. Zemaitis is globally known for its unique metal and pearl front guitar designs.

Current products by Zemaitis include electric and acoustic guitars. In the United States, Zemaitis is distributed by the 'Zemaitis Guitar Company' based out of Paso Robles, California. Zemaitis's guitars are based on designs by British luthier Tony Zemaitis, who died in 2002. Kanda Shokai is also owner of Greco, another guitar brand. Zemaitis Guitar is a guitar brand owned by Japanese Kanda Shokai Corporation, which manufactures the instruments in Tokyo. These Zemaitis guitars command the highest second-hand prices.1955 68 years ago ( 1955) in London, England įrom 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. In 1978, he made a unique acoustic bass for David Gilmour of Pink Floyd.

He also built Ronnie Wood's 'Desert Island' (or 'Slide on This') metal disc top guitar, Keith Richards' 5-string 'Skull&Bones' guitar, Eric Clapton's 'Ivan the Terrible' 12-string acoustic guitar, various acoustic guitars and resonator guitars for George Harrison, and bass guitars and a resonator guitar for Ronnie Lane. 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.

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. Wood played the instrument on The Faces' Top of the Pops appearance in 1971, and the shiny appearance of the guitar raised much interest from other guitar players. His first metal-top guitar prototype was purchased by Tony McPhee the second was built for Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones, (who was in The Faces at the time). 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.

Keith Richards playing a Zemaitis guitar in 1975.

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