ZAKK WYLDE Talks About New Signature Guitar; Video Available

Zakk Wylde, legendary guitarist for OZZY OSBOURNE and founder of the heavy metal band BLACK LABEL SOCIETY, hosted a special "meet-and-greet" on Friday, October 30 at New York's renowned 48th street Sam Ash music store. Video footage of Zakk dishing on his new signature guitar, Epiphone Graveyard Disciple, can be found at this location (courtesy of the Artisan News Service).

The new Zakk Wylde Epiphone Graveyard Disciple is dying to be played. Designed by Zakk in cooperation with Epiphone, the new Graveyard Disciple combines killer sound with equally killer looks. Shaped like a coffin, the edges of the body are tapered and pin-striped in silver giving it a striking visual appearance and depth while providing for a comfortable feel.

As with most all Zakk's guitars, the neck is made of Hard Maple for bright attack and glued into a solid Mahogany body adding a touch of warm and of course, sustain. The neck features a "D" profile, SlimTaper neck with a smooth, satin finish for fast and effortless lead work. It is topped off with a bound, Ebony fingerboard and medium-jumbo frets with easy access to all 22 frets.

The Graveyard Disciple combines an original Floyd Rose tremolo with EMG HZ pickups. The tremolo cavity allows for serious dive bombing as well as pull-ups. The EMG HZ-4A is positioned in the bridge position for optimized lead performance while the EMG HZ-4 is voiced for and positioned in the neck position. Designed to emulate the sound of their active counterparts (the EMG 81 and 85),these HZ's are probably the quietest passive pickups available.

Other features on the new Graveyard Disciple include a multi-bound headstock with mother-of-pearl "cross" inlay, black hardware with premium 16:1 ratio Grover machine heads, Mother-of-Pearl topped metal knobs, Epiphone's non-rotating output jack and Zakk's signature silhouette on the back of the headstock. For added comfort and convenience while playing in the seated position, the guitar features the brilliantly designed and patented Steinberger LegRest. Fold it down and rest it on your leg. Fold it up and it practically disappears. It comes with a custom-made Coffin case featuring the Graveyard Disciple artwork on it. And for this limited edition model, you also get a Certificate of Authenticity.

The new Zakk Wylde Gibson USA BFG Guitar embodies the mammoth tone and over-the-top rock attitude of its name sake and offers all the equipment necessary to undertake your own scorched-earth attack on your local music scene. It features a rough-hewn book matched maple top, a rounded '50s spec neck with ebony fingerboard, sizzling EMG 81 and 85 humbucking pickups all approved by Zakk Wylde himself. The guitar comes in two Zakk-certified finishes to choose from, a Bullseye graphic or Buzzsaw graphic over a satin natural nitro finish all produced by the world’s most famous guitar manufacturer, Gibson USA.

Photos below courtesy of Sam Ash.