If one spends half a life time working with guitars, one is inclined to believe that one knows everything to do with them, and there is not much new to be seen. However, life is full of surprises, and even if one sees something as black for 30 years, suddenly it may appear white. This is what happened to me too, when I went to the Esztergom Guitar Festival in 2005, where I met an Australian guitar builder called George Ziatas, and had the chance to try two of his guitars. I always love trying new guitars, but seeing as I already own 8 guitars, I didn't have a strong urge to try yet another.

When they gave me the guitar and I started to play on it, I shook my head and said to myself "Are my ears working ok? Calm down, the ears are fine; it's the instrument that is strange." It was then that I realised I had fallen in love with that guitar. Perhaps it took 5 minutes, but possibly only one; in any case, I wasn't the same person after that. Then I had to give that guitar back, because it was already sold, and I only had the luck to try it. Or was it bad luck? It depends where you look at it from. Five minutes before that I was a free man, having everything I need, with no debts, and with nothing expensive I had to save up for. It was important for me that I could be free, and then here you are - I fell in love with that guitar, and from then on I was a slave. I had to start saving up again...

Over a year has passed since then, and I still want that guitar, but there are some who are luckier than me, who have recently bought one, and I too can count myself lucky, because after the guitars came through customs, I had the privilege of testing them and writing about them.

Now I would like to take a closer look at the number 74 Ziata guitar. This guitar is a first in more than one respect in the field of classical guitars. The thirty-something year old talented guitar builder shows an example to both instrument builders and guitarists alike.

The construction of the guitar differs from typical Spanish as well as Australian guitars. The neck of the guitar joins at the body at the 14th fret, which makes it much easier to play in higher positions. There are a lot of brilliant pieces that need to be played above the 12th fret, and when I see guitarists' heroic struggles and breath-taking grandeur, besides pity I also feel the need to smile, because neither music nor music making is about masochism. Why do I see that the composer wrote a piece that can only just be played on a traditional 12 fret guitar? And if someone plays it perfectly then all that can be said is that they performed a stunt. Something like this is more a stunt than music, because before now nobody had thought of building a guitar with a greater range. Now it is finally invented, and the only question that remains is how will the forever sceptical guitarists accept it?

The other important thing regarding the construction of the guitar is that the best qualities of traditional Spanish guitars have been incorporated with the characteristics of Australian guitars. The front and back of the guitar is similar to the Spanish, but the bracing for the top is lattice braced, strengthened with carbon, and built of laminated Paduak. The top is slightly curved, but the back even more so.

The body-neck connection is also unique, because (as seen on the photo) it is very comfortable for the left hand to play in the upper positions because of the shape.

Let's go back a bit to the shape of the instrument. Ziatas had to solve the 14 frets while at the same time not compromising the cubic capacity of the body. What he took away between the 12th and 14th frets, he made up for with the back of the guitar. Because of this, the guitar body is rounder and more feminine, but slightly more squared at the shoulder. This shape is very nice and elegant, and the balance point of the instrument has not been moved. The best thing about it is that with this shape the middle-range of the guitar doesn't change. The strong features of the Spanish guitar are strengthened by other good qualities.

The neck of the guitar is so comfortable; you just can't put it down. Everything is in easy reach, everything is solvable. It is a rare thing to feel that the limits are not found within the instrument. The fingerboard, as a rule with Australian guitars, twists 1mm towards the lower strings. This makes it easier to play, even if the strings are higher up which in turn makes the bone saddle that holds the strings perfectly parallel.

The binding is wider than the average, which may be a small detail, but it gives some sort of strength to the person who takes this gentle and lady-like instrument into their hands.

The guitar I tested had a body made of Indian Rosewood, the top made of Englemann spruce, the neck made of Honduras Mahogany, the fingerboard made of Indian ebony and the bridge made of African Paduak.

For me, it was the sound of the instrument that made me re-think the nature of the sound of guitars. I have gotten used to the fact that if you want a guitar with nice clear high notes, then you have to say goodbye to the full bodied low notes; if you want a rich tone, then you have to say goodbye to the clear high notes. Furthermore, if you want to have a guitar with notes that ring for a long time, you have to say goodbye to the tone found in traditional Spanish guitars. A good example of this is the Kasha guitar, which rings for a long time, but it has a different tone. Here something totally strange happened, because the guitar simultaneously has a rich, clear, taut and translucent sound, strong volume, and the notes ring for a longer time, and the sounds are totally in balance. It is hard to imagine all of these together and still get a classical guitar tone! Well, this is what I didn't believe back in 2005.

Now the guitar is here, and though I get excited very rarely, trying the Ziata is one of the greatest experiences of classical guitar playing for me. With this method of building, Ziatas can achieve a very consistent level of construction, which means that there is little variation from one of his guitars to the next.

Every note starts with an almost explosion-like speed, and is full-bodied, crystal clear, yet at the same time robust. Further up the neck, the sounds are open, and the lower notes are similar to that of a Kasha guitar, with an even middle-range. I would like to point out that the guitar sounds best at the distance of about 4-5 metres, so if you are trialling one, then ask someone to listen to it, and then to play it at that distance. It is important to know that the guitarist always hears the skimpiest sound form their own guitar while they play.

The Ziata guitars' volume is extremely strong, and full of energy. This is not always obvious for the guitarist, therefore it is important that they don't only experience it from their position behind the guitar. The guitar is built to a standard 650mm length for the strings. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Australian Guitar Centre that we could test the instrument.