New Jennifer Janseko Guitars planned

Our feature artist Jennifer Janesko recently painted a Fender Stratocaster & Telecaster. These are the first Fenders we have ever done and the results were outstanding. Plans are underway to do a series of Telecasters & Stratocaster to be completed by mid summer. (See photos)

DALLAS INTERNATIONAL GUITAR FESTIVAL 2010

AFTER APRIL 15th IF YOU HAVE A TAX REFUND THIS IS WHERE YOU NEED TO SPEND IT. Or if you are a musician, collector, music lover, etc..The Dallas International Guitar Festival is on for April 16, 17, 18. It promisies to be the biggest and best yet and will be the premier show in 2010.
Last year we created our unique one of a kind GZ Pin up guitars, just for this show, and they were a great success(See attached 2009 pin-up guitar ad). This year we are featuring all types of great "Art Guitars" by new and up coming artists.
Also, Bill Hudson, who is an avid collector and has amazing knowledge of the Custom Guitar market, will be joining GZ and in charge of bringing back our Custom Guitars like we sold through our website www.gzguitars.com in 2004-8. Some of our featured Custom guitars were a signed Jimmy Page double neck, Fender CS Playboy Stratocaster, SRV #1 Relic, Fender Custom Shop CRASH Stratocasters, and many more one of a kind guitars.
I will be updating this blog up until the show with information about our booth and some of the great guitars we will be selling.

NOWHERE BUT TEXAS

Hi Ya'll. It has been a while since I have posted any news about what GZ has been up to. In November 2008 GZ made the decision to open I made the decision to open another shop in my hometown of Dallas Texas. We hope to announce our opening date in the Fall of 2009. Since I have been spending time in Texas I have had the opportunity to collect some really unique relics of some world class guitars made famous by legendary Texas musicians. Check out these photos and see if you know their names and who played them. I'll publish the builders and original owners. So check back next week. Rock On G.
(The poster are a hint 8o)

Friends of GZ

PHOTO LAYOUT- GLEN & PAUL REED SMITH (President & Founder of PRS GUITARS) / GLEN & DREW BERLIN (The Burst Brothers Guitar Center Senior Vintage Guitar Buyer)

2009 Dallas Guitar Show was great. We featured our PinUp Guitars as well as a great display of Art Guitars. Our Jenifer Janesko and CRASH guitars were the most popular of our exclusive Art Guitars. The Pinup guitars were very popular and we sold most of the new series.
Some of the high points of the show for me were when Drew Berlin of the Burst Brothers (who along with his partner Dave Belzer, in my opinion, founded the vintage guitar business as we know it today) stopped by with Randy Melser (of Miami Guitar Center Platinum Room) to check out our John "CRASH" Matos Art Stratocaster. Also, I had the opportunity to meet guitar manufacturing genius Paul Reed Smith founder of PRS Guitars. He was at the show launching his new amplifiers. He is a great guy. I personally have kept a PRS guitar in my arsenal of guitars since I played one in 1998.
We just completed the 2010 Dallas Guitar Show and will be updating this blog with news & information about it.

Preview of Past Dallas Guitar Festival

At the 2009 Dallas Guitar Festival, GZ Guitars will be introducing a new series of Art Guitars based on classic PinUp designs. Each guitar is one of a kind with unique parts and electronics. They are ready to rock and have a great tone. Additionally, due to the economic climate, none of this series will be priced more than $1,000.

2009 Dallas Guitar Festival

GZ Guitars was excited to participate in the 2009 32nd Dallas Guitar Show & Festival in Dallas, Texas. There were live shows through out the 3 day event.

GZ & Jennifer Janesko Guitar on Gibson Website

It is a great honor that Gibson (one of the most famous guitar builders in the world) featured us on their website in the LifeStyle section. It was featured for a week and then on their home page in "Most Popular Stories". Enclosed is a copy of their post. This is a great notice for both GZ Guitars and Jennifer and is well deserved for the incredible guitars their partnership has produced. We have done some our best work with Jennifer and produced some of the best Art Guitars I have seen anywhere. THANKS GIBSON!

Beautiful Bodies: Pin-Up Artist Jennifer Janesko’s Sexy Guitars
Jerry McCulley 01.20.2009
Musicians have been making connections between the guitar and female form for decades, some even decorating the faces of their instruments with colorful images of women. Indeed, Sex Pistol Steve Jones turned his trademark white Les Paul Custom into a punk rock icon simply by applying a decal of a vintage pin-up model near the bridge.
Now artist Jennifer Janesko has taken the concept to a whole new level, using the entire guitar face itself as a virtual canvas for her striking female images. A renowned pin-up artist for over 15 years, Janesko has teamed up with Maplewood, NJ-based custom shop GZ Guitars to offer a series of uniquely painted instruments – including several classic Gibson models – featuring her alluring airbrushed artwork.

“Harmony,” a Jennifer Janesko-customized ES-137 from GZ Guitars
While her sexy, glamorous guitar images follow an artistic tradition that has attracted men for centuries, the Kansas City-based Janesko is also part of a core heritage of women pin-up artists who’ve contributed richly to the canon, from Joyce Ballantyne and Zoe Mozert in the mid-20th century to contemporary masters of the realm like Elizabeth Austin and Olivia de Berardinis.
Several Jennifer-painted instruments have already sold to eager collectors, while the most recent – a stunning, Janesko-illustrated Gibson Explorer dubbed “Video Vixen” by the artist – was just finished on New Year’s Eve. “It was a very cool way to close out 2008,” enthuses GZ founder Glen Gertz.

“Video Vixen” Explorer by Jennifer Janesko
Jennifer graduated with a degree in fine arts from Stephens College and has been drawing the female form from any early age. Her calendar images remain strong sellers, while other Janesko commissions have been featured in Playboy, Maxim, Femme Fatale and other publications. She even collaborated with a Napa Valley vintner to produce her own Janesko label wine.
Yet she’s long resisted being labeled a mere pin-up artist.
“People defined me that way before I did,” she told her hometown weekly. “I (now) use pin-up to allow people to immediately make a connection to artists like (Alberto) Vargas and (Patrick) Nagle and to what I do.”
“Back Stage” ES 335 by Jennifer Janesko
While some might argue that the genre objectifies women, Janesko is forthright about the medium’s sexual allure. “I embrace it,” she says proudly. “To believe that sensuality exists is empowering.” So much so that Jennifer has occasionally modeled for other artists and photographers herself – including a cheesecake photo layout in Maxim.
“What's given me validation is that half of my collectors are women or couples," Janesko explains. “Women say (my paintings) are beautiful, sensual and passionate.” But guitar players and collectors will probably think her recent creations for GZ just plain rock.