Kz Guitar Works

Kz Guitar Works was founded in 2001 by Kazutaka Ijuin in Zushi, Kanagawa, Japan. Ijuin, a graduate of the ESP Craft Academy, started the shop with a single obsessive focus: building the most accurate replica possible of Brian May's Red Special. That focus paid off. In 2007–2008, Kz co-developed the Red Special "Super" model with Australian luthier Greg Fryer — a joint project sanctioned by May himself. The instrument was manufactured by Kz in Japan between 2008 and 2010 and sold worldwide through Brian May Guitars/House Music in London. Roger Taylor owns one, a black example given to him by May.

Having spent nearly a decade mastering the Red Special, Ijuin turned to original design. The Kz One — the shop's flagship — carries the Red Special's DNA into new territory: carved top, set neck with Kz's proprietary RS-Joint (a neck attachment system developed from the Red Special's unusual hybrid construction), and fully hand-built from shaping through finishing. The Trad series (ST Trad 22, TL Trad 22) applies the same build standard to more conventional forms. The RS series continues the Red Special replica work in several configurations including the RS Replica, RS Hybrid, and aged variants. Production across all models is extremely limited — the top-tier RS series runs to roughly ten instruments per year.

More recently, Kz has built signature instruments for The Struts: the Adamoo (and its successor, the Adamoo 2) for guitarist Adam Slack, and a bass model for Jed Elliott.