(Left) The modified Stratocaster that took over a month to restore. Aamir Zaki’s brother Shahid had carved Zaki’s initials on the headstock. (Middle) The unfinished bat guitar. (Right) The black Washburn that Zaki used the most in his last performances
Working with wood is a family tradition of sorts, while Aamir was the designer of the bat guitar, the woodwork part of it was done by Aamir’s brother Shahid Zaki and his son. Aamir was present throughout the process. Shahid also carved his brother’s initials on the headstock of Aamir’s beloved modified Stratocaster.
“Although Fender is the guitar company that introduced the Stratocaster shape, this is the Zaki Strat — the neck is from Mighty Mite and is made from maple wood; with a compound radius, ebony wood fingerboard. It’s attached to the body of another guitar whose original finish was stripped off,” relates Fayyaz. “It’s quite a heavy guitar compared to most Strats.”
Fayyaz approached the family in August about his intentions. He picked the guitars he felt were important or made by Zaki himself — the Zaki Stratocaster, a black Washburn and the bat guitar.
“When I saw the Strat, it was all broken apart,” relates Fayyaz. “The neck was disjointed, the basic electronics — everything was open. I wondered if something was even left … could we get something out of this? The electronics while intact were uninstalled. It was challenging to put all the wiring and the three pickups back together the right way.”
But he had help with some of the audio and video recordings he had made of his conversations with Zaki — the latter had described how he’d modified this guitar. Using that, and with the help of some of the photos he’d taken during their shoots together, he painstakingly put the guitar back together again. It took over a month, some minor parts needed to be ordered, but now it’s completely restored.
“I’d heard what it sounded like,” he says. “I’d even played it before. It’s a very different guitar, the sound is different from a regular guitar.”
“He made the bat guitar a long time ago but he never finished it,” adds Fayyaz about the one Zaki built himself. “It can’t be played in its current state. I can finish it, but I don’t want to. I think the right thing is to leave it the way he left it.”
And lastly, the black Washburn. “That is the one he’d been performing with most recently, as he was avoiding lifting heavy things, probably due to his health,” he says. “It’s a very, very light guitar. It’s like a Les Paul, but thinner.”
Does he play them? “I don’t,” he says. “I do take them out to make sure everything is working, but I don’t feel comfortable playing them.” Does he feel there’s a bit of Zaki left in them? “Of course,” Fayyaz responds.
“Some of those that knew him felt that Aamir destroyed his guitars so no one could buy them,” he adds. “But I don’t think that was the case. It was his habit to constantly pull apart his guitars and to change and modify them — make them better. That’s what he was doing all along.”
It’s been a whole year. Does he think he’s reached the point where he’s moved on from Zaki’s death? “I don’t think I’ve moved on, to be honest,” he says quietly.
Published in Dawn, ICON, June 3rd, 2018