Zon Guitars is a manufacturer of bass guitars founded in 1981 by Joseph Zon.
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The company is known for its bass guitar models which feature non-traditional designs and materials. The brand is most closely associated with endorser and player Michael Manring, who collaborated with the company in the mid-1990s to design the Zon Hyperbass. The Hyperbass is a fretless four-string model which has a radical body shape featuring an extended cutaway to give access to a three-octave fretless fingerboard. The biggest departure from traditional construction is the use of four detuning heads (usually basses have at most one) and a unique bridge design, which allows selective tuning changes of one or more strings. This design allows quick changes to a vast selection of altered tunings. The design also incorporates four separate transducers mounted in various locations on the instrument and uses a special output connector to allow access to these individual signals in addition to the signal from the magnetic pickup.
There are five primary models of Zon Bass guitars. These include the Mosaic, the Sonus series, the Legacy Elite, the above mentioned Hyperbass, and the VB. Many models are available in a variety of configurations such as five or six-string models or models with custom electronics or woods.
Zon is also known as the first manufacturer to offer an optical pickup system from Lightwave Systems as a standard option on its basses.
Zon had elements of their graphite necks made by Modulus Guitars until Modulus' patent for Graphite neck construction ran out in the early 1990s.
Zon has made numerous one-off custom bass guitars over the years for many popular bass guitar players. The list includes the following.