Zaukus is a hand made electric guitar brand - made in Nashville by Joseph Zaukus. His interest in building guitars began in 1985. After building a couple personal instruments, he contacted a small guitar company in his home town of Baltimore called KT Guitars. He showed his work to owner Mike Koontz and a few weeks later he got the call to start in the woodworking department. Unfortunately, KT Guitars were not destined to stay in business and closed up shop within a year. With a little experience under his belt, Zaukus approached PRS Guitars in nearby Annapolis, Maryland. They hired him to work in the finishing department, where he learned the Paul Reed Smith “dipped in glass” guitar finish. Zaukus moved on to another career in contracting, all the while building guitars in his spare time. After moving to Nashville, he started a job with Gibson Guitars, working in their Original Acoustic Instruments division in the finishing department. He stayed with Gibson for three years while continuing to build his own guitars . Finally, he left Gibson to form his own company and set to work designing his ultimate solid body guitar.

Source: Zaukus website (archived 2012)