ezbass

Ignore the fact that you’re tuning down, just think about the shapes at this point. For your example of B D & E, if you now put a capo on the 2nd fret, you would play A C & D ‘shapes’. If you moved the capo to the 4th fret, you’d play G Bb & C ‘shapes’.

Yes, by playing an open C shape with the capo on fret 3, you get D#/Eb. If you look at the note fingered on the A string, with an open chord, that note is C. Move it up 3 frets and that note is your D#/Eb. Knowing where the root note on your open shapes is, will help you figure out what the shape gives you further up the neck.

The guitarists are simply playing inversions of the same chord. For instance, player 1 plays A, D & G open shapes (no capo or barre). Player 2 can play inversions of those chords using a finger barre or a capo on the 5th fret and play E, G & D shapes. Same chords, different positions. If player 1 has downtuned to Eb, player 2 can either also downtune, or place the capo 1 fret lower to achieve the same effect. Check out the CAGED system for more info.

Never looked like a Gibson to me. Looked and still looks like a guitar designed by committee.

I have an Alvarez hybrid, which, although traditional in depth, has a cutaway and the neck joins the body at the 14th fret. I like it, YMMV. https://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/product/170306308317008--alvarez-artist-series-ac65ce-classical The tattooed guy, from Polyphia is Tim Henson. The music the band play may not be to be everyone’s taste, but man alive he has some serious chops.

Some sort of monetisation or just personal pride perhaps.

Unless you plan on also investing some time playing the guitar more and becoming more proficient, I’d just stick with what you have.

Hopefully, with a sizeable discount if you go for the repair.

Whichever will work best for you ergonomically, single cutaway vs double cut. The LP type might be heavier, if that's a potential issue.

Paging @Andyjr1515

Wise words and there’s no guarantee that another Zager will deliver the way you want it to. Such are the vagaries of acoustic instruments.

Fender really did well with developing guitars with definite personalities, different from their siblings, which doesn’t stop with the Tele (my preferred weapon of choice) and the Strat (of which I’ve had quite a few too). The Jazzmaster is different to the Jaguar and the Mustang was very different originally, with its short scale length. Gibson solid bodies, on the other hand, don’t seem so very different in tone IMO. The Les Paul, SG and Flying V (to name just 3) all cover very similar sonic ground; YMMV.

Could be the spring behind the saddle or a grub screw not fully in contact with baseplate, it could also be a faulty string.

The logo looks wrong for that particular model, more of a combination of the usual logos. Also, ‘inspected and set up in the US’ for for a lowly model seems very unlikely.

Welcome

I agree with this statement. Plus, there are a whole host of differently voiced humbucker replacements out there, maybe more than single coil options.