Plays: Custom Heavy Core Guitar set, 0.13 – 0.66

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Zoltan Bathory provides the tonal fuel that drives Five Finger Death Punch‘s hard driving sound. Zoltan took a few minutes out of his busy touring schedule to take the Dunlop Strings: 5 Questions challenge…

When you were young, what artist and or song inspired you to become a musician?

I was always interested in music. I listened to a lot of British punk bands early on, and I even made a guitar out of scrap and started to noodle around when I was maybe 13. But It was [Iron Maiden's] Number Of The Beast—when I heard that record I was absolutely sure that I wanted to be a guitarist and nothing else.

Out of all the music you’ve written, recorded or performed, which piece of music best represents you as an artist?

My favorite tracks to play are “Salvation,” and “The Way Of The Fist,” a song where all my ‘signature’ picking styles are present. But then there’s “The Bleeding” too…I like diversity in music, so I can’t zero down on one single song.

When it comes to strings, what are the three most important things that helped you decide on which Dunlop set to use?

The sound, the feel and the longevity. The strings have to sound right, they’ve gotta have balls, and they have to feel “broken in” right out of the box. I really dislike the feel of string sets that have that stiff, brand new feel to them, especially because I play very heavy gauges—it’s like playing on a cheese-grater. I don’t have this problem with Dunlop strings, they feel broken in and then they stay that way without getting dull too fast. Dulling and corrosion of the string are just as annoying as the brand new stiff feel. There’s no other way to explain it—they just have to feel and play right.

Which Dunlop set do you use?

I’m using the Heavy Core Set, my gauges are 0.13 – 0.66. The 0.66 is a huge hunk of metal, when that thing gets moving front of my pickup it’s all balls, man, just a horse kicking through my amps.

What one thing about you, would surprise people the most?

I don’t know…maybe my involvement in the space and aviation industries? I’ve been involved in some crazy projects, and I have a bunch of world wide patents too. Or as bizarre it may sound, I’m the president of Advanced Weapon Technologies Inc. You should see people’s faces when I pay for stuff with my company credit card. I cram a lot of shit in any given day, I guess I’m a workaholic. I don’t know if would be considered “surprising”  but  I’m on the phone 24/7, doing band business, designing merch, stage shows, etc. And I co-own a fight gear company too, I fight at professional jiu-jitsu tournaments. I’m more than interested in eastern philosophy, I studied with tibetan monks for years. English is my 4th language…I burn the candle on both ends, live life to its fullest, 24 hrs days just aren’t cutting it for me. I’m probably not the stereotypical rock musician.

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Use the comments section below to tell us which Five Finger Death Punch song is your favorite, and why, and you’ll be entered to win a 6-Pack of Dunlop Heavy Core Guitar Strings, a Dunlop Guitar Road Pro String Winder, and a Formula 65 Polish Kit!