Perfect Jazz guitar?

[TheThunder]

In your opinion, what would you describe as the best all around jazz guitar, either currently produced or out-of-production, and what makes it so amazing.

just for fun

Thunder

[seanlowe]

its odd, i can't get a picture of my doublecut, but its pretty close to this

for a cheap (relatively, not for students *sigh*) guitar this is better than and other semi-hollowbody i've tried. Reeeeeaally personal tone, and sounds at least perfect through any amp at all, usually more than perfect though. Mine also has a kind of inherited history, transfered from a strat i had to trade in which my dad had for years...
If you want a guitar, buy this, no matter what, or at least try it out, and if you dont like it, get the shop to put some proper strings on it (originally i tried mine with 9's, until we asked and they were fine) and its almost a guarantee. Before trying mine, i sampled a benedetto, another dangelico (a new yorker) and a 70's Gibson, however this came out smelling of roses. I have heard theres some dodgy ones out there though, so presumably like fenders and gibsons theres some lacking, but yeah, go for it

[T5man]

but what is it

[seanlowe]

oh yeah! sorry its a D'Angelico EXDC

[T5man]

thanks, where did you get yours from?
steve

[seanlowe]

a shop in cambridge, although i can't remember the name. You can get a list of suppliers in England (or preusmably wherever you live) if you e-mail the D'Angelico company, or it might be on their updated website Web Page Under Construction

[T5man]

thanks once again, yea, kinda near England, I'm in Wales

[aPAULo]

I have never tried one before but from the reviews on MusiciansFriend, Epiphone Elitists seem to be a good bet. Very expensive but all the reviews have been great for all of their guitars.

[seanlowe]

not tried any epiphones, but personally for their prices I'd prefer to go with either a high end Ibanez or a Fender '72 hollow tele (always been really tempted by those hehe). I think they are about the same price as some Gibsons as well anyway?

[aPAULo]

Same with me actually. I always wanted to get a semi hollow fender tele. And actually I think I will make an Ibanez Artcore my next guitar probably.

Is the question what is the best jazz guitar period or what is the best jazz guitar for the money?

[mr. beaumont]

not sure there can be a definitive answer to a question like this, but for solidbodies, it's hard to beat a tele. i have two and i'm always eyeballing a third...

[TheThunder]

the question was actially directed at both aspects, sorery i didn't make that clear

Thunder

[fret15]

It's interesting to see that people favor the Tele as a jazz guitar...just didn't think of a Tele that way. That might seem weird, but you know...

I'd think, without having played either of them, that a big old Gibson ES-175 or 335 would do the trick really well. But for the money, I'd probably go for an Epi Sheraton II - I hear they're relatively inexpensive.

[california]

I was in a local Guitar Center store looking at a Les Paul. When the salesman asked what I'd be playing with it, I said jazz and some blues. the salesman then asked, "who plays jazz on a Les Paul." I replied, "Well, Les Paul for one."

[fret15]

Originally Posted by california

I was in a local Guitar Center store looking at a Les Paul. When the salesman asked what I'd be playing with it, I said jazz and some blues. the salesman then asked, "who plays jazz on a Les Paul." I replied, "Well, Les Paul for one."

hahaha That's actually really funny

[california]

Here's a cell phone picture of Les last month at his regular Monday night gig at Iridium in New York, not bad for 91 years old!

[fret15]

Originally Posted by california

Here's a cell phone picture of Les last month at his regular Monday night gig at Iridium in New York, not bad for 91 years old!

I can't wait to go see him - I'm headed there at the end of the month / beginning of May.

So excited!

[ES-175]

As an add-on to the question for the best or perfect jazz guitar. I did not hear too much about specific makes and models. I want to purchase a good electric jazz guitar. Initially I had my heart set on the Gibson ES-175 reissue (as you can tell from my username...that's all I could think of when joining this forum). Anyway, a couple of questions...what would be a good electric jazz guitar to purchase? How is the Gibson ES-175 or the L-5 or Super 400? How about Stromberg or a D'Angelico? I heard those two were now coming out of Korea or Japan and that the production was not great. Others that I have read about are Eastman, PRS, Triggs and Ibanez. I have only played the Gibson ES-175 at a music store. The other interesting finding when shopping for a jazz guitar is that there are many independent luthiers that supposedly make fantastic hand-crafted guitars. I am totally at a loss which direction to go. This purchase will be for a guitar that I will keep forever.

[seanlowe]

Don't just cast off non-American guitars my friend, my D'angelico i chose over a number of USA guitars, and not once did i play an american strat nicer than my old japanese one. Once you're paying over £600 for a guitar you need to try out each seperately (at an audition i was chatting to a guitarist who bought a new gibson ES333 and it snapped at the neck inside the case, so he wont lean guitars upright anymore!) rather than rely on reputation; Ibanez another good case.

[desmond]

Originally Posted by california

I was in a local Guitar Center store looking at a Les Paul. When the salesman asked what I'd be playing with it, I said jazz and some blues. the salesman then asked, "who plays jazz on a Les Paul." I replied, "Well, Les Paul for one."

That's hilarious !!! I will repeat that one !!

[Haynes]

Supposedly best bang for your buck in the archtop selection are Eastman guitars. Check them out.

[Butch]

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

not sure there can be a definitive answer to a question like this, but for solidbodies, it's hard to beat a tele. i have two and i'm always eyeballing a third...

Mr. Beaumont, I couldn't agree more. The telecaster is just it for me as well. I will have a 7-string tele made for me some day. If it isn't exactly a tele, then I will feel like one.

I love archtops, I dreamed of owning archtops for years, but when I finally got a couple of great ones they were so much hassle. My first good one was a guitar called a Harptone (this guitar was suppossedly designed and built by Koontz which is what Pat Martino used to play years ago). The Harptone was like a slightly smaller ES-175 but with solid woods. The Guild Artist Award I had was a gift from a friend and it was mind blowing, but a pain to gig with. Feeback, finicky, feedback, finicky.

Then I got a tele, and the rest is history. With the single coil pickups, or some custom humbuckers, you can just nail a sound for any style. No rock band was too racous and no big band was too loud. The tele never gave me a minutes trouble.

[Butch]

Originally Posted by fret15

It's interesting to see that people favor the Tele as a jazz guitar...just didn't think of a Tele that way. That might seem weird, but you know...

I'd think, without having played either of them, that a big old Gibson ES-175 or 335 would do the trick really well. But for the money, I'd probably go for an Epi Sheraton II - I hear they're relatively inexpensive.

It was odd to me as well. I have owned two very fine archtops, and a couple of OK archtops but the tele (and other solid bodies ) has a lot of advantages for a working musician.

1. The tele is a slab of wood with strings on it<g>. If you do travel with your guitar you can easily replace a broken one and you have a great pallet to try out different pickups, etc. I don't know anyone who wants to start carving holes on that big dollar archtop. I heard of a guy who's tele got smashed and he swapped out the electronics from his destroyed tele with the brand new one he had to buy in his hotel room in one night.
2. Less temperature and humidity effects.
3. Let's face it, most people play very loud so what you (and your audience) are ultimately hearing is the sound from your speaker...which is made out of paper. Once you get above a certain volume that beautiful archtop acoustic tone is gone anyway.
4. Guitars like Gibson 335s, Gretschs, ES-175 are sometimes so highly regarded for jazz because they are more like soliid bodies (IMHO). Think about it. You take an ES-175 / it has a laminate top that is stiffer (like a solid body), usually a tunematic bridge (further isolation from the "wood" of the guitar), and you have cut holes in the top to place the pickups (again...dampens the tops ability to vibrate). What I am saying is that many of those guitars are great because they are really behaving more like solid body guitars with all of the modifications.
5. You can turn up the tele on that loud rock or country gig. I really enjoyed having one guitar to play jazz trio for a reception, then a nice clean tone for dinner music and then crank it up for a rock and country music set.

I love the way an archtop guitar feels and it is just a part of our tradition, but when you get above the acoustic volume of the instrument the majority of your sound comes from the electronics. I was glad to get rid of archtops and remove so many problems from my working life.

How the wood effects the amplified tone is a great idea for a new thread!

[priscilo]

Do your consider my G&L ASAT CLASSIC HOLLOW BODY a Tele. It is fine for Jazz.
If you don't consider Teles like jazz guitars you must listen to Bill Frisell tunes.

[Jazz Classic]

Originally Posted by california

Here's a cell phone picture of Les last month at his regular Monday night gig at Iridium in New York, not bad for 91 years old!

At 85, this gives me a lot of hope! Who is this guy and where can I hear him play?

[Jazz Classic]

Originally Posted by california

Here's a cell phone picture of Les last month at his regular Monday night gig at Iridium in New York, not bad for 91 years old!
Gads! I reread the thread. Is this reaLLY

I reread the thread. Is this really Les Paul? I live in California and will surely check out the web to see if he is coming my way! Good tip, that would really make my day!

[Butch]

Originally Posted by priscilo

Do your consider my G&L ASAT CLASSIC HOLLOW BODY a Tele. It is fine for Jazz.
If you don't consider Teles like jazz guitars you must listen to Bill Frisell tunes.

My "Tele" is actually a custom made hollow body tele (no f holes) made by Eric Miller, so it is actually not a Fender Telecaster. I should have changed my "tele" comments to "solid body" comments. The reason my "tele" was hollowed out was to make it lighter and also introduce a little "breadth" to the sound. I think a thread on the physics of guitars would be cool. I gave this guitar to my son and I now play a Carvin 7-string.

I love the look, craftsmenship and the whole "tradition" of arch-tops, but for me they are not good tools. I have heard too many players who get incredible sound from a solid body without the problems associated with arch tops.

However, I will admit, when you are listening to someone playing an archtop where the acoustic and electric volumes are mixed it can be incredible. My guitar sounds wonderful at lower volumes, but it doesn't have that mix of acoustic and electric that an archtop has.

-Butch

[gravyTrain]

I don't think it is possible to have a perfect jazz guitar, and here's why.

Initially, let me say that I am referring to electric guitars.

There are multiple forms of jazz as of today, each of which may require different sounds. Sometimes distortion is used, and often it is not. Distortion alone pretty much rules out most hollow bodied guitars due to the really unpleasant sound that gets generated at louder volumes with distortion.

Amplifiers. They are so good these days, that you can take a horrible guitar and make it sound alright. This also means that between amplifiers, and equalizers you can use a solid or hollow body and be able to make a nice sound which ultimately suits you.

Wood can make a difference as well, but I think it's importance is often overstated, mainly because of the technological advances that have been made in our lifetime. Example - Ovation guitars, with the rounded plastic back sound great. In my opinion the only important part wood plays in electric guitars is the fretboard, I think ebony fretboards play much nicer than rosewood - I don't think sound is altered much if at all by this though (no clue really).

With all that said, the rest comes down to how a guitar feels in the players hands and if it has a sound that suits them.

I have been doing a lot of research lately because in the next couple months I will be in the market for a jazz guitar in the ($1000-3000) price range. I have found arguments for all sorts of things, but one of them made a big impact on me. A store owner (I wish I could remember the link) placed a long diatribe about Heritage guitars, and how their quality and service has dropped, and as a result he no longer carries them. Also in this letter he stated that the really expensive (over $3000) Gibson guitars are incredibly overpriced, and that they are a rip off. He made a few examples of their $5-10,000 guitars, and stated how that the actual cost was (ex) $800. I believe this.

What's my point? People may equate cost with quality, which also means people also pay for brand names because they believe they are better. In many cases brand name guitars are better, but at what price does the value no longer provide a better guitar?

There are many independent guitar companies that make excellent guitars, yet I suspect many people shy away from them because they lack a brand name. Those guitars, are also probably better in some cases (and less expensive) than their brand-named counterpart.

I think it would be fun to take all the different jazz guitars of all price ranges, and have a panel of people judge them on sound while plugged into a standard amplifier. I would bet that the $300 Ibanez may just be as good sounding and feeling as that $10,000 diamond encrusted Gibson.

Regardless, I love the Gibson ES-137, and intend to get one, but I'll bet it's not even close to the best sounding jazz guitar out there; but I like it, and when everything is all said and done -- isn't that all that matters?

[derek]

Ted Greene (deceased), Ed Bickert, and Mike Stern also make their livings off of teles or tele like guitars.

I really like the G&L Blues Boy, which is a semihollow with humbucker in the neck. Makes a very nice jazz guitar.

[sc06yl]

I know that I am like *months* behind on this convo, but since I am new hear, I wont feel bad about resurecting this thread. I think that the Hofner New President is the Cadilac of newer made archtops.

Although i will agree, that tele's take the cake as far as solid body guitars for jazz playing are concerned.