How many of you play Jazz on a Strat?

[rpjazzguitar]

I have a 2009 American Standard Stratocaster, purchased new.

With the bridge floating the guitar wouldn't stay anywhere in the vicinity of in-tune. Absolutely unusable.

In contrast, the Yamaha Pacifica 012, their cheapest model, bought used in fair condition stayed in tune perfectly.

For the Fender, I had to screw the bridge all the way down and tighten the screws in the cavity as far as I could. And, I put in 5 springs iirc. The point is, the guitar was unusable until I completely disabled the whammy.

Fender did not make a friend. A guitar in the $1000 range ought to stay in tune better than that, right out of the factory carton.

Set up like that, it did sound good, including on jazz, but not with the intent to duplicate the tone of Wes and the other Old Masters.

[L50EF15]

Not to fork the thread too much, but the Rickenbacker clip above (looks like a 360) immediately made me think of the second track on the debut Yes album (Peter Banks on a 365, pretty much showing all the sounds, from Wes-style octaves to various psychedelia. It’s also a demonstration of why I have always called Bill Bruford a jazz drummer in a rock band):

[Cunamara]

That's a good point. Can you play jazz on a strat? Can you cut a steak with a butter knife? Yes, you can! But it doesn't mean you should. If using the right tools for the right job is not an option then go ahead. If you're too broke to afford more than one guitar, and you're so attached to your strat, then go ahead. Otherwise, let the strat do what it does best, which is pretty much everything else but jazz.

You treat that statement like it's an objective fact rather than an opinion.

[L50EF15]

It can be done, despite my skepticism, as DB’s clip shows. I will add that I have rarely heard a Strat played clean that didn’t have that “boing” sound from the vibrato system. Then again, there’s a video someone posted on a similar thread some years back with Quentin Warren playing a Strat with (I think) Jimmy Smith and sounding very much like Grant Green. I suspect that boinging quality is less pronounced with heavier strings. After all, when the Strat, Les Paul, and Tele were designed (ditto the Jazzmaster), .012s were considered light gauge.

[John A.]

I don’t know … it seems very odd to me to get worked up about other people’s choices in instruments and making absolute statements about what music a guitar is suitable for.

Understood, a strat is not the most common choice for jazz, and there valid reasons for that. But for the people who do choose it, so what? You don’t like it? Don’t play it. But if someone else chooses it for what he thinks are valid reasons and the result is the music sounding and feeling as intended, it’s stupid to object to that.

[Boss Man Zwiebelsohn]

I don’t know … it seems very odd to me to get worked up about other people’s choices in instruments and making absolute statements about what music a guitar is suitable for.

Understood, a strat is not the most common choice for jazz, and there valid reasons for that. But for the people who do choose it, so what? You don’t like it? Don’t play it. But if someone else chooses it for what he thinks are valid reasons and the result is the music sounding and feeling as intended, it’s stupid to object to that.

If one day I picked up Leo's invention

And played phat jazz chords with lots of tensions

It ain't nobody's business

Nobody's business but mine

[pauln]

Don't be mad at Jazz Strats
or thumb behind the neck
or standing when playing
or fretting four fingers
or economy picking
or no rest strokes
or playing by ear
or dress shoes
or thin strap
or big amp

[Litterick]

Not to fork the thread too much, but the Rickenbacker clip above (looks like a 360) immediately made me think of the second track on the debut Yes album (Peter Banks on a 365, pretty much showing all the sounds, from Wes-style octaves to various psychedelia. It’s also a demonstration of why I have always called Bill Bruford a jazz drummer in a rock band)

Bruford wore a NO t-shirt.

[Hep To The Jive]

I don’t know … it seems very odd to me to get worked up about other people’s choices in instruments and making absolute statements about what music a guitar is suitable for.

Understood, a strat is not the most common choice for jazz, and there valid reasons for that. But for the people who do choose it, so what? You don’t like it? Don’t play it. But if someone else chooses it for what he thinks are valid reasons and the result is the music sounding and feeling as intended, it’s stupid to object to that.

The question has been asked. It's ok to share your thoughts. And let's make it clear what you play in your home is absolutely fine whatever you choose, nobody would care except you. But maybe there's someone who reads this thread who's just starting out and trying to break on to the jazz scene, I totally advise them not to bring a strat to a straight ahead gig or even jam session. If you're already an established player you can do this for shit and giggles, otherwise better choose a proper jazz gtr. I argue only from this perspective.

[Doug B]

Jazz on a Strat? Check out the late Dean Brown who played with Billy Cobham and Marcus Miller for a start; and many others.

[Cunamara]

I think, Hep, you might be playing with the moldy figs if they're that uptight about what instrument the guitarist uses (rather than what music the guitarist plays). It'd be like me chastising the alto player for using a Yamaha horn and not a Selmer Mark VI.

The music matters, not the axe itself.

[Stringswinger]

Bill Carson, who helped Leo Fender develop the Strat was a Western Swing player. The Strat was intended to be a jazz guitar. As was the Tele and the Lester. Jazz cats tend to be stuck on the guitars of their heroes (I resemble that remark myself).

The truth is, jazz can sound quite good on a Flying V. It is the Indian, not the arrow.

[John A.]

The question has been asked. It's ok to share your thoughts. And let's make it clear what you play in your home is absolutely fine whatever you choose, nobody would care except you. But maybe there's someone who reads this thread who's just starting out and trying to break on to the jazz scene, I totally advise them not to bring a strat to a straight ahead gig or even jam session. If you're already an established player you can do this for shit and giggles, otherwise better choose a proper jazz gtr. I argue only from this perspective.

The question that was asked by the OP was not "are there situations where you shouldn't play a strat (or anything else that doesn't look like a 'jazz guitar')?" which I realize is a thing sometimes. The question was "how many of you play jazz on a strat?" The idea that we're somehow doing a disservice to newbs who might stumble on this thread by saying "I do sometimes, and I don't think the guitar one plays really matters" seems like a huge stretch to me.

[Bobby Timmons]

The infamous Jimmy Smith concert with Quentin Warren on a strat in neck position but with the switch in position 1.

[supersoul]

It can be done, despite my skepticism, as DB’s clip shows. I will add that I have rarely heard a Strat played clean that didn’t have that “boing” sound from the vibrato system. Then again, there’s a video someone posted on a similar thread some years back with Quentin Warren playing a Strat with (I think) Jimmy Smith and sounding very much like Grant Green. I suspect that boinging quality is less pronounced with heavier strings. After all, when the Strat, Les Paul, and Tele were designed (ditto the Jazzmaster), .012s were considered light gauge.

I was annoyed by the "boing" sound on mine, so I put cardboard in between the springs to mute them. I never used the trem, so I blocked it off with a wedge of wood.

[rpjazzguitar]

For a while I played jazz gigs on my Yamaha Pacifica 012. The cheapest guitar in their line. For some time, not long ago, it was $179 in a kit which included a guitar, an amp, a cable, a pick and a book.

The only time anybody ever gave me any grief about it was when my octet played a show at a music store which had a performance space. The music store guys understood that the Yamaha I was playing was marketed to children.

They said something to the band leader who responded with, "how does it sound?". Later, I had a conversation about it with the store guys. I said that my guitar had an important feature that no other guitar in their store had. They had no idea what I was talking about. I then pointed out that the Yamaha has the slimmest neck in every dimension of any guitar I've played, including everything they sold. And, I told them that it makes it possible for my arthritic hands to play better.

It's still one of two guitars I play regularly, but I don't gig it any more. Some of the wiring broke and f**ed up a gig. I fixed it, but it left a bad, lingering taste. My soldering iron isn't hot enough to melt the solder that's in there, so I couldn't fix it the way I wanted. Eventually, I'll get a hotter iron and do it right.

I'd rather show up with a cheap solid body guitar and play surprisingly well than show up with an L5, a GT1000 and Twin and sound surprisingly bad.

[supersoul]

The infamous Jimmy Smith concert with Quentin Warren on a strat in neck position but with the switch in position 1.

How do you know it's the neck pickup?

[Boss Man Zwiebelsohn]

For a while I played jazz gigs on my Yamaha Pacifica 012. The cheapest guitar in their line. For some time, not long ago, it was $179 in a kit which included a guitar, an amp, a cable, a pick and a book.

The only time anybody ever gave me any grief about it was when my octet played a show at a music store which had a performance space. The music store guys understood that the Yamaha I was playing was marketed to children.

They said something to the band leader who responded with, "how does it sound?". Later, I had a conversation about it with the store guys. I said that my guitar had an important feature that no other guitar in their store had. They had no idea what I was talking about. I then pointed out that the Yamaha has the slimmest neck in every dimension of any guitar I've played, including everything they sold. And, I told them that it makes it possible for my arthritic hands to play better.

It's still one of two guitars I play regularly, but I don't gig it any more. Some of the wiring broke and f**ed up a gig. I fixed it, but it left a bad, lingering taste. My soldering iron isn't hot enough to melt the solder that's in there, so I couldn't fix it the way I wanted. Eventually, I'll get a hotter iron and do it right.

I'd rather show up with a cheap solid body guitar and play surprisingly well than show up with an L5, a GT1000 and Twin and sound surprisingly bad.

Yamahas are great guitars even the made in China ones. I recently bought my third used Pacifica 120S tele in natural finish (they are long out of production).

They also have high class models of their Strats and the Mike Stern tele but I guess they have good and strict quality control even for their cheapest models.

I love this recording of Bireli playing a Pacifica 611 V (or is it even the cheaper 311 V?) with a Humbucker and a P90 and using the whammy bar.

[pauln]

How do you know it's the neck pickup?

By the sound.

[Boss Man Zwiebelsohn]

By the sound.

"Who knows it feels it"

Bob Marley

[Doug B]

I was annoyed by the "boing" sound on mine, so I put cardboad in between the springs to mute them. I never used the trem, so I blocked it off with a wedge of wood.

That's what a hard tail Strat is for! No Trem, no boing!

[rpjazzguitar]

Yamahas are great guitars even the made in China ones. I recently bought my third used Pacifica 120S tele in natural finish (they are long out of production).

Thanks for the Birelli video. That was great.

My Pacifica 012 was made in Indonesia. I think the hardware on the guitar is cheap (based on having to replace broken pieces), but the wood is great. Feels good in my hand, stays in tune and is passable sound-wise.

I'm a fan of Yamaha gear. When I have to buy something for which I'm not qualified to judge quality, I generally pick Yamaha.

I've never seen one of their Tele's in person. I'm very interested in them.

[Litterick]

More than 70 years ago, what's often called the greatest jazz concert of all time took place in Toronto. Charlie "Bird" Parker soared with four legendary colleagues while playing a plastic saxophone. It's now on display at the American Jazz Museum in Kansas City, and a reissue of the performance was recently released.

NPR

[Bobby Timmons]

How do you know it's the neck pickup?

By the spring and bloom. Bridge position is just a clank and has no spring or bloom at all.

[Cunamara]

How do you know it's the neck pickup?

Sounds like the neck position pickup, but the switch is in what is usually the bridge position. Reversed switch to get it out of the way of the picking hand? Or maybe Quentin managed to make the bridge pickup sound like that. Nice sound, mixes well with the organ.