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Just made a quick vid of myself playing a cheap jazz box. It's a beautiful guitar (IMO) It's actually up for sale but am having second thoughts - I'd be interested in any feedback regarding its sound. I mixed in a little of the acoustic sound (it's loud acoustically). Cheers.
More specs:
Extremely well made:
- Wood binding, substantial rosewood scratchplate and tailpiece. The volume/tone knobs are rosewood too.
- Gold hardware, grover tuners.
- The pickup is a Kent Armstrong hpag-1 humbucker.
- The top is (I believe) laminated spruce, the rims and back book-matched flamed maple, all finished in a lovely pale amber.
- Very comfortable neck is which is I believe maple.
- The bridge is a 2 piece rosewood, very well fitting to the top
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02-05-2025 07:15 PM
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To my ears, it sounds lovely, with a very jazzy timbre. I think you should keep it.
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I thought I remembered a thread about these, and here it is. It (and you) sound mighty fine. Here's the consensus in a nutshell from one of the posts in that thread: "Been using the Ozark 3178 unmodified now for over 6 months. It's very solid, heavy and feels indestructible. Works best with a set of 13 flatwounds. Gets gigged regularly and is proving to be an excellent workhorse."
If I were you, I'd keep it. It's not worth enough $ to sell unless you either don't like it or are that close to buying up to something you really want.
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Looks like possibly Peerless made? Sounds great.
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I had Kent Armstrong HPAG-1’s in one of my guitars. I liked them for several years, but at some point that changed. They’re on the brighter end of the spectrum for a humbucker and don’t have a lot of midrange/warmth. I hear that in your recording. It’s a valid sound that suits some guitars and players, but I wound up swapping them for pickups with alnico 2 magnets and lower DC resistance. I wish I had done it sooner.
Originally Posted by Gamono
If you’re happy with the sound you’re getting, I’d say leave things as they are and keep the guitar. But if not, and if you hear it as brighter than you want, maybe consider changing the pickup.
As far as cheapness goes, some guitars are cheap because they’re made on the cheap and not very good, and some are just undervalued because markets are fickle. If yours is the latter, enjoy the bargain.
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Right on, John! Cheap and inexpensive are not the same thing at all. As is true for most things, there are some mighty expensive but cheaply made guitars out there. Originally Posted by John A.
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Many thanks for your feedback Ukena Originally Posted by Ukena
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Interesting, thanks Jeff - the craftsmanship does seem very high to me for an inexpensive guitar. I wonder if it is from the Peerless factory? Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
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Very interesting observation about the pickups John - I think you're probably right; I do think the pickups are accentuating higher frequencies (it's quite a bright guitar anyway acoustically) - I have been wondering what it would sound like with different pickups. Originally Posted by John A.
Great point about cheapness - yes I think I would consider this Ozark as being undervalued rather than cheap.
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Ozark archtops come up on ebay and I keep them in my watched list but never sure whether to bid.
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Good point! Great name by the way - very apt! Originally Posted by nevershouldhavesoldit
One interesting thing I find with this guitar (not reflected in the youtube vid where I'm playing more softly) is that, particularly when I play it acoustically, I find I play with more expression than some other guitars I have/have had. I find it lends itself really well to vibrato and actually string bends even though the strings on it are 12s or possibly 13s (I swapped them from another 175 clone I've just bought). I remember reading that longer distances from the bridge to the tailpiece result in lower string tension - I wonder if this is why it feels so nice to play even though they are quite heavy strings?
And/or it could be that, because it's built like a tank, I really feel like I can 'dig in' to the attack of the note when called for?
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I've just bought another Ozark - a 175 clone - for £200(!). Will post a pick when I get a min. Again it seems to be built really well, is a gorgeous looking thing (to my eye) and the pickups sound absolutely fantastic on this one. Might be worth a punt if an Ozark come up at a good price. Originally Posted by garybaldy
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Just realised the OPs guitar IS in my watched list!! Originally Posted by Gamono
I have had those Armstrong pickups in a Fenix Les Paul copy (and their Filtertron type) but they weren't the best for that type of guitar but it sounds great in the Ozark.
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There's been some chat on the Forums some years back on the Ozarks, all positive
Ozark Guitars
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Yes. Unfortunately any pictures that were posted in that old thread have gone. Originally Posted by SOLR
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Yes, I did read that 2010 thread a year or so ago when I bought the Ozark. Just re-reading it now - and having also bought an Ozark 175 clone a couple of days ago (ie in addition to the one in the above video) - I was struck by the reference to the 'Ozark 3175 or 3178 jazz guitars'. I'm now thinking that 15-20 years ago they built 2 hollow body jazz guitars and I think these are probably the 2 (photo a bit blurry)? I'm assuming that the 3175 is the 175 clone on the right and on the left is the 3178? Originally Posted by SOLR
There's absolutely no written ID on either guitar that I can see. They are very different instruments - the (orange) 3178 (I assume) is very loud acoustically. I think I agree with the post above that suggests a different pickup to bring out the mids - though if the tone goes to halfway it does tame the trebles quite a lot. The 3175 (if I've got the model name right) is less loud but really does have a strong warm/dark bluesy tone via the neck pickup.
Thanks for all the thoughts anyway everyone - it's been interesting to get your perspective.
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