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I enjoyed the Relic Tele the most! Followed by the ES-175, 125,
L-5CES, Les Paul.
They all sounded really good as stated,due to the player. I think the longer scale made it sound clearer, but my ears are used to the the Classic Gibson short scale laminate tone of the past as well!
Howard Roberts, Jim Hall, Herb Ellis,Joe Pass,etc.
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11-17-2025 01:28 PM
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I guess I'm going to be the contrarian here. The playing was the same but I thought the guitars sounded quite different. My favorite, by far, was the Telecaster. It had a wonderful combination of warmth and clarity.
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FWIW this YT vid is 4 years old and the Player Mr Nikujaki is not (as far as I know) on the forum so will not receive our feedback . It has already been commented that the results were processed to some extent so they 'd end up sounding "similar" (I guess we would all do the same thing to get "our" sound with any guitar). Although I thought they did not sound so similar, it was still close enough to make his point.
Beware of YT posts, not a very scientific way of doing things, A couple times this week we've been fooled to some degree in these pages. Just saying.
S
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As someone who plays jazz on 4 almost entirely different electric guitars (archtop, Les Paul with p90s, semi-hollow, and Strat), my take is that it's possible to record remarkably similar sounds out of them. However, the way they feel while playing (note envelope, articulations, physical configuration of the guitar's effect on hand position, etc.) is quite different. That affects how you play (or at least how I play). So I'd say these sort of videos convey that you can get similar sounds if you want to, and I'd say they also affirm the idea that pretty much any guitar with a neck pickup can get a valid "jazz sound". But they don't convey the subjective experience of playing the guitar. Also, playing a guitar in isolation like that gives no sense at all of how it sits in a band mix. Anything sounds good on its own.
Last edited by John A.; 11-17-2025 at 05:35 PM.
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Originally Posted by deacon Mark
The tone is NOT primarily in the hands, the tone is in the gear and the player's touch affects it. If the tone is in the hands, would he get jazz tone out of a hello kitty strat with 7s? No, of course not. 7s, no tone control, bridge pickup only. The gear determines the tone and the musician shapes it from there. Originally Posted by omphalopsychos
Or what if I have a pos free piano completely out of regulation with the felts all ticky tack honky tonk, and then a perfectly maintained concert grand. Is a good pianist going to get the same tone out of them because the tone is in the hands?
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This has been my educated opinion over the years, and yet it gets almost shouted down by stalwarts. To which I want to shout back," you are either too lazy to figure it out for yourself, or, it's just easier to go with the 'flow' ". I had a great example in real life, shown to me by a very well respected player who has amazing "hands". Originally Posted by Strat-itis
His main guitar broke a string. He only had one guitar at the show. Not wanting to stop and change a string, he accepted a guitar from an audience member.
His guitar, and the substitute guitar were hum bucker equipped - he plays mainly neck p/ups.
The substitute guitar sounded so different and the artist couldn't get his sound. He then went to the bridge p/up and tore the roof off with a different tone altogether.
And yes, he played a little differently with the new tone.
There is nothing ""wrong" with what he did, but he DID adapt. He sounded different and great because he knew what to do. Brain and experience = style.
When folks say "it's in the hands", I think they really mean to say that "It's in the STYLE of the player". That "style" is going to sound different on different equipment.
To wit: Eric Clapton on Gibsons and then Fenders. Similar style but wildly different sounds.
I know that when I go from L5 to 335 to Tele or Strat, my only hands produce different tones!? My style will change too as I play to the instrument. Why would I play "Strat" stuff on an L5? I of course can do it, but it ain't the same effect. That matters to some.
Rant over - for now
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I think some of you may be taking "tone is in the hands" a little too literally and absolutely. Not many people argue that the only thing that causes the way a player sounds is his/her hands on the fingerboard. The point of the trope is that a) the player draws the sound out of the gear more than than vice versa b) the things that make a player sound like him/herself have more to do with the player than the gear. Obviously, there are extremes where the "player effect" is smaller -- no one can fully get "their" sound out of completely broken gear or gear that's radically different different from what they usually play. But nearly always the player is recognizable, even with fairly different gear, and with similar gear you usually don't even notice a difference in tone. Originally Posted by Jimmy Mack
This has been my educated opinion over the years, and yet it gets almost shouted down by stalwarts. To which I want to shout back," you are either too lazy to figure it out for yourself, or, it's just easier to go with the 'flow' ". I had a great example in real life, shown to me by a very well respected player who has amazing "hands".
His main guitar broke a string. He only had one guitar at the show. Not wanting to stop and change a string, he accepted a guitar from an audience member.
His guitar, and the substitute guitar were hum bucker equipped - he plays mainly neck p/ups.
The substitute guitar sounded so different and the artist couldn't get his sound. He then went to the bridge p/up and tore the roof off with a different tone altogether.
And yes, he played a little differently with the new tone.
There is nothing ""wrong" with what he did, but he DID adapt. He sounded different and great because he knew what to do. Brain and experience = style.
When folks say "it's in the hands", I think they really mean to say that "It's in the STYLE of the player". That "style" is going to sound different on different equipment.
To wit: Eric Clapton on Gibsons and then Fenders. Similar style but wildly different sounds.
I know that when I go from L5 to 335 to Tele or Strat, my only hands produce different tones!? My style will change too as I play to the instrument. Why would I play "Strat" stuff on an L5? I of course can do it, but it ain't the same effect. That matters to some.
Rant over - for now
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I also liked the sound of the LP, but I am a LP owner, so I like that tone. Agree with you about the 125. Great sounding guitar, especially the chord stuff. Originally Posted by garybaldy
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To my ears the ES 175 had an more open, fuller sound particularly folowing the Les Paul which sounded fine but less dimensional. It was my favorite. The ES 125 sounded like the treble had been completely dialed out compared to the rest of the group.
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I regularly gig with my 2004 Les Paul - a lot more than I do an archie. It's not jazz though. I don't feel comfortable playing jazz with the light gauge strings on my LP. Originally Posted by joebloggs13
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I listened to it rather than watching it and I found the differences subtle but perceptible between all but the Tele, but I couldn't tell u which is which. The Tele was the one which stood out the most for me and I was able to identify it easily. Originally Posted by Jim Soloway
In this old Tim Lerch video though, I have no idea what is what xD:
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