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Being doing a lot of sound experimenting trying to get a telecaster in the ball park sound of an Archtop, anyone been down this rabbit hole and did you achieve pleasing results?
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03-13-2026 09:46 AM
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"Archtop" isn't one sound to me...
If you're looking for like a woody, slightly acoustic sounding thunky tone, the tele doesn't really do that. But if you're looking at more of a fully amplified tone (like in Kris' lovely example above), the tele can definitely do it.
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Putting in a top loader bridge or installing a Bigsby would have to help. Less break angle behind the bridge = softer attack
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I think of it all differently. I want the archtop to sound like me. I want the tele to sound like me. Two different shades on my palette to employ.
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I record almost all my gigs and a year later, I couldn't tell if I had my p90 broadway, dyna sonic Gretsch, or telecaster on any said gig.
So lately I've just been bringing my tele to all of them, I'm not worried about it during the gig, on breaks, or on the drive home.
I can hear a difference in the room, which is why I put a Surf 90 in the neck position on my tele, to make it sound more like the Gretsch.
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Seems like a good opportunity to trot this out again
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To me, the "archtop sound" vs the "solidbody sound" is mainly in the note envelope (attack, sustain, delay). You can get the envelope of a solid body somewhat close to an archtop with light touch and palm-muting to shorten sustain. You can also get other aspects of timbre pretty close via knob twiddling (generally, some combination of bumping up the mids and reducing treble with amp and guitar controls). I have an idea of "my jazz sound," which is more a continuum than a point. I can get any of my guitars (arcthop, strat, semi-hollow, LP with P90s) somewhere on the continuum to the degree that it takes me a moment to figure out which is which on some recordings. But the envelope differences are always the eventual giveaway.
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In a small room, you and the audience can hear the acoustic property of a good archtop guitar.
This is something you will never achieve with a Tele or any other solid body guitar.
I like the sound of good Archtop guitars and I like good Solid body guitars too.
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Maybe using some kind of nylon saddle material that dampens the sound a little, plus a full humbucker and thick flatwound strings (12s can be resisted by tele's neck?). That with a soft jazzy touch could do somehow the trick
Of course there are teles that are hollow body.
What was said above above the envelope of the sound is key to me
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Some years ago, a bandmate and I recorded a few tunes and we used both solid body guitars and archtops on the various tunes. We did not write down which guitars we used on which tunes and we did not remember the next day when we listened to the recordings.
We had no idea on the playback which guitars were which.
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I only play thinline teles, and the acoustic sound in a small room is pretty good. I wouldn't perform on stage with it unplugged, but I just practice a tune with a drummer playing a practice pad before a gig in backstage room, it was audible enough, even as people were talking loud over it.
Originally Posted by GuyBoden
In a small room, you and the audience can hear the acoustic property of a good archtop guitar.
This is something you will never achieve with a Tele or any other solid body guitar.
I like the sound of good Archtop guitars and I like good Solid body guitars too.
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If you commit to only play jazz on a tele, put a heavy gauge string, pure nickel roundwound or flats, then you can mess with EQ on your amp, and lastly turn the tone knob down a bit. And thinline tele is much better for jazz than a regular one IMO. You'll get close enough to archtop sound. Personally I can't make my tele dedicated only to jazz as I play all kind of gigs and I like to use only one guitar. Originally Posted by RobKay
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The Tim Lerch video answers the question.
As Stringswinger pointed out, it can be impossible to identify which is which by ear. I have dozens of audience recordings of my old quintet in which I was playing various guitars including archtops, semihollows, solid bodies, Strats, Teles, etc. Listening to the recordings, can I tell you which guitar I was playing? No. For better or for worse (mostly worse) it always just sounds like me playing guitar.
I have learned to abandon the quasi-religious belief that certain guitars are inherently superior for jazz because it has been proven to me too many times that it is not so. Ed Bickert was the end of that belief for me. I might have preferences in terms of playing an instrument, but those preferences do not prove superiority. That said, I'm not going to take a Telecaster to an acoustic jazz guitar jam.
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Perhaps you've heard of this guy? >> Ed Bickert's sound Originally Posted by RobKay
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At least not without an amp (preferably a Marshall stack). Originally Posted by Cunamara
That said, I'm not going to take a Telecaster to an acoustic jazz guitar jam.
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Yes, that's exactly my problem, if I set the telecaster up with heavier strings and adjust everything on the guitar, it will no longer be a telecaster that does all of the other wonderful things a telecaster does. Originally Posted by Hep To The Jive
I am thinking about putting together a "jazz" telecaster for that purpose though.
I find for jazz, arch top>ES335>Les Paul>Telecaster>Stratocaster in my world, assuming that I don't set up the Fenders expressly for jazz.
MY 335 is pretty recent, and I find it pretty good for jazz, though the sustain is longer than on an arch top. For jazz I prefer the envelope to resemble an acoustic a bit more, which the arch tops do best.
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But, it's very, very easy to make a good high quality Archtop sound like a Tele. Originally Posted by Cunamara
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I don't know, these two archtops don't sound the same to me (one of jzucker's comparison's):
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And the audience almost always doesn't care either Originally Posted by Stringswinger
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Teles are probably the best single platform to get whatever sound you are looking for! Remember they can be made of any kind of wood,thinline,pickup and bridge etc!
If you want one do everything guitar Leo had the right idea way back then. Also remember they are pretty indestructible and easy to disassemble for travel purposes!
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I use .011s on my Teles (and most of my electric guitars). Ed Bickert had one of the best sounds ever in jazz guitar, IMHO, and he used .010s on his Tele. Ernie Balls, to be exact. Plain G. It's all in your touch. Originally Posted by bluejaybill
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Will it though? .012s were considered "light" strings when teles were first made for Western Swing players. Originally Posted by bluejaybill
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This is the exactly correct answer! And dead simple to boot! Perfect summary! Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
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There is another video clip with my Tele and GHS Custom Shop - Pat Martino Signature Flatwounds - Electric Guitar String Set, Light, .016-.056 :
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