View Poll Results: Jazz guitarists do you prefer sold body or hollow body?
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- 514. You may not vote on this poll
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I prefer solid body
81 15.76% -
I prefer hollow body
433 84.24%
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Originally Posted by Thumpalumpacus
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08-25-2016 09:47 AM
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The Benedetto Bambino is a fully-hollow guitar without f-holes, all maple, no spruce.
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I play my '65 Harmony Archtone Tenor (GDAE), tuned an octave below Mandolin, more than the other two tenors, but tonight the '36 Kalamazoo 00 (GDAE), is getting the work because of the songs on the set list; so I guess I have to go with what guitar fits the songs. The Mandolin tonight is my '35 Kalamazoo Flat back, again, the set list seems to call for it.
Last edited by Donnie; 04-13-2017 at 05:00 PM.
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If I want to think that everyone will love me because I am playing a guitar that their guitar hero plays, then I will pick up one of my Fender clones. As far as actual playing goes, it doesn't matter what guitar I pick up. I have my moments with any of mine - solid or hollow.
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Looks like this old thread is getting some love - I remember when it was posted but I wasn't playing guitar as much and more bass so I didn't add to it so might as well now.
I don't even have any solid bodies anymore. Well, I own one but it is in transit - bought it from a forum member and it is a jazz partscaster. I am really looking forward to having a Tele again and I will play it a lot I am guessing, both because it is a sound I like and because I think it will be more stable on outdoor summer gigs.
However, the sound I hear in my head is a hollowbody sound. The only thing close to a solid body in my house right now is my '77 Ibanez 2630 - it is a semi hollow and it sounds great as a jack of all trades. I'm still grabbing an archtop though if it is a jazz gig, that is just the sound I like.
I have to admit that I think they are cool too. It is something that jazz artists can feel like they own. Electric guitar is so popular, and don't get me wrong that is a good thing - the more people playing music the merrier. But something like a Les Paul, as good as it sounds as it breaks your back playing it, doesn't say "jazz". Yes this is incredibly shallow and it would not even be an issue if I preferred solidbodies but I think it is cool to see someone playing an archtop and basically be able to think "that guy likes jazz" and usually be right. A les paul? Must be a rock guy (kidding). But seriously, jazz guitarists own the archtop guitar. It is just as cool that people can make solidbodies work for jazz too but I do like the visual side of the archtop guitar I have to say, and definitely strongly prefer the aesthetics of an archtop or any guitar with f holes really.
That said, I will be playing the heck out of my partscaster when it arrives and probably sleeping with it during the bonding period. This is more of a desert island question because I do like playing more than just one kind of guitar, although professionally I do tend to limit myself to having a "main axe".
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Hollowbodies, semis, and solid bodies are different instruments in many ways. I love all three. To my ears, full hollowbody guitars give more body and weight to the notes, semis a bit less, and solidbodies even less. They make you play different. The louder the volume the more smaller instruments come to life, and i always felt the solid bodies really need loud volume to sound decent, semis also, but to a lesser degree. (My 335 sounds meh at home, at a gig it sounds great).
Another big difference is the attack of the notes. Solid bodies have the most bite, full hollow the least. It is like comparing the bass of say a hammond organ to an electric bass. A hollow or semi hollow fits the attack of the hammond best, a solidbody guitar would fit the attack of the electric bass better, etc..
Volume is important also. The bigger the body and the acoustic part of the sound, the more difficult it becomes to control gig volume.
Personally i 'm sold on hollowbody instruments. I 've always enjoyed the acoustic sound, being an archtop or acoustic or classical guitar. I don't even enjoy playing electric guitar unless it 's at gig volume
And i 've always thought that, if you are to play a specific kind of music, get the guitar to do the job. An archtop does its thing, a semi too, a tele, a strat, a les paul, etc... bank account destructionLast edited by Alter; 04-14-2017 at 07:05 AM.
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I way prefer the hollow body (Arch top) for tone and overall feel of the instrument, mostly when playing bop for instance.
I had a semi for a while (Sheraton II) but could never really bind with it, did not sound like an Archtop and could not feel or hear any substantial benefit over a solid body.
People loves their 335 style instruments and they answer an obvious need, they are just not for me.
Having played a Les Paul for many decades, followed more recently by an SG for a short time, I can say I really dig the Gibson solid bodies. With that said, my back can't sustain anymore my 10 # Lester for longer than an hour or so standing and the SG was an obvious alternative. It was a standard like my Lester, but with a rounded '50s neck profile instead of my preferred slim '60s style which made me sell the guitar within after a year to finance a new alternative to my Lester.
Playing with 25.5 scale instruments (first the Emperor Regent then the Tal Farlow) it grew on me despite my average size hands and decades of 24.75 instrument playing.
I just love the more dynamic and assertive tone the 25.5 scale produce, so it was a logical choice for my latest Warmoth Franken build project.
I combined the Mahogany style wood of the Lester/SG for that darker effect, but with the Fender body style and scale which gives it a less typical tele twangy tone.
Tele purists will say it is not a real tele because it sports a Gotoh modern 6 saddles string through bridge, 2 humbuckers and Lester style controls, but the overall result is exactly what I envisioned: closer to my former SG than the Lester and with more bite and a thin standard neck.
It became my go to instrument I play the most, my Tal doesn't need to be jealous though, imho nothing touches it in term of bop tone.
The franken tele gives me great jazzy "modern" tone with the 490R neck pickup and is a rock/metal machine with its SD black winter trembucker bridge pickup.
The ultimate swiss army knife guitar.Last edited by vinlander; 10-06-2020 at 06:04 AM.
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I probably said this above and I'm too lazy to confirm. I didn't find solid bodies, they found me. There is nothing comfortable to me about an arch, semi or even thinline. In fact, I'm not even crazy about the lack of arm contour on a tele. I guess I'm a baby and need the most comfortable shape imaginable... a strat-shape. Now, this does terrible things for my "jazz look." It pretty much destroys any hope i have of being legitimate, but there is no way I could be playing even a semi as deftly as my S-shapes without noticing the edge poking into my ribs or the slight overextension at the shoulder.
I have an amusing story on ergos. I decided to import some neo-classical techniques into my overall playing a year ago, so I ended up studying with an online guitar school that advocated a strap and a nearly upright guitar similar to a classical position (without the big footstool). Anyway, it made my fretting hand wrist give out on me entirely after a few months like this. I spoke with an old jazzer who said I was crazy, so I went back to the ol' right leg, strat set up.
So here I sit, with a Comins GCS, Henriksen and Quilter (not to mention the countless higher end items that have moved through these walls) ... and I play 99% of the time with a Schecter S-style through a Roland cube with dead flat EQ and no effects. You shouldn't listen to me for any advice on anything!
Oh, I do insist on Thomastik Infeld GB 12s though. I am a prima donna when it comes to needing those.
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Rick beato gets a great jazz tone on his Les Paul
I am a big fan of teles. Having solid body sustain can give a different colour to chords for instance, but the archtop has that snap and air to it.
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I've owned 1 (one) solidbody so far (first electric guitar, 20y ago) and since then only hollow. I don't even consider semis ;-)
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Originally Posted by JamesAP
I played an EXDC D'angelico for several years. I got tired of the dark sound and the upper bout cutting into my right arm. I like a smaller instrument.
For a classic jazz sound, meaning like Wes or Kenny Burrell (for example), you might be happier with a hollow, but you can get a useful jazz tone with a solid.
In fact, I think it's easier to get a jazz sound out of a solid than it is to get a rock or funk sound out of a full hollow body. But, obviously, lots of people have done both.
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Es-335 w/ Bigsby. Yeh, I know, heresy.
I LOVE it.
So I voted hollow, but really semi-hollow is my choice. But my Les Paul and Strat are also fine too.
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Dano through a Boss Metal Zone
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" But if I could only choose one as a personal instrument on which to play jazz, it would be a solid carved top non-cutaway hollowbody archtop with a floating pickup."
This is also my choice. Non cutaway, 16" made as an acoustic archtop with a floating pickup. Also useful for more than Jazz. Excellent all around instrument.
I very much enjoy my modded 2003 Hiway 1 Telecaster bought new.
If I could find another, I would replace my 1979 AS200, fine guitar.
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The more I get to gig and just play with others in a jazz context, the more I appreciate the practicality and utility of Fender solid bodies. They just plain work, less susceptible to climate, study, none of that pesky Gibson G string, easy to carry in a gig bag. And so on. Put some sturdy strings on and a humbucker in the neck and any shortcomings to my jazz tone won't be down to the guitar
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Originally Posted by bohemian46
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I have found my Les Paul (with P90s) through a DV Mark Jazz 12 to give an excellent jazz tone; so much so that I don’t miss my old ES 125TC as much as I used to. Les Pauls in general are underrated jazz guitars. I also have a Tele I love. Both worked very well for a coffeehouse gig I did for years pre-pandemic.
Bottom line: Though most of my favorite players (e.g. Barney Kessel, Wes, Emily Remler, Steve Howe, Pat Martino) played archtops, I have become comfortable with solid bodies. In fact, one of Martino’s best tones came from plugging a solid body L5S directly into the board on “We’ll Be Together Again”. I could have sworn he was using an archtop.
Plugging in, I’ll stick with the Les Paul and the Tele; in fact I have been gassing for an SG to add a humbucker solid to my stable.
I have an L50 (no pickup) that satisfies my archtop needs. Love playing acoustic archtop.
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I've got a real 68 SG and thought I should mention a trick they have up their sleeve. Under that batwing pickguard they are routed for 3 humbuckers so the body would be ready for either the Standard or Custom assembly line. This gives a bit more resonance which contributes to the "warm" sound. For mild vibrato that Vibrola with nylon saddles is my fave. At the time I put this guitar back together I was trying different pickups so I used the extra "space" to put the minijacks from the pickups to the harness for fast solder free switches, stock controls retained. The irony is some of the best sounds came from the least boutique pickups so use your ears....
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I voted hollowbody for this, because it's been generally true for me for a long time. Until pretty recently, I hadn't even owned a solidbody for quite a while.
Then I got a cheap Tele copy to see what the fuss was about, and though it didn't change my mind, it has it's merits. Instead, I bought an expensive archtop.
Then I got a taste for a Jazzmaster. I didn't used to think big archtops or dreadnaughts were cumbersome, etc., but the JM is quite comfortable, if not lighter.
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I use either solidbodies or hollowbodies depending on the context.
For our organ trio I want a fat, punchy, percussive tone, so I use an archtop strung with fat flatwounds. If I play with the funk band I want thinner sounding funky rhythms and need to utilize distortion so I use a solidbody (telecaster) with thinner roundwound strings.
In theory semis would satisfy all my needs so I tried them. For me that didn't work out.
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I suppose if I had no other gear, I could play jazz on this setup, but that's not really what comes to mind. The guitar has a Godwood Biffulator in the neck and Zhangbucker WheedlyWheedly in the bridge. Or is it the other way around? The not-small "59 roundback" neck helps with my ham-fisted jazz chording. I'll take hollow-body for $500, Pat.
Last edited by Hammertone; 10-04-2020 at 12:08 AM.
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Originally Posted by cube.root.sam
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Originally Posted by Hammertone
Even down to the curly cord.
Sure to impress the cats in the club!
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I love my Ibanez hollowbody. Both for the size and for being able to play without plugging it into an amp. Originally I got it because of that smooth jazz sound. I thought that is what you needed. Then one day I re-learned a lesson that I had forgotten for almost 20 years. It came about because a friend said I should give a listen to Ted Greene. Well, I did, but I didn't watch the video, just had the music as background. Well, didn't get anything done for the next 5 minutes or so, just closed my eyes and listened. Fell in love. Had to find out what he was playing..........was dead sure it had to be some full size hollowbody. When I watched the video, I liked to mess myself............he's playing a TELECASTER!
Oh, the lesson I forgot?? If you're playing acoustic only, your instrument is your guitar and the strings. If you're playing thru an amp, your instrument is the guitar, strings, pups, tone and volume controls, amplifier, preamp settings, and everything else you have plugged in between the pups and the speakers. I learned that lesson in the 70s playing in bar bands.
But between 1981 and 2007 I was out of that and into my dreadnought acoustics and classical guitars that I started on in the late 60s. I think that because of that I am also more comfortable with a big bodied guitar.
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Originally Posted by bborzell
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