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Here are the first results of the jazz guitar gear survey:
http://www.jazzguitar.be/blog/popular-jazz-guitars/
Let me know your thoughts....
Any surprises?
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02-25-2014 04:13 PM
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I was surprised at the showing for "other", while name brands in the middle of the pack did so poorly. You may want to take a second look at the photo attached to the Epi Dot 335.
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Great stuff, Dirk. Thanks for gathering this info and presenting it in such a readily digestible form. I'm an Ibanez Artcore day who hopes someday to have one of those fine Gibsons...
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Golden Eagles priced as low as $1700?! Hmmm...In pounds perhaps. Although, I will admit I did find one for that amount. And I've not seen one since. Most used GE's from private sells are priced between $2500-$3300.
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Hmm, interesting that not one single brand really has a corner on the market. Even though Gibson is way out in front at 22%, percentage wise that's not a lot of the whole. 78% of the folks prefer something else...interesting.
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It would be interesting to to show results based on the age of the respondent.
Thanks for doing this Dirk.. good stuff.
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I too was surprised that other brands are more than 20%.
On the contrary, i thought very serious names like Sadowsky, Guild, Hofner, Benedetto, etc... would get the 2% that Heritage manages to get. In this regard, Eastman's 3% is a score.
Really many, many horses in that race ... seeing it directly on a chart is striking.
+1 for the age parameter
Thank You Dirk
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Hate to be Donny Downer but....
Having Fender and Gretsch in there just indicates that this survey needs a do-over. I think that it would be much more useful to re-run the survey for the "most popular arch top jazz guitar".
one could just as well argue that Fender's offerings are rock guitars, or country guitars, or blues guitars. jazz guitar is probably the very last thing that people think of when they think of a Tele or Strat. (the same goes for a 335 or Les Paul, BTW)
in the end its certainly fine if jazz players want to use a Tele, after all its a free country. but really, they aren't "jazz guitars" as such.
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Great job, Dirk ! It shows the great variety in brands (and models) for jazz guitars, which account for the variety of styles and influences of their owners !
Yet I'm quite surprised not to see he outstanding Multiac Godin mentionned in that survey -well ... are nylon strings that trivial in jazz ?
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Very interesting survey. I look forward to seeing the rest of the material, strings, amps, etc put together later. For the time being we can all take in members reactions to the fact that their guitar is missing from the list.
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The earth is flat.
Originally Posted by fumblefingers
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Of course there are guitarists out there being able to buy whatever they want in order to cover each style they want to play including all signature guitars of their heroes. So if you play a variety of styles and you have the appropriate guitar for everything then you are in a previleged situation.
However: quite some people - I think most - are not this privileged. The majority of guitarists cannot afford more than a single instrument. Nevertheless they might play the hell out of their instrument regardless what they use and how much it cost. From this point of view we should think twice about the need to have a specific guitar per style.
If you would give a real cheapo strat into the hands of Wes Montgomery then.....
Any if I remember correctly: Les Paul played Jazz using a Les Paul, right?
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Thanks Dirk!
I'm presently researching arch tops for my first jazz purchase so this survey is a good starting point.
Robert.
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Another theory is that many of the guitars that topped the list, while not true jazz guitars, are very popular guitars for rock and pop, which I would argue is what most of us start playing when we are kids. As we get older we discover, and develop an appreciation of jazz, and we apply the guitar(s) that we are familiar with in playing that jazz. I would also argue that before we, as guitarists, understand tone and feel, we get sold on getting a name brand simply because so many pro's use them. Sure, many of those name brand guitars can be great guitars, but many of them are not. And many of them, even if great guitars, are simply way over priced relative to the numerous high quality guitars that are available. I have owned many of those name brands over the years, and ultimately found my way back to Guild for the quality and affordability that to me is unmatched by most of the name brands.
This was a very interesting survey, and it tells me what people out here are playing. What I would be interested in seeing is how the various guitars break down by experience level. For example, years of experience, professional versus bedroom jamming experience, etc. More difficult to do, but to me more informative, would be to somehow do a blind test of people playing various guitars from different manufacturers to see which ones they like the feel and tone of without knowing what they are actually playing. I have been trying to think of a way to do this, but so far have not come up with a good method. Any thoughts?
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Fender D'Aquisto series are quite nice...I've used one for 15 years. Originally Posted by fumblefingers
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Very interesting survey. Being a 'new boy' I'll need to careful not to be rejected by the flock but I don't see that it really matters what type of guitar you chose to sweat over. It's the playing that grabs me, not what it's played on.
It's obvious that the 'jazz sound' has it's roots in the type of guitar that was available in the early days and that tone has always been a very subjective and debated subject (a bit like which oil should be used in a classic motorbike). Predictably, the guitars being used are predominantly arch tops, as per tradition. There don't seem to be any 'pointy headstocks'. Don't those rock virtuosos play jazz? Of course they do but they probably don't know about this website.
Guitar playing friends of mine don't get the 'jazz tone'. They say "Any guitar can sound like that if you roll the treble off!" At the risk of total rejection by the purists, I also believe that most electric guitars will deliver a useable jazz tone and that it is more a question of how much money you want to spend in pursuit of the perfect tone.
My preference is for the 'woodier' tone of the Tele, capable of giving more highs than an arch top. I've also got a Gibson 339, which is a contemporary guitar in Gibson terms but seems to be able to deliver sounds somewhere between 335 and Tele and can make quite 'jazzy' tones if needed.
Like many obsessions, guitar ownership is mainly driven by tradition, advertising and peer pressure. Ultimately, a guitar has to be reliable, make a sound that you like and be comfortable and inspiring to play. The only other reason for plundering the housekeeping money is good old lust!
I'm just starting on my jazz journey and I'm not allowed to spend any more money. So, once my broken collarbone has healed, I'll bounce back and forwards between the 339 and the Tele, using this excellent website as my guide. If I manage to develop any form of jazz playing skill, it's almost a given that lust will conquer reason in the end.
Cheers
Graham
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Hallo gearists,
I bought a höfner/hofner new president guitar in 2010, 24 frets, my first jazz guitar - and a perfect one.
But the axe played all that stupid stuff like my other guitars - I got no jazz out of it.
Recently I tried the vibraphone, guess what happened ? Same thing.
Yesterday I went to my local dealer, he suggested a dj setup.
Now I'm scratching Wes and Barney.
This is a great site, I wish we would have had it in 1964.
Yours sincerly,
hp
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I think you misunderstood what Dirk sought to find out, namely which guitars that members of the Jazz Guitar Forum use to play jazz. If a substantial number of members use a Tele, then "that's the fact, Jack." It's no secret that many younger players don't want a classic archtop sound. Originally Posted by fumblefingers
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IMO the only way to get a worthy answer, is to ask the manufacturers how many they sell, of their hollow body guitars.
I'm gonna put my bottom dollar on Ibanez being way ahead. They sell those Artcores by the bucket. I just can't see Gibson putting out that volume and considering you've got the larger populations, not even taking part in this survey (asia) Latin America, large parts of Europe, Russia etc (who coincidentally on average wouldn't afford themselves such expensive instruments, like Gibson). then your never going to get an accurate answer.
I would also add that Epiphone is Gibson, so not sure how you can separate the two in real terms, apart form just a name on the headstock. (well I suppose you asked the 'brand' not company
Yes I understand that you don't have to use a hollow body, but lets get real lol. Fenders may be used for jazz, but 3rd place over say Epiphone? IMO no way! A simple equation for that is, see how many pro jazz players use Fenders (yes there are a few but as a proportion, its very small). You can then relate that into the buying market IMO, as a pretty good guide.
Of course I may be wrong, but I think the logic is pretty reasonable.
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i think you're right.
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Woohoo! My buddies at Hofner make the list with a whopping 1%!
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I'm not a Gibson fan, but I did play one in my music adolescent days around 71-72. A Gibson L-5, original, I think. I've still not forgotten it. I learned "When Sonny Gets Blue" first chord melody on it. Almost still, remember. My first Tele, a 1962 and lost, changed everything. The original Fenders could do everything Gibson did and more back then. One didn't need 13 guitars on stage. Ted Greene proved it. The last thing I want to do, is to lug around more equipment like a drummer and keyboard players have to do. Just a view... got it, roadies... and more money... bad back, hands and brain work different, now...
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Very cool survey, but I think it may be more of a popularity statement? But... No surprises on one hand, lots on others.
It is no shock that Gibson has the nod from ~ 1/5th of the players, but Ibanez AF series? I've seen GB's on stage but not one AF. My AF 100 is a decent guitar but it's really needing upgrades that I'd rather let the next owner do.
Kris, I agree on the Fender D'Aquisto a very overlooked Jewel.
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"The Most Popular Jazz Guitars, As Chosen By You!" Originally Posted by GNAPPI
So... yes.
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Wait, you mean it's not the legion of Fender Montego I, Montego II and LTD owners bumping up those numbers? Originally Posted by GNAPPI
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