The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #51

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    You could consider the ES-195 Black as it is in the same price range as the ES-137. Don't mind the Bigsby tailpiece. Swing the arm out of the way.

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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #52

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    I got a tailpiece for $23 that needed very minor mods to it to make the original Bigsby holes fit and it took me about 20 minutes to do. There's no reason to suffer a device that's finicky staying in tune, or getting in the way.

    If anyone here has a git with a B6 and wants to change it out easily, the EBAY item number is:390775933888

    I'll make a drill template from mine for anyone who wants it.

  4. #53

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    I found a video from a while back - that's how my guitar sounds (I'm obviously very far from a pro player).


  5. #54

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    Thank you Frank,

    good sound and good playin'!

    See you ;-)

  6. #55

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    One thing more came to my mind. I don't know if it is a broadly debated issue or not but the ES-137 has a maple neck while f.ex. ES-175 has a mahogany neck. I think this makes specially the bass strings vibrate differently. Not so bassy, more piano like.

    In my opinion! YMMV!

    I had once a Les Paul Goldtop Deluxe from 1979 with P90's and maple neck. Many years I wondered why it had some certain quality in it that was not like in other Les Pauls. Notes sounded 'harder', maybe with that famous snap in them.

    At last I realised it was the neck that made the difference. Sold it fast and bought a '56 Reissue. Goldtop, P90's AND a mahogany neck. I love it!

    That was with roundwounds and rock environment. With the flatwounds the maple neck did not feel to affect just as much.

  7. #56

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    Quote Originally Posted by jason30
    i have an ES-137 and a ES335 and i LOVE the 137 over the 335! I took the 490 pickup out! because just as RaQ said, it was a little to bright for my taste. so i replaced it with the 57 classic and put 12's on, and it does anything and everything that i need for jazz!!!

    jason30
    Good alternative to the bigger 175? Much more affordable (seeing $1300-2300 right now).
    I'd be okay with switching pups if need be. Is the heritage 575 thinner like this too or also deeper like the 175?

  8. #57

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    My 137 Custom was extremely beautiful, but it was VERY heavy and the neck felt like it stuck way out.

    Not at all a 175.

  9. #58

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    Quote Originally Posted by JMoto
    Good alternative to the bigger 175? Much more affordable (seeing $1300-2300 right now).
    I'd be okay with switching pups if need be. Is the heritage 575 thinner like this too or also deeper like the 175?
    All are different animals. The 575 is 2 3/4" (~7 lbs 1 oz.) and fully hollow, the 137 (~8 lbs 5 oz.) is the thinnest @ 2 1/4" and semi hollow and the 175 is hollow and 3 1/2" (~7 lbs 2 oz.)

    Electrically the two 137's were stable models with factory installed pups (137 classic 490 set and the 137 custom with 57 Classic) as was the 175 with 57 classics for MANY years until recently they now have the MHS pups. The 575 can and could always be had with different pups and currently come with SD's of one sort or the other but mine has Schallers.

    I could easily live with any of them if I did not know of the others.

  10. #59

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    The weight of the ES137 is a puzzling thing. I had one (Classic) for years and digged it a lot. Seth Lovers made it sing.

    But the weight. It started to annoy. I weighed it, well below 4kg's. I play rock only with Les Pauls (since 1991) and it is not much. There is even a crowd of Stratocasters in that north of 3 kg club!

    But boy the kg's of the ES137 were heavy ones! Or then the size makes them feel heavier than with solid body guitars.

    I don't know. Weird. Sold it. ES175 VOS 59 is LIGHT, specially after that guitar.

    Anyway, with that guitar I realised that I prefer more a mahogany neck than a maple one.

  11. #60

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    I have a 135 with humbuckers and a balsa wood block, Classic 57 pickups. Somewhat heavy but tolerable, especially since I play mostly sitting.

    Super guitar that does smooth and mellow with ease. It does lack the larger hollow body acoustic thunk, but otherwise a great guitar for jazz.

  12. #61

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    Quote Originally Posted by GNAPPI
    All are different animals. The 575 is 2 3/4" (~7 lbs 1 oz.) and fully hollow, the 137 (~8 lbs 5 oz.) is the thinnest @ 2 1/4" and semi hollow and the 175 is hollow and 3 1/2" (~7 lbs 2 oz.)

    Electrically the two 137's were stable models with factory installed pups (137 classic 490 set and the 137 custom with 57 Classic) as was the 175 with 57 classics for MANY years until recently they now have the MHS pups. The 575 can and could always be had with different pups and currently come with SD's of one sort or the other but mine has Schallers.

    I could easily live with any of them if I did not know of the others.
    Doh, at this rate I'm never going to choose a guitar!

  13. #62

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    Quote Originally Posted by JMoto
    Doh, at this rate I'm never going to choose a guitar!
    Why? The 137 is a very good git. Finding and getting perfection is a journey not a destination and as you've seen here the three have different attributes. I liken instruments to women...

    There's the honeymoon phase, and the content phase, and then the nit picky stage. The last will force you apart if the relationship in the middle phase was not long enough, or there's not a sexy something else in the wings :-)

    Mind what I said:

    "I could easily live with any of them if I did not know of the others."

  14. #63

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    I have two ES 137s, a bluesburst classic and a honeyburst custom. Used to have a cherry red custom but sold that a couple years ago to pay some bills. I was drawn to this model for a number of reasons, among which it was an awful lot of guitar for the money. I sold off all my other electrics except the fender tele because I can do everything else with the 137s that I could do with the others. I believe the sound you get out of any guitar comes 90 percent from how you tickle the strings, so of course I get a big belly laugh when people opine about which styles of music a particular guitar is/is not suited for. I would like to hear some in-depth explanations as to what specific characteristics of this guitar (or any other, really) limit the styles of music it is suitable for. Any takers?

  15. #64

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    Quote Originally Posted by snowman
    I have two ES 137s, a bluesburst classic and a honeyburst custom. Used to have a cherry red custom but sold that a couple years ago to pay some bills. I was drawn to this model for a number of reasons, among which it was an awful lot of guitar for the money. I sold off all my other electrics except the fender tele because I can do everything else with the 137s that I could do with the others. I believe the sound you get out of any guitar comes 90 percent from how you tickle the strings, so of course I get a big belly laugh when people opine about which styles of music a particular guitar is/is not suited for. I would like to hear some in-depth explanations as to what specific characteristics of this guitar (or any other, really) limit the styles of music it is suitable for. Any takers?
    I had an order in just before the Great Rosewood Raid for a Custom with Varitone. I had played one earlier and it flat-out had the nicest neck ever. Natch, when I got it together to go buy it, it was gone, so I made the order. After the raid, the wait time was indefinite, possibly never, so I wound up with a nice Cherry Sunburst '06 Classic. Extremely versatile! Is your Custom's Varitone stereo?

  16. #65

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    Quote Originally Posted by snowman
    I have two ES 137s, a bluesburst classic and a honeyburst custom. Used to have a cherry red custom but sold that a couple years ago to pay some bills. I was drawn to this model for a number of reasons, among which it was an awful lot of guitar for the money. I sold off all my other electrics except the fender tele because I can do everything else with the 137s that I could do with the others. I believe the sound you get out of any guitar comes 90 percent from how you tickle the strings, so of course I get a big belly laugh when people opine about which styles of music a particular guitar is/is not suited for. I would like to hear some in-depth explanations as to what specific characteristics of this guitar (or any other, really) limit the styles of music it is suitable for. Any takers?
    I think pretty much any guitar with a neck pickup can work as a "jazz" guitar. Semi-hollows are great for jazz, and their versatility makes them great for pretty much any style of music that involves electric guitars. One can be very happy with a semi-hollow and nothing else for Jazz (I have been for years at a time).

    That said, a 137 (or 335, etc) isn't identical to a 175 (or L5, or Eastman, etc.). For some people, that means a semi doesn't work, or for others it's just nice to have more than one arrow in the quiver.