If you could have only one electric guitar ...

[AlohaJoe]

What a choice! Triumphs are my favorite guitars. Let me guess the year . . . yours is a '46?
Where did you get the pickup, where do plug the cable into, and how much acoustic character does the tone retain?

Yes, it's a '46... good eye! This was my wife's guitar. I took it over when she bought her '48 Broadway. I found the DeArmond on eBay. It wasn't in good shape so Lindy Fralin re-wound it and it sounds fantastic. It luckily came with the neck rod. The 12" cord comes out of the pot to a 1/4" female. I usually loop it up and around the strap or tuck it in the f-hole. I plan on getting a "Vintage Jack" installed soon since that's a much cleaner set-up.

I'd say it has about 97% of the acoustic character it had without the pickup. I think I hear a difference but it's minimal. As the pickup is turned up, it becomes an ever larger percentage of the sound you hear. At higher the volume you retain some acoustic presence but get into feedback-land pretty soon. I love playing swing rhythm, so to me it works best at modest volumes where I can hear a nice 50/50 blend and roll the volume up or down as needed. Perfect for piano trio stuff.

[Patrick2]

If I could have only one electric guitar what would it be??? Very depressing!!

[willschmid97]

Either that or Slash's Les Paul so I could hit him over the head with it.

Which one?



Jokes aside (like Slash's playing), my desert island guitar would be a nice tele or 335, plain and simple.

[Klatu]

I like Slash's playing!

[edh]

Which one?



Jokes aside (like Slash's playing), my desert island guitar would be a nice tele or 335, plain and simple.

WOW! Now that's what I would call a hoarder.

[b_goat]

My Collings I-35 Deluxe - it can replace 3 other guitars I have (now if I can only sell those).

-b_goat

[Eric Rowland]

^^^ Beautiful instrument that Collings!

[Klatu]

Yes, it's a '46... good eye! This was my wife's guitar. I took it over when she bought her '48 Broadway. I found the DeArmond on eBay. It wasn't in good shape so Lindy Fralin re-wound it and it sounds fantastic. It luckily came with the neck rod. The 12" cord comes out of the pot to a 1/4" female. I usually loop it up and around the strap or tuck it in the f-hole. I plan on getting a "Vintage Jack" installed soon since that's a much cleaner set-up.

I'd say it has about 97% of the acoustic character it had without the pickup. I think I hear a difference but it's minimal. As the pickup is turned up, it becomes an ever larger percentage of the sound you hear. At higher the volume you retain some acoustic presence but get into feedback-land pretty soon. I love playing swing rhythm, so to me it works best at modest volumes where I can hear a nice 50/50 blend and roll the volume up or down as needed. Perfect for piano trio stuff.

What difference do you hear between the Triumph and Broadway?

[Frank67]

... only one electrical guitar .... I agree with Patrick2 ... that would be depressing.

But I would probably choose this one:

[AlohaJoe]

What difference do you hear between the Triumph and Broadway?

To be honest, not much... the specs are essentially the same and the guitars are very similar. The B'way (also Maple back & sides) has more figured wood and fancier inlay but the sound is largely the same There are walnut backed Broadways out there from a decade earlier that sound very different.

[BigMikeinNJ]

For all you Pat Metheny fans. In June of 1990 Pat was touring with Jack DeJonette, Dave Holland and Herbie Hancock supporting their Parallel Realities cd/tour. I got tickets for two nights in a row, like 15 rows back from the stage at what was then called Villa Montalvo (nice small intimate venue). You could bring in a camera as long as it didn't have a flash attachment. I borrowed my office mate's Olympus and was at the gate at 6:00 pm when they opened. I saw Pat's tech Carolyn putting his guitars out and walked right up to the stage and shot pics of all his gear which made her a little nervous. His 175 was what, only 2 or 3 years away from being fully retired to back under the bed. It had gaffer's tape everywhere, especially the cutaway side of the body. You can see it's a mess and a half. The sticker in between the pickups is a NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK sticker, they were really big then, must have been Pat's sense of humor. I've seen Hendrix, Janis, The Beatles (in '65), James Brown in '65 - this Parallel Realities gig was one of THE BEST shows I ever saw, period.





As for "what guitar", well if I could get a nice old single pickup '175 that would float my boat plugged in or unplugged (I don't want anyone hearing me practice anyway, I suck).

[Eric Rowland]

^^^Great post...Thanks!

[pubylakeg]

The sticker in between the pickups is a NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK sticker, they were really big then, must have been Pat's sense of humor.

I remember them too. At the time I worked in a record shop that sold a range of posters, each featuring a "head & shoulders" portrait of the individual "band" members. And emblazoned in bright yellow, the letters.... "N K O B". The joke wasn't lost on me.

[patskywriter]

Got it. Ibanez GB-10.

[entresz]

Either one of my Gibson L6-Ss.
The one on the left is a 1977 L6-S with ebony board.
The one on the right is a 2011 L6-S reissue, rewired to 1973 specs, fitted with Bill Lawrence L-90 humbuckers.

Both these guitars are capable of great warm clean sounds, but with great clarity. Low strings on the neck pickup give nice piano like tones, and the high strings are sweet and warm.

While I love archtops, these two are the guitars that I do most jazz gigs with.

[Frank67]

Nice! Never heard of this model.

how are the electronics working?

Is that a Compton bridge on the blonde guitar?

[entresz]

Yep, that's a compton bridge, it's made of stainless steel. It improved the sound of the guitar- the tune-o-matic bridge that came with it rattled and offered virtually no tuning stability with the Bigsby. I get a bigger low end with this bridge, and the sustain of the strings is much more even.

The pickups are selected via the 6 way switch that does the following
1- both pickups (series)
2- neck
3- both pickups (parallel) ----- the middle position of a normal 3 way toggle
4- both pickups out of phase (series, with neck pickup through a resistor)
5- bridge pickup
6- both pickups out of phase (parallel).

positions 2,3 and 5 are all the 'normal' sounds.

position 6 and 4 are very quacky.... not like a strat though, but can be used in a similar way.

position 1 has a big output, so it is good for overdriving the preamp of an amp.


theses guitars also have a midrange control (similar to tone control, but with an inductor in place of a capacitor).... good for darkening the sound, but without losing the top end.

[oldane]

Carlos Santana endorsed the L6 back in the day. The text in the Gibson ad below the picture of Santana said "I think of a guitar as a color. But my L6 is like a rainbow."

[Frank67]

I like this design and the electronics, quite unique and certainly versatile. It seems that it is not produced anymore. Pitty, it looks like a nice alternative to a Les Paul.

I also,ike the Compton bridges. I have a stainless steel one on my Gretsch G6120 and a brass one on the country club. Rock solid bridges, nicely done, nice sustain and one can finetune the desired tone through the metal that is used. Also a nice guy to deal with.

[harrymason]

LP Standard with humbuckers

[guavajelly]

My ES 330 – but I'm in the honeymoon phase. I'm still experimenting with strings a bit – right now I'm happy with flatwounds .012. With the roundwounds it came with it's more versatile but the flatwounds give me the punch I go for now and can sound funky – I'm not a real book player but play in some funky organ trio, so it's more jazz-flavoured than "real" jazz.

[Little Jay]

My ES-125 without a doubt.

[rpguitar]

L-5CES with both a TOM and an ebony saddle available for swapping.

Five years later, I’m gonna revise this with a more pedestrian choice. Just one electric guitar? A Warmoth Strat built with my specs du jour.

Strung with 10s and a trem, I can get any tone out of this thing and that includes jazz, funk, soul, and any decade of rock/pop.

[Ray175]

Old post, but what the heck....

I'd have difficulty choosing between my 1980 Ibanez AS200 which covers many bases, with a tri-sound neck pickup and plays best with 12s or 13s - or alternatively my 2016 Ibanez Artist 2619 Prestige which covers all the pickup styles (parallel, series and single coil) and plays like butter using 10s. For versatility it would probably be the 2619 Prestige

Funnily enough I'd leave aside my 1961 ES-175D and my 2008 Custom Shop 1961 Strat (NOS), because although they are fantastic instruments they are more like one-trick poneys.

[Doug B]

Who made your semi?

Thanks

Doug

My semi....does everything I want it to do, has the right neck shape/profile and smells good as well....

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