Solid Body Jazz Guitar

[Danny W.]

I recently bought a Jazz Solid guitar made by Roger Borys, because I was sick of not being able to play loud enough on gigs with archtops.

I've played jazz on a variety of solids, but the Borys B222 was by far my favorite. I wish I still had mine.

Danny W.

[Robertkoa]

It really boils down to personal taste. I like listening to both Joe Pass and Ed Beckert but I prefer the sound of Pass' guitar. There's no right or wrong.

Jim, do you tune down to Db in order to use heavier strings, because you want to hit lower notes, or??

I am not even really a Jazz Player but I often hate it when someone takes a really bright thin sounding Guitar and merely turns the tone knob really low and thinks it's a substitute for a deep woody sound.

Same thing if they put 3 heavy wool blankets over their Amp...although that is more rare....

And speaking of rare 99% of the time when someone mentions a Tele for Jazz....they post Ed Bickert....

I like Ted Greene on the Tele because you can hear the Voices more....but Ted didn't roll off the highs too much.

[Jim Soloway]

I am not even really a Jazz Player but I often hate it when someone takes a really bright thin sounding Guitar and merely turns the tone knob really low and thinks it's a substitute for a deep woody sound.

Same thing if they put 3 heavy wool blankets over their Amp...although that is more rare....

And speaking of rare 99% of the time when someone mentions a Tele for Jazz....they post Ed Bickert....

I like Ted Greene on the Tele because you can hear the Voices more....but Ted didn't roll off the highs too much.

Ed's live tone was not nearly a dark as a lot of his recorded tones. I'm not sure if that was his choice or something that producers and engineers did to him after the fact. If you check out this video with Dave Young, what you hear is wonderful, clear tone with pretty much perfect control.

[55bar]

Speaking of fine jazz players who don't play archtops.

Go to around 3:05 for start of tune and be sure not to miss the burning solo

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[Jim Soloway]

Speaking of great solid body players, Lorne Lofsky's tone always slays me. This is pretty classic.

[neatomic]

I like Ted Greene on the Tele because you can hear the Voices more....but Ted didn't roll off the highs too much.

ted had a lot of R&R in him..he wasn't afraid of some bold effects...a show of his recently showed up, with massive amounts of leslie cab tone..he also liberally/heavily used amp reverb..and he sure bent those tele necks to bigsby like warble...used roundwounds too....

a great!

cheers

[Generalmojo]

You'll be surprised by how much warmth you can get out of the way you pick. The older I get and the more I play, the more I join the "all that matters are the strings, pickups, and player camp."

I've heard players make a solidbody sound like an archtop and people make an archtop sound like an ice pick.


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[sgcim]

I've played jazz on a variety of solids, but the Borys B222 was by far my favorite. I wish I still had mine.

Danny W.

I got Roger to put Kent Armstrong's version of a DeArmond RC 1100 on my B-222, and the thing sounds like a D'Angelico through my amp with a 12" speaker. i just got back from a big band gig, and the guitar cuts through the band, yet retains it's bell-like sound.
I'm convinced that the equation for the strongest, most solid tone is:

Great guitar + DeArmond + amp w/12" speaker = great sound

I haven't tried it through my AI plus RS10 yet on a gig...

[Thumpalumpacus]

I am not even really a Jazz Player but I often hate it when someone takes a really bright thin sounding Guitar and merely turns the tone knob really low and thinks it's a substitute for a deep woody sound.

Same thing if they put 3 heavy wool blankets over their Amp...although that is more rare....

And speaking of rare 99% of the time when someone mentions a Tele for Jazz....they post Ed Bickert....

I like Ted Greene on the Tele because you can hear the Voices more....but Ted didn't roll off the highs too much.

My late jazz teacher, Raj Rathor, playing "There is No Greater Love" with his trio, on his 63 butterscotch Tele:

RiP, Raj.

[Robertkoa]

I wish I could chew gum as well as Ed B! Gotta say though, the bass really drives that tune in that clip.

Yeah- don't get me wrong...Bickert is a Master Jazz Player ....even his comping and sense of Time are really great and I have heard nice Tones from his Tele...I was more pointing out that Tele Master Jazzers are very rare.
Andy Summers in the Police ...which I now realize was actually a Fusion/ Pop Band ...did great Tones with his Tele.

If my Musicianship gets up into the Ed Bickert level...that would be a great ' Problem ' to have...lol.
Chops is one thing and overall Musicianship is another much broader Subject.....

[Greentone]

Jim,

Glad to see Lorne Lofsky get some attention, here. He is enormously talented and flies too much under the radar. I remember him from about...20 years ago...when he was with Oscar Peterson. The guitar chair in that organization is a "big shoes to fill" proposition (Barney Kessel, Herb Ellis, Joe Pass).

Like his countryman and sometime collaborator, Ed Bickert, Lofsky favors a solid-body Fender. If possible, Lofsky gets an even better jazz tone from his Fender, IMO.

Thanks for posting his clip.

[Bach5G]

I spent some time w Lorne L at Whistler a couple of years ago. He was playing an Ibanez RG something or other with Duncan Hot Rails. Terrific player (great tone) nice guy.

[Jim Soloway]

I spent some time w Lorne L at Whistler a couple of years ago. He was playing an Ibanez RG something or other with Duncan Hot Rails. Terrific player (great tone) nice guy.

I believe it's an Ibanez Roadstar.

[Greentone]

Pretty sure that's a Roadstar in the clip I attached. I used to have one. They are darned good Fender copies/extensions. They are made solid as a rock. GREAT necks and tuners. Super stable. Sound quite good...and I believe in a Keith Richards death match you'd come out on top with the Ibanez.

[GNAPPI]

Today I had a BIG surprise. I went into a LGS and there was a Les Paul ES there. I always wanted to try the ES but also to hear the MHS pups.

I find that if I have low expectations of a new Gibson I never get disappointed. Armed with low expectations I plugged it into a twin reissue (all eq settings on 5) and as expected the setup was horrible. The pickups nearly touched the too thin strings and the action was silly high.

The sales guy gave me a screwdriver and I was able to lower the pup and action substantially.

WOW! I REALLY liked playing it! The MHS pups were everything I hoped every freakin 57, 58 clone I thought should be. Not the least bit harsh and biting like the burstbuckers I own. Jeez even the bridge pup was very usable.

I think that this one may be one of the most versatile gits I've played. I"m Les Paul'ed out, or it would be home with me tonight.

[Fat Fingers]

I have hear that the fender jaguar was designed for jazz. I have seen footage of really early Joe pass playing on one. Has anybody tried one?

The jaguar can do jazz sure but I feel it has more of a surf music heart. Now the Jazzmaster (admittedly very similar) is a great solid body jazz guitar. It obviously was designed for jazz but really was never that popular with jazz players. Now I'm certainly not an expert, nor even good amateur, but I have a jazzmaster, and I think it sounds fantastic through my princeton reverb, and my 57 champ (reissue).

[medblues]

Either a Telecaster or a Les Paul Standard will work fine for Jazz and just about anything else.

[Joeontheguitar]

I bought a second hand Eastman SB59 (Les Paul type) that is equipped with Amber Spirit of '59 pups, because I wanted a guitar that nails the George Harrison Les Paul tone with his PAF's. The SB59 is not chambered, but still very lightweight (for a LP) because of light weight mahogany wood choice.

The pups are amazing: check the reviews. Turns out this guitar is also very nice for a jazz tone.

[Mecena]

Since we had Ibanez RG Prestige take on jazz, more videos of unusual guitars playing jazz.