Telecaster for Jazz?

[wengr]

Considering one, and wondering what the preferred specs for jazz would be. When I buy a Fender style guitar, it's almost always a G&L, so it will probably be an asat. I've always been intrigued by the idea but I don't think that the narrow nut would work for me in that style. I have found what appears to be a nice Asat with a
1 11/16 nut width, so I'm thinking about it.
Is it more typical to use rounds, halfs, or flats?
Will it like 13's, or will it need lighter gauge?
Is the typical pickup or a humbucker usually preferred in the neck position?

Also, I would guess that I would be on the neck pickup only all the time. Does anyone get good sounds out of other settings? Asats can come with a 3 pickup strat like config with up to seven combinations.
I suspect I would listen to them all a bit, and then just use the neck, but who knows.
And any G&L specific info as to which style of pickup might have advantages for a jazz application would be very interesting.

[Cunamara]

Any Tele seems to work fine for jazz, as long as it's not an Esquire.

The original two-single-coil version works great for me and I have another one with a humbucker in the neck position and no bridge pickup; that one is a semi-hollow and it works great too. I don't ever use the bridge pickup for jazz although I do have it wired with a 4 way switch (N, N+B parallel, N+B series, B) and sometimes use it for others stuff (Grateful Dead music, for example).

BTW, the single coil one is a Squier Affinity $180 guitar and it sounds great and plays well, although I had to do a complete setup on it. I did upgrade the electronics to DiMarzio Area T noiseless pickups and the pots, switch and jacks to CTS and Switchcraft and shielded it with copper tape. This completely quelled any noise issues, it is my quietist guitar in fact. The sound is surprisingly not hugely different, though. I've had that guitar for close to 5 years and it's really very good, certainly the best bargain I have ever had in a guitar. I had to look through a half dozen of them to find one without bad QC problems like twisted necks, though. It's not quite as bright and twangy as a US or Mexi Tele but for jazz that's a good thing.

I use roundwound nickel strings (Pyramids, currently, but I have a set of D'Addario nickels waiting in the wings); I think the nickel strings sound warmer and fuller. I have used flats, those are fine too. I use .011s or .012s, either seems to work fine.

One of the things the Tele offers is a lot of sustain that an archtop doesn't, which allows for some chordal playing tricks that are fun (holding one note for a couple of bars while moving other notes against it, etc.). The roundwounds capitalize on this.

[wengr]

Thanks for that. If you only used it for jazz, and you could only have one, would you choose single coil or humbucker for the neck position?

[Alder Statesman]

I have nickel roundwounds 11's on my Am Deluxe. This is proving to be an excellent jazz guitar. I usually use the neck pickup, but the neck and bridge combination in parallel is good as well.

[docbop]

I have nickel roundwounds 11's on my Am Deluxe. This is proving to be an excellent jazz guitar. I usually use the neck pickup, but the neck and bridge combination in parallel is good as well.

My Baja Tele has the 4 position switch with neck and bridge PUP in series and the series sounds like a massive humbucker.

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

ASAT Special here, with a 1 3/4" nut and ebony fingerboard. I use T-I flatwounds on it (Swing 13s). I love it.

I was originally a HB player but have come around to the clarity of single coils, and the jumbo MFD pickups are good for a clean, hifi, sound.

The choice of HB vs SC is going to be a personal one, but I always say it would be cool to have both, next to each other in neck position, which would have to be a custom job.

[neatomic]

mfd pups are super underrated cool...leo fenders evolution of the jazzmaster pup..which i think is one of the best pups ever...perfect mix of p90 and strat/tele..asat w mfd's!..super cool



cheers

[nick1994]

just got my new tele and the new mini HB seems to help a lot , not that my other tele isn't good for jazz but my new one sounds a lot better to my ears

[wengr]

ASAT Special here, with a 1 3/4" nut and ebony fingerboard. I use T-I flatwounds on it (Swing 13s). I love it.

I was originally a HB player but have come around to the clarity of single coils, and the jumbo MFD pickups are good for a clean, hifi, sound.

The choice of HB vs SC is going to be a personal one, but I always say it would be cool to have both, next to each other in neck position, which would have to be a custom job.

Sounds great. Wider nut Asats are not easy to find. The one I have my eye on is a Classic model with a maple cap on ash or alder body (not sure), and the standard size MFD pickups.

[neatomic]

just got my new tele and the new mini HB seems to help a lot , not that my other tele isn't good for jazz but my new one sounds a lot better to my ears

drop the neck pup down into body a tad..and put some pure nickel strings on it..flats or rounds..

you'll have a winner

cheers

[nick1994]

drop the neck pup down into body a tad..and put some pure nickel strings on it..flats or rounds..

you'll have a winner

cheers

yeah, that was the first thing I noticed, the neck PU was too high. still haven't made up my mind about the strings, it's got 10s on it now and sounds pretty good as is.

[Cunamara]

Thanks for that. If you only used it for jazz, and you could only have one, would you choose single coil or humbucker for the neck position?

Hmmm. That is a surprisingly difficult decision. Purely for sonic reasons I might go with the single coil. The DiMarzio Area T's are excellent pickups, dead quiet and warm, roll the tone off 50% and you've got a great jazz sound a la Ed Bickert with that almost Fender Rhodes quality. If you listen to the various videos of Ed on YouTube you can compare his single coil and humbucker tones very conveniently- they are really quite similar but I would give a slight edge to the single coil in terms is my preferences. On the records the differences seem more pronounced, but more happens to the signal after it leaves the guitar than in a live recording.

However, the neck on my Tele with the humbucker is 1 3/4" wide (Warmoth) and is much superior to the Affinity; and the attractiveness of the flame maple top and mahogany back (with F hole) of my humbucker Tele wins hands down. I have had a Vintage Vibe CC pickup in there which was great- actually a little nicer tone to me than the Classic 57 that is in there now- but the noise bugged me too much. If I could solve that I'd put the CC back in that guitar (the downside is that the string balance is terrible with a plain G, which I like on the Tele but not on my other guitars. I could even see finding or making a humbucker ring that would fit the Area T and putting that in there. Trying a P90 is tempting.

It sounds like I am a single coil guy, doesn't it? I wouldn't have thought so but maybe I am. My favorite jazz guitar tones are Jim Hall when he still had the P90 in his ES-175, Johnny Smith with his D'Angelico and DeArmond 1100, and Ed Bickert just slightly with his single coil. My Ibanez GB10 sounds great to me and with the mini-humbuckers it perhaps leans a little bit to the single coil side of things. OTOH my Cushman carvetop has a modified Classic 57 as a floater and that sounds really nice on that guitar.

[docbop]

Speaking of Tele's I just came across this all I can say is DAM!

[boatheelmusic]

Although I use flat 12's on my ES-175, I think my single coil Tele is best with roundwound 11s, even 10s.

Set your amp treble on 1, bass on 3, and mids on 6.

Leave the guitar volume at or very near full on, and rolloff guitar tone way down to taste.

Gives that great piano like quality.

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

Sounds great. Wider nut Asats are not easy to find. The one I have my eye on is a Classic model with a maple cap on ash or alder body (not sure), and the standard size MFD pickups.

I bit the bullet and custom ordered my ASAT. I also wanted an ebony fretboard, which is less common, too.

[neatomic]

might be of interest to tele guys ...new tele type pickup from great pup builder tv jones..

he incorporates dynasonic sized pole piece magnets with thinner gauge wire...and uses open cover on neck pup, for increased clarity but reduced noise

no jazz, but you'll get the tone

cheers

[kris]

what about Stratocaster in jazz?

[wengr]

what about Stratocaster in jazz?

I have a G&L Legacy that I have been trying out. The narrow nut width is problematic for me. Tonewise it might be fine with heavy strings, but since I won't be dedicating the guitar for jazz, I won't mod the nut slots.

[m_d]

Speaking of Tele's I just came across this all I can say is DAM!

Double DAM

[wengr]

Anyone really prefer the both pickups setting?
There are alot of three pickup asats, but a few of them (including one that interests me), only have a strat style 5 way switch, so you cannot get the typical bridge plus neck setting of a standard tele.

[ESCC]

Julian Lage ARCLIGHT makes me think of Bill Frisell. Speaking of which on a number of his videos with his Tele you can see the settings on his amp - great tone.

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

Anyone really prefer the both pickups setting?
There are alot of three pickup asats, but a few of them (including one that interests me), only have a strat style 5 way switch, so you cannot get the typical bridge plus neck setting of a standard tele.

Are you sure? I checked on the G&L web site, and the ASAT Classic 'S' and ASAT Classic 'S' Alnico, as well as the ASAT Z-3 have the Strat-style 5-way plus a push-pull on the treble pot for B+N and B+M+N.

[bosevelt]

Some info:

[jazzbow]

Anyone really prefer the both pickups setting?
There are alot of three pickup asats, but a few of them (including one that interests me), only have a strat style 5 way switch, so you cannot get the typical bridge plus neck setting of a standard tele.

You can re-wire y'know!

My Jazz Tele has two pickups with the Bill Lawrence 5 way switch mod.

So that's Neck, Neck + Bridge, Bridge, Neck + Bridge half out of phase, Neck with a bass cut.

Sorted

[Doctor Jeff]

what about Stratocaster in jazz?