Perfect Jazz Guitar?

[sgcim]

I guess maybe it’s a feel thing stuffing your guitar with foam etc.

For me I’d rather just find a model that works without that. My Benedetto Bambino has never had feedback issues at gigging levels.
I also think that why thinlines with center blocks were invented.

Paul Bollenback did a guitar duo with Peter Bernstein, and Bollenback used a Bambino that made Bernstin's Ziedler sound like a difficult guitar to play compared to the Bambino.
If you're ever thinking of selling or trading the Bambino, let me know.

[jads57]

I sold the Bambino to a friend and ended up buying it back, Lol! The one thing that really helped it was putting PAF lower wind pickups from Manluis Pickups. Really opened it up and not so much low end on the neck pickup especially.

[Little Jay]

My 2020 Mule steel tricone is the perfect jazz guitar for me. To my ears it is hard to beat a resophonic guitars sound. Tickles the ears like a chorus of bells.

The odd choice Nice! Jazz is not reserved for archtops. I would like to hear that, I bet it sounds great and original!

[kawa]

[kawa]

[kawa]

https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/%E7%...85%85%E9%82%A6

[mr. beaumont]

My 2020 Mule steel tricone.

Do you have any clips of you playing jazz on it? It's so hard to find people who use these for that purpose, and my gut tells me they'd be fantastic.

[crmcrm]

Pre pandemic I frequently played out (jazz duo) with either a Tele or an Eastman Semi-hollow. Both had Lollar Imperials in the neck position. I have since picked up a 339 which I like a lot.

But... I also picked up a 1953 ES-175 with a singe P-90. It changed the sound that I hear in my head.

[Hillmillenia]

Although my "Jazz"-manship is limited and most of my professional guitar playing is pretty much R&B, I have a love for jazz and the instruments the guitarists use as their tools of the trade. To be honest, my introduction to the ES-175 came in the form of Yes guitarist, Steve Howe and later I recall seeing Joe Pass play one...in either event and, as the years passed, I wanted to add one to my growing collection of "all the guitars I always wanted when I was a kid but couldn't afford" Even now I often wonder what was I thinking but here it is...and it is a beautiful instrument... Everything I always dreamed it would be...

[jaymen]

I just got a nice 2004 Gibson ES-137, and wow, what a guitar. It is all flamed maple body, mahogany neck and center block 2-1/4" thick body. It looks like an ES-175 but with a stop tailpiece and gold decal for the Gibson logo on the peghead.
Like all Gibsons, it has great action and plays easily. The pickups have a wider range of tone and a little more bite than the ES-175, but are easily controlled to get a great Jazz tone. It does not feed back and has really good sustain, nothing to dislike here at all, just more of a good thing. This guitar, and its cousin, the ES-135 are affordable Gibson jazz boxes, about 1/2 the price of an ES-175 and 335, but hold their own and will not disappoint. They are sort of ignored, but should be given a closer look. I'm glad I did, and now it has become one of the best electric guitars I own.

[jaymen]

Hurray, a fellow Episcopalian!

I play a 3/4 standup bass at mass every Sunday with a fabulous guitarist.
Its the best gig one could ever hope for..PTL.

[Jimmy Mack]

Quotes from Hillmillenia:

"Although my "Jazz"-manship is limited and most of my professional guitar playing is pretty much R&B, I have a love for jazz and the instruments the guitarists use as their tools of the trade."

" I wanted to add one to my growing collection of "all the guitars I always wanted when I was a kid but couldn't afford" Even now I often wonder what was I thinking but ..."

Thank you Hillmillenia. My thoughts and feelings exactly except I always lusted for the L5 CES. Came close a few times, even got a great deal on a Gibson Johnny Smith, which did not suit the R&B in me, but the L5 was usually out of reach. I recently learned that Eric Gale, of STUFF fame in the 70's, played L5 and Super 400. Man what a great tone he had!

So I finally could afford a L5 CES, and found a sweet one. Bought it!

[tomv713]

My favorite two tones were Wes (especially with the L5), and Jim Hall on his Live album. I can’t decide which is more the of *the* jazz guitar tone, but both of those sound perfect to me (i’d probably take the D’Aquisto given how much those are worth)

[gitman]

The records I heard as a young player in my teens are mostly responsible for my tonal preferences today but they are def. diverse : Jim Hall's "Concierto" album made a BIG impact but it was a very modern sounding Creed Taylor production so it's kinda special. Next up is Pat Martino's "We'll be together again" where he supposedly played his Koontz directly into the board. Incredible tone....
Paul Desmond Quartet LIVE at Bourbon Street with Ed Bickert - classic Jazz-Telecaster form The Master. Ted Greene's Solo Guitar record. Wes with Jimmy Smith "The Dynamic Duo",
Joe Pass "Intercontinental" , Pat Metheny Group "The White Album", George Benson's "Breezin' ", Kenny Burrell's "When Lights Are Low"

The various guitars used on these records are still the benchmarks of today : acoustic archtop with floating pickup/built-in humbucker, Tele (sometimes modded with a neck humbucker), lam-top archtop w. P90/humbucker. Amps used : Fender Deluxe, Standel, Gibson GA, Traynor, Polytone, direct box. It's all over the place and the players were able to make it sound great. My personal favorite these days for stage work is my Bud6 and a lam-top 16" Trenier with a floating KA single coil pickup. At home the sounds I get with my newly acquired Tone King "Falcon Grande" are wonderful, it's a great interpretation of the classic tweed Fender Deluxe, without the issues of an antique piece and much more versatile than any Princeton or Harvard.

[Onesimus]

For me it is 20 gauge cold rolled stainless steel,a trio of aluminum spun cones, with maple and ebony that get the best jazz tones.

[Dawgma1]

Music styles blend in all directions, jazz is oozing out from every style these days...
What is jazz? Is Mike Stern, who evolved under Miles Davis, playing jazz on his Tele? More so than Larry Carlton on his 335? What about Roy Buchanan and his Tele, or how about Tony Rice on his Martin D-28 playing his homage to Wes Montgomery's tune "4on6" on his "Acoustic's" 'jazzgrass' instrumentals album on Rounder Records? The point I propose is the answer isn't "what guitar is best for jazz?" it is that the best guitar is what guitar inspires you to most freely expose what you must expell & release upon the cosmos!! Pick the box that most freely speaks to you. Be open, it just might be a sitar, or cigar box!