A Good Budget Jazz Guitar

**goldenwave77** · 04-29-2016, 09:20 AM

[QUOTE=EllenGtrGrl;645489]I priced the Heritage H550, and new ones are going for $3000 (ouch!).

Pretty sure I saw one on reverb.com for $2000, or so, maybe $1995, used. I think it was a music store in Ga. that may well allow return--in which case you're really betting $150 or so---the cost of round trip shipping. But go play one if you can before you start in on looking for anything particular.

(This is good advice, generally, though my top two guitars, my 550 and the L4-CES were bought cold....just based on descriptions or audio/video clips I'd seen of them--with the 550 of that particular instrument, and with the L4-CES, of different ones. But it does get you in the ballpark).

PS: Sorry didn't catch the part in your later post about $2000 being more than you were looking to spend, at the moment. Some of the old lawsuit 175's are VERY good guitars, for a lot less money. I know it's 16" but with a wider body (3.5") instead of 3.0" for the 550, they feel very similar ergonomically...still a nice rich, full round sound. Epiphone Premium 175's are nice too.

**Cavalier** · 04-29-2016, 11:11 AM

Another angle might be to call Godin and see if they could pull one off the line and put the frets in you want while building it. They are small enough to do that sort of thing and it makes great PR.

Eddie Cochran was off my radar till I met his old bass player Dave Shriver in the bike store where he worked. He figured out I was a musician and we became friends as he convinced me to start playing out again which as a single dad I hadn't had time to. Weirdly over the years the ES 125 I rebuilt had evolved to a similar set up as Eddie's Gretsch. It has a stacked P90 in the neck and a floating humbucker at the bridge for that twang, there are transducers for acoustic tone though. Eddie might have wound up with a Gretsch anyway using his ears.

I just played violin with Dave though. He had great stories and knew everybody, after Eddie he had played with Trini Lopez for years. He had a stack of ancient pictures from a tour of groups that included the Beatles and became friends with the fab 4, John got a hold of the camera with very zany results.

Back to guitars, its good to have something to work towards, if it takes longer you have more time to try different things out. Vintage guitar shops are a great way to compare and the results can surprise you. I found out I liked Byrdlands, didn't like JSs and wouldn't trade my 125 for a 175, none of which I'd have guessed if I hadn't played them.

**EllenGtrGrl** · 04-29-2016, 04:51 PM

Originally Posted by Cavalier

Another angle might be to call Godin and see if they could pull one off the line and put the frets in you want while building it. They are small enough to do that sort of thing and it makes great PR.

Eddie Cochran was off my radar till I met his old bass player Dave Shriver in the bike store where he worked. He figured out I was a musician and we became friends as he convinced me to start playing out again which as a single dad I hadn't had time to. Weirdly over the years the ES 125 I rebuilt had evolved to a similar set up as Eddie's Gretsch. It has a stacked P90 in the neck and a floating humbucker at the bridge for that twang, there are transducers for acoustic tone though. Eddie might have wound up with a Gretsch anyway using his ears.

I just played violin with Dave though. He had great stories and knew everybody, after Eddie he had played with Trini Lopez for years. He had a stack of ancient pictures from a tour of groups that included the Beatles and became friends with the fab 4, John got a hold of the camera with very zany results.

Back to guitars, its good to have something to work towards, if it takes longer you have more time to try different things out. Vintage guitar shops are a great way to compare and the results can surprise you. I found out I liked Byrdlands, didn't like JSs and wouldn't trade my 125 for a 175, none of which I'd have guessed if I hadn't played them.

Thanks guys!

I've though of Godin (the guitar shop I have my layaway at is a Godin dealer) - I'm just not sure if I want to go back to a 16" body size (I've had a few Gretsches with 16" bodies). I've also thought about higher end Ibanezes, but from looking at the Ibanez website (yep, the same guitar shop also sells Ibanez, and Gibson, and Fender), the largest sized guitars they make have 16" bodies. Oh well.

**Longways to Go** · 04-29-2016, 05:04 PM

Do you not like the jazz sounds from your Gretch? Seems like it should be quite capable of getting a great jazz tone (in spite of bigsby! LOL). I had a cheap Gretch for a while, and it sounded very nice, but I didn't care much for the thin neck. I played a really nice upper end Gretch once (sorry I don't know their models well) and it had a couple of tone switches that made for some wonderful jazz tones. Maybe just a heavy string guage and trying some different tone positions might break free some new sounds . . .

**dallasblues** · 04-29-2016, 05:26 PM

Peerless, Eastman, Epiphone, The Loar, Gretsch, D'Angelico, Ibanez, Aria, Samick?

I certainly haven't tried all of them but I've read good things.

**RonD** · 04-29-2016, 05:36 PM

Hi Ellen,
Don't know if this is of any interest, but I thought I'd pass it along.
As you know, I kinda like my new Peerless!
https://reverb.com/item/2080888-vv-i...t#policies-tab

Cheers, Ron

**snoskier63** · 04-29-2016, 06:02 PM

This is your answer...

Handmade Jazz guitar supplier in China---Yolanda Team

Check out this site, then search the threads here for testimonials. Several forum members have had guitars made by this person with excellent results. You choose the dimensions, finish, etc, and they make it for you. Shipped to your door will be around $1200 for a carved archtop. You may have an added expense to upgrade the electronics, which for another $500 will still have you in a handmade archtop for around $1700 or less.

**EllenGtrGrl** · 04-30-2016, 12:29 AM

Originally Posted by Longways to Go

Do you not like the jazz sounds from your Gretch? Seems like it should be quite capable of getting a great jazz tone (in spite of bigsby! LOL). I had a cheap Gretch for a while, and it sounded very nice, but I didn't care much for the thin neck. I played a really nice upper end Gretch once (sorry I don't know their models well) and it had a couple of tone switches that made for some wonderful jazz tones. Maybe just a heavy string guage and trying some different tone positions might break free some new sounds . . .

Oh I do. There are just times, when I wish it was a bit darker sounding, but I'll just spend more time, tweaking my Supro Duo Tone's settings, to darken things up a bit more. I've had quite a few Gretsches since I got my first one back in 2002, and in retrospect, I think I was kind of looking for a change of pace guitar-wise, by going in a more Gibson-like direction (for a long time [from 1983-1999], I was mainly a Gibson player). Still, I realized today, that I'd regret not getting the Country Club, so I paid it off after work today. It's now being re-fretted, with Jescar Evo Gold frets (which are hypoallergenic), due to my nickel allergy.

**EllenGtrGrl** · 04-30-2016, 02:55 PM

Just and additional thought - while I've closed the deal on the Gretsch Country Club, I still have a hankering for something a bit more traditional. I will start saving (or maybe as an alternative get via a payment plan from zZounds or Sweetwater - I've bought a couple of guitars in that manner) for something like waht was suggested by many of you in this thread. I've received a ton of ideas for all of you. Thanks!

**jazz.fred** · 05-07-2016, 10:23 AM

Hey Ellen,

I had always thought that the Country Club was Gretsch's effort at a Jazz Guitar. Is this incorrect?

**Greentone** · 05-07-2016, 11:40 AM

I've played my share of old Country Clubs. I liked every one of them. They are certainly Gretsch's effort to produce an electric jazz guitar. (On the acoustic side, the El Dorado was Gretsch's premier jazz entry.)

Of course, what any Gretsch player wouldn't have given for a tone knob. The "mud switch" only offered two levels of capacitor induced rolloff of the bright, trebly tone. The three knobs on the lap side of the guitar are the two pickup volumes and the master volume, as per the Chet Atkins guitars. (I owned two CA6120 Nashvilles back then.)

I loved playing jazz on my Gretsches, but I left the mud switch in the middle--no capacitor in place, tone bright--and controlled tone rolloff from the amplifier. IIRC, on a Fender Deluxe Reverb I used to set the controls at Volume = 4, Bass = 5, Treble = 1-ish. I'd have the two pickup volumes on full, the pickup selector on the neck pickup, and control everything from the master volume.

I think you will enjoy your Country Club. With flatwound strings on it, you really tame the twangy, Gretsch thing. Try Thomastik-Infeld Swing .12-.50 or .13-.53 gauge on the CC. The tension of the strings is low, and the strings last at least a year.