Quote Originally Posted by Chazmo
Hi Bill, congratulations on playing a great guitar and taking up jazz. Sounds great.

A lot of jazz guitars with floating pickups have only a volume knob, no tone control. Players of archtops with a floating pickup usually want the acoustic properties of the guitar to shine through, as opposed to guitars with set in pickups like L-5 CESs and ES-175s that are more electric sounding. Your guitar has that acoustic tone in spades, as evidenced from your video. As Stringswinger says, it's nice to be able to adjust tone on the fly, but not necessarily essential. Unlike rock or fusion players, many jazz guitarists have only one sound they go for. Adjust it once at the beginning of the gig or playing session and leave it. The adjusting can be done at the amp.

I have a Godin acoustic archtop with no volume or tone controls. The original owner of the guitar wired the pickup straight through to the jack and sound of the pickup itself is what you hear through the amp. That's okay because the pickup is a vey nice and jazzy sounding (it's a Bartolini 5J Johnny Smith-style). Because I embrace the acoustic tone of this guitar, I usually have the amp EQ pretty much flat (controls at 12 o'clock), but I can cut or boost bass, mids, or treble as required for the venue. EQing is a whole 'nother subject.
Thanks Chazmo for your kind words and encouragement!

So much to learn and not nearly enough time available. Like I've said before, I only regret that I didn't tackle jazz music many years ago. I am having great fun however and seeing some progress. This forum and all the many great contributors are an incredible resource for learning and encouragement!

Bill