The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
Reply to Thread Bookmark Thread
Page 10 of 12 FirstFirst ... 89101112 LastLast
Posts 226 to 250 of 277
  1. #226

    User Info Menu

    Quote Originally Posted by GNAPPI
    Fender floated the JA90. A respectable all around set neck tele thinline.


    Attachment 64039
    Yes I did look at that and wouldn’t mind owning one but then I’ll be missing out on all the fun of building, experimenting, improvising the design.....

    So far this guitar cost me just a little over $100, but the fun..... Pricele$$!

    (Not counting the Antiquity P90 I had laying around btw)

  2.  

    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #227

    User Info Menu

    I've just started a thinline build that I very much hope will be great for jazz - using an ash body, chambered both sides and below the bridge, made to order by a nice chap in the UK, and a one piece maple neck bought a while ago, again in the UK, but I suspect made somewhere in Asia. All decent quality anyhow. This will have the classic brass saddle ashtray type bridge - I kind of have to have that, although it's to be a Gotoh unit that has the sides cut down and compensated saddles. Neck pickup will probably be a GFS Surf 90 that I used to love when I had it in another guitar. Bridge is a hand wound Broadcaster type by Mojo, a UK pickup maker - not so important to me as the neck pickup, but still should be good.

    Fender Telecaster for Jazz. Which one?-dsc01341-jpgFender Telecaster for Jazz. Which one?-dsc01378-jpgFender Telecaster for Jazz. Which one?-dsc01379-jpg

  4. #228

    User Info Menu

    All of this customizing in this thread aside, no one is going to criticize Ed Bickert's tone, and he just used a standard tele for the first part of his career, then he just slapped a humbucker in the neck later on. Can't dismiss Ed because he doesn't sound like an L5!

  5. #229

    User Info Menu

    Quote Originally Posted by Doug B
    All of this customizing in this thread aside, no one is going to criticize Ed Bickert's tone, and he just used a standard tele for the first part of his career, then he just slapped a humbucker in the neck later on. Can't dismiss Ed because he doesn't sound like an L5!
    What? Leaving a guitar as is? No mods? No customising??

    Kidding of course, I hear ya and you’re right. But that was not the goal..... ;-)

  6. #230

    User Info Menu

    Okay, assembled the Tele today with flatwounds (TI). Sounds pretty darn good! Nut is still too high, frets definitely need leveling (hey, the neck was $38, what did ya expect?). Results so far:

    1. Love the 24.75 scale on a tele!
    2. Wow, the Antiquity is a great pickup. But the dogear is too high - like I suspected it would be - I keep hitting it with my pick. I have a soapbar bottom plate, I can build the pickup into a soapbar (easy enough), but then the guitar will need some kind of pickguard to hide the cutout (was a cutout for humbucker that I enlarged). I shimmed the neck, but now the saddles are very high (maxed out)
    3. Love the mahogany neck! It does give the same (type of) resonance as on my 125 and 333!
    4. There is ‘ploc’ on the high strings!
    5. No, it doesn’t sound like a 125 (as was to be expected) but it does steer much more into that direction than my other thinline Tele with Fender scale maple neck, so the mahogany 24.75” neck is a part of that sound!
    6. The bass strings have a little too much metalic ‘zzing’ to my taste. Is that the bridge?? Could also be the string height, I was able to put them high enough to avoid stringbuzz, but there’s still some ‘interaction’ with the frets.

    Things to do:
    1. Fretlevel
    2. Installing a proper cut bone nut
    3. Install a metal jack output plate
    4. Finishing/spraying the guitar

    I am contemplating about changing the bridge for something rosewood with a (short) trapeze. I was thinking of using only the top part of an archtop bridge with the posts directly into the wood, but of course (lack of) clearance under the strings is the restraining factor....

    I’ll record some sounds later on!

  7. #231

    User Info Menu

    If I go for a dogear and pickguard, I go for something like this (but in tortoise):


  8. #232

    User Info Menu

    As promised: sounds!

    I definitely need to replace the dogear P90 for a soapbar.... it’s impossible to set it up right like this: it needs a shim right now to fit the dogear under the strings but the sadles are raised to their max now. You can clearly hear the buzzing and choked notes.


  9. #233

    User Info Menu

    Sounds great. Playing too.

  10. #234

    User Info Menu

    Quote Originally Posted by Rob MacKillop
    Sounds great. Playing too.
    Plus one on that!

    To soften or eliminate the bass string's "zing", you might try a thin strip of leather (chamois or an old strap) or somesuch over the brass of the offending strings. Just a thought.

  11. #235

    User Info Menu

    Quote Originally Posted by citizenk74
    Plus one on that!

    To soften or eliminate the bass string's "zing", you might try a thin strip of leather (chamois or an old strap) or somesuch over the brass of the offending strings. Just a thought.
    That’s a good one! Might give it more of a wood bridge-like response!

  12. #236

    User Info Menu

    Thru this phone and Youtube it is impossible to say if it sounds like ES125 or a tele (not so much) but it sounds darn good!

    Might be Your playing too... or then it is the Antiquity pickup!

    I wonder in which direction would Gibson type bridge (more shims to the pocket) transfer the sound.

    Anyway, great project.

  13. #237

    User Info Menu

    Quote Originally Posted by Herbie
    Thru this phone and Youtube it is impossible to say if it sounds like ES125 or a tele (not so much) but it sounds darn good!

    Might be Your playing too... or then it is the Antiquity pickup!

    I wonder in which direction would Gibson type bridge (more shims to the pocket) transfer the sound.

    Anyway, great project.
    Thanks! Well I can tell you it doesn’t exactly sound like my ES-125 but it’s not far off!

    Yes I am contemplating about a Gibson-type bridge myself as well. I was thinking bridge posts into the wood carrying the top part of a rosewood archtop bridge. I have a couple of archtop bridges laying around, but no clue how to install those bridge posts directly into the wood without bridge studs (I don’t want to install studs - I don’t have them and seems too invasive if I decide not to keep them).

  14. #238

    User Info Menu

    Quote Originally Posted by Little Jay
    Thanks! Well I can tell you it doesn’t exactly sound like my ES-125 but it’s not far off!

    Yes I am contemplating about a Gibson-type bridge myself as well. I was thinking bridge posts into the wood carrying the top part of a rosewood archtop bridge. I have a couple of archtop bridges laying around, but no clue how to install those bridge posts directly into the wood without bridge studs (I don’t want to install studs - I don’t have them and seems too invasive if I decide not to keep them).
    Why not just buy one of these:
    https://shop.rall-online.net/epages/...6&Locale=en_GB
    (don’t know anything about the seller, this is the first link I found) and put that rosewood bridge in to it?

    You like rosewood, have You tested ebony ones?

  15. #239

    User Info Menu

    Hmm, with a bridge base I have to completely alter the neck’s angle, to get sufficient height. Shimming won’t get me there, I would have to alter the neck pocket, look for different length neck screws.... that goes a little beyond what I had in mind (and perhaps beyond my skills as well).

    With only the top part of the bridge and with the posts directly into the body I might get away with only shimming the neck.

    And usually I prefer rosewood indeed, but in the case of my Ibanez AF55 rosewood sounded too muffled and I used an ebony bridge. So it depends on the guitar really.

  16. #240

    User Info Menu

    Quote Originally Posted by Little Jay
    Hmm, with a bridge base I have to completely alter the neck’s angle, to get sufficient height. Shimming won’t get me there, I would have to alter the neck pocket, look for different length neck screws.... that goes a little beyond what I had in mind (and perhaps beyond my skills as well).

    With only the top part of the bridge and with the posts directly into the body I might get away with only shimming the neck.

    And usually I prefer rosewood indeed, but in the case of my Ibanez AF55 rosewood sounded too muffled and I used an ebony bridge. So it depends on the guitar really.
    This is why I have considered to purchase a unrouted tele body so that I can give it and the neck to a luthier to be attached professionally to the right angle. Although my plans are for a solid body tele, so it would go with ABR-1 type bridge. And the trapeze tailpiece.

    I was amazed how different the rosewood and ebony bridges sound. In my ES175 VOS the rosewood sounded hard and thin when the ebony was lively and musical. But the stock rosewood bridge has two brass holes for the height screws so the might cause something too.

  17. #241

    User Info Menu

    Hope I’m not boring you too much with this project..... but I booked a little more progress:

    Found a satisfying solution for the somewhat overly bright bass-response of the bridge:



    I removed the saddles and cut the top piece of an old archtop bridge to length and the right height. It comes from and old Japanese guitar and is actually plastic with a rosewood insert piece. But voilà! The metalic zzinggg is gone and added bonus: less sustain. Both a good thing for imitation of an archtop-like string response!

    I replaced the Antiquity dogear for a Chinese soapbar (out of a Fender Modern Player Thinline P90). This fits much better and the guitar is now probably set up. Although this pickup is not bad at all, I could immediately hear the difference with the Antiquity..... so I will tranfer the guts of the Antiquity into the soapbar housing!

    With the soapbar I need a scratch plate, I found an $8 tortoise example that will look fine I think:



    I have to trim it it to fit. I will go for this shape:


  18. #242

    User Info Menu

    Wow, that's an innovative solution!

    If You want a bit of free string space behind the bridge to imitate archtop's trapeze tail piece, You can move the tele bridge plate away from neck and move Your new bridge where it should be. You can even cut the bridge plate so that there is the end part only left.

    When the strings do not go thru body holes You can move the bridge plate more freely.

  19. #243

    User Info Menu

    Your tele is starting to get very cool indeed ....
    3 a side head , mahog , medium scale , wooden saddle
    p90 in the neck ...

    my kind of tele !

    Is the plastic/wood bridge floating ?
    is it just held in place by string pressure ?

  20. #244

    User Info Menu

    Quote Originally Posted by pingu
    Your tele is starting to get very cool indeed ....
    3 a side head , mahog , medium scale , wooden saddle
    p90 in the neck ...

    my kind of tele !

    Is the plastic/wood bridge floating ?
    is it just held in place by string pressure ?
    Yes the bridge is not fixed, just being held in place by the strings. You can move it around for intonation. Of course, adjustments in height are more difficult....

  21. #245

    User Info Menu

    Quote Originally Posted by Herbie
    Wow, that's an innovative solution!

    If You want a bit of free string space behind the bridge to imitate archtop's trapeze tail piece, You can move the tele bridge plate away from neck and move Your new bridge where it should be. You can even cut the bridge plate so that there is the end part only left.

    When the strings do not go thru body holes You can move the bridge plate more freely.
    That’s a great idea! Hadn’t thought of that! You can find the ideal “after length” and angle you like. That really does something with the feel and string pressure.

  22. #246

    User Info Menu

    This is an interesting thread. Your tele sounds very good and the playing is also awesome.

    I have been planning to build a jazz tele too, and as I also have an old es-125 that I love, it has been really interesting to see how your project turned out so far. I especially love your new bridge, and might try that on an ordinary tele build that I am doing. I am just a beginning hobbyist when it comes to building. Made recently a strat with a charlie christian pickup in the neck and even if that still needs some fine tuning I am building a tele now.

    what I like most about the Es-125 besides the sound, is the neck. If I were to build a guitar to chase the es-125 vibe, I’d start with building a replica of that neck, as close to the original as possible. I already have some african mahogany for that. I’d also position the pickup exactly at the same position. A lollar charlie christian would do, as vintage dogears would be to hard to find and I love the cc. And I would want the bridge to be just like the one on my es-125.

    Now, the body construction would need some thinking. I definitely would love to have a fully resonating top. But building the whole quitar the acoustic way would maybe too much (for my current skill level, at least) and beside the point. So I have been thinking a heavily chambered body with an arched spruce top could do. Of course it wouldnt still sound like an archtop guitar, but maybe it would sound jazzy enough. I am not interested in building another basic thinline tele as I already have one that I love.

    The overall shape would either be a tele but I have also been thinking it could maybe be like a benedetto bambino too.

    please do post a video with the new bridge!

    cheers
    Jonni

  23. #247

    User Info Menu

    Quote Originally Posted by Jonni
    This is an interesting thread. Your tele sounds very good and the playing is also awesome.
    Thanks!

    Quote Originally Posted by Jonni
    I have been planning to build a jazz tele too, and as I also have an old es-125 that I love, it has been really interesting to see how your project turned out so far. I especially love your new bridge, and might try that on an ordinary tele build that I am doing. I am just a beginning hobbyist when it comes to building. Made recently a strat with a charlie christian pickup in the neck and even if that still needs some fine tuning I am building a tele now.
    I am only an amateur with very few tools, so that limits my options to adjusting pre-fab parts unfortunately, otherwise I would have just built this from scratch exactly to my liking but it’s great to experiment this way and find out what every change does.

    Quote Originally Posted by Jonni
    what I like most about the Es-125 besides the sound, is the neck. If I were to build a guitar to chase the es-125 vibe, I’d start with building a replica of that neck, as close to the original as possible. I already have some african mahogany for that. I’d also position the pickup exactly at the same position. A lollar charlie christian would do, as vintage dogears would be to hard to find and I love the cc. And I would want the bridge to be just like the one on my es-125.
    Exactly the reason I went for the 24.75” scale. Fortunately the frets and shape of the Chinese neck are very much alike my ES-125’s (I guess they imitate modern Les Paul necks and Gibson didn’t change their necks that much over the years), it’s also quite a meaty neck, but more a flattened D shape where the ES-125 is more a C (more curve in the back). But it feels good!

    The pickup sits in the same place as the pickup in my ES-125, btw.

    Quote Originally Posted by Jonni
    Now, the body construction would need some thinking. I definitely would love to have a fully resonating top. But building the whole quitar the acoustic way would maybe too much (for my current skill level, at least) and beside the point. So I have been thinking a heavily chambered body with an arched spruce top could do. Of course it wouldnt still sound like an archtop guitar, but maybe it would sound jazzy enough. I am not interested in building another basic thinline tele as I already have one that I love.
    I looked for a hollow tele body, even flat top, but couldn’t find anything cheap enough for my experimentation, so I settled for the readily available thinline design as the next best thing.

    Quote Originally Posted by Jonni
    The overall shape would either be a tele but I have also been thinking it could maybe be like a benedetto bambino too.

    please do post a video with the new bridge!
    Will try to do a video soon!
    Last edited by Little Jay; 08-27-2019 at 07:01 AM.

  24. #248

    User Info Menu

    Just finished the scratch plate.... lots of work since nothing is standard anymore. Had to reshape it from this:


    ...to this:


    I also changed to a standard metal control plate, since that fitted the cut out in the scratch plate.

    If I find a bridge pickup for a reasonable price I might install that since the cutout is already there (although I didn’t plan for a bridge pickup).

    Now it’s almost time to stain and finish it... I am thinking a walnut or worn brown stain with a thin clear coat....

    Video with sounds hopefully later today!

  25. #249

    User Info Menu

    Quote Originally Posted by Herbie
    Maybe this should be a thread of its own, but has anybody experience on B&G Little Sister guitars? Private Build or Crossroads models? They come with their own P90 or humbucker.

    I played once a humbucker version for a 3 minutes. It has definitely its own solid feeling. I am looking for a P90 version for a decent price, maybe used. Have not seen very many second hand ones.

    Hmm... maybe this is not quite teleish... but a bit like ES125'ish!

    Electric Guitars - B&G Guitars

    Attachment 63411Attachment 63412
    Herbie,

    I have one. P90 Crossroads version. I love it!

    Albert

  26. #250

    User Info Menu

    Quote Originally Posted by AKA
    Herbie,
    I have one. P90 Crossroads version. I love it!

    Albert
    Congrats! P90 Crossroads is in my radar too!

    What do You play with it, jazz or rock or heavy or what? Solo gigs or with a loud drummer? Does it feedback easily?