Would you work a Jazz Gig with a Fender Telecaster or Stratocaster?

**Big Ron** · 12-29-2009, 11:43 PM

How many of you folks would go work a jazz gig with a Tele or a Strat?

Ron (inquiring minds want to know)

**Curtis.Nunley** · 12-30-2009, 12:10 AM

Check out ted green, mike stern, gene edwards and bill frisell. I would certainly play a tele with a humbucker at the neck, it but it would not be my preference.

There is a semi hollow body tele that you should check out. It sounds very nice.

**GodinFan** · 12-30-2009, 12:16 AM

I'd play a Tele. The Strat just looks too rock and or roll to me.

**Innerurge1** · 12-30-2009, 12:32 AM

I would play any guitar out there- even BC richs if they sounded good... I dont care about what a guitar looks like, I just care about tone and feel

**heavyblues** · 12-30-2009, 12:38 AM

honestly, I have an archtop and a "jazz strat"....
my strat has flatwound 12's, wenge/brazilian rosewood neck, and SD little 59 paf-type mini-humbucker in the neck. You would be surprised how jazzy this thing sounds!! I compare it to my Ibanez AF95 with the same strings and Gibby 57 in the neck, and I must say they sound different, but both equally jazzy and the strat is dark, with nice waaarm mids. I just put the little 59 tone control in the 7 position, and its perfect! However, I suggest if you get a warmoth neck like I did, that you get the fat back, so it can easily support 12 gauge strings (or 13's?) in standard tuning. I love warmoth necks, and they are smooth and probably shouldn't need any fretwork at all straight out of the box (like mine)

**Funkwire** · 12-30-2009, 12:45 AM

If it sounded good and played well, sure. I was at a jazz club a couple of weeks back and the guitar player 'played' a 'solo' on his iPhone. After that, a Tele or a Strat is practically purist!

**Space Pickle** · 12-30-2009, 12:51 AM

I only have a Strat, so yes.

**bkdavidson** · 12-30-2009, 01:07 AM

My former jazz teacher played a '57 Strat with a maple fingerboard (not rosewood) and used light gauge GHS Boomers (not heavy flatwounds) for strings. He had one of the most amazing jazz tones I've ever heard. If you can get a sound you like out of it, use whatever you want.

**Stackabones** · 12-30-2009, 01:20 AM

Yes. I've even played jazz on flat tops and even a ukulele. Jazz is music, not gear.

**Jake Hanlon** · 12-30-2009, 08:15 AM

Yes and I have.

I had a Tele for about 3 years and played it semi regularily on Jazz gigs and really liked the sound, but it had some hardware problems and would require constant tuning as opposed to say my 335 which only needed tuning before a set. The Tele I had needed to be tuned sometimes between songs even tuning after a solo sometimes depending on the room, weather but that was purely an issue with that guitar.

My first Teacher when I was in undergrad is a Strat user still and his sound is awesome. It's not some sort of conventional circa 1959 jazz guitar sound but a beautiful sound is a beautiful sound.

**mr. beaumont** · 12-30-2009, 12:55 PM

yep, i have a tele set up for jazz and i gig it regularly. teles make great jazz guitars, single coil or humbucker. but humbuckers are for sissies.

**whippersnapper** · 12-30-2009, 02:56 PM

I do on a regular basis. I have a couple of Tele's and an old Strat and think the Tele lipstick has more midrange and sounds warmer... and I think it just looks cooler

**Big Ron** · 12-30-2009, 03:49 PM

Thanks guys, look at all the L5 CES money you saved me.

Ron (suffering from recently selling almost out of gear - but has a Tele and a Strat)

**kempini** · 12-30-2009, 04:17 PM

A Strat for jazz? Most definitely. Check 'Jammin' Jazz' on Youtube

**JohnRosett** · 12-30-2009, 04:49 PM

Sure I would. Heck, I play mandolin on most of the jazz gigs I play, so I have no shame.

**TieDyedDevil** · 12-30-2009, 08:22 PM

Originally Posted by Stackabones

Jazz is music, not gear.

**heavyblues** · 12-30-2009, 09:48 PM

i want a 72 thinline now :-)

**wizard3739** · 12-30-2009, 11:32 PM

My home grown tele is my backup guitar and is great for jazz.

wiz

**cosmic gumbo** · 12-31-2009, 02:28 AM

A strat is one of my jazz guitars.

**NSJ** · 12-31-2009, 07:55 AM

Here's a question--how does a Strat compare to a Tele? I have actually never played a Strat---to me, it was always known as the guitars required to get that kind of IRON MAIDEN sound.

Now, on the other hand, I love my Tele.

**JazzyJim** · 12-31-2009, 10:28 AM

Originally Posted by NSJ

Here's a question--how does a Strat compare to a Tele? I have actually never played a Strat---to me, it was always known as the guitars required to get that kind of IRON MAIDEN sound.

Now, on the other hand, I love my Tele.

Not all Strats are created equally, but I generally find Strats to be more "springy" and "scooped" sounding than Tele's, which I feel are stronger in the midrange and generally more rigid sounding. You can tame some of the characteristic springy Strat sound by blocking the trem (or using a hardtail) but in my experience that tonal trait never completely disappears, even with radical pickup changes. I also personally feel that the volume and tone controls on Telecasters are more useful to me than on Strats. Factoring that in with the bridge design, I think Tele's make "better" jazz guitars than Strats, though I certainly wouldn't be against jazzing with either - funnily enough, my main jazz guitar is a Tele, but my favourite playing guitar I own is a Strat...
FWIW, my main influences are Bill Frisell, Ed Bickert and Jim Campilongo and they all play Teles, so perhaps that's why I like them so much.

**Big Ron** · 12-31-2009, 11:56 AM

There are as many sounds out of a Tele as there are types of Teles but mine has SD Hotrails installed in it which gives it a great tone all across the bass - treble board.

My Strat on the other hand is stock, and it is brighter and chimey compared to the mofidifed Tele. The thing with a Strat is you have three pickups and five positions to set them with and against each other. So typically a Strat has wider range of tone, and more places to stop in the range.

Physically I'm a big guy and I like the comfort of playing the Strat more than the sharp edges of the Tele. I had a late model Deluxe Tele that had the scoop cutaway on the back but it didn't have anything like the sound of this Hotrail 52 Reissue so I sold it and kept the 52 RI.

From comfort and feel's sake if I just had to wear a guitar around all day I would choose the Strat in a heartbeat. Both of the necks on mine are maple, the finish on the Tele is more amber but they feel just about the same to me.

Ron

**hot ford coupe** · 12-31-2009, 12:14 PM

I already done did it with both. I was happy with the Tele more than the Strat. With the shape of my gut, that custom cutaway section on the back makes the guitar sit funny on me. It sets the instrument flatter on me and I have to fight it to keep it straight. Maybe I should lose some weight. Then the Strat would sit right.

**Big Ron** · 12-31-2009, 12:31 PM

Just don't get an Ovation. It has it's own gut. I wish I had a big full size acoustic that had the carving and stuff like an Ovation but a flat back.

**cosmic gumbo** · 12-31-2009, 06:55 PM

Originally Posted by NSJ

Here's a question--how does a Strat compare to a Tele? I have actually never played a Strat---to me, it was always known as the guitars required to get that kind of IRON MAIDEN sound.

Now, on the other hand, I love my Tele.

With different pick up and switching configurations, they each have their own personality. A stock strat doesn't give you a neck+bridge pick up combination choice and you have no tone control for the bridge pick up.