1952 ES 350 through Mambo 10

**DB's Jazz Guitar Blog** · 07-28-2020, 03:24 PM

All EQ flat. Only added some reverb. With a 10" speaker, the Mambo has less bottom end than my Polytone with the 15" speaker of course.

The impro contains the original DB Woody Woodpecker Motif.

DB

**neatomic** · 07-28-2020, 03:35 PM

nice..that wonderful guitar sounds good thru anything!! but i think the 10" benefits the quickness of the attack of the single coil pickup

cheers

**lawson-stone** · 07-28-2020, 03:59 PM

Such a soulful and powerful delivery of that great tune. The guitar and the player both deliver the goods and make it happen.

**wzpgsr** · 07-28-2020, 07:53 PM

Is that a master volume instead of a switch?

**PDeville** · 07-28-2020, 10:13 PM

Do you find your ES-350 to be fairly lightweight? A friend of mine had two of them years ago, and one of his was just under 7lbs. Not bad, I thought, but I've seen L7C from that era at 5.5 lbs!
The bracing and heavier tops must have been the difference, I suppose. Or is it the laminated wood?

Nice playing as always, Dutch bopper.

**DB's Jazz Guitar Blog** · 07-29-2020, 06:20 AM

Originally Posted by neatomic

nice..that wonderful guitar sounds good thru anything!! but i think the 10" benefits the quickness of the attack of the single coil pickup cheers

Thanks. Yeah I have been wondering about that. Do smaller speakers actually move faster than bigger ones? Makes sense ...

DB

**DB's Jazz Guitar Blog** · 07-29-2020, 06:43 AM

Originally Posted by wzpgsr

Is that a master volume instead of a switch?

No. There are 2 volume knobs on the lower treble bout and what you see on the cutaway bout is the master tone knob. You can mix the 2 pups by adjusting the amount of volume on each pup. But I only use the neck pup so the volume of the bridge pup is all down.

DB

**DB's Jazz Guitar Blog** · 07-29-2020, 06:49 AM

Originally Posted by PDeville

Do you find your ES-350 to be fairly lightweight? A friend of mine had two of them years ago, and one of his was just under 7lbs. Not bad, I thought, but I've seen L7C from that era at 5.5 lbs!
The bracing and heavier tops must have been the difference, I suppose. Or is it the laminated wood?

Nice playing as always, Dutch bopper.

Thanks. Yes the 350 is a fairly lightweight guitar. The laminate plates used on vintage guitars of this era are thinner. My 1998 Tal Farlow is way heavier!

The thinner plates not only result in less weight but in a much more responsive guitar too with a far better and louder acoustic sound as modern lamines.

I actually recorded the clip below with the 350 unamplified.

DB

**ruger9** · 07-29-2020, 07:27 AM

Man, I love those old 350s!!! And you make it sound divine!

**neatomic** · 07-29-2020, 01:19 PM

Originally Posted by DB's Jazz Guitar Blog

Thanks. Yeah I have been wondering about that. Do smaller speakers actually move faster than bigger ones?

yes they do...smaller speakers have better transient response (the ability to react to fast changes in frequency and volume)...primarily due to mass vs magnet energy...which translates to a more dynamic and responsive speaker

the caveat being a larger speaker generally can reproduce low frequencies better

tho if you have ever stood in front of an ampeg svt sealed 8x10 cab, the transient response is like no other...& the sound literally pounds against your chest..(and from 10 feet + away!!!)

cheers

**jpb** · 07-30-2020, 05:01 AM

What a tone! You seem to play even better with this ES-350...more relaxed...more bluesy..

**jzucker** · 07-30-2020, 07:03 AM

sounds wonderful.

**Marinero** · 07-30-2020, 07:45 AM

Well, DB,
This was certainly a departure from most of your musical offerings which are predominately upbeat, hard-bop tempos. I enjoyed the pensive nature of your interpretation of this classic and some of the simple, clean linear lines juxtaposed to your improvisations. You've got a classic sound and your use of breathing and vibrato showed me a different side to your playing/personality which I'd like to see more. Beautiful playing. Play live . . . Marinero

**DB's Jazz Guitar Blog** · 07-30-2020, 10:41 AM

Originally Posted by Marinero

Well, DB,
This was certainly a departure from most of your musical offerings which are predominately upbeat, hard-bop tempos. I enjoyed the pensive nature of your interpretation of this classic and some of the simple, clean linear lines juxtaposed to your improvisations. You've got a classic sound and your use of breathing and vibrato showed me a different side to your playing/personality which I'd like to see more. Beautiful playing. Play live . . . Marinero

Thanks for the thoughtful reply. Herb Ellis once said he was actually a blues player at heart. I kind of tend to think the same about myself. Before I embarked on jazz I was a blues player for many years. The blues always pops up in my playing but even more on slow tunes.

I kind of like blowing over changes - and probably do that too often - but I think I am better at playing ballads, to be honest. I invariably get the most positive feedbck when playing ballads.

DB

**DB's Jazz Guitar Blog** · 07-30-2020, 10:46 AM

Originally Posted by jpb

What a tone! You seem to play even better with this ES-350...more relaxed...more bluesy..

Yeah, the relaxation thing is a huge issue for me. After all these years, I still tend to freeze when there is a camera on my fingers. Especially on faster tempi and that can sound a bit strained. So what I can do effortlessly without a camera is often a bit strained in the vids. On ballads I tend to relax more and you hear that.

It kind of sucks but my best solos are those that are totally relaxed and therefore never recorded.

DB

**sgosnell** · 07-30-2020, 09:05 PM

The time it takes an object to stop and reverse direction is a function of its inertia, which is a function of its mass, not its size. But since we're discussing effects here on earth, the area of the speaker is also involved, because it takes time and power to move a speaker cone against the ambient room air, which imposes some resistance to its movement. Then there is the stiffness of the cone, which isn't dependent on size, but does affect movement. So of course a smaller speaker cone is more responsive, and can change direction more quickly. How much all that affects actual cones is a complicated issue, but there is at least some theoretical difference. In the end, the real deciding factor is how the speaker sounds with the amp. And that's a matter of opinion, not physics.

**jzucker** · 07-30-2020, 11:15 PM

Dick, you always sound wonderful. I think you'd really like the raezer's edge luna if you ever get a chance to play one. To me, it's one step beyond the mambo in terms of warmth and character.

**christianm77** · 07-31-2020, 05:14 AM

Sounds great. I think you found the one!

**DB's Jazz Guitar Blog** · 07-31-2020, 10:43 AM

Originally Posted by christianm77

Sounds great. I think you found the one!

O yeah. No doubt about it. Special thanks Mr. C!

DB

**DB's Jazz Guitar Blog** · 07-31-2020, 10:44 AM

Originally Posted by jzucker

Dick, you always sound wonderful. I think you'd really like the raezer's edge luna if you ever get a chance to play one. To me, it's one step beyond the mambo in terms of warmth and character.

Thanks Jack. I will have to find out where I can check out these amps over here. Will do!

DB