The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #1

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    I know there was a thread a year ago on this, but HERE IT IS.

    Heavenly tone... Ron Ellis pickups.


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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #2

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    sounds great...and julian sure appears to be diggin it!...part of me, as longtime gretsch fan, wishes it had gretsch on the headstock and tv jones pups...but heck, even if it doesn't, it sounds great just as it is...kudos to collings, ellis and lage...nice

    been sayin for years..dynas are great jazz pups!...just got to roll the guitar tone knob back a bit


    cheers

  4. #3
    Makes me want to put the TV Jones T-Armonds back into my thinline Cabronita, it ain't a Jet, but it's kinda' Fender's idea of one LOL. (I have also ordered a Bigsby for it... but I'm a Bigsby kinda' guy)

    Julian Lage's new Collings (Gretsch Duo Jet copy)-cabronita-t-armonds-jpg

  5. #4

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    Quote Originally Posted by neatomic
    sounds great...and julian sure appears to be diggin it!...part of me, as longtime gretsch fan, wishes it had gretsch on the headstock and tv jones pups...but heck, even if it doesn't, it sounds great just as it is...kudos to collings, ellis and lage...nice

    been sayin for years..dynas are great jazz pups!...just got to roll the guitar tone knob back a bit


    cheers
    I have Dynas in my 83 Epi Emperor... probably the most under-rated jazz guitar pickup there is! Absolutely love them. The other great thing is for a single coil pickup, there is nowhere as much hum as something like a P-90 or even a Tele pickup.

  6. #5

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    sounds pretty good. if only it had cooler inlays, a cooler headstock, a cooler pickguard and a more interesting finish. i wonder what those are called, and if they are several thousand dollars cheaper than this.

    but this still pretty neat.

  7. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by feet
    sounds pretty good. If only it had cooler inlays, a cooler headstock, a cooler pickguard and a more interesting finish. I wonder what those are called, and if they are several thousand dollars cheaper than this.

    but this still pretty neat.
    haha!!!

  8. #7

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    I'm with feet. This doesn't make me want a collings, it makes me want a 50s Gretsch.

  9. #8
    This is the (current) Gretsch '53 "Reissue" of the DuoJet Lage has been playing in recent years, with Bigsby, $2500

    Gretsch G6128T-53 Vintage Select Edition '53 Duo Jet - Black | Sweetwater

  10. #9

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    i don't mean to besmirch the man, the company or the music, but not only could you get a custom shop gretsch for less than that, you could (possibly) get a vintage one for less. $7000 is a fair bit of change for a less cool looking guitar that may not be better than what's available, aside from having two names attached to it. whatever. he's a great player and he seems happy with it, so good for him. i hope it brings happiness to all it touches.

    i will say i don't like the slightly different body shape, though.

    guess i may as well post this again, too.



    and i really like what they are doing with the duo jets these days. i don't really get the vintage vs player thing, but i love all the new colors. would sooner pick up one with dynas and one with filters and still have enough for a third for the price of the collings. value!

  11. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by feet
    and i really like what they are doing with the duo jets these days. i don't really get the vintage vs player thing, but i love all the new colors. would sooner pick up one with dynas and one with filters and still have enough for a third for the price of the collings. value!
    IDK all the differences, but one of them is kinda big:

    The Vintage Select have floating wood bridges, and B6 Bigsby's (no tension bar)

    The Players are stud-mounted metal bridges, and B5 Bigsby's (with tension bars)

  12. #11

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    these days the "players" appellation usually means getting rid of the things that made the guitar cool in the first place...like putting center blocks in hollowbodys, fixed bridges instead of floaters, tension bar bigsbys, moving trem & bridge location around, flatter neck radiuses, lookalike but differently designed pickups, etc etc

    the "players" must be gettin lazy..want convenience instead of the very og tone & feel they wish to emulate...oh well

    cheers

  13. #12

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    Quote Originally Posted by ruger9
    IDK all the differences, but one of them is kinda big:

    The Vintage Select have floating wood bridges, and B6 Bigsby's (no tension bar)

    The Players are stud-mounted metal bridges, and B5 Bigsby's (with tension bars)

    The Bigsby on the recent players models is a string-thru version (B7CP), so none of that fumbling with the string falling off the small pegs all the time

    Been drawn to them since release in the autumn .. But you know, not much left in terms of physical guitar shops in my hood these days and not a single one of them carry Gretsch, so it would have to be a blind online purchase ... But they do seem cool .. Much more appealing that the vintage reissues to me.

    Alltho I with some patience I could probably find an older reissue on the used market for half the price, so there is that too ... But screw it .. Bottom line is that I like them a lot


  14. #13

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    ps- & even though jl sounds great with that collings..and really seems to be enjoying it/brings out the best in him...the ellisonic pickup is not a true copy of the dynasonic with the spring elevator mechanism for raising the magnet polepieces...the amount of metalwork in that pickup alone, contributes to it's tone!...plus the ability to tweak the polepieces for maximum string balance


    here's close -up of the simpler ellisonic



    cheers

  15. #14

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    Quote Originally Posted by neatomic
    ps- & even though jl sounds great with that collings..and really seems to be enjoying it/brings out the best in him...the ellisonic pickup is not a true copy of the dynasonic with the spring elevator mechanism for raising the magnet polepieces...the amount of metalwork in that pickup alone, contributes to it's tone!...plus the ability to tweak the polepieces for maximum string balance


    here's close -up of the simpler ellisonic



    cheers
    Beautiful in its simplicity. Love it!

  16. #15

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    Long ago I had a beat up Duo Jet with a Bigsby, Filtertrons, and thumbnail inlays made around 1957. It was in awful shape with a bit of a twist in the neck, but I still wish I’d kept it to restore.

  17. #16

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    Quote Originally Posted by Doctor Jeff
    Beautiful in its simplicity. Love it!
    not the first...gfs has similar type design for 39.95$...




    cheers

  18. #17

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    A fabulous player with a brilliant exploratory mind - and full command of the fingerboard.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  19. #18

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    @neatomic I have a pair of those GFS pickups - similar look, different construction: steel slugs, and bar magnets at the bottom (kinda like a P90 without adjustable polepieces - they also sound more P90ish than Dynasonic-like); I presume if that Ellis on the Collings is supposed to sound like a real Dynasonic, it will have real Alnico slug magnets.
    BTW, there are a few other winders who make pickups like that (Dynasonic-spec, but without the complicated magnet elevator mechanism) - Gemini, Fralin, and I think, Mojo UK.

  20. #19

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    i know roman...i was just being dramatic with gfs example..cause they look similar ("simplicity") and are cheap cost!

    also very important in construction of dyna is wire...traditionally #44 or 45... very thin wire!...keeps hi-fi clarity while getting resistance number high


    cheers

  21. #20

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    and don't forget the gibson staple p90, the granddaddy of dynasonic clones.

    Quote Originally Posted by ruger9
    IDK all the differences, but one of them is kinda big:
    Quote Originally Posted by ruger9

    The Vintage Select have floating wood bridges, and B6 Bigsby's (no tension bar)

    The Players are stud-mounted metal bridges, and B5 Bigsby's (with tension bars)
    sounds like I'm a vintage guy, then. But I do love the fancy new colors they keep trotting out, and I assume most of those are off the player variety.

    I wonder about a tension bar on a body that small. is that really necessary?
    Quote Originally Posted by neatomic
    these days the "players" appellation usually means getting rid of the things that made the guitar cool in the first place...like putting center blocks in hollowbodys, fixed bridges instead of floaters, tension bar bigsbys, moving trem & bridge location around, flatter neck radiuses, lookalike but differently designed pickups, etc etc
    Quote Originally Posted by neatomic

    the "players" must be gettin lazy..want convenience instead of the very og tone & feel they wish to emulate...oh well

    cheers
    i always understood the player's editions as the training wheels, easy mode gretsches. I don't mean that as an insult, just that they ironed out some of the quirks.

    But I could never keep those differences straight, aside from thinner bodies, which I assume is not the case with the jets.
    Quote Originally Posted by neatomic
    ps- & even though jl sounds great with that collings..and really seems to be enjoying it/brings out the best in him...the
    Quote Originally Posted by neatomic
    ellisonic pickup is not a true copy of the dynasonic with the spring elevator mechanism for raising the magnet polepieces...the amount of metalwork in that pickup alone, contributes to it's tone!...plus the ability to tweak the polepieces for maximum string balance


    here's close -up of the simpler ellisonic



    cheers
    the offset row of pole pieces without the little screws seems wrong to me, visually. doesn't sound bad, though.

    And apologies to the op for ruining this thread :

  22. #21

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    IMHO, the Players models are for Les Paul players who want a headstock that says "Gretsch" instead of "Gibson", and some gaudy colors. Except for the Filtertrons there's not a lot of Gretsch DNA in those models...

  23. #22
    Quote Originally Posted by feet
    I wonder about a tension bar on a body that small. is that really necessary?
    It's no so much about body size as neck angle. The non-tension bar Bigsby's need a steeper neck angle (like on a full-size arch top). The tension bar ones are for flatter top guitars (Gibson JohnnyA, telecasters, Les Pauls, etc.)

    You'll notice the Collings "Jet" and the Gretsch Vintage Select Jets have wood base bridges, which means steeper neck angles... no tension bars on the Bigsby's.

    The Gretsch Players guitars have stud bridges, and tension bars.

  24. #23

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    ooohhhh... i never knew that. i guess i can see how that makes a difference, but most of my assumptions were built on gibsony types, which didn't seem to follow any logic as to tension bar vs none, so i assumed the body size or depth had something to do with it. of my two bigsby'd guitars, by non tensioned g6118 is super spongy, while my tensioned elitist sheraton is very stiff, though they have about the same amount of travel. i figure springs have something to do with that, but people must hate (or scapegoat) the tension bar for a reason.

    i see the bridge differences now. also being a les paul player, studs don't bother me, but were i in the market, i'd want something as different from a les paul as possible. otherwise i'd just throw my extra filters in a cheap les paul. guess that makes me a vintage select guy, because when i pick up a gretsch, i want a gretsch.

    which is a shame, because all the nifty colors and deals seem to be on the player ones, especially the les paul looking ones (which are still pretty cool, to be honest). and i've always taken issue with the player's edition because they incorporate some of the mods that i did or would have done, like the string through bigsby and treble bleed. they should be called the feet edition. but i'm not cool with the thinner bodies, so maybe not.

  25. #24

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    Very interesting to see the Collings in action some more.

    I'd love to hear his thoughts on ergonomic adjustments he has to make jumping from telecaster geometry to Gretsch-ish geometry.

    Does anyone have any idea when the new model is going to make an appearance on the Collings website beyond the teaser page they made last year?

  26. #25
    Quote Originally Posted by wkmandeville
    Very interesting to see the Collings in action some more.

    I'd love to hear his thoughts on ergonomic adjustments he has to make jumping from telecaster geometry to Gretsch-ish geometry.

    Does anyone have any idea when the new model is going to make an appearance on the Collings website beyond the teaser page they made last year?
    It's there now, altho still limited specifics.
    Custom Gallery | Collings 470 JL #19005

    There's a video where he plays both the Nachocaster and the Gretsch back-to-back, and other than saying the Gretsch is louder, he doesn't say anything about the differences in play/ergonomics between them. I have teles and a Gretsch, and I can switch between them no problem. The only real difference is the scale length and the neck angle... neither matters for me. I have played some guitars where a steep neck angle did make the guitar feel "weird" compared to something like a tele, and I did not like it- it wasn't comfortable for me- but my Gretsch 6120 is no problem.