Looking for a pretty specific kind of guitar...

[aalextturner]

Hey there everyone,

I have been playing a few different guitars for "jazz" over the past few years and over time I have gotten very picky regarding what I want in a guitar that suits my playing style. Right now, I play a Takamine GX-200, which is a solid body electric Takamine made in the 80's for a short period. It's really a guitar for shreddy rock probably, but I have gotten a lot of mileage out of it. I like that it makes people uncomfortable when they see it and judge me before hearing me play. I switched the pickup out too, but anyway...

I keep running into situations where I'm on a gig and the music says to chug "Freddie Green", and every time I see that I go "well I'll give it my best shot" because I can't really get that archtop sound from a solid body SG style guitar. But the thing is, I love how solid body guitars feel, particularly how much they remind me of rock guitar and just being young and playing guitar. When I play a big archtop, I feel restricted by the fact that it is "a jazz guitar", and not just "a guitar". So anyway, I've come up with a list of specs I'm hoping to find in a guitar and was wondering if anyone on the forum had any ideas:

- Access to all 22 frets (not just one side cutaway like a 175, because you have to put your thumb on the middle of the neck with guitars like those and therefore you don't truly have full access to easily play the high frets in my opinion)
- Fast playing neck, not too thin like a guitar player would use in a metal band, but not too thick to where I feel like I "have to play jazz on this thing"...
- Maybe some sort of semi-acoustic aspect to it, like a sound hole from a gibson Howard Roberts or something, but on the thinner side of things because again, I like to feel like I am playing a solid body smaller "rock" (whatever that means) guitar. I hate heavy guitars, I had a Godin flat five x and all I could think about was how much it hurt my shoulder.
- Body shape similar to that of a Tele or Les Paul, I am not into the typical 335 look/feel (although maybe I haven't seen the right one yet). I definitely care about how the thing looks, which may sound silly, but sue me, I love guitars.
- Adjustable intonation, unique pickup sound if possible (I can change pickups if need be). I really don't like hearing the same old zombified humbucker sound + the trademark NYC ocean of verb from everyone. Hell, give me a guitar with one of those Teisco pickups in it...

There are other things I could keep listing but this post is already getting long enough. I know that this list of demands is probably silly and that people might not fully understand what I want in a guitar, but if you read this post and anything pops into your mind, feel free to drop me a line. I am open to all guitars, no matter the maker or year or whatnot. I love weird guitars, and guitars in general, and I am really just hoping to find something that's so out of the ordinary and unique to my taste. A "do-it-all" guitar. Anyway, thanks for reading, cheers!

[Jabberwocky]

The B&G Little Sister? Rozeo Ladybug?

[Spook410]

There are several single cutaway semi and thin hollow bodies out there.

My most flexible guitar is probably the Korean D'Angelico EX-SS with P-Rail pickups installed. Using push/pull pots the pickups go from P90, humbucker parallel, humbucker serial, and single coil. Oddly, they all sound good and have their uses. The guitar is mostly hollow (small block in center rather than a full length block like a 335) and has a trapeze tailpiece. Running .012's it can produce some very warm tones.

Downsides.. hard to install the pickups and push/pull pots compared to 2 wire pickups. Also, not all players will view a Korean D'Angelico as a high class choice. Though it does look like a jazz guitar to non-musicians and is conservative enough for most gigs.

[Webby]

I think the new Harley Benton Aeolus might be something you could enjoy:



The reviews I've read seem kinda nice, it looks like it might be at home in a rock band, and the semi-hollow construction should still give it a bit of an acoustic quality.


Here are the specs
Body: Mahogany
Top: Flame AAA Maple Veneer
Neck: Roasted Flame Maple with Satin Finish
Gloss/Satin Transition at Neck Joint
Truss Rod with Spoke Wheel Access
Fingerboard: Roasted Maple
Neck Mount: Set
Neck Shape: C
Inlays: Pearloid White Dots
2mm Glow in the Dark Side Dots
22 Stainless Steel Medium Jumbo frets
Nut: Graphtech TUSQ Black
Nut Width: 43 mm (1,69")
Scale: 635 mm (25")
Fingerboard Radius: 350 mm (13,78")
Thickness at 1st Fret: 22 mm (0,87")
Thickness at 12th Fret: 24 mm (0,94")
Binding: 1 ply wooden
Pickups: Tesla VR-2 Alnico 5 (Bridge), Tesla VR-2 Alnico 5 (Neck)
Controls: 1-Volume & 1-Tone, push/pull coil split
Switch: 3-Way Toggle
Bridge: WSC Tune-O-Matic Style
Hardware Finish: Chrome
Tuners: Grover Locking

Might actually be cool!

Aeolus Bengal Flame - Harley Benton

Paul

[rpjazzguitar]

The most impressive comping sounds I've heard were from archtops.

That said, I play in a big band where some Freddie G. comping is required and I don't use an archtop. No complaints yet (it's been 5 years with that band).

I play either a Strat copy or a Comins GCS-1 (335 type, more or less). The Strat copy with a Lil 59 covers the Freddie sound adequately. I like the sound I get with it for comping.

The GCS-1 probably is best with the coil split engaged. Neck pickup in both cases. To my ear, the important thing is not to sound too muddy. Freddie did not have a very bassy sounding tone (to me) even though he played a big archtop. Maybe they're worse when amplified.

If it sounds too harsh, here's something to try. Strum with your thumb pretty close to the neck, if not right over it. When you do this, uncurl the fingers of your right hand (like Wes is seen to do in photos). The finger-curling thing seems to make an audible difference.

When I try this, even with an unamplified solid body, I can hear the difference between strumming with a pick and doing the thumb the way I just described.

[ROCK1]

Gibson ES-339

[citizenk74]

Hey there everyone,

I have been playing a few different guitars for "jazz" over the past few years and over time I have gotten very picky regarding what I want in a guitar that suits my playing style. Right now, I play a Takamine GX-200, which is a solid body electric Takamine made in the 80's for a short period. It's really a guitar for shreddy rock probably, but I have gotten a lot of mileage out of it. I like that it makes people uncomfortable when they see it and judge me before hearing me play. I switched the pickup out too, but anyway...

I keep running into situations where I'm on a gig and the music says to chug "Freddie Green", and every time I see that I go "well I'll give it my best shot" because I can't really get that archtop sound from a solid body SG style guitar. But the thing is, I love how solid body guitars feel, particularly how much they remind me of rock guitar and just being young and playing guitar. When I play a big archtop, I feel restricted by the fact that it is "a jazz guitar", and not just "a guitar". So anyway, I've come up with a list of specs I'm hoping to find in a guitar and was wondering if anyone on the forum had any ideas:

- Access to all 22 frets (not just one side cutaway like a 175, because you have to put your thumb on the middle of the neck with guitars like those and therefore you don't truly have full access to easily play the high frets in my opinion)
- Fast playing neck, not too thin like a guitar player would use in a metal band, but not too thick to where I feel like I "have to play jazz on this thing"...
- Maybe some sort of semi-acoustic aspect to it, like a sound hole from a gibson Howard Roberts or something, but on the thinner side of things because again, I like to feel like I am playing a solid body smaller "rock" (whatever that means) guitar. I hate heavy guitars, I had a Godin flat five x and all I could think about was how much it hurt my shoulder.
- Body shape similar to that of a Tele or Les Paul, I am not into the typical 335 look/feel (although maybe I haven't seen the right one yet). I definitely care about how the thing looks, which may sound silly, but sue me, I love guitars.
- Adjustable intonation, unique pickup sound if possible (I can change pickups if need be). I really don't like hearing the same old zombified humbucker sound + the trademark NYC ocean of verb from everyone. Hell, give me a guitar with one of those Teisco pickups in it...

There are other things I could keep listing but this post is already getting long enough. I know that this list of demands is probably silly and that people might not fully understand what I want in a guitar, but if you read this post and anything pops into your mind, feel free to drop me a line. I am open to all guitars, no matter the maker or year or whatnot. I love weird guitars, and guitars in general, and I am really just hoping to find something that's so out of the ordinary and unique to my taste. A "do-it-all" guitar. Anyway, thanks for reading, cheers!

[ThatRhythmMan]

What about a Gibson Blueshawk? It has the general specs and the Varitone switch gives some additional options. They can also often be found fairly inexpensively.

[wzpgsr]

Check your private messages—just sent you an idea.

[jim777]

Not sure where you are located, but the Seventy Seven Albatross is a great little semi, nearly identical in size to a Les Paul. The necks are kind of big though (like a Gibson R8 neck), but honestly I got used to mine in 5 minutes.