The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #1

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    For any owners of the Sadowsky Jim Hall Model -- have you experienced "hot spots" on certain notes, and do you notice that the output of the pickup is quite low compared to other pickups (i.e., Classic '57 on an L-5)? I'm just curious if these or other little annoyances are things that others have experienced, and/or if there are ways to address them. If you own another guitar and have resolved these types of problems, I would be interested in learning how. Thanks!

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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #2

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    Certain notes or certain strings?
    Try playing with the pickup height adjustments (those screws on either side of the pickup in the mounting ring) to get a feeling of what the pickup actually does. There is a range of tonal sounds, volume, character of attack and how 'round' or 'defined' your pickup is as you raise and lower the pickup within the ring.
    That's the way you'll find out what your pickup really sounds like. Then you make adjustments to fit it to you rear and playing style.

    Loud and soft spots on a laminate guitar may be the results of many things. On a laminate, you can get very pronounced peaks and valleys in the frequency responses because of the inherent resonsonances of the wood which you can't adjust by tap tuning as you might on a solid wood.
    String choices also exacerbate and highlight qualities of the instrument. Less responsive strings filter out some overtones and that evening out can feel like overall warmth that's valued by some players.

    New guitar? Don't use the amp settings you had on your other guitars. A guitar's sound must be matched throughout the system.

    Describe a little of what you mean by hot spots. If you play a note on a coincidence of the air resonance, that can be very hot...to the point of feedback, but I won't get into that or those things unless that's what you're actually talking about.

    Is it an instrument you're just getting to know? Congratulations!

  4. #3

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    Quote Originally Posted by jasguitar
    For any owners of the Sadowsky Jim Hall Model -- have you experienced "hot spots" on certain notes, and do you notice that the output of the pickup is quite low compared to other pickups (i.e., Classic '57 on an L-5)? I'm just curious if these or other little annoyances are things that others have experienced, and/or if there are ways to address them. If you own another guitar and have resolved these types of problems, I would be interested in learning how. Thanks!
    I never had that guitar but the pickup is a custom DiMarzio

    "The DiMarzio humbucker was designed to replicate the smooth response of Jim Hall's original Guild/DeArmond pickup as well."

    https://www.archtop.com/ac_19_hall_120.html

    That's a very different pickup from a PAF like the Classic 57. Other Sadowsky guitars use the DeArmond 36th (EDIT: DiMarzio 36th) which is a great PAF style pickup.

    Also, you can hear a clip of one here with a Fralin PAF. Sounds great, IMO.

    Sam Kirmayer Interview with Jazz Guitar Life – Jazz Guitar Life

    Last edited by jorgemg1984; 03-20-2023 at 08:53 PM.

  5. #4

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    I think Jim used Hb1’s so the Dimarzio’s might be replicas of those.

  6. #5

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    Quote Originally Posted by ArchtopHeaven
    I think Jim used Hb1’s so the Dimarzio’s might be replicas of those.
    The HB-1 is a Guild pickup, right?

  7. #6

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    What a wonderful tone (and playing too).

  8. #7

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    Quote Originally Posted by jorgemg1984
    Other Sadowsky guitars use the DeArmond 36th which is a great PAF style pickup.
    You do mean DiMarzio 36th, right?

  9. #8

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    Quote Originally Posted by Woody Sound
    What a wonderful tone (and playing too).
    Agreed!

  10. #9

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    Quote Originally Posted by Woody Sound
    You do mean DiMarzio 36th, right?
    Yes, youre right, my bad.

  11. #10

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    From Sadowsky's website.


    • Custom wound vintage PAF style pickup with gold cover
    • Pickup duplicated from original Guild/DeArmond pickup from Jim’s guitar



    S

  12. #11

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    It’s hard to imagine a guitar with a more perfect neck-fingerboard-pup combination than the Sadowsky JH guitar. The neck is dead straight, PERFECT. The pickup is perfect. It is perhaps the most playable archtop there is, IMO. I’ve struggled with a few in the same category:

    Bought and sold on two occasions each:
    Gibson HR Custom (both ‘74 models)
    ES-175 (one from 1950s one from early 80s)
    Ibanez GB10 (1979 and sometime in the 90s)

    I sold my JH and regretted it. I tend to get rid of guitars, ruthlessly. Mostly to no regret. A year later, I drove down to Champaign Urbana in the heart of winter, in a snow storm, to buy a 2006 yellow blond JH model to replace it. IMO it’s the perfect 6 string archtop. The pup is perfect for what it gives you-I didn’t find any dead notes. The fingerboard is so utterly playable. It has the most lively acoustic sound for a laminate jazz box, too.
    which makes sense, Jim Hall loved to turn off the amp when comping.

  13. #12

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    I gig weekly with my Sadowsky Jim Hall. The sound is close to perfection (with an AER 60). It's not going anywhere.

  14. #13

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    Quote Originally Posted by SandChannel
    The HB-1 is a Guild pickup, right?
    Yes

  15. #14

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    "Also, you can hear a clip of one here with a Fralin PAF. Sounds great, IMO."

    16" X 2.75" laminate (Jim Hall, Borys, Holst) + Lindy Fralin PAF Humbucker = Ooooh la la!