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Hello,
Ok, so a few months ago I put 11 gauge strings on my guitar, with a focus on playing jazz. It really helped, the string stability gained from the thicker, tighter strings gave me an improvement in chord grabbing and fingering of jazz lines.
I'm going through a bit of a rock phase atm, and omg the 11 gague string are hard to play that on, hand and finger tips really hurt from pushing up the bends. Was considering putting some 8s or 9s back on it for a bit, but then that will affect the jazz playing, and it will be a pain changing strings and having to raise /lower the action every few weeks as a result.... catch 22 situation. I tend to play both styles you see, depending on how I'm feeling any given week.
I'm not a fan of all this having loads of different guitars lark, the guitar in question is a stratocaster, used primarily for its comfort and solid build, I don't play professionally so can accept it not having a 'true jazz sound'.
But what should I do here? Should I buy something else and make that my jazz guitar? If so what? Not keen on an archtop or indeed anything that is less comfortable to play than the strat...... what about a prs, they look pretty bomb proof, are they comfortable to play?
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11-07-2023 11:08 AM
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For a long time, I had 2 telecasters, one set up for jazz, one set up for playing not jazz.
I do think it's a great idea to have a dedicated jazz guitar, and like your strat, it doesn't HAVE to be an archtop.
As far as rock guitars, if I was buying one tomorrow, a PRS Starla would be high on my list.
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If you like strats just get another strat.
I like artchtops, but went through a similar phase. I got a tele, a strat, and an SG. They're all gone now and I have 2 archtops. One has 11s for blues night and one has 13s for jazz night.
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There are no rules one needs to adhere to. Play what achieves the best results for you personally. I’m the worst at Gear Aquisition Syndrome,Lol!
But at the end of the day it’s all good and play one or many different guitars and find what works. Have Fun!
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Hi. From what you describe, I’d suggest finding a Tele with humbuckers and setting it up with the strings you prefer for jazz. There are a few current Fender models that list for under $1k, and there are always several on the used markets for less. There’s also a line of Squire Teles for far less, and the ones I’ve seen have been decent guitars with which I could gig without hesitation.
Before I switched to 7 strings in the ‘90s, I had a pair of PRSs (a Custom 22 and a Custom 24) and absolutely loved them both. They’re still beautifully made and I’ve never seen one that wasn’t a fine playing guitar (including those made out of the US). They’ve since come out with a 7 that I thought long and hard about buying - but I love my Tele 7 and don’t need another guitar at my age. If a PRS appeals to you, go for it!
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The Squier line is dirt cheap, but seems to be of decent quality. You could get one of those and use one for rock and one for jazz without spending a ton of money. Having multiple guitars is not frowned upon here.
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Some might even say it's encouraged.....
Originally Posted by sgosnell
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A Strat (I own three of them myself) is a great guitar for blues, rock, jazz or anything else. It is the worlds most popular electric guitar for good reason.
If you do not want to get another guitar, you can still play rock/blues on your Strat with the 11's. Just tune down a half step like Stevie Ray Vaughn did. IIRC, he used 13's. And don't forget to tune back up when you want to play jazz.
HTH
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Why is the choice between 11’s and 8’s or 9’s? How about just trying 10s on your strat? That’s how I string mine (and my semi hollow). It gets a nice warm sound, and gives me no trouble bending.
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As another one of the double digit club, a Tele will be bullet proof if that's something you like in Fenders. A brother of mine game me a Squier Tele which was nice enough, but I bought a Warmoth neck for it to get a little wider nut for my fat fingers. Probably still under $700 if you bought it all yourself and a very nice jazz guitar now.
If you have an interest in a semi, Ibanez has a few very nice guitars in their AS line as well, but Tele or PRS will do you fine too. The quality of inexpensive guitars available right now is very good, so you really should get yourself to a Sam Ash or Guitar Center or whatever is nearby and play 'em all!
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You are imagining that light strings are good for Rock and heavier strings are good for Jazz. That is mostly true but it's not the whole truth.
The sound of jazz guitar tone comes from the traditional use of hollow body arch tops with very large strings. In that situation, in the "contest" between the string and the pick, the string "wins" even with rather firm picking. What that means is that the string more deflects the pick in your hand. The Rock tone is the sound of the pick "winning" the contest with light strings; the pick more deflects the string on the guitar.
You see there are two things going on in determining the resulting tone, the string size and the picking firmness. Of those two, once the strings are on the guitar their size is fixed, but your picking firmness is variable.
A major difference in tone character comes from the way the string behaves when picked. The first couple of milliseconds is harmonically chaotic until the wave of displacement has traveled to the ends of the sounding length of the string (fret to bridge saddle) enough laps in order for it to "feel" how long is the sounding length to form the fundamental and nodes for the harmonics, etc. That chaotic period is the "thump" on the jazz box, and the "scratch" of the rock guitar.
As the string sets up itself to sound the pitch there are some other anomalies caused by heavier picking on light strings. Some of those artifacts are highly desired among the tones of rock and blues. The heavier strings winning over the pick on jazz guitars suppress almost all of these things except the thump.
Next string change, try putting 10-46 on the Strat. When playing Rock, hold the pick firmly and lay into the strings so that the pick "wins" over the strings. When playing Jazz, use a light loose grip on the pick and let the strings "win" over the pick - that will be more like the sound of a jazz box with big strings.
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Im in the same boat. My fingers have a bit more tolerance than yours though. I have 12s (wound g) on my jazz strat and thinking about getting a second strat to set up with 11s and plain g.
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While others have had success playing jazz on the strat, I have never had any luck with that, and I have had a wonderful sounding strat from 1963 for many years- I just gravitate towards a different style on a strat, bluesy and with bending strings. If I set it up for jazz I don't think I could do the other things that strats are known for.
To me LP and telecaster type guitars are better for jazz. A step further towards jazz might be a semi-hollow, and full on jazz maybe a hollow body. Though of course there are no rules.
It all depends on the type of jazz sound you are shooting for- traditional, modern etc? Your question can best be answered by what you are aiming for.
For myself, I try to play the style that the guitar wants to be played, if that makes any sense. SRV or funk on a strat, maybe more fusion on a LP type, and when I had a semi it covered just about all of my professional gigs. For jazz I have an acoustic 17" and a 16" with a humbucker. These provide more of the fat jazz sound and note envelope that I like. In your shoes I would be looking for a jazz telecaster or semi-hollowbody, and set it up with heavier strings if that suits you for jazz. Keep the strat strung lighter for rockier sounds. And BTW I use a heavier pick with heavier strings usually.
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Thanks, this is good advice, but is not why I am posting, the lighter strings are easier to bend, that is the reason. Originally Posted by pauln
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If you are happy with your Strat as a jazz guitar, you could buy a very different solid-body as your rock guitar: a Gibson, a Rickenbacker, a B.C. Rich Mockingbird even. Go wild. You deserve it.
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What ever I get it has to have a belly cut, I get bruised ribs from other guitars, honestly! Originally Posted by Litterick
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Someone here plays rock?
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Maybe an Explorer Originally Posted by RickyHolden
I love the look of Explorers but don't get on with them personally, and I'm jealous of those who can. But there's no belly to cut!
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No opinion one way or the other, but a member here posted some pictures of a "strawberry" color PRS recently that I thought was gorgeous. They do have some cool models that would give you a similar shape to your Stratocaster while being a different guitar.
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10-46 shall be considerably lighter than using 11s. Originally Posted by RickyHolden
They won't feel like 8-9s at first but they will bend.
You should try them to eliminate the possibility of
unnecessarily spending money on another guitar.
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I just happen to have a list of the Fender teles that came out of the factory with belly cuts. I haven't checked it, so I can't vouch for its accuracy or completeness. But I know the modern Player series models are because I've seen them. I copied the list back when I saw it, on the off chance that I might someday need the info. Except for the vintage spec models, all modern Teles are routed for a neck humbucker, so adding one would be very easy. Originally Posted by RickyHolden
1. Tele Plus v2 made from 1995-1998
2. American Deluxe v1 made from 1998-2003
3. American Deluxe v2 made from 2004-2009 - but only the alder body versions; ash body versions are slab body
4. American Deluxe v3 made from 2010-2015 - alder body all years, ash body gets the belly cut in 2012
5. American Standard made from circa March 2012-2016
6. American Elite Tele made from 2016-2019
7. American Ultra Tele made from 2019-present
8. American Ultra Luxe Tele made from 2021-present
9. MIM Player Plus Tele made from 2021-present
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Originally Posted by RickyHolden
Oh, then you need a flying v. The peak of guitar design.
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Jim Hall used 10s on his archtop, sometimes with a plain G. Great jazz sound.
Ed Bickert used 10s on his Telecaster. Great jazz sound.
Forum member Dutchbopper posted a video getting a smashing jazz tone with his Strat with whatever strings happened to be on it- probably 10s, maybe lighter according to his comments.
As pointed out above, a set of 10-46 is cheaper than a new guitar (although a new guitar is fun). Try Fender 150 nickel wounds- cheap, great tone for rock, blues and jazz.
I happen to like 11s on most of my guitars, but even when I play "rock" (i.e., Grateful Dead and Allmans) tunes I rarely am inclined to bend. I like my Stratishcaster for jazz, as well as my Teles and my archtops. Strats and Teles are incredibly practical and versatile.
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For the bending it depends what you are playing. I like 'epic solos', stairway to heaven, comfortably numb etc so u need those full tone bends to be on the money pitch wise. This is hard on the 11 gauge strings. Originally Posted by Cunamara
But as I said the heavier strings make jazz easier to play, quite considerably in my case, especially the chords.
So I think a new guitar it is!
Humbuker telecaster with belly cut seems right for my jazz needs. But never tried a prs so one of those could be comfortable enough, will give one a play in a shop.
Don't like gibsons one bit cos of the fragility of the angled headstock and the tuning issues thereof.
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I play in a couple of bigbands. The tunes they play reach from the regular old style Basie/Hefti stuff to more modern Benson/Stantana/Funky/Rock/Blues tunes. Sounding good enough in that scala is a challenge. The most versatile guitar for me is a ES335. It takes overdrive, wah, distortion pedals well.
If I was forced to reduce the gear to only 1, the 335 probably is the one to stay. However, I am lucky enough to own a pair of L5s as well.
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