Joe Pass and his guitars

[Greentone]

JP made sure that his final guitar didn't have a weak bass--hey Gibson! Slap that humbucker up against the fretboard. Just do it!

[pubylakeg]

However, I maintain that Joe Pass was _surprised_ to find the extra frets on the fingerboard. You can see that when he goes up to no man's land (fingerboard extension) in his '86 instructional video and is shocked to find that the last fret is a "D" natural.

Yup, seen that VHS/DVD too. I have wondered if it was down to Joe's " doesn't practice or really care about gear" attitude though. Likewise, with his often debated tone. I sort of think that "flat" tone was kind of in keeping with the trends of that era.

[JazzVocab]

It's said that Joe was unhappy with the JP20's sound but Ibanez paid him decent money for years to be seen playing it in public (I think this went on even after that model was no longer in production- he played it for ten years at least). You'd think that for JOE FREAKING PASS that Ibanez would have fixed the problems with the pickup placement and tone and made it a very successful jazz guitar, but once it was in production they did nothing to fix the obvious problem. That is just baffling to me.

Yes I agree, baffling is the only description! With the altered pickup positioning it would have been the go to jazz guitar for so many people over the years.

Also baffling.... where on earth is a "Gibson Joe Pass ES175"? I know Gibson currently have no interest in archtops or the part in their history but who can explain this? All of Joe's significant peers had signature models at one point (Herb Ellis, Barney Kessell, Tal Farlow..) and even bloody Steve Howe has a signature 175....!

Sort it out Gibson you muppets...

[Greentone]

Go figure! Gibson knows what will sell, though.

[Greentone]

Say, while on the subject of Pass and his guitars, does anyone know if (on the Capitol Vaults series) Pass is playing the Jaguar or Jazzmaster on "You Stepped Out of a Dream?" The tone sure sounds solid-body, to me.