Jazz Guitar Gear Talk

[V7#5b9]

I don’t know if anybody here follows “The Jazz Guitar Channel” on YouTube, but “Gear Talk” in general usually sparks a comment or two. Richie provides tips on getting a great jazz tone out of your guitar and recommends jazz amps. Of course, there are other options and factors to consider, as well as personal preferences, but these tips are good guidelines.

So let’s start with the video on getting a great jazz tone out of a solid body guitar. 

I got my Carvin Strat-like solid body with the intention of using it for jazz, so I do have a humbucker in the neck position, but nothing really special and I use D’Addario nickel wound, regular light gauge 10-46 strings. Believe it or not, but I can get a warmer and darker tone out of my solid body than I get from my Ibanez AKJ95 hollow body that has the Super 58 Humbucker in the neck position and D’Addario chromes, flat wound jazz light gauge 11-50 strings. As a matter of fact, I find the flat wounds kind of dull sounding and lacking sustain. Go figure! For picks I use Jim Dunlop: Jazz III, Ultex Jazz III and Big Stubby. 

Both my semi-hollows have great humbuckers with light gauge strings and coupled with my amps produce great jazz tone. I don’t find the need to go higher in string gauge. I get the tone I want so I’m not gonna fight heavier string gauges. Easy playability and access to higher register with cutaways are more important to me.

Ok, let’s see the second video on jazz amps. 

For jazz I use two amps: Roland BluesCube Artist and/or Yamaha THR10C. Both work great with my selection of solid, semi, and hollow body guitars. 

Edited May 11, 2018 by V7#5b9

[V7#5b9]

More jazz guitar gear talk. This time Richie talks about 5 best jazz archtops under $1,000. 

 

[NeilES335]

Interesting that Richies top choice is the Canadian made Godin Kingpin II c/w ... Godin guitars are of excellent quality and very reasonably priced too.. I have a King Godin 5th Ave Kingpin I (not C/W) with a P90 which I really like so much it's my " go to "" guitar, and I usually play it unplugged. It's so "playable" because of the size and neck profile which is a bit wider than say a ES335, but not too wide, and the neck back is a bit flatter, which makes barre chords a breeze. I like the P90 sound, but I might try the humbucker upgrade... (just hadn't thought of it before) The tone had mellowed considerably since new about 4 yrs ago. I expect to have it a long time...Check ém out!

 

ps brandonwoundpickups.com site apparently is out of action, but I did find them on Facebook.

Edited May 23, 2018 by NeilES335
post script

[V7#5b9]

Actually, I was considering 5th Avenue CW Kingpin II HB, but the Sheraton-II Pro won for versatility. I find I prefer semi-hollow body guitars to fully hollow ones.

As for an archtop I already have an entry level one. The Ibanez I mentioned previously is good enough for me. I prefer the Florentine cutaway, 12” fingerboard radius, SlimTaper neck shape and 24.75” scale. But, I think I’ll switch to roundwound strings. The flatwound strings sound kind of dull to my ear and lack sustain, but they do help with string noise. So, there’s always a trade-off somewhere. I also prefer lighter strings. The Ibanez is set up for jazz light gauge: 11-50.

Having said that, I suspect the Godin’s quality is superior and the sound is very appealing. They should offer custom options.