I take back everything I've ever said about Strats not having a great jazz tone.. wow

[Agileguy_101]

Re: I take back everything I've ever said about Strats not having a great jazz tone..

I just now listened to the video. I love how his tone isn't as dull as a lot of other jazz players do. Single coils are the OG jazz pickup. I need more single coil in my life. I also love his playing - his solo phrasing is incredible.

The guitar sounded pretty nice, but I have to admit I mostly paid attention to the drummer the whole time. Dude was killing it!

Damn straight. His stickwork is flawless.

The only problem is, if I'm not mistaken, that the gibson switch is designed for two pickups, so the middle position has the two in parallel, as kind of the default setting. I'm not sure though, it may be possible to wire a gibson 3 way to do neck - middle - bridge in the 3 different positions.

If it isn't, which I think is the case, I'd wire up a strat with a master volume and a master tone, and then use the third knob to roll in the middle pickup, kind of like a spin-a-split but with single coils.

The only sound you couldn't get with that would be the middle by itself, which IMO is a pretty good sound but people tend to gravitate towards the neck and bridge in a SSS setup as standalone sounds, and use the middle pickup for "in-between" sounds primarily.

Allow me to clarify. I would only wire the neck and bridge pickup to the 3-way switch. I would wire the middle pickup to an on/on toggle that would combine it with whatever was on the 3 way in one position and route it to another on/on in the other position. The second on/on would send the middle to the volume pot in one position and remove it from the signal path in the other. This would let me get all seven combinations - n, n+b, and b on the 3 way; n+m, n+m+b, and m+b with the first toggle on, and just m with the second toggle engaged. It might sound a bit cumbersome, but I have a HSH guitar like this but without the second switch soloing the middle pickup. It works for me because I won't need to use just the middle pickup very often so I can treat it like a guitar with a 3 way and a single switch.

 

[That90'sGuy]

Re: I take back everything I've ever said about Strats not having a great jazz tone..

It just goes to show you that if you're good it doesn't matter what you use. I hated his more distorted parts (too muddy), but his jazzy clean leads sounded good. Phenomenal band all the way around. FWIW, I think single coils were made for jazz and fusion given the clarity you get with those advanced chord progressions.

 

[TimmyPage]

Re: I take back everything I've ever said about Strats not having a great jazz tone..

The guitar sounded pretty nice, but I have to admit I mostly paid attention to the drummer the whole time. Dude was killing it!

The whole band are monsters, I bought the album (though admittedly I don't know if it's the same rhythm section) but they're all crazy good on there.

I don't understand why jazz and "high output" pickups aren't more associated. High output pickups naturally attenuate highs, and have a bold, warm clean tone. Why have bright pickups if your intention is to roll the tone knob way down?

So much of the sound comes from the 'softness' of rolling down the tone between 3 and 6, and rolling off the volume knob a bit. If you got a really dark, warm pickup, it would still have the harshness, presence and attack with the volume and tone turned all the way up. What you actually want is a really neutral sounding, bright/clear tone where you can adjust it's attack.

Tele neck pickups also work for jazz extremely well.

One of my favourite guitar players of all time, Ed Bickert playing with Paul Desmond's group:



This was before he put a humbucker in his tele, this is all stock tele single coil.

 

[philthis]

Re: I take back everything I've ever said about Strats not having a great jazz tone..

I do a lot of jazz with my G&L Legacys. Les Pauls too, for that matter. And there are some serious jazz players who use Teles.

Always have to laugh about Strats--you say "Strat" everyone thinks Cray, Clapton, SRV, Hendrix, Beck...but both Buddy Merrill and Neil LeVang used them with Lawrence Welk's orchestra!!! :wrf:

Very versatile guitars.

Bill

Mike Stern-what a great player

 

[elelpe]

Re: I take back everything I've ever said about Strats not having a great jazz tone..

Ted Greene plays on a tele and has forgotten more jazz than I'll ever know.

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: I take back everything I've ever said about Strats not having a great jazz tone..

you can play jazz on any guitar if you have the harmonic knowledge and the chops.

 

[MetalManiac]

Re: I take back everything I've ever said about Strats not having a great jazz tone..

you can play jazz on any guitar if you have the harmonic knowledge and the chops.

Yeah, and you can also play Beethovens 5th on a kazoo. Come'on man, you have an ES175!!
Basically this thread in proportionatley inverse to the "Tele can do metal" thing.
So..some guy plays a Tele on a guitar that is not a dedicated Jazz guitars ( L-5, L-7, ES 175..hell, even es 335). Okay, so its 'avant garde'..I get that, but the aforementioned guiatars are Jazz big boxes. Thats what they do. Quit taking a knife to a gun fight at least for classic/comtemporary Jazz..

 

[Little Pigbacon]

Re: I take back everything I've ever said about Strats not having a great jazz tone..

Did you gain this sagely wisdom from your extensive studies of jazz guitar theory?

 

[MetalManiac]

Re: I take back everything I've ever said about Strats not having a great jazz tone..

Go ahead and eat your serial with a fork..hey, it works.. it's still great...you might have to guzzle the milk form the proverbial bowl a little though.
Sorry man, Jazz guitars are for Jazz.Thats what is best for real jazz.Thats why they make them..and thats why they always have. There, I said it. Thats all I have to say about that.

 

[jon the art guy]

Re: I take back everything I've ever said about Strats not having a great jazz tone..

I thought jazz boxes had singles, humbuggies, or combination of both in them. Ain't that sorta like solid-body guitars? Strats have some of the most ludicrous switching/phasing/tone functions I've ever seen; there's bound to be a combo of bingbongboos to make a fat, warm jazz sound. Also, you don't have to reach around it's chubby belly.

 

[Agileguy_101]

Re: I take back everything I've ever said about Strats not having a great jazz tone..

Where's that "shut up Jerry!" picture when you really need it?

 

[MetalManiac]

Re: I take back everything I've ever said about Strats not having a great jazz tone..

Also, you don't have to reach around it's chubby belly.

HEY-OOOOO!!! I ain't touching that.

I was a little hasty. I guess what I mean is if someone wants to use a Strat for Jazz, well then, maybe it can sound good, but it isn't a Jazz guitar. I just don't like the idea of someone with a Tele thinking they have a Jazz guitar, just becasue they happen to play Jazz on it.
Its not.
A Jazz guitar is a Jazz guitar.Its a Hollowbody big Box with big single coils ( not Start pickups), or Humbuckers or minis. A Strat or Tele does not sound like a Jazz guitar.
So someone playing a Strat is playing Modern,or fusion Jazz.Thats clear, becasue they arent playing traditional..casue thats played with a Jazz guitar, but if they are playing modern jazz, with a Tele or a Strat , they arent using a Jazz guitar, thats all.

 

[MetalManiac]

Re: I take back everything I've ever said about Strats not having a great jazz tone..

Where's that "shut up Jerry!" picture when you really need it?

Okay. Thats what I was thinking..that I should pretty much shut up. I think I've made my point abundantly clear( even if that point is that I'm a fool).

 

[jon the art guy]

Re: I take back everything I've ever said about Strats not having a great jazz tone..

HEY-OOOOO!!! I ain't touching that.

I was a little hasty. I guess what I mean is if someone wants to use a Strat for Jazz, well then, maybe it can sound good, but it isn't a Jazz guitar. I just don't like the idea of someone with a Tele thinking they have a Jazz guitar, just becasue they happen to play Jazz on it.
Its not.
A Jazz guitar is a Jazz guitar.Its a Hollowbody big Box with big single coils ( not Start pickups), or Humbuckers or minis. A Strat or Tele does not sound like a Jazz guitar.

nah, I get ya on the Tele for sure. That's a bit to snappy. Agree to disagree on the strat tho.

Or screw ya. One or t'other.

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: I take back everything I've ever said about Strats not having a great jazz tone..

Put any guitar in a real jazz musician's hands, and it will be a "jazz guitar." Same for any other genre.

 

[TimmyPage]

Re: I take back everything I've ever said about Strats not having a great jazz tone..

A Jazz guitar is a Jazz guitar.Its a Hollowbody big Box with big single coils ( not Start pickups), or Humbuckers or minis. A Strat or Tele does not sound like a Jazz guitar.
So someone playing a Strat is playing Modern,or fusion Jazz.Thats clear, becasue they arent playing traditional..casue thats played with a Jazz guitar, but if they are playing modern jazz, with a Tele or a Strat , they arent using a Jazz guitar, thats all.

Lets take away all the Les Pauls ever made, because they were a jazz guitar originally. Lets take away all the Teles that were ever not played by a country player. Alex Lifeson, Ted Nugent, late Cream-era Clapton are all gonna have to change, because those semihollows they play are JAZZ guitars and it's WRONG to see them in a different setting.

Do you not see how silly your argument sounds yet?

 

[DreX]

Re: I take back everything I've ever said about Strats not having a great jazz tone..

There's a difference between a jazz guitar and a guitar that happens to be used to play jazz.

 

[Securb]

Re: I take back everything I've ever said about Strats not having a great jazz tone..

My old guitar teacher was a Berklee guy and a hardcore Jazz player. His main guitars were a Strat and a Tele. He had tonez for days.

 

[P.A.Foholic]

Re: I take back everything I've ever said about Strats not having a great jazz tone..

The guitar sounded pretty nice, but I have to admit I mostly paid attention to the drummer the whole time. Dude was killing it!

True dat. He was smoking! Crazy cat...

 

[philthis]

Re: I take back everything I've ever said about Strats not having a great jazz tone..

Doesn't Norman Brown use a strat once in a while? Seems like he has his Ibanez and the L-5 but I thought he played a strat on some of his stuff too? He is a great Jazz riffer by the way. He has some very cool licks.