flat tops for jazz??

[jjang1993]

hmm anybody use flat top guitars for jazz? i like the sound for rhythm playing, rather than my strat copy i use through my jazz chorus. i guess solid bodied guitars jazz tone can be too muddy if the pickups are too cheap.

[Terry Allan Hall]

hmm anybody use flat top guitars for jazz? i like the sound for rhythm playing, rather than my strat copy i use through my jazz chorus. i guess solid bodied guitars jazz tone can be too muddy if the pickups are too cheap.

 

 

 

I do, as have Al DiMeola, John McLaughlin, Pat Metheny, Phillip Catharine, Gabor Szabo (a big influence on me), and Larry Coryell...likely others I've forgotten.

[T.B.]

hmm anybody use flat top guitars for jazz? i like the sound for rhythm playing, rather than my strat copy i use through my jazz chorus. i guess solid bodied guitars jazz tone can be too muddy if the pickups are too cheap.

Oh yeah, I play jazz on my flat tops. Well, I attempt to play acoustic jazz on my flat tops. A member of our HC "family", Min7b5 is an exceptional acoustic guitar jazz musician. Check Eric out.

www.ericskye.com


Trina

[F-holes]

Gabor Szabo (a big influence on me)

That was the first person that instantly came into my mind.

[Stackabones]

I've used flat tops, nylon-strings, Craviolas, Telecasters. The more important component in jazz is not the instrument, but the player.

Guitarists are funny about guitars. They develop superstitions about how certain music can only be played on certain guitars. I wonder if trumpet players or other musicians are like this: "Dude, you can't use that trumpet to play classical. That's a jazz trumpet."

[Ra_]

It's the Jazz that's the hard part!
If you can spew that, all you need is a cigar box and a rubber band.

[Queequeg]

The more important component in jazz is not the instrument, but the player. Guitarists are funny about guitars. They develop superstitions about how certain music can only be played on certain guitars. I wonder if trumpet players or other musicians are like this: "Dude, you can't use that trumpet to play classical. That's a jazz trumpet."

I agree.
that said, the jazz tunes I play, and there aren't a lot of them, sound much better on the Taylor than on the Martins or Larrivees. Conversely, I play lots of old traditional tunes and I don't like the sound of them on the Taylor.





(and tuba players are real particualr about this too, I know. "You can't play that tune on a Conn, man. No way!")

[Tony Burns]

Totally agree on the any guitar philosophy but I do like OM's over Dreads for Jazz ( wider fingerboards and smaller bodies help alot in this category ) i also think a cut away with the action set low is also prefered - also from experience I think PB EX-light strings help.

[Dan Hall]

 

I do, as have Al DiMeola, John McLaughlin, Pat Metheny, Phillip Catharine, Gabor Szabo (a big influence on me), and Larry Coryell...likely others I've forgotten.

 

 

Charlie Byrd, classical nylon stringer jazz great

[Stackabones]

It's the Jazz that's the hard part! If you can spew that, all you need is a cigar box and a rubber band.

You know I thought about Gypsy Jazz after I posted, and I'm glad you posted a pic of this. Django really put acoustic guitar jazz on the map. Incredible music. Iconic musician.

I've heard a story about Willie, the Honky-Tonk Django--that he started playing Trigger because he thought that nylon-string guitars were what Django and others were using. Anybody hear that before?

[Ra_]

I've heard a story about Willie, the Honky-Tonk Django--that he started playing Trigger because he thought that nylon-string guitars were what Django and others were using. Anybody hear that before?

I was just wondering about that guitar.
He must be the loyal type? I hope they bury it with him.
It belongs in his coffin, more than in some billionaires trophy case or a restaurant.

'Crazy' has to be the jazziest Country song of all time.
I suppose that Patsy Cline could have sung "My Humps" and her fans would have accepted it?

[Ra_]

Joe Pass sometimes played the Jazzmaster or Jaguar.
(personal favorite guitarist)

[min7b5]

Oh yeah, I play jazz on my flat tops. Well, I attempt to play acoustic jazz on my flat tops . A member of our HC "family", Min7b5 is an exceptional acoustic guitar jazz musician... www.ericskye.com Trina

Thanks Trina

I

[guitarist21]

(and tuba players are real particualr about this too, I know. "You can't play that tune on a Conn, man. No way!")

 

 

A con-man?! You shouldn't be playing con-man.

 

That was a very bad joke. Seriously, though, as a tuba player/guitarist/otherwise multi-instrumentalist, it seems that most musicians are rather particular about their instruments if they're serious.

 

Ellen

[Ra_]

Thanks Trina I just singed a production deal for my third CD which will have me both using a pick most of the time and in an ensemble setting.

Are you interested in trying something on that project?
I generally don't give away picks... but I'm asking you.

[Terry Allan Hall]

Joe Pass sometimes played the Jazzmaster or Jaguar. (personal favorite guitarist)

This was during his Cenikor days or possibly his half-way house days, when he was kicking heroin and that Fender was all he had access to (it belonged to the institution and everyone shared it)...as soon as he got his act together, he got himself another Gibson Jazz box (probably a ES-175)

[Stackabones]

Sorta...he found that that particular Martin (an N-20) with that Baldwin Prismatic P/U through that particular Baldwin amp (I don't recall the amp's model, but it was the 100watt combo w/ a 12" and a 15") got him closest to Django's tone. That's why he's never gone to another guitar...it's that guitar, P/U and amp... This was during his Cenikor days or possibly his half-way house days, when he was kicking heroin and that Fender was all he had access to (it belonged to the institution and everyone shared it)...as soon as he got his act together, he got himself another Gibson Jazz box (probably a ES-175)

 

 

Thanks, TAH!

 

Man, I was killin' myself trying to remember that Baldwin Prismatic the other day. Aren't those things next to impossible to find. Willie and Jerry Reed have 'em. That's it, right?

[Terry Allan Hall]

Thanks, TAH! Man, I was killin' myself trying to remember that Baldwin Prismatic the other day. Aren't those things next to impossible to find. Willie and Jerry Reed have 'em. That's it, right?

Pretty rare...saw a Baldwin Electro-Classic (I think that was the model name, anyway) at the last Dallas Guitar Show...the guy who had it wanted 10K!

Last time I saw just the P/U itself at a Guitar Show was in the late '80s...could have (and should have) snatched it up, preamp and all, for $60!