Show us your guitar setup

[lumena]

So i looked up the models you are looking at and I want to add two others.
Epiphone Sheraton Pro - this model has gibson humbuckers
Eastman 486 - has lollar pickups
Both of those are solid versions of the Gibson es335.

If you are thinking of more of a jazz box I would suggest any Eastman or Peerless there are lots to choose from.

Think Eastman ar371, ar503,ar580
Peerless Monarch or Leela
Godin was already mentioned but but good guitars and prices are great.
D’angelico can be hit and miss as the finishes on the low end models are not great but the higher end (for them) are all great and have nice fretwork.

All the vintage style jazz boxes have fewer frets to the body so will feel much different from a strat. It’s a very individual choice and good luck finding a new box of inspiration.

[rmro]

Thanks for the suggestions, it’s not something I have much experience with. Being a lefty it’s hard to go out (in a ‘normal situation’ that is) and try playing one. I think I’ll end up just picking something and going for it at some point, I’m far from competent as a player anyway.

‘Jazz box’ has a bigger body more like an acoustic? Do they have a significantly different sound to a semi hollow eg 335 style body?

[rmro]

Thanks, yep I have heavy-ish flatwounds on at the moment and trawled YT for getting a jazz sound out of a solid body

[kisielk]

Yes there is a significant difference between a true archtop and a semihollow. A semihollow 335 style guitar still has a solid block of wood running through the middle and the bridge is still bolted to that. It’s only slightly more resonant than a solid body guitar.

An archtop is actually completely hollow and uses a much lighter top wood that will resonate more and so it changes the vibration of the strings significantly and gives the guitar a more acoustic tone. The effect is more pronounced if the guitar also has a floating pickup instead of one mounted to the top.

[lumena]

@kisielk

An archtop is actually completely hollow and uses a much lighter top wood that will resonate more and so it changes the vibration of the strings significantly and gives the guitar a more acoustic tone. The effect is more pronounced if the guitar also has a floating pickup instead of one mounted to the top.

Although what you are saying is true the most famous jazz guitars from the 50s and 60s were mostly Gibson Laminate guitars with set pickups. The dark, jazz sound is mostly from a neck pickup set in the body humbucker. One of the reasons that it was used so much is that as bands got louder in after WW2 the set pickup allowed more volume without feedback. So depending on which sound you are going for either the preWW2 or the post WW2 sound the carved top vs the laminate top is how to choose the sound. Maybe at this time I should refer to some experts…

Jazz Guitar Online | Free Jazz Guitar Lessons, Licks, Tips & Tricks.

that is really the place for all the jazz questions about guitars and they are a very friendly and small forum of fanatics.

[kbit]

I have no amp at the moment and haven’t had much interest in pedals lately, so this into my stereo is my current “rig.” Using both smallsound/bigsound drives as an “edge of breakup” preamp is pretty great and doesn’t make me feel like I need an amp (nb: Brian is my friend soooooo I’m biased here), but I would maybe like some sort of vox combo one day.

A few months ago I redid the wiring in my Jag to add a blend pot for the pickups but got something wrong… maybe quarantine will give me less of an excuse to not fix it…

[ElectricaNada]

Agree with all the above. But the response to the original question is the same: a full-sized archtop sounds significantly different than a semi-hollow. There are some guitars that bridge the gap, but they are two different archetypical sounds.

[kisielk]

]

Since I’m back on this thread… my current guitar setup is this… the guitars behind me, another rack on the floor, and this is my current #1 guitar… a Vigier Excalibur Shawn Lane signature. I use a Fractal Audio Axe-FX III for all my amp and effect duties, record straight into Logic Pro.

I’ve also recently got a Boomerang III looper but haven’t worked on incorporating it into my setup just yet.

Sorry for the grainy photo, the studio space is pretty tight and doesn’t have great lighting, so this is off the webcam on my iMac…

Here’s another guitar, my Vigier Excalibur Surfretter. It’s a fretless with metal fretboard.

I’ve got a bunch of other interesting / unique guitars from 4 to 8 strings if anyone is interested but I’ll only post those if people are actually interested in seeing…

[909one]

I love the MJT stuff. I’ve had two of his bodies… This one and a Strat one. The Strat I sold a few years ago just for financial reasons, I wish I still had it. I think his work rivals Custom Shop stuff. I didn’t custom order either of them, I just bid off of them on eBay. I’m assuming he still puts his finished ones up there for bid, tbh I’ve not been on eBay in a few years. There was no issues with the neck pocket fitting at all. In fact no issues I can think of. The Strat had an Allparts neck, the Jazzmaster has a neck that is some random neck I found on eBay a few years back. I shot the headstock in Lake Placid Blue as well to match the MJT body and relic-ed it in the best way I could. Before getting into eurorack I was really obsessed with modding guitars, but every since Euro I’ve not done much modding, as the obsession has transferred into something new, but I still really enjoy watching Stew Mac repair videos. Lol.

[praffensperger]

Count me as interested!

[murray]

The speaker is a full-range 60’s Rola from an old Wurlitzer organ. I also have a celestion greenback attached to a small leslie rotating cone liberated from the same organ but I’m too lazy to drag it out for a photo. I don’t use pedals except for tuner and volume because I like the sound of the pro-sonic so much already.

[tallhouserecordingco]

I think Guilds are great guitars and somewhat underrated. This is an A50. Got it for a great price - Guilds don’t seem to carry the inflated prices of similar Gibson/Fender/Martin vintage guitars. I put a current Guild/DeArmond pick up on it. Sounds great.

Also have a 335 and agree with other posts that hollow and semi-hollow are totally different. The 335 can be used in very loud settings without worry of feedback. The Guild will feedback right away…which isn’t necessarily a bad thing!

Below, some pedals I’ve been having fun with. EAR 4096 mkii with a Shallow Water in the effects loop…though not much time to play these days.

[kisielk]

Ok here’s another one. Maybe I shared this before but…

It’s not a bass, despite the 4 strings… but a tenor guitar. Specifically a baritone tenor guitar. It’s tuned like a cello, CGDA. Has a nice deep sound. 4 strings is also perfect for finger picking since you can basically use one finger per string.

[praffensperger]

What’s the scale length? I feel like baritone + tenor has to sorta null out to about 25.5"

[zebra]

i have one of these too, as well as the standard warren ellis tenor. both are great, its been a longtime dream to have a “viola guitar” and “cello guitar.” the “baritone tenor” (what a name) is 26", and the regular tenor is 23".

my one issue is that when tuning the tenor in CGDA viola, i’ve had a hard time with getting suitable gauge for the top string. the recommendation is 0.009", crazy thin, break a lot. had a luthier clean up the nut groove a little, and it helped, but it’s still an issue whenever i have to tune it down and back up. i’ve resorted to keeping it in CGDG mostly, with 0.010" on top. (advice welcome…)

[speakerdamage]

good to hear positive things about those Warren Ellis models. I grew up playing cello and have been eyeing it for a few years. has anyone tried the mandocello?

[909one]

Yeah, 100% agree on the Guilds. I used to have a 1960 Starfire with DeArmonds. I miss it. It was such a cool guitar, I think I got it for like $1200 8 or so years ago. The prices have gone up some though.

[ElectricaNada]

Wondering how it would be without frets…

[Loitering]

Lately…

Jazzmaster —> mxr compressor —> earth drive overdrive —> empress paraeq (cut out of picture) —> norns (mostly compass or cheat codes) — straight into a UAD APOLLO with plugins for amp and mic simulations.

Have a fender reverb amp but never use it for home recording.

[steveoath]

Charvel San Dimas (Gojira edition) with licensed tele headstock. Just replaced the bogus Duncan designed pickups with Iron Gear Metal Machines. Will test them out when I can get into the studio.