What's a good guitar for jazz music?

Question

What's the best set up, including amp and processor or pedals, to get a good jazz sound? I would like the guitar to have 24 frets, a whammy bar, 3 pickups, and a thin maple neck.

Answer 1

Unless you're going to play fusion like Allen Holdsworth, the guitar you are describing is NOT a suitable jazz guitar and you are not going to get a usable sound. The ideal jazz guitar meets these criteria:



1)Full or Semi-Hollow body made with high-quality carved or bent tonewoods such as Mahogany, Spruce, and Maple. The real tone of the instrument comes from the wood; you want a sound with plenty of sustain and lots of rich, natural overtones.



2)A warm, medium-output neck humbucker modeled after the Gibson P.A.F designs from the late 1950s. The classic PAFs were made from Alnico 2 magnets which produced the fat and warm tones made famous by Wes Montgomery, Tal Farlow, Jim Hall, and many others. Most of today's modern humbuckers are made from Alnico 5 and ceramic magnets that have too much output and cut out much of the mid-range frequency that Jazz tone is all about.



Traditional jazz guitars are too big for 24 frets, and personally I don't really find it necessary. The whammy bar COULD work if you use the Bigsby unit.



Good amps to use are all-tube Fenders such as the Twin Reverb, Hot Rod DeVille, and Blues Jr. If you want a solid-state amp, go for the Polytone MiniBrute. Depending on your budget, you could check out more custom boutique setups like Raezer's Edge cabinets and Acoustic Image ampifiers.



For guitars, you should check out the Gibson ES-175, ES-335, L4, and L5. These are the classic jazz guitars that almost every important guitarist owned and played for over 70 years. Many high-end instrument builders have used these guitars as a blueprint for their own designs. For more high-end guitars, you have to go to the luthier directly. Check out John Buscarino, Robert Benedetto, among many other smaller builders that produce quality work.



For a really great, affordable jazz guitar with high-end materials and craftmanship, check out Eastman guitars. They are hand-built with premium carved tonewoods in China. They play and sound AMAZING for the price that you're paying.

Answer 2

I don't think your going to use the whammy bar a whole lot if your playing jazz. For me, the best guitar for anything and especially jazz is the Fender Telecaster. Most have two frets but I've seen some with three. It's a very versitile, simple guitar and I love the sound. It definatly has a good, thin maple neck for you and I'd believe it has 28 frets but don't quote me on that. I'm almost certain it has more than 24 though. VOX amps are the way to go in terms of jazz I think. Particularly an older VOX amp (boy I'm really running you on cash aren't I)? I'm not a huge fan of pedals. You'll have to ask someone else that question. I hope my answer helped.

Answer 3

You are looking for a shred guitar to play warm and smooth jazz sounds like Pass' or Montgomery's when chorusing... that's not an easy job finding a true jazz-guitar with 24 frets and a whammy bar... Try looking fusion/funk oriented guitars.

If you don't care about the characteristics of the guitar, get gibson or ibanez hollow-body jazz guitars which have been named by every answerer there.



My best advice is my current rig, which provides me a thick and convincing jazz-sound, being a fusion-rock setup though :

A Parker Fly with Seymour & Duncan pickups. That Mahogany body with the S&D Jazz pickup is simply incredible. Associated with the piezzo bridge bickup you can get a lot of different very convincing jazz tones.

You can also try guitars like Vigier or, even better, PRS (I know there is a little semi-body PRS that must be incredible at jazz music, and that still have 24 frets and a whammy bar), that have almost the same characteristics.

By the way, you will often see guitarists using Parker guitars gigging in a funk-fusion-jazz style, they are probably the best solid-body guitars when it comes to imitating a classic jazz sound.



Any good and versatile tube-amp on clear tones should be worth it... The Peavey Classic Series or Vox AC Series (Peavey Classic 30 and Classic 50, Vox AC-30) can be a quite good choice as they are not so expensive and quite good at clean and soft-reverb sounds, but Fender Accoustisonics or Twin amps or, even better, the Roland Jazz Chorus are ultimate if you can find and afford them. Forget Marshall or Mesa Boogie Amps for awesome clean warm tones.



If you are looking for simulations, I know the Vox Tonelab multi-effects to be very good at clean tones... If you are looking for effects, some chorus, delay, reverb... eventually a tremolo can be nice. And also equalizers.



My little advice : try to plug a good equalizer pedal directly after the output of your guitar, before any other effect and amplification. If you lower high frequencies (but not harmonics), and strenghten low-medium frenquencies, and if you play with the tone button of your guitar, you should get a warm tone with any guitar you play.

The Dunlop MXR 108 pedal is really worth it and not really expensive... and you will use it for all types of musics when plugged like that. I really use it everywhere, it is probably the only element of my rig from which I couldn't separate or exchange.

Answer 4

If you have a lot of money a D'Agostino New Yorker Is great with a Polytone amp. You don't need any effects. A Tele can be a more affordable option. Gibson's ES-175 and Super 400 are expensive but really nice. Fender Acoustisonics are good jazz amps and not real expensive.

Answer 5

The best guitarists I play with don't use a whole lot of tricks and electronics. They play pretty clean and mellow - that's the challenge. It's easy to use a bunch of processors and gimmicks to make even an average guitarist sound like a rockstar, but it takes a real stylist to sound good while playing totally 'clean'.



If I were a guitarist, I would want to sound like Pat Metheny or John Scofield, both of whom play or have played on Ibanez hollow bodies. I love that dark, warm tone that comes from that axe!

Answer 6

You Gotta Check Out The Album: Panorama By Craig Chaquico He Played Guitar With Jefferson Starship

Answer 7

Some great guitarist such as Lee Ritenour, BB King, and Eric Johnson use Gibson ES 355 as their main guitar. But Jazz is not about the gear, it's about tone and feel..... Such Guitarist use non typical jazz guitar as their main guitar, Wes Montgomery , for instance, use Gibson SG, which is a rock typical guitar. So, whatever your guitar is, feel free to play jazz

Answer 8

Miles nailed it on the head - you can get a jazz sound out of what you want, but you'll end up sounding more like a rock guitarist who they called at the last minute for the gig cause there wasn't anyone else.

Answer 9

ok so here my "perfect" jazz set up. (any year) Gibson ES 335 through a 57' fender deluxe with a Boss DD-6 delay and an electro harmonix holy grail reverb pedal.



not a cheap set up to say the least.



check musiciansfriend.com for some pricing...

Answer 10

gibson es 335 or 355 if you have tons of money. but an epiphone sheraton is just as good for a 5th of the price. i have an epi sheraton and it sounds amazing. same as a 335 (i played both in the shop). 2 humbuckers, no whammy (dont know why you would use it for jazz), good strong neck, gorgeous thick sound (especially if you use the top pickup). a vox amp and a jim dunlop wah pedal, and youre away!

Answer 11

Maple neck??? Maple fingerboard, too?



Just get a Fender Telecaster Deluxe.....because it has a thin neck for easy playability, and the 2 Humbucking pick-ups will give you a more mid-range sound.....but they don't have whammeys, and 2 pick-ups is all you need for any kind of music .

Answer 12

Having played and written for years this posting above me by Miles hits it right on the head. If you really want to have your instrument play you into playing jazz this guys answer is all over it.

Answer 13

I love my Joe Pass Epiphone. Great guitar.

Answer 14

hm, i dont know much about guitars, im more of a bassist, but you should find a local guitar center [www.guitarcenter.com] and see what you can find. i know if you were a bassist id be able to help you alot considering there is only a P-bass [percision bass] and a J-bass [jazz bass]. hope to help!

Answer 15

A best is a Steel guitar.

The sound is "deli".

Please try. Peter.