Which Jazz guitar should I get

[DeepSouth]

I'd like to get into playing a bit more jazz. I know I can play jazz on any of my solid body guitars but I'd like a 'proper' jazz guitar.

The only one I can think of is a Gibson 175. I could probably spring for something worth about USD 1k more than a new standard Gibson 175 if there was something really worthwhile out there.

Anyone got an opinion on what to get. I'm pretty ignorant when it comes to jazz hardware.

When I first started off learning guitar over 25 years ago I actually had a jazz trained teacher Rob Brice (I'd love to know what happened to Robbo if anyone knows...) who studied with Ike Isaacs. I even had one lesson with Ike Isaacs. I only wish I gave up my day job all those years ago and studied with him full time. It's one of the biggest regrets of my life.

[itsGreg]

What about one of the peerless jazz boxes, they're meant to be good.

[Cat MacKinnon]

i REALLY like the Godin 5th Avenue series (especially the Kingpin II, with two P-90's.) made in Canada and they run about $995 USD. i finally got to play one a couple months ago, and i couldn't put it down!

otherwise, i've always like the Gibson ES-295, which is basically a gold top ES-175 with two P-90's. they were only made for a year or two though, and used ones (even in crap condition) are pretty pricey...i think the cheapest i've found one was about $3000USD and it was in pretty terrible shape. another problem with the 295's is that a lot of them came with that horrible wrap-around trapeze tailpiece...basically no adjustable intonation whatsoever! (then again, one of my favorite guitarists, Geordie Walker of Killing Joke, plays that exact guitar and he always sounds brilliant, so...)

there was also a company in the 70's/80's called "Crestwood" who made Gibson copies and they were fantastic. they were a Japanese brand, and i think they were made in the same factory that made the really nice Japanese Tokai's back then. Elderly Instruments had a 175 Crestwood copy for around $400 a few months ago, and i REALLY tried to scrounge up the cash for it, but alas someone else snagged it! just be aware that there is another guitar company called Crestwood now that has absolutely nothing to do with the late 70's/early 80's Japanese brand.

but if you're willing to pay what you intimated (a grand MORE than current Gibson 175 street price), i'd still highly recommend you look into the Godin hollowbodies. at just under $1k USD new (with a hard case), i think they're MUCH better than most of the crap, er, stuff coming out of Gibson's factory these days and you'd have some extra cash to kit it up with maybe a nice new solid-state jazz amp or something.

i'm bored, so i checked on Godin dealers in Australia for you: even though Godin's website doesn't list any, if you google "godin guitar dealers australia", you'll pull up plenty of dealers. it looks like the Kingpin II (the one with the two P-90's) is averaging around $1600 AUD, but that's still far under your price point. Godin also has their "5th Avenue) hollow bodies with no pickups (no cutaway), 1 P-90 (no cutaway), 2 P-90's (cutaway), 1 jazz neck pup (cutaway) and 2 humbuckers (cutaway w/ Bigsby trem).

*EDIT* i just found a couple other Aussie Godin dealers who have the Kingpin II for closer to $1250AUD (which seems a bit more reasonable to me), so i'd recommend checking around. if you get interested in the Godins, keep in mind that the Kingpin II runs just under $1000 in the US, and since the Aussie dollar is almost on par with the US dollar right now, you shouldn't really have to pay more than about $300 more than we do for any given model. i thought $1600 AUD sounded too high!

[DeepSouth]

The Godin's look amazing and made in Canada too. The Australian Dealer is in Brookvale - which is at least in Sydney (albeit on the other side of Sydney) - certainly within striking distance.

They look real nice and at that price I'd be mad not to take a look at them.

I'll scrounge youtube for some sound clips and do some more research on their construction. I wonder how their pickups and tone stack up?

Thanks very much for pointing them out to me. The AUD is actually slightly higher than the USD for the moment but most stuff from North America comes at a premium due to the freight and middle men.

I also had a look at Peerless and I know it's probably misguided but I try and avoid Korean guitars including Epiphones. I know some of them are fine instruments but I'd rather take a gamble on North American or Australian.

[valiant]

Both Guild and Hofner have a reputation for building great jazz guitars which can probably be found for half the price of a Gibson.....

[Walter Broes]

Guilds are seriously great guitars, look for a CE100 or an X175, with a little luck you can get older ones for at least $1000 less than a new Gibson ES175, and they're at least as good.

[jefrs]

1) Telecaster.
- oh, look I can play jazz on my tele, so I must get a jazzbox.

2) Jazzbox
- the full size archtop thing. Problem is they are all very individual. You MUST try each one out to find out if it suits you. And they vary a lot in price.

I have an Epi Joe Pass Emperor II. Nice neck and feel, low action, no buzzes even with 12s or 13s. I did have to do a proper setup, and replace the "mini" controls. But it is an electric guitar, so it has a thick soundboard and hence acoustic projection is quite poor. Relatively cheap.
I shopped around all the local stores including Guitar Village in Fareham, where I tried everything they had from low to very high price. Adam Black, Hofner, Ibanez, Epi, Gibson, D'Aquisto, Unfortunately they didn't have the Epi JP in stock then, and I had a limited budget. I tried Peerless at another store, I felt they were over-priced (and too gaudy), and the one I liked had the pickup ring installed back to front (what else was wrong?).

Things to look for.
Archtop bridge centred between the two notches on the f-holes, roughly centre of the lower bout - this makes the soundboard work properly. Some 14-fret to join necks place the bridge too far forwards. The f-holes are there to let the belly of the soundboard vibrate. The bridge must not be pinned. A wooden saddle is good.

Upper bout nicely curved not concave like a double cutaway, this is an aesthetic thing, but it looks wrong.

3) double-cut ES335 type and similar - don't overlook these. Different sound but good for jazz. Better when amplified because a full jazzbox is very prone to howl.

Do look at second hand, there are some nice older ones out there.

[fakeocaster]

All good suggestions>eastmans are the best value in solid top Archtops tho

[teleon]

I recently picked up a 95 Gibson ES 175. It does more than Jazz, it'll do Roots music like Blues and Rockabilly as well. While looking for it, I came across this cool site:http://www.archtop.com/ac_inst.html.
I got mine on e-bay fromhttp://www.ebay.com/sch/archtopdream...id=p4340.l2562

[Stefanovich]

I have a vintage Epiphone Triumph that gets me lots of compliments when I play it but the reality is that I actually like my Aria Jazz archtop more. The acoustic sound isn't nearly as good but plugged in it sounds great and is just a nice playing guitar. The best jazz player I know (personally - not know of!) plays a tele when he can. Some of his jazz gigs demand a certain jazz "look" that his tele doesn't fit, but he likes the tone of a tele neck pickup better than his ES-175 or his Washburn archtops. All of his jazz recording is done with his tele.

[jazztele]

Originally Posted by valiant

Both Guild and Hofner have a reputation for building great jazz guitars which can probably be found for half the price of a Gibson.....

Great ideas both.

You should really join and post over at jazzguitar.be. there's a lot of options available to you...and then you get into the questions about solid wood versus laminate, routed humbucker vs. Floating...you need to set a clear budget and do some exploring.

There's nothing wrong with a 175, but there's a hundred guitars out there in that price range that'll do the same job, maybe even better.

Honestly, if you're just starting to learn jazz, play the guitar you have now, do some real listening, and figure out what you like before you drop a couple g's on a guitar.

[64Strat]

I've played some L5-CES's that were just killer tone wise. The neck heel can sometimes bother me though.

I think the older Guilds are fantastic. I haven't had the opportunity to play any of the Hofners but have no doubt that if they are German made that they would be great also.

There are some old Epiphones that I have seen (not played) that looked great too. There are also some more modern boutique makers that come to mind that I know make some very high quality instruments... Buscarino comes to mind.

For myself, I currently have a ES137 Custom, not a true jazz box but similar. And a ES335, that is just a versatile guitar. In my past, I owned a Cort Larry Coryell model that was 'okay' but I sold it because I knew the difference.

[brookdalebill]

In the early 80's, Aria made a real nice Herb Ellis model.
If you can find one, they are great, comparatively inexpensive jazz guitars.
The pickups sound great for other styles, too, IMO.
I also like newer Ibanez Artcores.

[Valvey]

I've got a Gibson Tal Farlow and the only thing it really excels at is traditional jazz rhythm playing. For single line soloing you can get a good jazz sound out of all sorts of guitar types, most of which are cheaper than the big jazz box.

[teleon]

Love the 175, just got around to taking some pics:

[mabley123]

jaros.

check them out.
has a 3/4 tenon set neck through body and chambered body. truly great guitars but not cheap.

With the 3/4 tenon neck through body design the guitar’s bridge, tuning pegs, nut, pickups & fingerboard are all connected to a single piece of crafted tone wood, which as you can imagine helps create resonance, attack, and sustain. This design apparently also improves the instruments stability, on either side of the through neck sit the acoustic chambers to enhance the tone

[mickmac]

TELECASTER!

[Joe-Bob]

The Heritage version of the 175 is a better guitar, and costs less.

[FenderLover]

Eastman 910
Gretsch 6040
Gretsch 450
D'Angelico NYL-2
L-5
ES-175

The Peerless get great reviews, but I can't get past the spliced-neck construction. The headstock is spliced on at about the third fret or so, and the heel is also spliced on. Premium guitar? ...then make the neck out of one piece before I shell out that much.

[jazztele]

Lots of expensive guitars use multi peice necks...a scarf joint is quite strong. There's ways to make a quality guitar other than leo's....a little invesigation might surprise you.