Peerless Gigmaster Jazz Guitar (Used)

[Lkdog]

Trying a hollowbody jazz guitar again and picked this up used this week at a good price.. I am mostly an electric blues player, but trying more basic chord melody jazz these days.
I had listened to several Youtube videos and read a a few reviews of this guitar which were positive.

Was looking for an ES 175 type guitar and this seemed like a decent option.
Got the guitar today and am pretty impressed with the build quality overall. It is in great shape and a 2014 model based upon the COA in the case.
Frets dead level. Plays easy. Neck is moderate C shape. I looked closely at the Epiphone Es 175 which sounds like a great guitar, but the neck was described as a little too thin to
what I was used to.

My limited experience with jazz guitars has been with a friend's Gibson ES 175 VOS single pickup model, and an Ibanez PM20.
Have had several Es 335 type guitars over the years, but played modern blues with them.

It came setup nicely with what seems to be standard roundwound 10's and even with those strings it sounds pretty open, full, and woody.
It is all stock I believe. I don't know a lot about the pickups or hardware, and cannot fully assess them until I try a set of more proper jazz flatwounds.
Pickups sound decent whatever they are so will sit with them for awhile.

It has a tuneomatic type bridge. A question I had was to maybe try a wooden bridge, but I have no idea what to look for.

Anyway- pretty happy with this at first impression. Any input about this model is appreciated.

[Donnd]

Congratulations! These are hard to find. Let us know how you like the sound after changing to flats. I have the Monarch model and it has been a superb guitar.

[garybaldy]

George Hess (youtube) gets a great sound on his esp. acoustic.
I want one.

[Doctor Jeff]

That’s a BEAUTIFUL guitar. I had a Peerless Sunset for a long time, and the build quality is phenomenal.

I would imagine the pickups are Epiphone Classic 57s, since that’s what mine had. They’re decent pickup, but a bit “dark”. If you’re so inclined you can change out the neck pickup to something brighter.

[starjasmine]

Nice! I'd sugggest playing it every day for a few months before you start making changes. You can do a lot of non-destructive experimentation by setting vol/tone on the guitar itself, using outboard EQ, trying amps/settings, changing strings, different picks, and working on your own mechanical technique. All of the above is different for blues vs. mainstream jazz, so don't be surprised if the learning curve winds up being a bit lengthy and frustrating as you get to know the character of a new axe in a different musical style.

[Doctor Jeff]

Nice! I'd sugggest playing it every day for a few months before you start making changes. You can do a lot of non-destructive experimentation by changing EQ, amp, strings, picks, and your own mechanical technique.

Agree. I never changed the pickups on my Sunset. It was great for a Jim Hall-type tone. If I were playing more rock or heavy blues, I would’ve wanted something brighter.

I kept my Epi Joe Pass (also with Epi Classic 57’s) for a couple of years before I put in Stew Mac Parsons St. humbuckers.

[Lkdog]

Thanks for all of the input and suggestions!
I did a full initial setup tonight and it is getting dialed in.

A few data points:

Neck is .83 at first, .87 at 7th and 1.06 at 12th where it starts to meet the body.

Pickups are BHK which are supposedly Korean "Boo Heung Korea". I guess very common.
Have no idea what magnets.
The neck had an "F" on it. I didn't pull up the bridge but it is supposed to have an "R" on it.
They read out at
8.63 N
8.71 B

It sets up and intonates really easily. The build quality is very good.

I put a set of D'Addario 11 flatwounds on it. I am probably not ready to go much heavier right now.


I use an AXE FX 3 and can try various traditional Fender and other amp models.
I didn't get very far. I started on a Deluxe Reverb and hung out on that for over an hour playing my pretty limited jazz chops.

I really like the tone I am getting. I agree with the suggestions here to stay with the stock configuration until I get used to the guitar and a little more
well versed on traditional jazz and soul jazz playing. It requires more discipline and preciseness at least for me.

This is a really nice guitar and makes me want to play it which is what it is all about.
The Guitars N Jazz description seems pretty accurate. It really does have a nice acoustic sound also as a bonus.

Peerless Gigmaster Jazz Archtop Guitar #7889 — Guitars 'n Jazz

[Cunamara]

Congratulations and play it in good health! These are underappreciated guitars in the rather crowded end of the arch top market. I think you're making a good choice with not messing around with it much until you've gotten used to it.

It's amazing how much tonal improvement you can get out of just twiddling some knobs and fixing the setup, which you have already done.

[chris32895]

I saw this on Reverb a week or so ago. Was curious who picked it up - good find!

[pingu]

That’s a BEAUTIFUL guitar. I had a Peerless Sunset for a long time, and the build quality is phenomenal.

I would imagine the pickups are Epiphone Classic 57s, since that’s what mine had. They’re decent pickup, but a bit “dark”. If you’re so inclined you can change out the neck pickup to something brighter.

Was the Sunset comfortable to play
sat sitting ?
I fancy one of those because of the
rim depth

[Doctor Jeff]

Was the Sunset comfortable to play
sat sitting ?
I fancy one of those because of the
rim depth

Yes, it was great! The ergonomics on this one were perfect. Extremely light.

[starjasmine]

I'm really glad to hear that you like the guitar enough as it is to just want to keep playing and playing. That's a good sign. Over the years, I've found that it can be very difficult to make a guitar that you don't love into one that you do love. That's one of the reasons I never buy without playing first. If I love how it sounds and plays at the get-go, it's all up from there :-)

Happy New Year with New Guitar!

[tomv713]

I own one as well after watching Avi Rothbard play his on youtube. It’s my favorite guitar I’ve owned.

[Boze]

Handsome hollowbody! I would absolutely put a 57 Classic in the neck if the stock pickups don't ultimately win you over. They are a great fit for high quality amp sim like your Axe Fx too.

I never use bridge pickups so it'd be cheaper to just upgrade the neck. That said, using mismatched pickups won't work as well if you like tones that use both pickups at once.

I dislike tune-o-matic bridges and would swap that out for a cheap rosewood bridge from Amazon. Search for "compensated rosewood jazz guitar bridge". The offbrand one I've used two or three times is called Disens. There are several options for ten bucks or less and they compare favorably to the one from StewMac that costs four times as much.

Make sure the adjuster wheels turn fine and if the feet don't fit as well as you'd like the move is to tape a fine grit sandpaper to the top and sand the feet using a short motion from tail to headstock until they fit just right. Even without the sanding hassle you'll be able to see how you like the sound of a rosewood bridge compared to the tune-o-matic you nearly always see on affordable jazz guitars.

I also prefer Thomastik Swing or Optima flats to D'Addario.

[Midnight Blues]

Nice! Congrats, HNGD and play her in good health!