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Hello Jazz-Community,
My name is Mace and I'm from Germany. I just started learning Jazz-Guitar, because I played my whole life "simple" Rock and Metalmusic.
Today a - for me - very, very important Person donated me my first (hollow body) "jazz-guitar" (I played in my Rockbands a Les Paul, SG, etc). But its also a very, very, very cheap guitar, to be honest. Like I said the person means much to me and I will make these cheap Guitar a Guitar which I will play all my life.
First of all, I think I need new jazz guitar pickups and strings.
Do you know good Jazz-Pickups for a hollow body guitar? Is it right, that most Jazzplayer use the neck pick up?
The Strings on the Guitar are very small (0.09 - ?), can you give me a hint, what Strings are good for a Jazz-Guitar?
Thank you very, very much for your help!
Merry X-Mas and happy holidays,
Mace
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12-24-2008 08:41 PM
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hey mace,
i'm not an expert on anything jazz but i thought i might as well give some input, might even help you a bit.
Buy Seymour Duncan SH-2N Jazz Model Pickup | Humbucker Pickups | Musician's Friend
that pickup has great reviews and it doesn't seem to be too expensive (in my opinion. i don't know your budget though)
Buy D'Addario EXL115 Nickel Blues/Jazz Electric Guitar Strings | .011 Gauge | Musician's Friend
and for strings, maybe these D'Addario .11s could do the trick?
just some suggestions, let's wait for the more educated players input. i just put the URL for reference, in case someone agrees with my suggestion.
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Hello Gabe,
Thank you very much for your great and friendly help. Thank you!
Yes, I read very good critics for the Seymour pick up, as an neck pick up. And the price is okay!
The Strings look also great. Thanks for your opinion!
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I like my Gibson mini humbucker and the Bill Lawrence i have right now, both great humbuckers and not too expensive.
I second the notion of using D'Addario .11's, check out the Chromes, they are flat wound strings and sound great on an archtop.
MW
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hi matt,
thank you very much for your help!!! do you mean these humbuckers from b.lawrence: Bill Lawrence L500 series Humbucker SALE - WHILE THEY LAST
thanks matt!
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Mine look a bit different but those are probably them, here's a link to Bill's website.
Bill Lawrence: Musician, Designer, Craftsman
MW
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thank you, matt!
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Hello Mace,
I can underscribe the quality of Seymour Duncans, I have them installed in my Epiphone Sheraton and I like them. Also I can recommend the Golden Age pickups from Stewart MacDonald (Golden Age Pickups at Stewart-MacDonald). I installed them in my cheap japanese jazzbox and they sound realy good for little money.
There are more tricks to making cheapo-archtops better, like:
- fitting the base of the bridge to the arch of your top for better contact
- or even installing a better quality bridge
- installing a better topnut (bone)
- installing new electronics (pots, switches) (contributes less to the sound though..)
- a good set up and fret-dressing
All relatively cheap adjustments that can make a big difference!
Jazz it up,
Jasper
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wow, little jay thank you soooo much!!!!!!!!
i really appreciate your help!
what do you (and the whole community) think of the frets? on my cheap jazzbox are very thin and small frets..
Thanks again for the help! great community on jazzguitar.be!!!!!
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As long as the frets are well leveled and don't contain to much dents and are not worn (and the neck is not warped/uneven), I even prefer thin and lower frets on a jazzguitar. Especially when using thicker flatwound strings, say 0.011, 0.012 or 0.013s. It may be more demanding on your technique. But (if I am correct) early Gibsons were dressed with very low frets which were promoted as "that fretless-feeling". Since in jazz most of us don't realy do bend-ups, some low frets is all you need.
The thinner the fret, the thinner the tone I am told, but I have never witnessed that myself, so don't shoot me if I'm wrong. Surely the material of the frets should play a role too.
Jazz it up!
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Hey Little Jay, I tried a couple of those things on a D'angelico New Yorker from Vestax that turned out to be a real lemon. I messed with the frets, fitted the bridge down, and put a better floating pickup on it. It really made a big difference in the way it played. No more buzzes, no more hand cramps, and a better sound. It's not perfect, but it's a lot better than it came from the factory.
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I have seen guys do these sort of upgrades to Epi Joe Pass, Ibanez Artcore and Art Star, Cort and other cheaper archtops. Always improves them, but some guys are trying to produce a short cut to an ES175, or other mid level archtop. It is a cheaper way to get a decent jazz box, particularly if name brands don't mean much to you. However, you never get your $ back if you try to sell.
Originally Posted by hot ford coupe
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but i think everybody must see what is most efficient for him. i mean: most people dont a huge audience and not a big record deal.
most important is the ability of the player. if wes montgomery plays a 150$ guitar it will still sound awesome. if a average guy plays a 2.500 $ guitar it will still sound average. or if you have a really great guitar and record it with an bad mic or an (just) good digital-audio interface, it wouldnt be economic.
if anybody has a huge audience, or an record deal with an great studio, or just enough money. than he could need a really expensive and great guitar.
but i think most player dont need a really expensive guitar. but some people need a great and expensive guitar.Last edited by Mace; 12-26-2008 at 09:47 PM.
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Originally Posted by Mace
Hahaha! There might be some truth in that!
As long as you don't think an expensive guitar will make you play better and as long as your guitar is not thát bad so it won't hinder your playing, most cheapo guitars will do fine in the right hands I think.
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ive used the steward macdonald golden aged pickups and for 50 bucks each they are great. i put them in a les paul standard and know one could tell the differents they are great i think for the price.
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Thomastik-Infeld swing jazz or George Benson strings..... period.
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this is probably a very late response, but i put the Symour Duncan jazz model pickup in my Gibson ES-137, and it brought the guitar back to life!! I highly recommend this pickup!
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Agreed. I love the Duncan Jazz in neck position. I also like the 11s. Perfect for that Metheny sound! Originally Posted by Gabe2099
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Just as an alternative idea, I recently put a tonerider AC4 PAF humbucker pickup in one of my solid guitars and it is great for a smooth, warm jazz tone. A very good quality pickup for a very nice price (well under half the cost of a Seymour Duncan in the UK). Worth a look maybe...
www.tonerider.com
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Yeah, they have those toneriders at gitarrdelar.se, a third of the Duncan cost. Worth looking into.
Peace
Skei (the soon off to the jazz club one)
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I may be a little late here but: You're in Germany? That's easy - get a Shadow SH AZ 49! They're a German company, and the pickup was designed in collaboration with Attila Zoller. Best jazz pickup I've ever heard! (And I just found out that Musicians Friend in the US has them, too!)
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I would suggest even heavier strings, as the EXL1159 (.11 gauge) has an unwound 3rd string, which sounds harsh for jazz. I play 12 gauge strings with a wound 3rd, and many other jazz players use even heavier strings. Some jazz players also like flatwound strings, although I personally prefer roundwounds. As far as pickups, I am still trying to figure out which one I want to upgrade to for the neck PU on my otherwise excellent Eastman AR372CE. I do know that just because a pickup has "jazz" in it's name does not necessarily make it good for Jazz (RE:Fender Jazzmaster guitar was a GREAT Surf music guitar, but not much of a Jazz guitar) Also, pickup choice is somewhat dependent on the individual guitar. (Re: I replaced the stock PU's on a Korean made Joe Pas Emperor with Gibson '57 Classics, and it ruined the tone completely.)
Amplification is also a large factor in Jazz tone. A great amp for Rock will likely not be a very good sounding amp for Jazz.
Jazz is usually darker tone (less bright tones) with clarity, and usually a punchy attack. Very seldom any kind of effects. Maybe a tiny bit of reverb, and almost never any distortion, etc.
Of course, everyone has their preferences, but this is a general idea. Hope it helps.
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Didn't read the whole thread so apologies for any open door knock down as we say in French.
I have a 1966 Gibson ES335 that really sounds great and warm and organic. I was surprised i could get almost the same sound on an Artcore AGS83 without buying some vintage Gibson 57 PAFs:
I got some Seymour Duncan SH-55 Seth Lover and man ! i get exactly the same sound, 1966 Gibson sustain and mojo excepted. Those are unpotted and are the real deal, less polite than SH-2, maybe less defined and a bit honky (unpotted) but really wild and always surprising.
No wonder: Mr Duncan was much smarter than sinking Gibson company who was stupid enough to sell its old machines used for making pickups. Duncan bought them and, in collaboration with Seth Lover, former Gibson employee and inventor of the "Patent Applied For" (PAF), they successfully tried to replicate those old PAF pickups. (sorry to those who already know this much told story).
At such a reasonable price it really is an awesome pickup.
Now SD has become a major brand and is not "boutique" as it used to be at the end of the 70's but being big doesn't mean being crap. SD is a great company that makes great pickups, mostly more affordable than Bare Knuckles, Lollar, etc... (which are great too of course) and as good in my opinion though of course more mass produced and less "custom".
SD SH-55 Seth Lover !Last edited by xuoham; 11-24-2013 at 08:54 AM.
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Hi Xuoham,
I have an Eastman T186X Thinline Semi-Hollow, which came stock with the Seth Lovers, and they are great for Blues and such, but they are not great Jazz pickups. I'm looking for a pickup that gives me that great punchy Jazz tones like Joe Pass, Herb Ellis, etc.. I need a new neck pickup for my ES175 style Eastman AR372CE. Being a less expensive model, they used pickups that don't match the laminated archtop guitar well, although the guitar itself is an amazingly well made instrument, and does have a great, resonant, unplugged tone, which is absolutely necessary in order to get good plugged in tone.
Pickups are obviously not the only link in the chain, but I know from playing other guitars thru my amps, I do know what the amps sound like with other instruments, and, as I said before, the guitar is great unplugged.
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Interesting. I did not know this story, so thanks! Originally Posted by xuoham
BTW, this is actually a zombie thread from 2008 (but still a relevant topic)!
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