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Who uses flat top acoustic guitar for jazz/chord melody. Make/model?
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09-16-2017 04:24 PM
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Kenny Burrell does. Not sure who makes his flattop though.
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Eric Skye of Portland, Oregon. Guitar: Santa Cruz Guitar Company 00-12 Eric Skye.
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gabor szabo used a host of acoustics... many many years...he also used a dearmond soundhole pup...would get beautiful sustaining feedback effect on certain notes..but very highly/skillfully controlled...like an e-bow...
that's where the influence on coryell and santana comes from
very clever player...
cheers
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Although some don't consider him a "Jazz Guitarist", Tommy Emmanuel plays amazing chord-melody on a Maton made in Australia.
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the other giant for me was- ralph towner
he used an acoustic 12 string on some seminal recordings..a tough instrument to work with..but he played some beautiful stuff
used a guild quite often
here's more recent..still with 12
cheers
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- Larry Coryell played a guitar made by Steve Grimes.
- Vinny Raniolo plays a Collings SJ
- Julian Lage also Plays a new Collings 000 model
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When I played with Larry Coryell, he was using an acoustic hand made for him by Ken Parker. At the end of this video medley (I am playing my L-5 and Dupont in these clips) you can see Larry (RIP) doing chord melody on his Parker.
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coryell, in his high point 70's era, used acoustics made by augustino loprinzi..a very intersting maker out of nj
his intersting bio here-
Meet Augustino LoPrinzi - Augustino LoPrinzi Guitars & Ukuleles
cheers
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I have played _plenty_ of jazz on flattops (and classicals). The three guitars I have used the most in this respect have been a Martin D-18, a LoPrinzi LR-15, and a Guild D-50. The first, of course, is a dreadnought/mahogany sides/back guitar. The second and third were dreadnought/rosewood sides/back guitars.
All three were exceptional instruments...loud for flattops...and were great for solo jazz, i.e., chord melody/single-note work.
I'm not a big fan of flattops, however, for jazz rhythm work. By this, I mean swing music. For "big band" rhythm playing I vastly prefer to do the Freddie Green thing with an acoustic archtop. There is no comparison.
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I had the chance to hear Ralph Towner in the 1970s when he came to our college in Seattle with Peter Yarrow. Towner played a solo piece on his 12 string and got a five minute standing ovation. Yarrow smilingly said after that, "I wish I could get that kind of response when I play!" Saw Ralph Towner five times live after that, bought many of his records, and to this day he is a guitar hero of mine.
Originally Posted by neatomic
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I play some jazz on my flattop (a mid-80s Yamaha dread). The guitar sounds better than my fingers.
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Danny W.
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I play jazz on any guitar I pick up. As far as flattop go, I like my Ovation Elite.
Last edited by mr. beaumont; 09-16-2017 at 11:33 PM.
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Philip catherine playing "gilles et mirona":
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A couple thoughts:
Steel string acoustic guitars are a very broad category of instruments. They are more diverse than archtops which vary mostly in size, one of two styles of bracing and body size. There are many shapes, sizes, materials and divergent bracing schemes.
Some are likely more suitable than others to play solo jazz chord melody. To me, aspects that are important is balance in volume across the strings, strong timbre to the trebles to carry the melody. solid tone in the upper registers (and access to them with a cutaway). Scale length, nut width and string spacing are a personal choice in my opinion. The speed of note attack, amount of overtones surrounding the fundamental notes and the length of decay (sustain) all will vary based on a number of factors. You need to find what you like. The same tune will feel totally different depending on these factors.
I personally like the comfort and focus of smaller bodied guitars in the 0 (13-1/2"), 00 (14-1/4") and 000 (15") sizes with wider nut widths (1-3/4"). I am fortunate to own a number of very nice ones. We tend to focus on archtop guitars (mostly plugged in) in this forum with the occasional gypsy and nylon. Steel string flat tops are different, but very capable for jazz chord melody IMO.
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Mike Moreno
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Archtop is my go to favorite, but I have been known to play jazz on several flattops: Guild F47M, Ellers GJ, and lately, Martin 00-15M and Seagull Coastline Grand.
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I try to get the best of both worlds by building truly acoustic archtops.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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I play lots of jazz on my flat tops. They all work great for me, but my Gibson LG-2 American Eagle gets dibs as favorite, mainly because the plugged in sound is the best and I love the ease of playing the shorter Gibson scale. My recently acquired Martin D-28 has a truly excellent tone, but it is quite a bit more fatiguing to play than the small Gibson.
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here's a honey of an album recorded with john mclaughlin on flatop acoustic...much of his stuff was on acoustic early on
extrapolation from 1969
cheers
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That's right -- have guitar, will travel. Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
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Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
Marc Schwartz and Jeff Matz. 2 of the biggest stars we got here. Thanks for sharing gentlemen. Originally Posted by Stringswinger
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Speaking of great flattops as a choice for jazz. There's a rare arched back Jumbo on the 'bay for cheap. They didn't make many of these. The AJ817 I previously owned was a real winner...they're an excellent choice for flattop jazz guitar. Listed $700 BIN including shipping, they sold new for $1800.
Eastman Archback Jumbo Acoustic Guitar its in great condition and a great deal!! | eBay
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