Re: jazz on tele's etc./Gibson Explorer

["Christo Jota" <chris@christojota.de>]

I remember, a long time ago, maybe even in the early eighties, donīt know,
I checked out a Gibson Explorer in a store and was blown away by itīs warm,
fat sound and the feel on the neck. I still can remember how sad I felt 
cause
I didnīt have the money to buy it. I was much into kind of heavy Blues, 
Rockīn Roll
music, done by the likes of Johnny Winter.
Now, for my smooth ambient sounds, Iīm not interested in the Explorer 
anymore, would
rather look for a Godin or so, but in those days I would be a happy man to 
get
this strange looking axe.
christo
www.christojota.de

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Charles Zwicky" <cazwicky@earthlink.net>
Sent: Thursday, April 01, 2010 4:43 PM
To: <Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com>
Subject: Re: jazz on tele's etc.

> I realize that you're simply trying to make a point, but I want to hip 
>you 
> to a little known fact:  Flying Vs make FANTASTIC jazz guitars.. the 
>body 
> and neck are made from a very thin piece of mahogany , and they have a 
> natural warmth and resonance... you'd prolly only get away with it in 
>the 
> studio... nobody in a Jass club wants to see some middle aged Jass guy 
> with a flying V (and spandex)....
>
>>Good point on the flatwounds.  My observation is that you can take any 
>>guitar, and I mean any guitar, that has a neck pickup, put flatwounds on 
>>it, and plug into any amp that allows you to pump up the lows and roll 
>off 
>>the highs, and you can get at least 50% to that "jazz guitar" tone.  I 
>>don't care if it is a Gibson Flying V....humbucker neck acticatd... into 
>a 
>>amp with bass on 5, mid on 4, and treble on 2....I can play a jazz gig 
>and 
>>sound halfway decent. I may look ridiculous, however :)
>>
>>Hmmmm, maybe I should have a custom hollow body archop Flying V made.  
>Hah 
>>hah.
>>
>>Kris
>>
>>----- Original Message -----
>>>It's interesting how certain elements work together on specific guitar 
>>>models. A Tele can be a great jazz guitar with the treble rolled off, a 
>>>humbucker or P90 in the neck position certainly helps,  but heavy 
>strings 
>>>even more so. Put some 12 or 13 flatwounds on a  standard Strat and off 
>>>you go!
>>>
>>>I got that from a studio player friend of mine who is constantly 
>changing 
>>>instrument's setups, putting nylon strings on older Martin's, thin 
>>>strings on a jazz box, heavy gauge stuff on a Strat just to see what he 
>>>comes up with. Quite a bit of setup work there (also some cheaper 
>guitars 
>>>might start to go south under 13's these days), but probably more 
>>>rewarding that trying out your 12th variant  of a modded Tubescreamer 
>>>clone.
>>>
>>>On the other hand my luthier once as an experiment (no extra holes 
>>>drilled) put a Tele bridge on my 1960 Gibson Melody Maker (the single 
>>>cut LP shaped variant with P90's added) - and that small mahagony 
>>>swampthing suddenly started to put out some serious twang, amazing 
>>>difference. Too much twang for me, we put the Pigtail one-piece- bridge 
>>>back on...
>>>
>>>Best, Andreas
>
>
> -- 
>
> ...
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