So, you want to buy a jazz guitar, but you’re not sure how to make the right choice. What is the best guitar for jazz and how do you pick a brand and type of guitar that is right for you? This article will help you decide what jazz guitar to buy. We will explore some of the more popular jazz guitars on the market, in a variety of brands and price ranges.
In general, jazz music can be played on any guitar. Most jazz musicians today use an archtop guitar to create their signature sound, but even among that broad category, there are a lot of choices.
There are many factors that should be taken into account when buying a jazz guitar. What body type do you want? What tone range/quality do you need? How much money do you want to spend?
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Types of Guitars The first question you should ask yourself when looking for a jazz guitar is “What style of guitar do I need?”
Archtop guitars (hollow body guitars) – The archtop guitar is the quintessential jazz guitar as it has been used by numerous jazz legends throughout the history of the instrument. It is commonly associated with famous players like Wes Montgomery (Gibson L-5), Joe Pass (Gibson ES-175), and Johnny Smith (Gibson Johnny Smith Model) for example.
Semi-hollow body guitars – This guitar is the “in between” model of jazz guitar. It is not as small as a solid body, but not as big as an archtop. These guitars have fewer feedback issues compared to archtops, give a warm “jazz” tone, and are more versatile than the more specialized archtop guitars. Some of the famous players that have used these guitars are Emily Remler (Gibson ES-330), Larry Carlton (Gibson ES-335), and John Scofield (Ibanez Artists).
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Solid body guitars – This is the type of guitar that you usually find in rock, country, and blues music, although solid body guitars do get used by jazz guitarists as well. John Abercrombie has used an Ibanez Artist and Gibson SG, John McLaughlin has used many different Gibson solid body guitars over the years and Mike Stern has always used a Tele-type guitar. Solid body guitars produce consistent tone, have a high volume output, and are almost always immune to feedback as compared to the other two types of jazz guitars.
So what is an archtop guitar? As the name might suggest, an archtop is usually a semi-acoustic guitar with a distinctive arched top and a hollow body.
Along with the arched top, another key feature of an archtop guitar are the “f-holes” on either side of the guitar’s strings. These holes are commonly seen on violins and other instruments in the violin family, but archtops and semi-hollow body guitars are some of the only guitars to feature this design. The holes are intended to help a guitar project sound more efficiently.
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Even though jazz music really only began to take off in the 1920s, the archtop guitar has been around for much longer.
The first patent for what we now consider a classic archtop design was filed by Orville Gibson in 1898. The Gibson Guitar Corporation started producing the first archtop with f-holes, the Gibson L-5, in 1922. The L-5 was originally an acoustic instrument and primarily used in big bands. A semi-acoustic version of the L-5 became available in 1940.
The Gibson ES-175 is probably the best-known jazz guitar, alongside its more expensive counterpart the L-5 CES, as it has been played by many jazz greats throughout the years.
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Though most professional players seek used 175s from the 1950s and 60s, the newer reissue models are well built and carries many of the traits that made its predecessors legendary. Epiphone (Gibson’s sister company) also has a more affordable version of the ES-175.
The Gibson ES-125 is a hollow body guitar that provides a sweetly resonant jazz guitar tone and excellent playability. At the same time, the simple design and easy-to-handle approach of this instrument make it a great fit for beginners or students who are just starting to dip their toes into the world of jazz guitar.
The Gibson L-5 has been a staple of the jazz guitar world for decades, due in great part to its use by jazz guitar legend Wes Montgomery. The L-5 was the first guitar with f-holes and is made with the highest quality one would expect from a high-end Gibson guitar. It sounds as good as it looks.
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The only downside to a guitar like this is that it is a bit pricey to be taken out to a club or bar for a gig. Most people would be a little wary about bringing a $9000 guitar to a room full of people drinking and having a good time. But for those who want a great guitar to play with at home, or to record with, this is a great buy.
The Gibson Super 400 is one of the most sought after pre-electronic archtop guitars on the market. They are hard to come by as most people who buy them hang on to them for many, many years. This is due to the quality of the guitar, but also to its ability to increase in price over the years.
The guitar debuted in 1934 and is the largest guitar ever produced by Gibson. Besides the early acoustic version, Gibson also released a version with P90 pickups and later with a Charlie Christian Pickup.
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If you’re looking for a versatile guitar, with a warm sound and a lot of clarity, then the Ibanez PM200 is a great option. With a round, smooth tone to it, the Ibanez PM200 is a great choice for any jazz guitarist.
Made in Japan, the Ibanez PM200 was designed according to Pat Metheny’s specifications, so artists who are inspired by his music can’t go wrong with this guitar.
The George Benson Signature guitar, the best-selling Ibanez archtop of all time, is another custom made archtop that was designed for a famous player and currently on the market.
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One thing you should know before buying this guitar is that it is designed for Benson’s recent specifications, not from his “jazz” years, more from his pop/rock days. Because of this, the tone is going to match Breezin’ more closely than Beyond the Blue Horizon, though some players may desire this sound over the older one anyway.
The Ibanez George Benson LGB30 is another guitar that is inspired by the legendary jazz guitarist of the same name, and his influence can be felt in the looks, sound, and style of this hollow body guitar.
The bound ebony fretboard and other stylistic bits of flair combine to make an instrument that looks like a high-end guitar while still being affordable enough to appeal to beginning musicians.
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Originally introduced in 1931 as an affordable option for musicians who wanted a high-end sound, the Epiphone Broadway has remained true to its original vision throughout the years. The Broadway is slightly larger than similar models, as a direct result of its original designer, Epi Stathopoulo, who believed that a larger body was necessary for a fuller tone.
Thanks to that belief, the Epiphone Broadway provides a classic example of a large hollow-body guitar design, and its curvy appearance helps draw out a wider range of tones. It was the favorite of many influential jazz artists when it first debuted in 1931, and it continues to be so today, more than eighty years later.
The Godin 5th Avenue Kingpin is a drop-dead gorgeous instrument that sounds every bit as good as it looks. The single P-90 pickup provides a warm and full jazz tone that is often described as old or smokey.
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Touted as “a workhorse for any serious player”, the Heritage H-575 is a high-end guitar that makes up for its higher price range with its status as one of the most outstanding instruments on the field today.
While the Heritage guitar company has only been around for about thirty years, the company is fighting to establish itself as one of the premier sources for high-end instruments, and the Heritage H-575 is a great example of such a guitar.
The D’Angelico EXL-1 is a great guitar that comes in three versions: Premier, Excel, and Deluxe. Avoid the Premier and go for an Excel or Deluxe.
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A semi-hollow guitar has a solid block of wood running through the body and the two bouts (the sides of the guitar closest to the neck) hollowed out.
The center block reduces some of the feedback that hollow body guitars can experience, and the resulting sound tends to be tighter and more focused than a traditional electric guitar.
Since the only real difference between hollow body and semi-hollow guitars is the block in the middle of the guitar, the two classes have a very similar tone, with the hollow body guitar sounding slightly “warmer”, but more prone to feedback.
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The Gibson ES-335 is the guitar of legends and is a versatile model that works very well for jazz as well as other styles of music.
Originally released in 1958 as the first commercial semi-hollow archtop guitar, the Gibson ES-335 was the favorite of
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