Guitar for both gypsy jazz and jazz?

yay135135

Hello!

I am looking for a guitar that can work for both jazz and gypsy jazz (so an electric). Is there an electric jazz guitar that can work well with gypsy jazz unplugged? If not, is there an electric jazz guitar that works plugged in for gypsy jazz?

I ask because i would hopefully like to purchase one nice guitar that works for both genres rather than have two average guitars.

My dilemma is.. can i spend ~$3,000 on a nice jazz guitar for gypsy jazz as well, or can i get away with ~$1,500 for one jazz and one gypsy jazz guitar (or is that too cheap where i will sacrifice sound quality, playing quality b/c cheap guitars are harder to play obviously)

Any advice and / or recommendations for specific guitars that i should get are appreciated!!

JasonS

There are no electric guitars that will work unplugged in Gypsy jazz because they won't have enough volume.

Lots of high level players in the Gypsy jazz world are playing archtops these days though. Any archtop will work but it comes with a few caveats/downsides:

• The rhythm sound is not always ideal and is totally inappropriate if your group is going for more traditional tones/styles. It can still work, just something to be aware of.
• With an archtop you may be tempted to ignore playing with proper Gypsy jazz technique since it isn't as necessary to pull a good sound from an archtop.

You could also approach this from the opposite direction and get a good Selmer style guitar with a magnetic pickup (not a piezo). Then you can play unplugged at jams and still have a good tone for jazz. I'd have no problem doing a jazz gig w/ the peche a la mouche pickup.

Personally I take my archtop to jams fairly often and haven't had any complaints about it. I really like Django's 50's tones and they obviously work well for that sort of thing.

wim

There is no convincing way to do it.

• Archtop unplugged sound is too weak for GJ. You can play in the style but the sound is pathetic.
• GJ guitar with a peche-a-la-mouche is ok for electric sound, but it's uncomfortable to play the techniques like you would play on an electric. You lose the "light touch" required for electric.

It's a compromise either way. Better to get/have two guitars if you wanna play those two styles.

Scoredog

There are players who use an arch top to play Gypsy Jazz...like Frank Vignola. It won't be heard acoustically in a Gypsy Jazz jam but you can certainly play gypsy Jazz stylings with it. You can find a decent GJ guitar for 1500.00 but you need to know what to look for. You might find a used D'Angelico for 1500.00 so it is doable.

DoubleWhisky

You could use an battery amp like the Boss Katana mini for acoustic jams. Loud enough to be "that guy", so better not turn too loud but it would be another option if you only want to get one single guitar and opt for an archtop.

pdg

I'd recommend you get something like an Altamira oval-hole, so you can really get into the style, and something like an Eastman archtop or hollow-body for regular jazz. But you could defer the latter until you see whether a humbucker stick-on for the Altamira is acceptable to you for "regular" jazz playing.

MichaelHorowitz

This model does precisely that:

https://www.djangobooks.com/Item/eastman-fv680ce-sb-vignola

its definitely not as loud as a pure Gypsy guitar but far louder and more Gypsy like in tone than pretty well any other archtop. I’ve used this model for Gypsy gigs on many occasions both purely acoustically and plugged in and it always performed very well. The big advantage it has plugged in is that it has a short 25” scale so you can set it up with very low action and 12 gauge nickel strings which results in a fat, clear even tone. The problem with magnetic pickups on Gypsy guitars has always been the long scale/light copper strings and high action which causes severe string imbalances and a thinner, twangy tone. Of course, ultimately it’s personal and many just like that traditional Gypsy pickup sound but if you want something more modern and even, the Vignola model is worth checking out.

This Eastman model is based on the original design by Bob Benedetto, more on that here:

https://www.djangobooks.com/Item/bob-benedetto-frank-vignola-archtop

‘m

littlemark

What do you play now?

If you have a sold body electric. You can still play Jazz on it.

You don't NEED an archtop to play Jazz.

pdg

Michael's idea may be a good one. The adjustable bridge would let you lower the action to play lightly (amplified) for regular jazz, and to raise it to play gypsy jazz (acoustically or amplified).

Buco

If Rodrigo Shopis is still building he can make you this

https://www.guitare-village.com/occasion/jazz/jazz_1043.php

Also Cholet builds a similar guitar

https://reverb.com/item/32382346-guitare-jazz-manouche-y-cholet

I played Cholet, local guy has one, and it plays as easily as an archtop

That Eastman would do the job as well. The advantage of the the others over the Eastman is they can (most likely) build to your specs. But they'll probably be more $$$ than the Eastman too.

JasonS

Hmm I wouldn't say I've experienced string balance issues or a twangy tone with magnetic pickups once properly setup. I would agree that a magnetic pickup into something like an AER can sound pretty weird but running into a good tube amp will be much different. Everyone has a different idea of what jazz guitar tone should be though I suppose. If you're into Charlie Christian, Grant Green, etc. a Selmer style guitar with a pickup can totally work. YMMV of course