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Jazz Boxes - Your Bucket List?
Jazz Boxes - Your Bucket List?
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ChrisDowning
93 posts
Nov 25, 2010
10:45 PM
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Rich continues to help the jazz cause by offering a very good deal on the Hofner, Chinese built, jazz bozes. But has anyone else got a steer on some nice offerings? High on my list would be a secondhand Heritage because on eBay and in the shops these seem to be fairly unknown and therefore don't command the prices Gibson and Guild do. I suppose as the owner of a solid body Guild S300A, the Guild boxes should be on my list as well - at least the cheaper ones. I took one of my sons into Ivor Mairants shop, just off Oxford Street in London, and he was amazed that you could spend so much on one guitar. They had all the usual brands ranging from $500 up to $20,000! All I could say was, "Have you seen the price of a decent cello?"
I ran into a violinist at the college where I teach guitar and as I helped her tune her instrument (what is it about orchestral players and not using digital tuners?) she told me the instrument that I was straining to turn the friction peg on, was worth £3000. I suddenly became more gentle. Then she went on to tell me her two sisters had instuments worth £3500 each. £10,000 worth of violins for beginners. And we think a Gibson 175 is expensive!
Pro level instruments start at not much more than £1000 or $1500 so we are actually very lucky to be able to access instruments at such reasonable prices - even the classic D28 Martin is a lot cheaper than a college violin.
I suppose my list - not in order would be -
Gibson ES175
Guild X150 - the one with one PU?
Gibson Herb Ellis
Ibanez John Scofield
Ibanez George Benson
Heritage Sweet 16
Heritage Groovemaster
I see Rich has broken out his old 175 for some of the videos again.
I suppose to support my Back to Basics plan - see other post - the Heritage is probably the highest quality at the most reasonable price - so it would be the 575 for me as a working player - clone of the Gibson ES175 - or perhaps its the real deal because its made by the original Gibson guys at the old factory in Kalamazoo. However I'm just about to change the PUs on the Tele so maybe its 'move over Mike Stern' time and that's the guitar?
Can't really beat the Hofner for a budget option at the other end of the scale - German design and quality control at a Chinese price.
Last Edited by on Nov 25, 2010 10:47 PM
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Eric E
Moderator
85 posts
Dec 10, 2010
7:24 PM
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Nice list Chris. I currently play a Stromberg and an Eastman. I've had some nice ones in the past (Ibanez GB 10, Gibson ES 175, 1941 Epiphone Deluxe, 1995 Epi Emperor Regent). I recently played one of the lower priced Hofners and it was a great guitar. I considered buying it, but it got bought before I had a chance. Currently, my bucket list would include old L5 (maybe from the 50s) and an original Stromberg. I suppose I'd love a Strat from the 60s and maybe a Les Paul. That's probably it. I'm pretty happy with what I havev though.
--Eric E.
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ChrisDowning
95 posts
Dec 21, 2010
11:25 PM
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I suppose I've got the Strat one covered with my 1982 Tokai copy with the Alnico 2 Seymour Duncan pick-ups I had installed. So it now sounds just like an early Strat without the build problems. Beautiful glassy tones and small frets that make it comfortable to play. And the Guild is kinda covered as I have a 1980 Guild S300A, one of the rare Ash models of a strange but comfortably shaped solid body. It has the original, traditional Guild Humbuckers, so it pretty much sounds like a Guild Jazz guitar - I can tolerate the lack of a jazz hollow body for the tones this guitar produces.
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