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Re: Midi Guitar specifically for Jazz
#MIDI
found a few pics BTW I am actually retired from making guitars so what I still have for sale is all there
I really made guitars for me so if they were a bit off the wall that was the reason I loved beautiful woods Flames/quilts and flash grains with the exception of the BBK all my guitars were finished to show off the woods in their creation. I was anal about them to me they had to look like art as well as create art when played. Is that a sin to be so pious?? and to cop it all mostly I played Country and Irish Music |
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Re: Midi Guitar specifically for Jazz
#MIDI
Yes sir I do and most of my creations tend to be one offs
This Jazz box was 18 months in design and build
and made to an ultra high spec (as are all of my guitars) although most are just relatively normal guitars 335esque
I do copy the same guitar system into a homage guitar to the late great BBK?
the only other guitar that I loaded a similar system into was a solid state 335 sized SG which also has actives as does a 12 string version that I made
My guitars tend to all have Coil Tap/Phase/series parallel switching thus allowing a greater tonal range
?
I should point out that in the big ONE OFF Midi Jazz Box has ?2.3k worth of hardware loaded into it which cost me a further ?650 to have Mark Seddon of Oxbow Guitars work the bugs out of (he is an electronic genius)
without all the bells and whistles the guitar is still a fantastic big jazz box?
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Midi Guitar specifically for Jazz
#MIDI
So what makes a Guitar for Jazz music
Traditionally it would be a Semi Acoustic deep bodied guitar? Now when it comes to the scale and the number of frets there are a lot of different views The older guitars tend to have less frets than the more modern? Pickups tend to be mini humbucker in the neck position Scale lengths varies as much as style but 25.5" tends to be the modern norm Woods are important to the real Jazz players the more select and older the better (its all about bass tone (not Bass like bass guitar but bass as something that builds tone with colour) so a fairly simple format ???????????? So why did jazz guitars not evolve in the same way as most electric guitars That was the question that got me thinking about how to evolve a Jazz guitar yet keep that good jazz look. I went right back to the drawing board and decided on a look first (I liked a guitar that I had seen in the 1960's so I decided to make mine as a simple facsimile. I did not know the brand of guitar when I made mine, I just knew approximately what it looked like. So first to the woodpile I used 30 year dry aged European Maple, 80 year old Honduras Mahogany (it had been an antique Dining Table the wood was probably older than 80 years but I traced the table back 80 years, 35 year old dry aged Sitka Spruce and then some 100+ year old Ebony (bought from Jim Burns in the 1980's) So now I had my wood and the design in mind. I wanted a BIG Deep bodied jazz box I made the top and back by laminating slabs of wood together in a solid sandwich The back is made from Maple, Mahogany, Maple. The top is made from Spuce, Mahogany, Spruce. These slabs were then carved back to from my arch top and back revealing a red stripe of Mahogany the follows the line of the guitar. The sides are made from the same maple as the back. The neck is formed by Maple, Mahogany and Maple. The neck has a full Volute at the headstock which is faced with Ebony. all the inlay to the headstock and neck is Mother of pearl. the binding is Mahogany, Maple, Ebony, Maple, Ebony. This is used on the Headstock, Neck and the body. Now for anther change in the evolution 24 frets with full access from the sing Cutaway.? Next change I decided to get away from the 15" 16" and 17" bodies and went for an 18" wide guitar like the 1931 George Abbott Musicmaster that I own.? 7" deep at the deepest part? made this a Jumbo Semi. Now there are some things that really should not be changed like the SOUND of a Jazz Box (at least when it comes to the Humbucker)? I opted for a Benedetto S6 floating Humbucker attacked to my Flamed Maple Pickguard. The tuners I used were Gold and Black Planet Wave locking and self trimming (no more strings in your eyeball!!!) then I wanted MORE (MORE BOY did you say MORE??!!!!) Yep I wanted MORE so I wanted the acoustic sound as well as the electric and I wanted to be able to mix them in a stereo output? I also wanted the guitar to be able to access MIDI, the only trouble is laggggggggg I hated the lag that you got with the Roland HEX pickup, and three separate pickup systems would make for an ugly guitar. Also nobody made a Bridge system that had individual Piezo for a jazz guitar (at least not a proper Wooden Floating Bridge with wooden saddles. So I had to MAKE MY OWN. I embedded each pickup under the saddles which were then bonded back onto the floating adjustable bridge.? So I ended up with a Jazz box that still looked like a jazz box but that had a midi system that works from Micro Vibration rather than a hex pickup so nothing to soil the look. the acoustic side I added a "Dark Sound" board which is switchable between Natural and Dark . Midi even though most midi is 7 pin din Roland footboards and Midi amps use a 13 pin din So we wired a 13 in Roland out as well as the Stereo/Mono Jack. The guitar can now be used with any of the pickups individually or a mix of any and all. Custom Made Solid Brass Output Plate on the side bottom bout. On the upper top bout there is likewise a solid brass plate that carries all the controls. Turned Rosewood tone and volume controls and Mix control along with 4 Micro toggles give access the all the electronics buried deep inside the bowels of this guitar.? the whole system is run using 18volts a pair of 9vlt PP3 in a bottle fitted carrier. The view from the front it looks like they way I remembered the guitar I saw way back in the early 1960's (which turned out to be a Musima Record, even though I did not know that when I set about making it. The think a lot of you will be asking and probably the most important thing HOW DOES IT PLAY?????? Imagine you have something like a 335 or a BB King or say a slim neck on a SJ200 so it fast neck with a glorious easy action all the way up to the 24th fret Sound-wise it has the generic Jazz sound but with a fuller tone on the Benedetto humbucker It is quite loud acoustically too, the Piezo sounds great and oh boy when you switch to the "Dark Acoustic" its a dream then Mix the Humbucker and you have a beautiful layered and full sound. Now add in a superb fast tracking midi instrument you are a guitar GOD? Remember Midi is not just about extra instruments you can use the midi to control Lighting Rigs or even use it to set of Pyrotechnics on stage at the right time. The is no limit to midi only your own mind! |
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Re: [Listening] Jazz Standards 4 (S-Z)
#CharlieByrd
Much appreciated ... this is great ... THANK YOU  M
On Wednesday, April 14, 2021, 11:41:05 PM EDT, samdols@... <samdols@...> wrote:
Hi everyone,
I just wanted to share the final part of ?jazz standards collection. I hope you find it enjoyable.? ?
[Listening] Jazz Standards 4 (S-Z)
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