Hey guys, I've never owned a Strat before and I was wondering if they're good for jazz. I was looking into the Deluxe Players strat and the features looked really nice. Do you think that would get me a nice mellow tone with the pickups in series? Thanks.

Strats work for jazz! Eric Johnson pulls some excellent tones out of his on the following tunes;

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The mind is like a parachute; it doesn't work unless its open-FZ

Vintage noiseless.... not really. Although the clapton strats that use those pickups do give the nice deep tone with the midboost engaged. So it may be possible if you use a eq between the guitar and amp to enhance bass/mid frequencies. If you really like the guitar then thats what i'd do. Pedals can always be added or pickups can be swapped later.

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No no and no

oops, I guess embedding doesn't work;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FL8aeeSTthQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jf_Zz8BwClE

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The mind is like a parachute; it doesn't work unless its open-FZ

Neck pick up = sweet jazz tones.

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-Classic 50's Strat.
-Std. Telecaster.
-Mike Dirnt P-bass.
-Custody of SE Strat.
-Peavey Predator/Dean Evo/Epiphone DR150/Gibson Slide (much older than me).

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I've used my AmStd for jazz -- you can get it quite mellow, especially with the right settings on a tube amp. Of course you can't duplicate the classic semi-hollow jazz sound but you can certainly get a good sound.

Just think Hollowbody for jazz.

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

the J Mayer Strat (the Cypress Mica in particular) are incredible for jazz. the E Johnson is too.

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Lets get a bit of perspective here. The guys asking about a deluxe player strat. It comes equipped with vintage noiseless pickups.

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No no and no

But to get that True Jazz sound of the Great Jazz masters you need a Archtop Hollow body guitar no solid body can get that voice.

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

I play jazz on my Strat simply because I have no other guitar that can even remotely pull it off. (Tele? No. Les Paul? No.) I'm dying for a hollowbody, I guess I'll get around to getting one when I have money. The Strat I use for jazz has Fender Texas Special pickups, thick strings, and I use the neck pickup with the tone knob tuned up about three quarters of the way. It sounds decent. My other Strat has Vintage Noiseless pickups like on the Deluxe Player's Strat. I don't think it has a warm enough tone to make jazz sound good on it. But if you really like the Deluxe Player's Strat you could always change the pickups later.

But as the poster above me stated, nothing beats a nice hollowbody guitar for jazz.

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My American deluxe can get some alright jazz sounds with the neck pickup and S-1 switching turned on. although I have to say it isn't quite as good as my hollow body dot archtop.

On a Deluxe Players, Neck and Bridge together. I love that little button.

My Strat into my Valve Junior give me a very "chimy" sound... a little bit of reverb, even though there is nothing between the guitar and amp except for a Whirlwind brand cable.

Absolutely agree CV. The only point i was making is that the vintage noiseless pickups on the guitar the OP is considering aren't really voiced for jazz. By hook or by crook you can get the tone, sometimes is it worth the agro?

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No no and no

I like the Telecaster better than the Stratocaster for jazz. I was playing last night and I just couldn't nail the sound on the Strat. I used the Tele in the bridge pickup only position(3rdposition) and I got an acceptable p90 type of sound. The Baja has an additional sound(4th position, S1 off) that is more humbucker in sound that elevates to the jazzbox sound.

But I think the best sound is from the ES-347 thin semihollow archtop gets that sound the best. If you are considering smooth (contemporary) jazz, the Stratocaster is great. Listen to Nils and Jeff Golub( of the group Avenue Blue); these guys use strats all the time!

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2007 Classic Player Baja Telecaster
1991 Strat Ultra
1990 Gibson ES-347
1986 Yamaha SBG2100
1980 Gibson L6-S
1971 Stratocaster
Fender Stage Lead Combo
Marshall MOSFET 100 watt Amp