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Why I Thought I Needed an Archtop Guitar

Before I got my archtop I was convinced that I needed and archtop to get the jazz guitar voice that I have in my head. With a lot of gear and guitars, it’s more about wanting something than needing something. I was sure that an archtop was something that I needed.

It’s true that you can play jazz on just about any guitar, and there have been some great players that used a Telecaster and even a Stratocaster, but most of my favorite guitarists played an archtop.

After I made this video I did get an archtop guitar, and I can say with confidence that it does have the voice, it has been inspiring, and I did need an archtop.

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Stratocaster Tone with a Dumble Amp Clone in Jazz Mode

Most people overlook the jazz switch on a Dumble Overdrive Special style guitar amp, but there are some really cool tones to be had. It really works well with a stratocaster to get some of the more classic strat tones that we know and love.

I have also experimented with the jazz switch with humbuckers, and while there are some fantastic tones to be had, rock mode with humbuckers is really where the “Dumble sound” lives.

At gig volume the overdrive channel has some pretty serious treble in jazz mode, so depending on what volume I’m playing, these tones may or may not be achievable depending on how you set the tone controls.

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How To Set Up A Fuzz Face Circuit for some Killer Tone

The trick is to get a perfect combination of your guitar’s volume control and settings on the fuzz. Input resistance and voltage bias, as well as the fuzz’s volume and fuzz controls all play a role.

There are so many sounds to be had from the Fuzz Face circuit! Everything from sparkly clean crunch to extreme wall of distortion tones can come out of one of these boxes. There are also many great tones to be had by using the guitar volume knob with a fuzz face and I talk about that extensively here.

In this video I discuss using input resistance, guitar volume, and bias settings. The fuzz face is very sensitive to all of these little changes.

Input resistance almost works better to control the distortion than the actual fuzz control, and on a fuzz face the bias control can take it from splatty dirt to sparkly grit with great clean up.

I still consider this the best fuzz I’ve ever owned… it’s just one of those magic sets of transistors I guess.

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How Often Should You Change Your Guitar Strings

I like to get as much life out of my strings as I can, and how often I change them really depends on the situation.

When I have fresh strings I can be reluctant to take them to a gig if it’s going to be humid or if there is a chance that someone else will play my guitar. In the summer time I will even pick one guitar and just leave terrible strings on it for the season.

If a set of guitar strings starts to physically feel bad I will always change them, even if they still sound good. Over time the strings will get bent at the frets and stop intonation properly, but that’s usually way after they start to sound dull.

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.047uF Tone Cap In The Stratocaster

Tone Capacitor

I thought I’d give the .047 cap a try for the neck pickup setting in my stratocaster. It produces a fairly dark sound as you roll the tone knob back. You could almost call it a “jazzy” tone.

A .047 tone cap is a larger value than I was used to when I made this video. Basically with tone caps, the smaller you go in value, the more midrange it preserves.