In all my years of playing, and even though there’s a lot of jazz influence in my style, I’ve only rarely used a jazz guitar. I’ve owned a Gibson 335, and an Ibanez George Benson, but never really took to them. Part of that is my preference for nylon strings. But while nylons are perfect for solo playing, they generally lack punch and sustain when sitting in with other players.
Well, I recently decided that, since I’m playing in three bands these days, it was time to get to know an archtop. Fortunately, I had one lying about. About 5 years ago, I made an insanely good deal on a black Ibanez Pat Metheny PM-100… but it had sat in its case ever since, doing no one any good at all. No sense it that, right? So I changed the status quo a few weeks ago, pulling the Metheny out of mothballs, slapping on a set of my favorite electric strings (Cleartone 11s), adjusting the neck, tweaking the bridge, etc. It felt very fine in my hands.
Tonight I was playing with my buddy Frank Jones at our monthly gig at Chateau Thomas Winery in Nashville IN, and played the Metheny all night long, not once picking up the nylon-string. Jazz box joy all night long, definitely a first for me. For those who care about such things, I was playing the Metheny through my favorite little effects processor, a Korg Pandora PX4D, straight into the Bose L1.
Well, I have to say, I heard nothing but rave reviews about this guitar. Wifey said it was the best-sounding axe she’d ever heard me play. Frank was gushing (well, Frank gushes a lot, but you never know which way it might go). Scott, the manager of the winery (and a singer-songwriter his own self) said the guitar sounded fantastic. Other folks came up to comment on the big beautiful black guitar I was playing. So I’m definitely digging the response this axe is getting.
Photo by Geoffrey Thompson, March 21, 2010
Really, I have to credit my acquiring the Metheny to one of our chief StringDancer reps in the great city of St. Louis, Larry Gregory, a decidedly hard-core guitar player, a man who embraces the guitar-slinger lifestyle with dedication and panache, and the proud owner of a gorgeous Gibson L5, considered by many aficionados perhaps the finest all-around jazz box Gibson ever made. So one day I get a jingle from Larry, saying he had four front-row tickets to catch Pat Metheny in concert in St. Louis, and would Rhonda and I like to join Jayne and him for the evening. Didn’t require much arm-twisting. Metheny’s always been one of my favorite jazz guitarists, and I’d seen him once back in Bakersfield California.
Well… suffice to say that the evening was supremely inspiring and memorable in many ways. Driving back to Indiana, I recalled the PM-100 that had been hanging in a plexiglass case back at Muncie Music Center, where I was teaching at the time. The poor thing had gotten very little attention, as a single neck-pup jazz box wasn’t exactly hitting the mark with local players. Feeling Fate at work in my life, I went to the store the next day, swung a sweetheart insider deal on the guitar, arranging to work it off with web design work for the store. Now… it may have taken me 5 years to get around to approaching the guitar, but it finally happened, and the results so far are very encouraging. Larry would be proud of me, I think.
