I'm looking to purchase a "jazz" guitar. I'm a prospective music major, and while my ESP F-100 is a joy to play on and looks totally sweet, I need something more resonant with better tone.

The things I really like about the F series guitars that I've played on is how right it feels in my hands. They have slim, slick necks with low action designed for metal, much like most Jacksons. I don't play much heavy metal, but the ease of play on the neck is really appealing to me. Also, the guitar itself is pretty slim and with the see-through black paint it has a subtle sexiness to it.

Onward to jazz boxes: I've found the Ibanez AG series, and they look interesting. They're a lot slimmer than most hollow-bodies tend to be, they look good, and from my old guitar teacher they sound good and they're a great deal.

tl:dr Honestly though, I don't know much about jazzy guitars, so if anyone here has any experience with Ibanez hollow-bodies or other good guitars, help me out. I''ll be Tampa next week, so I'm planning on stopping by guitar center and Sam Ash while I'm down there to try them out firsthand.

depends on how much you're willing to pay

i'd look at the epiphone sheratons if you want bang for buck. the joe pass emperor regent is very cool also, but it's a big jazz box, not just a hollow body.

you definitely won't find the same necks on jazz boxes, as most have a mahogany neck for the softer tone, mahogany is always a bit chunkier since it's a softer wood, they have to make up by more thickness so it handles the string tension very well.

maybe have a look at this if you can get your hands on it, http://godinguitars.com/godinjazzp.htm but now we're talking real traditional jazz.

Nice, I'm a jazz guitar major. What school are you going to?

Anyways, it doesn't matter too too much in terms of having a "legitimate" jazz axe as long as you play well, and it's not like there's only one official jazz tone either. Was there a specific players' sound that attracted you?

If you want a specific hollowbody reccommendation, somebody lent me a Yamaha AEX1500 for several months this year and it was *wicked*. I wish I still had it, but I didn't have the guts to ask him to sell it to me. The tone was perfect: when I play with my regular guitars, I can never get the tone quite right - it's always too boomy or too brittle. I might be checking out a used Ibanez Artcore soon, but that's not really in the same quality bracket.

Playing with a heavy string gauge can help if you want a more traditional jazz tone...I have a Squier Strat strung with 10-49 gauge and it doesn't have enough low end. My Godin Freeway Classic has 11's and I think it sounds better (I'm working it up to 12's). Although that could be because my Strat's pickups are basically shot and need replacing.

However. If I could give you one piece of advice for jazz, it would be to always do your own thing. From your post I'm guessing you're interested in a bebop-type sound, but IMO you should only go for that if that's what you like. Pick a guitar tone that artistically appeals to you.

bigger strings feel great. i've been on 11's for years and won't go back ever.

the lack of low end could come from single coil vs humbucker. imho a great dark jazz tone is one with the humbucking neck pickup only and the tone slightly rolled off.

That's how I keep my ESP, but mainly to try to counteract how twangy it is when I'm not using distortion

With school coming up I can probably come up with maybe $850, much more than that is going to be too expensive for me. So while the Godin Multiac looks like a good guitar, I wouldn't be able to afford one for the time being.
I don't really have any particular player's tone in mind either; I mostly listen to Miles and Monk anyway. I've just always liked how smooth most jazz guitarists sound whenever I hear them.

I'm going to be attending the University of South Florida in a month or so. Right now I'm actually an undeclared major, but I'm taking lessons with the head of their jazz program and i have an audition coming up when school starts. It shouldn't be an issue, I just need to polish up my sight-reading a little bit more.

Any other guitars in my price range that you'd recommend me trying out? Thanks for the speedy replies too.

Hmm

for epiphones

The sheraton goes for around 869$ canadian. it's a very nice axe. not a box though, just semi-hollow. does alot of styles. i dunno how much it is US, but usually in my store i sell a sheraton for around 800 + taxes

the casino is cheaper, 799 , i haven't tried it out but it kinda looks like the sheraton, except with different woods.

i was also pleasantly surprised by the peavey JF-1 and JF-2. nice hollow bodies for around 500-600. if you come by them, try'em out.