Sadowsky Jimmy Bruno Archtop

Shortly after writing my original review I watched a video tour of the Sadowsky factory on the Jimmy Bruno Guitar Institute site and found that the bridge is completely moveable/removeable and not glued in place!
After adjustment, I can now get intonation pretty good, so my rating for this category is now a 10.

I'm giving this guitar a 9 instead of a 10. It doesn't have a lot of features, but than again it isn't supposed to have a lot of features. It is a single pickup small body jazz guitar executed to perfection. Mine is Vintage Amber. Appointments are ebony and gold plating. Only 2 Knobs: vol and tone, no switches.

This guitar was beautiful when I got it and darkened a bit over the 6 months I've had it. The wood grain is more beautiful now than when I purchased it.

The sound is big, round and beautiful with a lovely bloom to the notes and a definition in the bass register that keeps everything from getting muddy. The overtones ring much longer than the fundamentals. This is a very expressive instrument. Finger picking, flat-picking and hybrid picking all work very well. Brighter tones can be had by playing closer to the bridge. Playing with the flesh of the thumb or fingers gives a very nice mellow tone with exceptional bloom.

Response is lively and it will feedback as will virtually all fully hollow archtops. That said, I've really had minimal problems with unwanted feedback. I play almost exclusively through a Mesa Lone Star Special with just a touch of reverb, using either the 15 or 30 watt settings. The sound is beautiful, balanced and clear. I don't go for the muffled jazz sound, but instead seek a balance with a bit of brightness, especially when comping.

I use the Jimmy Bruno .13-.52 polished roundwounds that came on the guitar. 1 set lasts me about 2 months. The sound is consistently spectacular!

This guitar arrived set up fantastically. I bought from Jeff Hale in Hartland Wisconsin. He should be in the dealer hall of fame. After spending 2 hours in the living room like atmosphere of his store, I liked the Sadowsky Jim Hall model best of anything he had. Since the dimensions of the Jimmy Bruno fit my body better, I ordered one. Wow!!! It absolutely surpassed my very high expecations. It arrived set up perfectly. I have done nothing but wipe it down and replace the strings since I got it. ...My only issue is the very highest note on the guitar [High D] does not ring out quite like the others. This is a non-issue as that note almost never comes into play.

I have gigged quite a bit with this guitar sans backup. It stays in tune magnificently. It seems extremely unlikely that I would break a string. The build quality is unbelievably high.

No need up to this point. I'll give Roger Sadowsky a 10 based on his reputation and the instruments I've played. All have been amazingly high quality.

This is by far my favorite of 15 guitars I currently own. I've been playing for 35+ years. This guitar is amazing for anyone with smaller hands and shorter stature. It is complex, focused and big despite being a 14-7/8 inch body. I'm very likely to buy Roger's semi-hollowbody [only slightly cheaper] based on the joy of playing this instrument!

Laminate body made in Japan, finishing in USA; inside label date 2007.
22 frets, body joins at 15th, so uppermost frets a little difficult to finger.
Single custom wound neck pickup with gold finish.
Sienna burst with nitrocellulose finish; wood grain looks great.
Ebony tuner thumbscrews, fingerboard, bridge and knobs; nice touch (literally).
Mahogany neck, 1 11/16" nut; feels similar to solid-body in terms of width and thickness.
Gotoh gold plated tuners.
Dunlop Straplok gold plated retainers and posts.
Cable jack positioned nicely, close to strap post.
TKL hard case, made in Canada.

Sounds like a Jazz guitar! nice mix of body resonance, acoustics and electrics. Also sounds reasonable unplugged.

Finish is immaculate, definitely no flaws.
Pickup height was fine, tweaked 2 screws a little for level balance.
Only complaint is intonation along fretboard length; all strings, particularly top strings, are sharp in upper registers; just play an octave at frets 1/4 and compare to 12/15 listening to beat note. Not sure if this is bridge placement issue, or nature of compensated bridge/instrument; found same thing on my D'Angelico NY16. I guess factory may have had different strings when setting up.

Can't comment on durability yet.

No dealing with Customer support yet.
Used Sadowsky store for some items and got a very good impression.:

This guitar is definitely a long-term keeper; not sure why anyone would want to sell theirs.
Main things I like about this guitar, apart from sound and looks, are that it is very light and comfortable to play standing or sitting; I found some guitars like Taylor T5 and D'Angelico NY16 move out of position when sitting due to larger body size and jack placement, but with this guitar you can sit on a regular seat and keep guitar in ideal position.
Changing between this and my Parker Fly is relatively easy, compared to bigger and heavier guitars.:
I know Jimmy makes a point in interviews about the affordability of this laminate guitar, but new cost of $4000 is more than my D'Angelico NY16 and Fender Anniversary strat combined! However I guess Jimmy is comparing to Benedetto, Borys and Gibson L5 class guitars, so 'cheap' is a relative term.

Feather light-weight 5-ply maple. Ebony tuners, bridge, volume /tone knobs, tail piece, and fingerboard. Pearl "cat-eye" inlays. Mahogany neck. My guitar is nito-cellulosed finished in vintage amber. Visit www.jmmybruno.com for complete details.

Dialed in BIG TIME. Every note on every fret rings through. Chords are lush, and overtones are distinguishable even on chords fingered on the bottom four strings. Captures an ES-175, but offers much more tonality without any mudiness whatsoever. The tone knob on this instrument is realistically functional; tones can vary, and nothing is lost in "mid range."

Guitar was set up beautifully - neck perfect, frets immaculate. Mr. Sadowsky adjusted the pole pieces on the humbucker; string volumes were balanced. The quality woods, binding, and all other components are flawless. Obvious attention to detail and excellence was paid...

This guitar is meant to be played through an amplifier and it is gig-ready. This is a working musician's guitar; it's built for comfort and performance, but can be the #1 choice for studio recording and overall practice. It is light weight and is extremely well-constructed.

I went through Legato Guitars and enjoyed my buying experience due to the fact that I conducted business with a professional - passionate and dedicated to art and beauty of "jazz guitar." His correspondence with Roger Sadowsky was relayed to me via e-mail and telephone conversations.

$3995 is a lot of money, but this guitar is worth every penney and then some. It's a functional instrument that is both reliable and beautiful. My Sadowsky Jimmy Bruno archtop has become my main guitar over my Gibson ES-175, and D'Angelico EX-1SH. I intend to use it for everything from daily practice, to gigging, to recording. It still amazes me every time I play it, and I would replace it in a heart beat. I've been playing professionally since 1980 - the last decade devoted to purely jazz music.

For all the details, please visit www.sadowsky.com. This is a smaller sized jazz guitar built for players who know what they're doing and know what they're looking for. Frankly, it would be a good value even if it were twice the price. Even though this is a relatively simple instrument, it deserves a "10" here because the features are better than what you find on any other jazz guitar.

I have three Sadowsky guitars (so far). One is a Strat, which is the best solid body I've ever owned; the second is a two-pickup prototype built by Roger for Jimmy to try out, and onced owned by the late master of speaker cabinets, Rich Raezer. This is my third, a production model, since I really want to keep the prototype in mint condition. The sound is perfect. Even though this is a guitar made from maple laminates, it sounds rich and clear. Through a Polytone, it has a remarkable tone that is warm and fat, but not muddy. Don't even try and compare this to something like a 165 or 175. I'm not really sure how the tone is achieved; the body is small at 14 1/2 x 2 1/2, and it's a laminate with a built-in pickup. You know that jazz tone you get when you amplify a little and you can hear the guitar acoustically and through the speaker at the same time? Well, this guitar is magic. It never gets muddy or midrangy. The other thing is that the tone is pretty consistent up and down the neck. You know after spending five minutes with this guitar that the tone is good. Roger's guitars all sound great for what they do, respectively. And Jimmy knows what he's looking for and he knows what he's doing. Oh, and it NEVER feeds back. This really is the guitar that serious players need. There's no BS.

All perfect. PERFECT. The finish is flawless. This one's Amber. All the finishes are nice, though. Every minute detail is perfection. Seriously. The frets are magnificent; the back of the neck is like glass; the woods are superb. This category deserves a "20" out of ten. By the way, try a set of Sadowsky Jimmy Bruno strings, too! Very nice strings, right between flats and rounds.

Feels so strong and solid, especially for a hollow body. Working man's ax. No worries.

Throughout the guitar industry, it doesn't get any better than Roger Sadowsky and his team. I've sopken to and hung out with Roger several times. He's such a respectful, professional, pleasant person to talk with. And he genuinely appreciates hearing players' feedback. Roger makes guitars for players. Oh, and if you visit the shop in Brooklyn, they really make you feel at home and are so attentive, patient and informative.

I have been playing consistently for almost thirty years. I play a lot of different styles of music and, of course, this guitar is for jazz. I play a lot of solo jazz guitar, and this is the perfect box for me. I've really loved playing and trying out hundreds of guitars through the years, including some very expensive ones (some waaay more expensive than, but no comparison to, this one!) There is nothing lacking here. This guitar does what it was designed to do better than anything else out there, vintage, new, you name it. Even the increasingly well-known private luthiers can't touch this thing. I really think this is the best jazz guitar out there on the market today, and I've played pretty much all of them at one time or another. Now, if you want something a little bigger, go with the Jim Hall Model or Jim Hall Signature Model - also a fabulous guitar. My decade-long search for the perfect jazz guitar is finally over. Thanks to Roger and Jimmy for having the vision and the guts to do this and for not compromising and... somehow... pulling it off!

I kind of wish everybody doesn't find out how great these are, because then we're all going to be playing the same thing, and I want to be unique! Oh well... go ahead and get one...

New in '06. 5-ply maple laminate; 14-3/4" body width at the lower bout; 2-3/4" body thickness; 1-11/16" nut width; Mahogany neck with Ebony fingerboard and cat's eye pearl inlays; 24-3/4" scale, 22 frets, 15 frets to the body; ebony bridge, tailpiece and pickguard; Gold Hardware. Comes with a very nice h/s case.

The guitar is butterscotch blonde with a nice flame, and it's drop dead gorgeous.

Superb tone, I cannot imagine anything sounding better, although I've never played an original D'Angelico or D'Aquisto. Compared to my Gibson 165 and reissue D'Angelico, this nails it. It has the Joe Pass 175 tone but more open, airier, more solid.

Out of the box it was strung with Sadowsky 13s - I believe they're made by LaBella - and required no tweaking. 3 Months later it still hasn't needed tweaking. The neck is unspeakably good: I don't kmow what Sadowsky did, but he did it right. It's just so damn playable, it's like the fingerboard is transparent and I'm not worrying about position or fingering, and just finding nice notes. Cowabunga.

Only weighs 6 lbs, but feels rock solid.

Bought it from Murch Music: they knocked a bit off the price becuuse there was an invisible flaw at the heel. Had they never told me I'd never have known.

Not dealt with Roger Sadowsk, but I've spoken to him online, and from what people tell me, I'd trust him 100% to do the right thing.

Used to play professionally, now I noodle into a recording deck for fun. Other guitars include a Gibson ES165 and a resissue D'Angelico NYL2.

This JB model is a superb working musician's guitar, just superb. I was humming and hawing over it, and Jimmy Bruno said to me online that if I didn't like it, then he'd personally refund the price. Howzabout that for a recommendation? There's a reason both Jim Hall and Jimmy Bruno play Sadowskys, annd the reason is tone and playability. Yrs truly is knocked out.

Dated 2005 on inside label. I bought this guitar new in 2006. Smaller size archtop guitar, similar to the Ibanez George Benson in size. I has a 14 3/4" lower bout, 2 3/4" thickness, 5-ply laminated top with very nice flame on top and back. It has a mahogany neck for added warmth, ebony fingerboard, 24 3/4" scale. This one is vintage amber and it is a very visually appealing guitar. Single humbucker in neck position. Ebony pickguard, bridge and tailpiece. Comes with hard shell case. Nut width is 1 11/16" and felt a little small at first but it's easy to get used to. Gotoh tuners with ebony buttons. Comes with two truss rod covers - one with Jimmy Bruno's signature and one without. Also came with cloth covers to put on a guitar stand to protect the finish from melting because of contact with the rubber (rather common problem if you leave a guitar sitting on a guitar stand for a long time.)

This is the perfect archtop guitar for a me. Very comfortable size. Sounds great and is much more resistant to feedback than a carved top would be. This is a very well built guitar; great attention to detail (for example - nice big strap buttons). This is a jazz guitar and wouldn't be appropriate for much else. It is not intended to be anything else.

The set up was great. Had to loosen the truss rod only slightly because I play a little harder than most people and it was buzzing. It was almost in tune right out of the box. No flaws of any kind that I could find.

I don't anticipate any problem playing it live. This guitar was designed with the working musician in mind. The finish seems durable enough to last many years of heavy playing, which is what I intend to do.

Haven't dealt with them.

I have been playing for almost 40 years and this is a great addition to my collection. In the past I have had several other archtops - Gibson ES175 (2), D'Aquisto Jazz Line, Heritage Sweet 16, Gibson Howard Roberts (both fusion and round hole archtop), etc. - this is probably the best so far. If lost or stolen, I would definitely replace it with the same guitar (maybe a different color just for variety). I switch back and forth between telecaster style solid-bodies and archtops and the size of this guitar makes the change less difficult to make. I spend from 6-10 hours per day with a guitar in my hands teaching and/or playing and, with this guitar, that is not a problem.