John Scofield

Normally, John Scofield plays an Ibanez AS-200, but in this Premier Guitar video, Scofield’s guitar doesn’t make an appearance. At 0:31, Scofield says, “We flew from New York via Chicago and my Ibanez AS 200 is in transit. It's not here yet. It's not lost. It's OK. But it's not here at the gig yet.”

“A few years ago, I was contacted by a guy who had my high-school guitar – a ’66 Tele that I bought new at Manny’s on 48th Street in New York. I sold it in ’68 to buy a Les Paul. The guy I sold it to gave it to another guy in Connecticut, who kept it all those years before moving to Texas. He came to a show I was doing in Austin a few years ago, and I played it. It was in good shape – had the same case and everything. I remembered the dents I put in that case. He asked if I wanted to buy it, but wanted a lot of money. I told him I’d just buy a new Tele, and I did, from Fender’s Custom Shop. Well, last year, the guy got back to me and made another offer. I couldn’t refuse, because it’s got such sentimental value. So I bought my first guitar – I own it again! I had it set up, and it sounds killer!”

"I have a 1963 ES-335 that I got a long time ago, and I recently got a 1962 ES-330 that I really like. I’ve got an old Fender Telecaster, the guitar I bought in high school that somebody resold me about 10 years ago, and I have some Custom Shop Fenders. I have a nice old Gibson Howard Roberts as well. But I mainly play those Ibanez guitars because I’m used to them, and I really like the way they sound and feel."

This guitar was also featured on "Who's Who?" album cover, and this guitar is mentioned as well in the Guitar World interview.

"That’s when Ibanez brought me this brand-new AS-200 to try, and I said, “Man, this plays great and feels great … it feels a lot like my 335.” I began playing it on that tour. When I got home, I had the Gibson adjusted, but I’d been playing the Ibanez for a month and was used to it … and I’ve been playing it ever since.".

"I have a 1963 ES-335 that I got a long time ago, and I recently got a 1962 ES-330 that I really like. I’ve got an old Fender Telecaster, the guitar I bought in high school that somebody resold me about 10 years ago, and I have some Custom Shop Fenders. I have a nice old Gibson Howard Roberts as well. But I mainly play those Ibanez guitars because I’m used to them, and I really like the way they sound and feel."

John has been a player of the Takamine NP65C (currently known as the P3FCN) since 1998. It remains his nylon string acoustic of choice.

Premier Guitar Interview: John Scofield - Uncle John’s Electro-Jam Band Jason Shadrick June 20, 2013

Re: Fender Stratocaster Custom Shop Relic model

Are they vintage Fenders or newer ones?

No, they are fake vintage. [Laughs.] They’re from the Custom Shop. I told a friend of mine, Artie Smith, who is one of the great guitar guys in New York, that I wanted to get a Strat, but didn’t want to spend 15 grand on a vintage one. He said there was a good one at Sam Ash, so I went up there and played it for a while. I was totally embarrassed to buy it, because it has a fake cigarette burn in it and screws that have been rusted and two kinds of rubbed-off finish. [Laughs.] But you know, it sounds really good and it’s a great guitar.

I came across this Montreux performance of the George Duke/Billy Cobham video by happenstance. Our hero John Scofield was a member of this band for about 2-years. If memory serves, Mike Stern was first hired by Billy and introduced to Miles Davis through Mr. Cobham, but that is whole 'nother Oprah Show.

Back to John... It took a lot of careful view to ID this guitar as a natural finish Gibson Les Paul Junior. It was the obvious modifications that throws one off the scent. This is Les Paul Junior with an aftermarket bridge and what appears to be a DiMarzio pickup added on the neck, hence the added pickup up selector in between the volume and tone control. The bridge pickup looks like the stock P-90. Based on the headstock, this looks like the old '50s style headstock and not the open book style more associated with all Les Paul's.

See for yourself here: (it take a bit of patience, camera work is dodgy at best) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrJ_OIlcKe8

Although John is practically inseparable from his Ibanez AS200, he does have other guitars. Here we see him pictured on the cover of his CD "Flat Out" with a Custom Ibanez GB Model.

This is a Black custom shop GB model with the standard GB headstock inlay. It is a thin hollowbody guitar with Ibanez designed tremelo, 5-way pickup selector switch across Humbucker-Single Coil-Humbucker pickups.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat_Out_(John_Scofield_album)

Scofield playing an AM-205AV in an Ibanez Ad

John is hold a late 80's Ibanez Artist AR-350 (PLT) Pearl Tremelo on the cover of his Still Warm release.

On John Scofield's own website he mentions the keeps the stock 12's strings on his Gibson ES-175.

In an article titled "John Scofield's Outside-In Approach To Jazz" on Sfjazz, a photo by Jan Persson captures John Scofield performing with Miles Davis in 1984, playing a black Ibanez Roadstar II SSS, circa 1984.

"I have a 1963 ES-335 that I got a long time ago, and I recently got a 1962 ES-330 that I really like. I’ve got an old Fender Telecaster, the guitar I bought in high school that somebody resold me about 10 years ago, and I have some Custom Shop Fenders. I have a nice old Gibson Howard Roberts as well. But I mainly play those Ibanez guitars because I’m used to them, and I really like the way they sound and feel."

John Scofield is known to use a Montalvo Flamenco Guitar, featuring a cutaway, spruce top, and cypress sides, as detailed in the Jazzguitar article "John Scofield Guitars, Guitar Amps & Effects."