Of course you know Joscho Stephan , right?
That germany gypsy jazz guitarist who plays the guitar just like ringing a bell.
I do like how he plays as well.
I talked to him a few times at his show and he is also a friend of my friend, very nice guy.
You can see his playing on youtube and stuff a lot these days but there aren’t much infomation about his gear. So , I’d like to introduce what he uses.
Who is Joscho Stephan?
It’s much easier to tell you how good Joscho is when you watch this clip.
This is the clip I recorded last year. He came to a very small festival in germany, like 100 people were there at the time, and he told me he often plays for this community event that’s why he came back again.
Also it was free! No charge to watch the show! It’s crazy, isn’t it?
Now, I don’t have to tell you how good he is, instead of that, I’ll introduce his biography.
He was born on June 23,1979 in germany. He started playing a guitar influenced by his father Gunter Stephan who is also play in Joscho’s trio as rhythm guitar.
His debut was released in 1999, he became famous since then.
- 1999 Swinging Strings
- 2001 Swing News
- 2003 Django Forever
- 2006 Acoustic Live
- 2007 Joscho Stephan – Live In Concert
- 2010 Django Nuevo
- 2011 Gypsy Meets Jazz with Olivier Holland
- 2012 Gypsy meets the Klezmer with Helmut Eisel
- 2014 Acoustic Rhythm
- 2014 Joscho Stephan Trio Live
- 2015 Guitar Heroes
- 2016 Gypsy Vibes
- 2017 Bei dir war es immer so schön
- 2018 Paris – Berlin
- 2019 Classic Meets Gypsy
Joscho Stephan’s guitar
In the past interview, he mentioned that the guitar I usually use in germany is …. , so he changes his guitar depending on where. Also in his another interview at the gig in the states, he said ‘I didn’t take my guitar from germany so I went to a local guitar shop to buy a guitar for this gig’ .
Anyways , the guitar he uses is Jürgen Volkert , D-Hole , SW 404D.
Body is Makassa , Head is Spruce, Neck is wallnut, Fingerboard and Bridge are Ebony.
By the way , do you know Diknu Schneeberger, austrian gypsy player. I think he is also super famous. He uses same brand but SW 402,O-Hole.
If you haven’t heared him then go youtube and check him out.
Probably many people want to try Jürgen Volkert guitar , but it’s only custom-made. We can’t just go and try, they might have samples though…
If you are interested in , the you could make one. Prices are between 4k to 6k in euro depending on the size and materials .
Joscho’s picks
Probably you know the brand called wegen? very popular picks for gypsy jazz players and Mandolin players as well.
They are bit pricey but well hand made.
Jocscho uses Wegen BigCity. Stochelo Rosenberg used to use same one, 1.4mm, too, oh possibly still using them.
In europe , you can buy them quite easily.
This is the official HP Wegen’s guitar picks
Also they are sold on amazon amazon.co.uk but not on amazon USA.
Also many gypsy jazz guitarists like , Bireli Lagrene ,Gonzalo Bergara , Adrien Moignard,Robin Nolan・・use Dunlop delrin 1.5mm
I also use Dunlop but primetone 2mm.sounds very sharp and heavy.
Joscho’s Strings
It’s quite surprising that he doesn’t use Savarez Argentine strings but D’Addario Gypsy Jazz strings 011.
I suppose many french guitarists use Argentine because it is a french company and most famous gypsy strings there. Django also used Argentine.
You can buy the strings on amazon.
D’addario gypsy jazz strings amazon.co.uk
D’addario gypsy jazz strings on amazon.com
Now you have everything you need to play like Joscho, all we need to do is practice then!
If you are interested in Stochelo Rosenberg’s gear , read Guitar,Strings and Picks Stochelo uses as well.