Seth Lee Jones from Tulsa, Oklahoma, is renowned for his skills as a master luthier. However, his recent album, Tulsa Custom, highlights his exceptional abilities as a blues and country guitarist. Tracks like the 5/4-time stomp “Good Dog,” the album opener “110,” and the smooth “Bird of Paradise” display his impressive slide guitar techniques and his knack for punchy blues-rock riffs.
“I’ve always found myself drawn back to blues,” Jones explains. Despite his background in classical and jazz music, including graduating at the top of his class from the Musicians Institute Guitar Craft Academy, blues and country have consistently captured his musical interest. “Blues and country are closely related. Musically, they’re not too far apart, and they influence each other.”
Upon returning to Tulsa in 2010 after studying and apprenticing in Los Angeles, Jones embraced the local music scene. “Tulsa has more of a country vibe than a blues one, so I ended up playing in a country band,” he says. This experience inspired him to learn to use benders to replicate the pedal steel sound.
Jones has personally built or modified every guitar he plays. For much of the recording of Tulsa Custom, he used a Tele-style SLJ model with a Hipshot palm bender – his main instrument since 2006. He also employed a couple of ’60s-era Silvertones and a Mulecaster, among others. He skillfully sets the bender levers on the B, G, and A strings to adjust the pitch by a whole or half tone, incorporating them throughout the album.
“I’ve been doing this for 22 years and have completed around 30,000 fret jobs,” he notes. “Holding a crowning file for that long each day takes a toll on you if you’re not careful.”
The physical strain on his hands has led Jones to drop the tuning on his guitars to make playing easier and to use a thumb pick. These adjustments are all part of his distinctive Tulsa-meets-Bakersfield-meets-Delta blues style – and they are intentional.
“I wanted to create music that reflects my origins,” Jones says. “The name Tulsa Custom reflects this because it represents a custom-built version of what I’ve learned since returning home.”
