By affordable I mean under three grand (less than a 175)...This guitar competes with my L5 - which I find very hard to understand given its construction, pickup arrangement and price. If you want a good jazz guitar and are frightened by the money involved (if you're a musician rather than a lawyer that is) this is really the right guitar to get. Its tried and tested - and it has real depth of tone, clarity, playability and aesthetic appeal. After maybe 30 top-end jazz guitars in as many years this is in a way the most impressive of all of them - because it produces the right sounds with laminated construction and a small ergonomic body. I have been convinced for years that even a 3'' body depth rather than Gibson's standard 3 3/8'' destroys tone - this guitar proves that I have been wrong all along. And what a great shape it is!