Solid, semi-hollow, or full hollow, and why?

lungimsam

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Background:
Been thinking about getting another electric guitar. I am mainly a bassist though.
Usually have played Strats and SG's. I play contemporary Christian music.
I still have my blue flower Strat. Only electric I have now.
Prices are sky high now for SG's.

So I was thinking Guild. Like the S-100. But I see they also have a boatload of semi and full hollow guitars, too.

I like solid because easier to shield and deal with the electronics.

But is there a good reason to go semi or full hollow over solid body?

Thanks for your input and ideas.
 

fronobulax

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Speaking about basses, there is a component to the tone that comes from the "hollow" body that is not present in a similarly pickuped solid. "woody" is often used when trying to describe it. Generating or managing feedback is different based on body type. If sustain is part of your arsenal a solid usually gives more sustain. Ergonomics can be different. Some physiques benefit from the belly cutaway found on some solids. A long time ago when I was playing in a congregation that was not comfortable with electric instruments, they preferred the Starfire because it looked more like an acoustic instrument than my JS and choosing the Starfire made "electric music" less threatening.
 

lungimsam

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Yes, I have heard hollow bodies are more feedback prone.
I know the acoustic players at church need feedback busters on their sound holes sometimes.
Bass is direct to board thru DI, and electric guitars go thru their pedal boards and then into something that looks like a green hump shaped amp head and has tubes in it that sits on stage floor (about a foot tall), and then that to the board. Room seats ~1300.
As far as bass goes, all my basses do great there.
 

adorshki

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Yes, I have heard hollow bodies are more feedback prone.
That's where the "semi-solid" body comes in, offers more feedback resistance and sustain while keeping a lot of hollow-body tone.
Think that's the defining characteristic of Starfire III's and IV's, "IIRC".

Also a hallmark of Gibson ES-335's, those have a "through neck" design, a block of wood extends all the way through the center of the body. I forget if SF's do that too, or if they even changed methods over the years.

There's also "chambered" as in late '90's Bluesbirds, where a solid body has resonating chambers routed out of it, those tend to really increase sustain, but not as acoustic and "woody" sounding as Frono described. Still, definitely more so than a solid body.
 

GGJaguar

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I think Al covered it about as concisely as possible!
 

walrus

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The sound, of course is different. I like frono's word "woody" to describe it. For me, I love the lighter weight, but also that I've always loved the sound of an archtop. You can see by my signature I've had many Guild archtops, both hollow and semi-hollow, and two chambered Bluesbirds. Also a '01 Gibson ES-135 (semi), a '66 Epiphone Casino (hollow), and a ' 98 PRS Hollowbody Spruce. Feedback can be an issue for a fully hollow guitar, as has been mentioned.

If you are interested, here is my NGD post for my '09 Sadowsky Semi-Hollow. It includes a photo of the spruce insert in the body of the guitar to cut down on feedback. As Al posted above, there are lots of options to create a "semi-hollow".

https://letstalkguild.com/ltg/index...wsky-semi-hollow-archtop.205832/#post-1926047

walrus
 

GAD

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That's where the "semi-solid" body comes in, offers more feedback resistance and sustain while keeping a lot of hollow-body tone.
Think that's the defining characteristic of Starfire III's and IV's, "IIRC".

Also a hallmark of Gibson ES-335's, those have a "through neck" design, a block of wood extends all the way through the center of the body. I forget if SF's do that too, or if they even changed methods over the years.

There's also "chambered" as in late '90's Bluesbirds, where a solid body has resonating chambers routed out of it, those tend to really increase sustain, but not as acoustic and "woody" sounding as Frono described. Still, definitely more so than a solid body.

ES335s are set necks just like Starfires.

1613587159676.png


As to the OP, it's about the tone. The tone from a Starfire or any other semi or fully hollow guitar is different from that of a solid body. If you need or want that tone then you'll learn to deal with the feedback. As Al said, a semi-hollow will mitigate feeback much more than a full-hollow guitar.
 

Default

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Firebirds are the neck-through Gibson's that I am aware of. Everything else is high-end stuff that are way out of my comfort zone, pricewise.
 

Nuuska

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Another solid-body is going to give you less sound options than a semi-hollow or hollow - compared to your present situation w Strat. naturally you are the one who knows the need of such expanding of sound variations.
 

lungimsam

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I will have to review some YouTube demos of the Guilds to determine if I can hear any diff between solid vs semi or hollow.
I don't hear it in my Starfire bass vs. my solids.

I always thought of that Nugent Stranglehold solo to sound "boxy", like the sound is vibrating from an empty box, which it turns out it is. Is that the "woodsy" tone of which people speak?
 

adorshki

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ES335s are set necks just like Starfires.
Poor choice of words on my part, I know "through-neck" means the neck and center block are all one piece as Default mentioned for Firebirds, but there is a solid block running through the center of the body making it a "semi-hollow", right?

And aren't there 2 Starfire models built that way?
 
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GAD

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Poor choice of words on my part, I know "through-neck" is a specific build technique as Default mentioned for Firebirds, but there is a solid block running through the center of the body making it a "semi-solid", right?

Semi-hollow is the term you’re looking for, but otherwise correct.
 

walrus

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I always thought of that Nugent Stranglehold solo to sound "boxy", like the sound is vibrating from an empty box, which it turns out it is. Is that the "woodsy" tone of which people speak?

I think of "woody" as the sound of an old hollowbody jazz guitar, very acoustic sounding, if that helps.

walrus
 

adorshki

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I will have to review some YouTube demos of the Guilds to determine if I can hear any diff between solid vs semi or hollow.
I don't hear it in my Starfire bass vs. my solids.

I always thought of that Nugent Stranglehold solo to sound "boxy", like the sound is vibrating from an empty box, which it turns out it is. Is that the "woodsy" tone of which people speak?
This may be a semantic issue, but I think the "Nugent tone" is more a result of the amp than the guitar, what's known as "overdriven" as described here:

I really dig the sound myself, think the same thing's going on in a lot of George Thorogood's stuff.

I think of "woody" as being the definitive jazz archtop tone, think Wes Montgomery.
Also Kenny Burrell, and especially the bass solo on this one:




He can get some "grit" but nothing like that Nugent tone. I believe that's a Gibson ES175 as mentioned by Walrus. Think Guild's equivalent is the SFII?

(I'm basically an acoustic guy, weak on Guild electric specs)
 

mavuser

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Thanks, so it's the SF-IV with a center block?
yes. SF-1,2,3 are fully hollow. SF-4,5,6 are semi hollow.

A full hollow electric is really different than a semi hollow (or chambered etc.), or solid body electric!
 

Guildedagain

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My SF-4 has a massive mahogany center block. Only reason I know this is because of the access covers.

It's hard to get a shot of, but it's not just a strip down the middle like a 335.

P1490660.JPG
 

mavuser

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But is there a good reason to go semi or full hollow over solid body?

it's the tone everyone is speaking of, and calling "woody," what it actually is, is called "acoustic resonance." A SF-4 (or 5 or 6) has a distinct semi hollow tone, but can be used for anything and made to sound like an overpowering solid body electric if u wanted to dial it in that way. but its natural acoustic resonance definitely has an acoustic sound, that a solid body will never have. I would get a SF-4, especially if you already like the SF bass.

with bass, some solid bodies really do seem to have that hollow tone, so I agree with you that the difference can be harder to hear with bass. most short scale basses, even a solid body, can be made to sound like a hollow/upright, it seems, at least to my ears. guitar is different
 
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