Hi guys,
I thought I'd follow up my post in the acoustic forum with a few thoughts on my two archtops/hollowbodies.
Before I start, let me say that I started off playing acoustic for the first 17 years or so and gradually broadened my interests to electrics. I soon found this was a rather bewildering world, what with the very different sounds from differently constructed guitars, volume and tone knobs on guitars and also on amps, effects and so on. One of the nice things about acoustics is that it brings home the truth early that gear is no substitute for being able to play. Another good things is that they are simple. Another nice thing is that they are a self sufficient instrument - they don't need bass and drums or whatever to balance the sound as do most electrics. They accompany the voice just fine on their own.
Anyway, I love Teles, Strats and Juniors as much as the next man and some of these guitars are simplicity itself, but I had a bit of a 'Doh' moment is that when I found my guitars and realized how well archtops/hollowbodies (perhaps something of a niche market in the electric guitar world) suit how I play. Many electrics have a tone that is so thick or overwhelming that it can't be played in a chord or begs to be balanced with another instrument and this forces the acoustic player to change his style. I've found that this is not so with hollowbodies. They also sound more dynamic and airy somehow - just nice sounding. I can't speak for all hollowbodies of course, but just the ones I mentioned and old Gretsches, many of which I have found to be very fine guitars. Anyway, here goes:
60s Starfire III w/humbuckers and bigsby: great balance over all the strings, sounds equally good on all setting, darker sounding than a maple guitar obviously but still very cutting. Somehow compresses/slightly overdrives an amp on its own - I've never felt the need to use a pedal, except perhaps a tape echo on the odd occasion. Every bit as good a guitar as the best Gretsch 6120 I've ever played. Acutally better built and sounds better for some applications. Great all rounder - sounds great for Kinks, Beatles, early Stones and much indie pop. Great neck.
'60 X-350B: three Franz pickups, on/off switches for each pickup, vol/tone for each pickup. Not acoustic sounding exactly but has most if not all of the qualities I would associate with a good acoustic guitar. Sound very nice and smooth unplugged, if not very loud. Switching options make some great sounds possible - none of them wildly different, none of them bad. On a couple of settings you get a cool out of phase sound. Bridge pickup sounds is very edgy and great for twangy leads though it can be easily tamed by the tone knob. It sounds great in combination with the other pickups. Rockabilly if you want it but a very 'self sufficient' sound. Unlike a lot of electric guitar sounds, I think you could use it all over a recording and not get sick of it. Great neck too.
On a less lofty note, another great thing about hollowbodies is that they look cool. Anyone else think that a lot of solid bodies look a bit weedy when people are playing them. Other electrics look cool in a glass case, but stupid when played by someone. Not so the hollowbody!
Anyway, that's it again for now. By the way, has anyone ever read the Dave Hunter books on guitars, amps and effects that come with CDs with tracks of demos of the various guitars and amps played by the author? Fantastic, well written, very informative books, but all the tracks on the CDs that come with the effects and guitar books sound the same to my ears. Kinda funny.
I thought I'd follow up my post in the acoustic forum with a few thoughts on my two archtops/hollowbodies.
Before I start, let me say that I started off playing acoustic for the first 17 years or so and gradually broadened my interests to electrics. I soon found this was a rather bewildering world, what with the very different sounds from differently constructed guitars, volume and tone knobs on guitars and also on amps, effects and so on. One of the nice things about acoustics is that it brings home the truth early that gear is no substitute for being able to play. Another good things is that they are simple. Another nice thing is that they are a self sufficient instrument - they don't need bass and drums or whatever to balance the sound as do most electrics. They accompany the voice just fine on their own.
Anyway, I love Teles, Strats and Juniors as much as the next man and some of these guitars are simplicity itself, but I had a bit of a 'Doh' moment is that when I found my guitars and realized how well archtops/hollowbodies (perhaps something of a niche market in the electric guitar world) suit how I play. Many electrics have a tone that is so thick or overwhelming that it can't be played in a chord or begs to be balanced with another instrument and this forces the acoustic player to change his style. I've found that this is not so with hollowbodies. They also sound more dynamic and airy somehow - just nice sounding. I can't speak for all hollowbodies of course, but just the ones I mentioned and old Gretsches, many of which I have found to be very fine guitars. Anyway, here goes:
60s Starfire III w/humbuckers and bigsby: great balance over all the strings, sounds equally good on all setting, darker sounding than a maple guitar obviously but still very cutting. Somehow compresses/slightly overdrives an amp on its own - I've never felt the need to use a pedal, except perhaps a tape echo on the odd occasion. Every bit as good a guitar as the best Gretsch 6120 I've ever played. Acutally better built and sounds better for some applications. Great all rounder - sounds great for Kinks, Beatles, early Stones and much indie pop. Great neck.
'60 X-350B: three Franz pickups, on/off switches for each pickup, vol/tone for each pickup. Not acoustic sounding exactly but has most if not all of the qualities I would associate with a good acoustic guitar. Sound very nice and smooth unplugged, if not very loud. Switching options make some great sounds possible - none of them wildly different, none of them bad. On a couple of settings you get a cool out of phase sound. Bridge pickup sounds is very edgy and great for twangy leads though it can be easily tamed by the tone knob. It sounds great in combination with the other pickups. Rockabilly if you want it but a very 'self sufficient' sound. Unlike a lot of electric guitar sounds, I think you could use it all over a recording and not get sick of it. Great neck too.
On a less lofty note, another great thing about hollowbodies is that they look cool. Anyone else think that a lot of solid bodies look a bit weedy when people are playing them. Other electrics look cool in a glass case, but stupid when played by someone. Not so the hollowbody!
Anyway, that's it again for now. By the way, has anyone ever read the Dave Hunter books on guitars, amps and effects that come with CDs with tracks of demos of the various guitars and amps played by the author? Fantastic, well written, very informative books, but all the tracks on the CDs that come with the effects and guitar books sound the same to my ears. Kinda funny.