Semi hollow body electric guitar

[strat62]

I’m wondering what your experience with semi hollow body guitar. I’ve been looking at Gibson, Gretsch and Ibanez, DE Angelico. Wondering what some of your comments are. I’ve seen some pretty comments on DE Angelico for price.

[GnLguy]

If you do a search on the forum, that subject has been discussed quite a bit and you will see that there was a wide range of thought and it really comes down to your budget and the tone that you are looking for
Personally, I would steer you toward Ibanez & Washburn if you are looking for a mid priced guitar, others will suggest Epiphone

Here is a link to Gregg Hilden’s You Tube page; Gregg is guitar dealer in Germany and a phenomenal player. He has a long list of demo videos of various guitar and he has demoed everything from very expensive Gibson’s to ‘lower level’ production guitars. He provides some of the most objective reviews of guitars of anyone on the web.
Do a search and listen a bit and see what you think

https://www.youtube.com/user/GregsGuitars

[Martin G]

I’ve several semi-hollow body guitars….Gibson 335, Gretsch Country Gentleman, Epi’s Lucille/BB King Guitar to name a few. They are bigger and heavier than my tele or strat styled guitars but capable of deeper resonating tonalities that solid bodies have a hard time reproducing. I haven’t yet owned a D’angelico but understand that they are excellent instruments…..The bulk of the class is what finds me more likely to pick up a strat or a tele style guitar. Ultimately it is best to do hands on research and get the feel of one of these instruments to see how the size and weight, not to mention feel, appeals to you. If you can, try to buy pre-owned. You’ll save lots of dough….Probably the best known Semi hollow is the Gibson ES 335 as seen played by Brian doing EP 127 and others. (it’s the cherry red one) I bought a sunburst version of that guitar, used, for $1200 in pristine condition. This would be a good place to start…

Have fun!
Marty

[Deluxe Strat]

I dont own one but a freind of mines has a washburn delta king here at my house
if you have seen my wall I have several guitars ranging from strats to les pauls
the delta king being a semi hollow is the heaviest on the wall
the delta king has good tone, but what i find is its in tune, it intonates fine, but as soon as you move up the neck with chords , it sounds out of tune, kind of like its not intonated
if you play lead it sounds great
I was surprised that a semi hollow was the heaviest in the fleet

[GnLguy]

I dont own one but a freind of mines has a washburn delta king here at my house
if you have seen my wall I have several guitars ranging from strats to les pauls
the delta king being a semi hollow is the heaviest on the wall
the delta king has good tone, but what i find is its in tune, it intonates fine, but as soon as you move up the neck with chords , it sounds out of tune, kind of like its not intonated
if you play lead it sounds great
I was surprised that a semi hollow was the heaviest in the fleet

Hey Butch

It sounds like nut string slots on the Delta King may not be deep enough. Tune the guitar and see if you have an A note at the 2nd fret of the 3rd sting. If its sharp, most likely its the string slots.
I’ve found that many imported guitars have this problem

Fret the 3rd string 3rd fret or use a capo; at the first fret, you should have just a little movement, some will tell you about the thickness of a human hair. If it has noticeable movement, the slots are cut deep enough

Here is an article from Frets Magazine that goes into detail about the situation. Unless one has string slot files, it may be easier to either a) remove the nut and sand the bottom down until its low enough or b) install a new nut, in which case, you will probably be sanding the bottom of it to get it low enough

http://frets.com/FretsPages/Musician/GenSetup/NutAction/nutaction.html

[Maradonagol]

All great comments…..I own 3 today…Gibson ES335 studio, Ibanez Am 93 and a Gibson Midtown Standard w/P90’s (although this is not a true semi hollow…it is beautiful but different tone.

As others have said there have been long threads on this in the forum with lots of detail descriptions…I believe the best recommendation is to understand your price range, and then try them all in that range, body size is a determining factor for most people…the 335’s Casinos, etc are large, but there are smaller 339, etc. It’s not as simple as picking up a Strat…..and prices vary widely.

My 2 favorites are the 335 and the ibanez Am 93….and the AM93 has to be the best value for quality, look, feel and killer tone for a approx $600 new guitar, and the size is perfect, when plugged into a marshall it is astounding…..and used they are a steal sometimes. It’s in the pic below the wine red on the right.

Good luck and enjoy the hunt

Roberto

Roberto

[BluGenes]

I love my Wildkat.. It is the first semi hollow I ever owned. I had played a Strat for I don’t know how long and retired it for this one. It is what I used to record the 12 bar challenge. It has a thicker tone and it loves to feed back. Since it has a Bigbsy, I will eventually replace the bridge with a roller bridge. I don’t actually use it, though. I wanted it because it just looks so good.

Don't practice till you get it right, practice till you can't get it wrong.

[Deluxe Strat]

I love the looks of the wildcat in blue,all except for the bigsby
I havent even put the tremolo bar in on any of my strats, i have no use for them

[strat62]

Thanks for all your comments guys. I saw some good demos.

[Richard S]

Probably the best known Semi hollow is the Gibson ES 335 as seen played by Brian doing EP 127 and others. (it’s the cherry red one) I bought a sunburst version of that guitar, used, for $1200 in pristine condition. This would be a good place to start…

Marty, I’ve been looking for a Gibson ES 335, have an idea where I could get one for what you paid for yours (~$1,200)?

I’ve looked in thegearpage.net and they seem to be more.

Thanks,

Richard

Cheers,

Richard

[Richard S]

Well, obviously I don’t know how to use block quotes here – learning curve.

Richard

Cheers,

Richard

[Martin G]

Hi Richard. I believe I mis-remembered what I paid in that my deal was $1200 plus some gear in trade. Likely the total was closer to $1800. I buy most of my pre-owned gear from Briansguitars.com. He’s got a nice inventory.
Sorry about that misquote.
Have you played a 335 yet? Kind of big in the bottom and heavy. Takes some getting used to if you are used to Strats or Telis.
I’ll keep my eye open for you. I do recall that Brian had a Heritage 335 in cherry red that was pretty reasonable in price. Heritage is an off shoot of Gibson. Look on Brians site under used electrics.
Marty

[Richard S]

Thank you, Marty, for the reply. I will take a look at the site you mentioned.

I own a Gibson CS 356 and I know it’s smaller, but looking for a Gibson ES 335 in cherry red. $1,800 is still very reasonable.

Richard

Cheers,

Richard

[StratPlus66]

Hi,

I bought this little beauty 32 years ago and it still looks like new. Great tone, superb neck and it probably cost me £150 in those days. Its and Artist AS-80.

Ibanez are really well made and the binding and frets knock my Gibson’s into a cocked hat!

Hope you find what you are looking for!
Cheers,

Andrew

[Martin G]

Used Heritage H-535 Trans Cherry

Rich,
This is the link to the guitar that I was talking about. You can always call Brian or Corey at the store to ask about it.

Marty

[Martin G]

Used Heritage H-535 Trans Cherry

[Martin G]

Rich.

Here is the link

Marty

[Richard S]

Thanks, I looked at it and still after a Gibson. Don’t know a thing about Ibanez, although I can see that the vintage Artist AS-80s are nearly as pricey as a used Gibson ES 335.

Richard

Cheers,

Richard

[GnLguy]

Thanks, I looked at it and still after a Gibson. Don’t know a thing about Ibanez, although I can see that the vintage Artist AS-80s are nearly as pricey as a used Gibson ES 335.

Richard

The Ibanez AS93 is a current model that has their Super 58 pickups and its priced at $599 new. Great sounding guitar with great build quality as well.
The Ibanez AS153, also a current model, has some different features that pushes the new price up $1k but also has great build quality

I’ve not heard very many complaints about Ibanez semi-hollow guitars; many here on the forum own Ibanez and will give them similar reviews

[Martin G]

Ok. If you want Gibson then check out the Gibson Es 335 Studio model. Less trim but beautiful. Zzounds.com has new for $1599 and used for $1299. I actually prefer the studio look to the original. Zzoundd is also an excellent company to do business with. Fast free shipping and easy returns.

Marty

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