Semi-Hollow On A Budget?

mikeyrob73

i kinda fancy one of these :-) 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-VSA-Pretender-Electric-Guitar-New-Condition-Dave-Grohl-Foo-Fighters/192394145643?hash=item2ccb95af6b:g:L1IAAOSw~HBaLmRs

Phil_aka_Pip

The Tokai ES-60 I bought from @Gassage is a good 335-alike. Worth checking out that or similar.

steer

Dontgiveupyourdayjob said:

The Gretsch range seems bafflingly complex - are the Chinese ones any good?

I am not sure what is confusing about the Gretsch range. 

You might just about be able to find a secondhand Electromatic in your price range - either a 5422 or a 5122 I guess would be closest to what you are after? 

Failing that, the newish budget range of Gretsch's are generally well received and would be worth checking out. They are in your price range. 

crunchman

Don't know about the newer ones but if you can find one of the older Korean made Tokai 335 style guitars second hand they are very good.

Neill

Dontgiveupyourdayjob said:

paulnb57 said:

I don't think you will go far wrong with an Epi...I bought the cheapest spec 335 Studio dot and modded it.....I chose to replace all the hardware, for aboit £300 all in - used studio dot replaced all the harware and a pair of Iron Gear Blues Engines pickups.....I think if you shopped carefully for a used Epi, if you dont like it you should sell for waht you paid, theres loads of choice about....

I think ideal scenario would be to find a used Epi Dot that had been given a new set of pickups and better electronics all round. There was one going on here a week or two ago that looked perfect, but I just missed out! 

Neill said:

I'd try and get a pre 2000 (Samick) Epiphone dot, I had one and there was nothing wrong with that guitar, sounded great I think I only sold it because it was a bit frisky when cranked up in a small venue but I wish I still had it.  £300 would get you one of these I reckon.

Interesting. How do the electronics of the old Korean ones compare to the current Chinese ones? I know general build quality is supposed to be a cut above, but wouldn't want to get one and then have to fork out for a pickup upgrade.

Anecdotally the newer Chinese built Dots don't seem as highly regarded, I don't know why, all I can say is the Korean Dot I had was a fantastic guitar there's one on ebay at the mo at £300 BIN - that is serious value for money in fact I'm thinking I might buy it myself!  I had a Hagstrom Viking not long ago which is a lot more money and I didn't like it half as much as the Epi.  The only problem with them as I said is in a live situation they can feed back quite a bit but for playing at home they are great fun, I must get another...

rlw

I could sell you a mint Sheraton with Bare Knuckle Stormy Monday pickups, Kluson locking tuners, Gotoh locking bridge and tailpiece, upgraded loom and new pots and a fancy new pick guard from Jacks, with a case for about £550.00, plus all the original hardware too.
Maybe.

1979

The Hohner that @Legionreturns sold me was a nice little guitar, ignited my 335 GAS 

stimpsonslostson

I'll comment on the Gretsch Streamliner range- I have one the G2420t (Fully hollow single cut, with bigsby).
It's a REALLY nice guitar, plays beautifully and looks great- I LOVE the shade of red they come in. 

Mine wasn't without flaws though- I had issues with the nut (not cleanly cut so the guitar wasn't returning to tune after bends or bigsby use), bridge (it's rattly. Dig in and it makes a noise as the screws vibrate. Easily solved with a drop of clear nail varnish, or an upgrade to a Compton) and lastly the wiring (the neck pickup would cut out intermittently. It turned out to be a dry solder and bad selector switch, but it was frustrating).
All these faults (maybe) should have been picked up by the QC or shop before I got the guitar, but Thankfully the shop I bought it from worked through all the issues and corrected them.  
I'm left with a striking looking, great playing and good sounding guitar for not a lot of pennies. Several of my friends have Streamliners and the sticky nut is the only issue any of them have had, and it's easily fixed. The pick of the bunch appears to be the 2622 (it's a hardtail 335 clone & was flawless) I believe that one of the guys from At The Drive In is playing one on tour...
http://assets.suredone.com/2163/media-photos/ss1205-gretsch-g2622-streamliner-center-block-double-cutaway-guitar-4.jpg

The pickups are a bit more humbuckery than gretschy, so they have a good "rock" tone to them- and are VERY versatile. I play all sorts on mine, from folk->jazz->rock (Foo Fighters stuff sounds great on it). 

PS- replace the gold plastic knobs, they look pretty naff in the flesh. I've got nickel G ones on mine & it looks SWEET!

Modellista

^ As above.  I was going to say pretty much the same thing about the same guitar!  (The 2420T that is.)  Mine was bought used, with a hard case, and all the knobs and switch tip changed for nickel, for £350 IIRC.  I probably overpaid a bit, but they had just come out and the new prices were still strong.  Maybe buying used the original buyer had sorted any faults, but this has been faultless from day one.  It looks fantastic, just as good as any of the expensive Japanese ones, and you'd have to be an expert to tell the difference.  I play this guitar a lot live in a duo, and it's great, the licensed Bigsby works fine, tuning has always been perfectly stable, and people always go "Wow!" when I get it out of the case.

Anyway, it's not really a 335, more its own thing, but it's stupendous value for money - sub-400 if you want the Bigsby, and even less if you don't.  They're made in Indonesia, not China, so I can't comment on the virtues of the Chinese Gretsches, although I don't think they make a Chinese hollowbody.  Lots of people do rate the Chinese ones, but I had a go recently on a Chinese-made Gretsch Corvette which lacked any mojo to speak of.

Modellista

I was also going to suggest the Hondo / Samick 935 which pops up from time to time.  I've got somewhere a Samick-branded version of these with a stunning walnut top.  I've got nothing to compare it to feel-wise, but it plays pretty well and looks well-made.  These were early '80s Korean-made, so potentially quite a nice instrument.  There's one going local to me here - could be a bargain if you can stand the tomato soup-burst!

https://www.gumtree.com/p/guitar-instrument/hondo-935-revival-guitar/1279330717

amarok1971

I bought an Artcore AS-73 off here, very good for little money

antifash

In my experience, I’ve learned that if you want the 335 sound, only a 335 will get you there (or. Heritage or some such thing). I could be wrong. But it might be worth you saving your pennies for the right beast. 

Legionreturns

antifash said:

In my experience, I’ve learned that if you want the 335 sound, only a 335 will get you there (or. Heritage or some such thing). I could be wrong. But it might be worth you saving your pennies for the right beast. 

I'd say that's more true with LPs... I've played loads of really good 335 alikes by a few different makers. It's essentially a box with a solid bit down the middle and some electrics

antifash

@Legionreturns Ha! My experience goes the other way around : LP copies can sound like LPs, but not 335s! I’m no Gibson expert - I’ve only ever owned a Gibson Flying V. Their 335s though; they just seem to have a more airy, woody sound than any others I’ve played.  

MartinB

modellista said:

I was also going to suggest the Hondo / Samick 935 which pops up from time to time.  I've got somewhere a Samick-branded version of these with a stunning walnut top.  I've got nothing to compare it to feel-wise, but it plays pretty well and looks well-made.  These were early '80s Korean-made, so potentially quite a nice instrument.  There's one going local to me here - could be a bargain if you can stand the tomato soup-burst!

https://www.gumtree.com/p/guitar-instrument/hondo-935-revival-guitar/1279330717

Yes, I've got one of these and it feels better made than the current Epi Dots, IMO.  The stock pickups and pots are not great, and they have slightly ugly sunbursts, but if you can live with the looks and factor some upgrades into the price they can be good value.  Other 80s and 90s Samick semis are worth a look also - a friend has a Vantage which is very similar to my Hondo but with a slightly nicer sunburst and a slimmer neck. 

markj

Epiphone Sheraton. I bought a 12 year old one fro ebay earlier in the year, it certainly gave me the semi hollow bug. I sold my Prs DGT and bought a beautiful es335.

p90fool

photek said:

Another option is the Hohner SE-35. I found them considerably better that the Epi equivalents at a similar price point. If you can find one around the £200 mark I would go and try it out.

Wis'd I had one, and it was a great guitar, with loads of lovely little quality details, like beautifully screened pickup cavities and perfect fretwork. 

Way above Epi Dot quality, and probably pretty expensive when new. I put a Varitone in mine and Goldtopped it, but it was great as standard, really ringing out Freddie King style with no dead spots or ugly overtones. 

http://i61.tinypic.com/23vb72f.jpg

EricTheWeary

Might not even be within budget now but would be worthwhile keeping an eye out for used Peerless, the Korean company who made various Epiphones before they moved to China and are semi specialists. I'm not sure they made a direct 335 type but they've had quite a few interesting semis.

mark123

over the years ive had a italia semi (canny) ,hohner se35 semi (canny), thommann semi 335(crap),epiphone Sheraton x3( heavy and cumbersome headstock and too much going on inlays headstock ets) ,

and I am now left with 2 cherry epiphone dots

,the value of these is outstanding ,the Sheratons were too blingy for me and the headstock was huge ,the dot is perfect and looks class with the pickguard off ,get one off e bay for £220 easy ,Budget for a £80 set of tonerider or irongears and there you go still a lot cheaper than a Sheraton (before mods) or any other ,check out the video of how versatile it is and that's with stock pick ups !

mark123

another great demo (stock pick ups ) I do not know how or why they sell so cheap ,choose carefully I got 2 with great colour and tops ,they can vary from bright crappy red to a dark wine red