Hollow Body Guitar

chunkmonk · June 25

I’ve got sudden GAS for a hollow body and looking to see what’s out there people are playing.

Already got a 355, and potentially thinking I need some P90s in my life…..show me some inspiration…….

GuyBoden · June 25

USED - Gibson ES-175 Blonde, 1954 with P90

https://www.musicstreet.co.uk/products/used-gibson-es-175-blonde-1954?variant=4045011179935

If that's too expensive, the Peerless GigMaster on the sales thread is a good buy at £700:

https://thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/263565/fs-peerless-gigmaster-jazz-price-drop

Image: https://www.musicstreet.co.uk/cdn/shop/products/usedES175Blonde-10.jpg?v=1686270845

stickyfiddle · June 25

ES-330. Mine is a 2018 VOS with pickups swapped to plastic covered Lollar low-winds and Bigbsy B3 added.

Winny_Pooh · June 25

The Eastman T64v is a forum favourite

blueskunk · June 25

My Epiphone Century is a lovely guitar. Got the “Red” one, not sure how they match to more expensive models but I’m digging it.

blueskunk · June 25

stickyfiddle said:

ES-330. Mine is a 2018 VOS with pickups swapped to plastic covered Lollar low-winds and Bigbsy B3 added.

Fek me man!! That’s a wonderful looking guitar.

rze99 · June 25

blueskunk said:

stickyfiddle said:

ES-330. Mine is a 2018 VOS with pickups swapped to plastic covered Lollar low-winds and Bigbsy B3 added.

Fek me man!! That’s a wonderful looking guitar.

isn't it? got me a Casino... but still that gived me GAS

GuyBoden · June 26

I call 335 type guitars "semi's" not Hollow body, but I'm old.

Winny_Pooh · June 26

GuyBoden said:

I call 335 type guitars "semi's" not Hollow body, but I'm old.

335s are semi, having a centre block
330s are hollow as are Casino/Peerless songbird & Eastman tv4/v and the bigger archtops.

stylesforfree · June 26

We're in a similar boat, my GAS has been subdued though after acquiring a nice Telecaster and a nice Taylor recently (see my recent thread!)

Also check my previous two threads on a smililar topic: Recommend or suggest: Choice Paralysis! P90 Guitar or sexy hollow body? - Guitar Discussions on theFretBoard

Vintage/old Archtop guitars - Hofner Et el worth it? - Guitar Discussions on theFretBoard

The second thread may be of little use or value though.

Now then! I'll roll my sleeves up and just list a few suggestions here, bearing in mind that I do scope out most pieces on the second hand market and no longer care to buy new anymore, YMMV.

I haven't tried out any of these guitars, I am merely listing a few offerings that I have been doing some research on.

Epiphone Zephyr blues deluxe: 3 P90's, 3 individual volume controls and a master tone control, archtop, fully hollow, it has a 12" radius with a 1.68" nut width. I have read up that these are pretty good gems for the used price (around £650). It has been on my radar for a while, alas I missed out on one recently that was listed on reverb. There's a fair few videos and it sounds pretty nice from what I have heard. One caveat is that the pickups are wound to about 11.5K which is pretty hot.

Godin 5th Avenue Kingpin II: Another budget option on the 2nd hand market. It has 2 P90's. I have read that the cherry wood is a thin laminate that sounds more like a typical flat top acoustic than a rich/warm archtop. Also the pickups are attached to spacers that are screwed into the top, leaving the top "breath" or vibrate more freely then a routed top. Everyone basically says that this is a very very nice guitar and is very well made...but 16" radius..idk but for me that's possibly a no go until I try one out in person.

Peerless Wizard: Has a similar layout to the Epiphone Zephyr, 3 P90's with 3 volume knobs and one master tone control. The major difference is that it's thinner and has a rosewood bridge but I imagine it sports the same P90's as the Epi with them both being made in the same factory but don't quote me on that. Again...everyone says how incredible the Wizard is, build quality, sound, playability....

So there we have it, 3 guitars I am looking into that might be of interest to you.

Honourable mentions:
Epiphone Century
The Loar LH309
The Loar LH-302T
Guild X-175
Guild T-50

GuyBoden · June 26

Winny_Pooh said:

GuyBoden said:

I call 335 type guitars "semi's" not Hollow body, but I'm old.

335s are semi, having a centre block
330s are hollow as are Casino/Peerless songbird & Eastman tv4/v and the bigger archtops.

I see, so a thin hollow body guitar, but not a full body hollow Archtop Jazz Guitar.

Caution, true hollow body body guitars are extremely prone to feedback when played at any gigging volume. That's why they put a block of wood in the centre.

chunkmonk · June 26

stylesforfree said:

We're in a similar boat, my GAS has been subdued though after acquiring a nice Telecaster and a nice Taylor recently (see my recent thread!)

Also check my previous two threads on a smililar topic: Recommend or suggest: Choice Paralysis! P90 Guitar or sexy hollow body? - Guitar Discussions on theFretBoard

Vintage/old Archtop guitars - Hofner Et el worth it? - Guitar Discussions on theFretBoard

The second thread may be of little use or value though.

Now then! I'll roll my sleeves up and just list a few suggestions here, bearing in mind that I do scope out most pieces on the second hand market and no longer care to buy new anymore, YMMV.

I haven't tried out any of these guitars, I am merely listing a few offerings that I have been doing some research on.

Epiphone Zephyr blues deluxe: 3 P90's, 3 individual volume controls and a master tone control, archtop, fully hollow, it has a 12" radius with a 1.68" nut width. I have read up that these are pretty good gems for the used price (around £650). It has been on my radar for a while, alas I missed out on one recently that was listed on reverb. There's a fair few videos and it sounds pretty nice from what I have heard. One caveat is that the pickups are wound to about 11.5K which is pretty hot.

Godin 5th Avenue Kingpin II: Another budget option on the 2nd hand market. It has 2 P90's. I have read that the cherry wood is a thin laminate that sounds more like a typical flat top acoustic than a rich/warm archtop. Also the pickups are attached to spacers that are screwed into the top, leaving the top "breath" or vibrate more freely then a routed top. Everyone basically says that this is a very very nice guitar and is very well made...but 16" radius..idk but for me that's possibly a no go until I try one out in person.

Peerless Wizard: Has a similar layout to the Epiphone Zephyr, 3 P90's with 3 volume knobs and one master tone control. The major difference is that it's thinner and has a rosewood bridge but I imagine it sports the same P90's as the Epi with them both being made in the same factory but don't quote me on that. Again...everyone says how incredible the Wizard is, build quality, sound, playability....

So there we have it, 3 guitars I am looking into that might be of interest to you.

Honourable mentions:
Epiphone Century
The Loar LH309
The Loar LH-302T
Guild X-175
Guild T-50

Cheers for the post and the research, very much appreciated!

Basher · June 26

The last three guitars I've bought are all hollow bodies; Ibanez AKJV75 (a poor man's ES175, sort of ), Gretsch G5422 Electromatic (a poor man's double-cut White Falcon? "Albino Budgie" maybe?) and an Eastman T64V (either a poor man's ES330 or a rich man's Chinese Casino, although that would probably be a US Casino now so maybe a middle-income man's Korean Casino, one of which I also have).

Image: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53817404051_df4a173fa8_c.jpg

Image: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53364153704_7aab2e972f_c.jpg

Image: https://live.staticflickr.com/5022/5762002453_f2719b8786_c.jpg

OilCityPickups · June 26

My modded Gretsch 5420T Platinum Anniversary ... Compton bridge, Hot-rodded Dynasonics replacing the original filtertrons ... Hipshot locking tuners ...

And I think Dynasonics are severely underrated pickups

GuyBoden · June 26

That's nice

John D'Angelico masterpieces.

Pete.R · June 26

these two are doing the 'hollowbody job' in my collection

https://i.imgur.com/LSJxOb6.jpg

€pi ES175 Premium

https://i.imgur.com/4Wb9ytc.jpg

PRS-SE Hollowbody-II

Trude · June 26

I'd also look into the Guild M75 Aristocrat. Fully hollow, roughly Les Paul sized and Franz single coil pickups. Not to be confused with the cheaper chambered solidbody version.

I love mine to bits!

guitarjack66 · June 26

Do any of these hollow bodies or semi acoustic type guitars (which I love look of BTW) have wider nuts than these 43mm models? 44mm or 44.5mm and above at least.

Basher · June 26

guitarjack66 said:

Do any of these hollow bodies or semi acoustic type guitars (which I love look of BTW) have wider nuts than these 43mm models? 44mm or 44.5mm and above at least.

The newer Eastman T64s have got a 1.72" nut (43.7mm) which mine has.
This model originally had a 1.75" nut (44.5mm) so I'm assuming that would be more to your liking.

Personally, I held out for one with the slightly narrower nut width. I'd actually prefer a narrower-still, standard 1 11/16" Gibson width but the 1.72" (sorry to mix measurements from fractions to decimals but that's what I know them as), while fairly wide, feels ok to me.

GuyBoden · June 27

Hollow body guitars with laminate tops sound totally different than hollow body guitars with carved tops, but the laminate tops are less prone to feedback.

I'll say this again for the unaware:

Feedback is the problem when using hollow body guitars at gig level volume.

TheMarlin · June 27

Basher said:

guitarjack66 said:

Do any of these hollow bodies or semi acoustic type guitars (which I love look of BTW) have wider nuts than these 43mm models? 44mm or 44.5mm and above at least.

The newer Eastman T64s have got a 1.72" nut (43.7mm) which mine has.
This model originally had a 1.75" nut (44.5mm) so I'm assuming that would be more to your liking.

Personally, I held out for one with the slightly narrower nut width. I'd actually prefer a narrower-still, standard 1 11/16" Gibson width but the 1.72" (sorry to mix measurements from fractions to decimals but that's what I know them as), while fairly wide, feels ok to me.

I personally prefer the wider nut. Much prefer it.

More room for my fingers.

I struggle with a narrow nut. I recently bought a Steinberger Spirit. Couldn’t remember why I sold the last one. A few hours in, I remembered, narrow nut, fingers tripping over each other.

It’s a fab travel guitar, so will keep this one, but wide nut is my preference. My T64v feels just right.

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