Semi-hollow: Why?

[KellyFan]

Not sure if this is the correct place to post this, but here goes!

I've recently been kicking around on a nice semi hollow body that a friend lent me. I've never really thought one way or the other about hollow body guitars or semi-hollows, but I like this one. However, I don't really hear a huge difference in tone when it's plugged up. What exactly is the reason for semi-hollow guitars if they sound pretty much similar to solid body guitars?

[lerxstcat]

Re: Semi-hollow: Why?

What guitar and amp are you using? There should be a well-discernible difference, with the semi-hollowbody sounding warmer and a bit more acoustical than the semi-hollowbody. Of course the difference isn't as great as between a solidbody and an acoustic becaue the semi is usually a lot thinner than an acoustic's body, but the idea is still to have resonance within the hollow chambers. The difference will be much less noticeable when using distortion settings too, except maybe more feedback from the semi. The "semi" refers to the solid piece of wood stretching between neck and bridge, which reduces resonance but strengthens the structure so you don't have top lift as happens to some acoustics. Hope that helps.

[jgcable]

Re: Semi-hollow: Why?

The difference between a solid body and a semi-hollow should be huge whether it is plugged in or not, distorted or clean. The semi-hollow will have tons more sustain, especially if it has f holes in it.

[KellyFan]

Re: Semi-hollow: Why?

Thanks for the replies guys. I've been using it through a Bogner on a pretty heavy setting, but backing it off some, I'm getting some great tones. "Warm" is a good description. It does have the F-Holes. (It's a PRS) I do notice that there's not a dramatic change in sound from the neck pickup to the bridge pickup. Of course the bridge has more treble, the neck more bass, etc but it's more of a smooth transition between the two, as opposed to a big difference on a solid body. I might have to git me one of these! [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Grandturk]

Re: Semi-hollow: Why?

You'd notice a lot bigger difference going from say, a strat to a 335. In my experience, the PRS hollow bodies sound pretty similar to regular PRS's due to the size of the body.

[Subvamp]

Re: Semi-hollow: Why?

I have a PRS semi-hollow that I got back when I worked there. The body size is pretty much the same as the standard PRS body except hollow with f holes, and not a whole lot thicker.

[sully]

Re: Semi-hollow: Why?

how cool would it be to have A holes instead of F holes on a guitar? i think that would be way funny!