custom22 Posted January 4, 2007 Report Share Posted January 4, 2007 I'm working on a mahogany back maple top PRS sort of hollowbody, and I'm wondering, what does one gain from a hollowbody. I'm guessing that it sounds more acoustic-like, and I've heard that one loses sustain. Any enlightenment on the advantages/disadvantages of hollows? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteBuchan Posted January 4, 2007 Report Share Posted January 4, 2007 I made a hollow bodied tele - similar to the fender thinline series. They are a lot lighter than a solid body for a start. I find mine to have excellent sustain, and it is much louder when played with no amp. I find it has a fuller tone. I think they sound better - provided you make the tone chambers big and not just a small one somewhere. I'm making a les paul just now which I'm going to hollow out. This time I'm going to put f-holes in it. I didnt do that with the tele. Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattia Posted January 4, 2007 Report Share Posted January 4, 2007 My first scratch build - a semi - has more sustain than just about any other guitar I've ever played or built. So Go figure. My take: chambering tends to give the sound a little more room to 'breathe', a bit more 'air', feeds back more easily (in a controlled way), more resonance, etc. Mine sound good to my ear, and I certainly like the lower mass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikhailgtrski Posted January 4, 2007 Report Share Posted January 4, 2007 FWIW - My chambered PRS clone has a nice, open sound and sustains for days. I played a PRS Hollowbody II a few months ago, and it played and sounded really nice - very resonant and plenty of sustain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoser Rob Posted January 5, 2007 Report Share Posted January 5, 2007 Semi hollow bodies were invented to give some of the resonance of a hollow body with the sustain of a solid body. At least that's what Gibson said back then and they'd know. PLus you get a lot more feedback resistance than a hollow one ... but you can easily get feedback if you know what you're doing. Check out the intro solo in B.B.'s How Blue Can You Get from the Live at Cook County album. SOme of the nicest feedback I've ever heard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fryovanni Posted January 5, 2007 Report Share Posted January 5, 2007 A true hollow body style guitar is just a completely different animal. Plates, bridge and so forth are designed to get the body to vibrate and produce acoustic volume. A semi hollow maintains the same neck/bridge relation and is aimed at string to pickup(electric) output. Adding chambers, cavities, using different woods all effect the output(sustain, tone what have ya). IMO, sustain is going to be primarily effected by neck design/neck to bridge relation. Chambers, hollowed sides, cavity will surely modify the way the guitar as a whole vibrates and of course that will change your resonance. Peace,Rich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwedishLuthier Posted January 5, 2007 Report Share Posted January 5, 2007 Semi hollow bodies were invented to give some of the resonance of a hollow body with the sustain of a solid body. The Semi-hollow came first! Have a look at Les Pauls ”the log”. That’s a piece of railway slipper with a guitar neck bolted onto it and wings from a standard hollow “jazz style” guitar added for looks. Les Paul did that to get rid of the feedback and get better sustain. After that they made the solid body guitar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
custom22 Posted January 6, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 6, 2007 A true hollow body style guitar is just a completely different animal. Plates, bridge and so forth are designed to get the body to vibrate and produce acoustic volume. A semi hollow maintains the same neck/bridge relation and is aimed at string to pickup(electric) output. Adding chambers, cavities, using different woods all effect the output(sustain, tone what have ya). IMO, sustain is going to be primarily effected by neck design/neck to bridge relation. Chambers, hollowed sides, cavity will surely modify the way the guitar as a whole vibrates and of course that will change your resonance. Peace,Rich Thats kinda what I had figured. So if I'm doing a set neck, would it be best to keep the center strip solid and have the chambers on the sides? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unclej Posted January 6, 2007 Report Share Posted January 6, 2007 my first and only semi-hollow bodied build was a walnut back with a zebra wood top and a single sound hole on the upper bout. i installed a gibson t-bucker in the neck position and an overwound dimarzio single coil in the bridge. simple three way switch with tone and volume controls. it was the jazziest, bluseiest sounding guitar i've ever heard. couldn't get a country twang out of it if you tried. it had great sustain and sold fairly quickly. all in all it was a very satisfying build and a great sounding guitar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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