I almost always play and practice sitting. I currently own a concert size acoustic and a Squier CV Strat.
As a beginner lefty of 6-7 months practice, both my guitars still feel a bit awkward to play but the acoustic with larger body actually fits/feels better when sitting. I am considering a semi-hollow (ES-335 style) and wonder how comfortable this shape would be for sitting and playing. Would it be better or worse than my Strat? Strat-type guitars typically are known for their comfort and great ergonomics standing or sitting but semi-hollows seam to be love/hate for seated playing. Mainly because of the larger body of course.
Anyone own both a strat and semi-hollow? Do you find one more comfortable sitting to play?
I think your best bet is to find your own answer by visiting a music store, and trying out different shaped guitars for yourself. We humans come in all different shapes and sizes, so one person’s comfortable is another person’s horrible. I can tell you that I have had no comfort issues, sitting or standing, with any guitar I’ve tried to date, but that might be completely different for you unless you happen to share my exact dimensions.
You shouldn’t generalise. My lefty friend has never had an issue finding stores that stock lefty guitars.
But at the end of the day, it’s your choice if you don’t want to put the effort in. You’ll be buying a guitar based on the opinion of an internet stranger who is very likely of completely different dimensions to yourself. Personally I wouldn’t take that chance, but it’s your money.
No generalizing. No shops in my area carry much stock in lefties, especially semi-hollows. Gathering some anecdotal data on people’s experiences with various guitar shapes is “putting in effort”.
Anyone else actually have a 335 style guitar? Any thoughts on overall comfort, balance or lack of while sitting to play it?
I have an Epiphone Dot (ES-335 style hollow-body), which I mostly play sitting down. Before getting it, I was using my son’s Squier strat.
I love my Dot, but it is definitely less comfortable to play than the Strat. It’s bigger and bulkier and feels heavier than the Strat (which is a Squier Affinity, slightly thinner and lighter than a regular Fender Strat).
When sitting the lower bout of the Dot tends to drop towards the floor, with the headstock moving upward. (The opposite of “headstock drop”. ) I now play with a strap, even while sitting, which solved this problem for me. Of course, this “lower bout drop” could be just due to the way I hold the guitar, it may not be a general property. If I just balance the guitar on my leg (no hands), it stays horizontal. The “drop” occurs after I’ve been playing a bit.
So, yeah, the Dot is a bit less comfortable to play than the Affinity Strat, but I still like it ten times better. Also, with time (I’ve had the Dot ~2 years), the comfort issue has faded away – I guess I’ve gotten used to the bigger guitar by now.
Thank you for the helpful response on playing the Dot. I like the idea of a semi-hollow for different tones and of course for their looks. I will likely continue on with the Strat for a while and hopefully be able to play a lefty semi-hollow body at some point.
I got a squire strat because it is the most comfortable and easiest play as a beginner I thought. But it didn’t have the tone I was looking for (wanting to play oasis songs).
Not even looking at the semi hollows I got an epiphone Les Paul Thinking it will give me the sound I want. However I found this guitar extremely hard to play and not comfortable so I returned it and got a semi hollow Squire Strat.
I love it!!! Definitely easier and more comfortable to play than I thought it would be. I should have just got this first. But I was intimidated by its size.
Jeff,
For general feel, you could try out various right-handed guitars and do a muted strumming exercise… maybe you couldn’t actually play it but the ES-335s are pretty symmetrical… would give you a fairly accurate feel for size.
