£1000 is very healthy and would buy something very tasty.
A few hundred less would also get you something very good.
And why not, something different to your PAC with its solod body, tremolo and HSS configuration.
Perhaps.
It depends if you the guitar you choose has twin humbuckers, twin P90s, twin filtertrons or other - all other things such as your hands and amp being equal.
For sure, the semi-hollow vibe is very associated with blues and jazz. But great blues and jazz players choose telecasters or strats or les pauls or any range of guitars they prefer. The guitars called ‘jazz-boxes’ tend to be single-cut semi or fully hollow with very deep bodies. I would steer you away from those unless you really do like the aesthetic, feel and vibe.
It is a mid-budget double cut semi-hollow in a large field of such types. It won’t be anything special over and above any other in the price range. If you love the styling and the big art-deco headstock then it may be for you. Check out the new range of Epiphone ES-335 (the inspired by Gibson range). Check out Epiphone Sheraton or Epiphone Casino. Check out (used) Yamaha SA series guitars - usually exceptional players and overlooked. Check out ES-339 style if you want to try a smaller body. Check out Gretsch for something in the same ball park but with different pickups and tone. Make sure to play and feel for the difference between those with tune-o-matic brides, bigsby vibrato and trapeze tailpieces.
You may need to spend most of your £1000 if you choose a Yamaha SA or similar. But you don’t need to. £500-700 will get good gear.
I’d also recommend checking out the new epiphone range of ES guitars. It’s definitely worth checking out in store as some folk find the ES-335 to big and prefer the ES-339. You may also be able to get a package deal.
One pitfall in asking for recommendations on a guitar forum is that many of us are besotted with the instruments we bought that we want everyone else to have the same experience.
I shall go with the herd
I’m with Keith on the idea that it is primarily the aesthetics of semi-hollows that we find appealing. I’d be surprised if many of us here could tell the difference between what guitars are being played (as opposed to the sound that is being dialed in together with the amp).
Common sense told me it would fill a gap between my acoustic and solid body. It does, but mainly in looks.
It is a bit more audible than the solid body unplugged, but also more ‘unwieldly’. The large round body shape is fine for playing standing and sitting, but as half my time is spent lying down on the couch in front of the TV (I think Justin’s recommended position), I bought a strat-shaped Harley Benton for that purpose
I took one of Richard’s (many) recommendations and bought a second hand Hagström Viking for just over £400 and am well pleased with it almost two years later. It feels lovely, stays in tune and appears well-made. I’d probably buy the same again although might go for the Deluxe model, which has a Jengel-Stengel/wiggle-stick on a Bigsby-like tailpiece. Again, it would be mainly for the looks.
Here’s a demo that I found helpful. Enjoy your shopping
Yes, that’s the only thing that will really help … because of Brian’s post above, I just switched my PRS and my Ibanez right after each other and there is certainly some difference, without distorion I think the difference played over the amp not really worth it (however the phone picks up the direct sound during a recording… both su… are annoying me but with the PRS even more annoying)… But when I hit the distortion then the difference in sound is really huge … then the cheaper Ibanez wins with flying colors … But to make a too long story just a little longer, with this one …you have well said … go to a guitar shop, … have fun picking out a new guitar
I love them without Jengel-stengel…
Greetings,Rogier
Edit: * Pickups: 1 PRS S2 Starla humbucker en 1 PRS S2 Type-D singlecoil
Ibanez,: Hss…
I expect that there is an important difference in distortion super good or okay…but other people here are much better at dealing with that…But I also gave them a fender with hss and it also loses to the ibanez in distortion area (but it is closer), but that was not really what you were looking for, but for the sake of completeness I’ll mention it anyway…
True.
And many haven’t played the instruments commented on in real life.
Me too.
I love an f-hole.
And their use in blues / jazz is a very conventional choice but not an exclusive one.
And why not. The Deluxe would certainly be better appointed. In terms of @EndlessRepetition and his question p the extra money would not necessarily bring a different / better tone. The higher purchase price is for the extra craftsmanship etc.
ps
When I made suggestions to Brian I was pointing him towards local options in the 2nd hand market - where crazy good bargains can be had.
I’ve had a look at what Thomann have and TBH any of the following would be good; if I was pushed into making brand preferences it would be - Epiphone, Guild, Hagstrom, PRS, Ibanez and Gretsch with possibly D’Angelico (never tried one) and Godin (you will need to search for Godin 5th Avenue).
This gives you an idea of where the sales ranking and review ratings are for their range of what I would consider to be suitable.
In my opinion it’s a great guitar, but in this case I think the Hollow body would be a better choice, the pickups on the Hollowbody are more in keeping with the requirements
I wouldn’t rule out the HB Big tone out either especially if it was a dip your toes in the water situation, it’s a surprisingly good guitar for the price (as are most HB guitars) I have a neighbour in our street who has one who wanted to get it set up, I saved him the money, it was too big for me to be comfortable with it but once it was set up (including height of pickup adjustments) it was pretty impressive.
I recently got an EART E-335 6 String Semi-Hollow-Body Electric Guitar, Stainless Steel Frets, Sunburst, Full, Playing Jazz for less than $400. The best ever for me, BUT… I also bought a $10 guitar. A 3/4 Spanish steel string acoustic guitar with holes in the tone board, broken bridge, 5 cracks in the body and worn out frets and a crooked neck. I spent 4 months repairing it myself (first time ever) and now have a guitar worth about $75 that plays like a fine electric guitar (its acoustic). Wonderful tone, too. It cost me about the same as the E-335 and many hours of my time. I would not sell this little guitar for any price. After a year, I gave it away to one of my granddaughters as a BD gift. I play with it every-time we jam together. As you can tell, I am very proud of that $10 guitar. (I am now working on several more broken guitars and I am having a ball.)
Yeah, I wanna try one of those too! One of my favorite guitar players is Trey Anastasio, and the PRS Hollowbody is quite similar to his custom hollowbody.
My very first electric guitar was a Squier Series 24 Starfire, it is a semi-hollow body that I fell in love with. I bought it new in 2003, they were only made for 2 years after Fender bought DeArmond.
I still have it and still love it. There just seems to be something about the semi hollow and Humbuckers.
I have tried to learn how to play off and on ever since. I had no luck, but found Justin and am really working on it.
Here is a not to great of a pic of it. Still looks the same today and makes beautiful noise through my Peavey Classic 30 amp. If only I could do more than make noise, sigh!!!
