1.7 The Solid, Semi-Hollow and Hollow Guitar Body

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Contents
................1.7.1 Background
................1.7.2 Playability
................1.7.3 Tone
................1.7.4 Other Differences

1.7.1 Background

For those of you who don't know there are 3 different types of electric guitars. It's pretty easy to determine what these terms mean so I won't go into that here:

Solid Body Guitar
Semi-Hollow Body Guitar
Hollow Body Guitar

People often ask what the implications of these body types are, so this section is just here to clarify this.

1.7.2 Playability

There is no difference in playability between these 3 different types of bodies. That said the size, weight and body profile of the guitar will be different and some people may suffer from this. Just a quick pointer here:

Weight: As a general rule the solid body guitar is the most heavy and the hollow body guitar is the lightest. Obviously this is due to the amount of wood that is used in the construction of the body of the guitar.
Size: Semi-acoustic guitars (referring to the semi-hollow and hollow body) are usually a bit larger than their counterpart, the solid body guitar.

1.7.3 Tone

Semi-acoustics are said to have a much richer, deep and warm sound than the solid body guitar due to the increased mid-range that is captured. This gives the guitar a more acoustic sound.

1.7.4 Other Differences

Sustain: In almost all cases a solid body guitar has a much longer sustain than a semi-acoustic guitar. This is because the material of the body, i.e. the wood, helps the guitar sustain it's notes for longer. Therefore more wood there is, the longer the sustain.
Feedback: The semi-acoustic guitars have more of a problem with feedback than solid bogy guitars. This is less of a problem in semi-hollow guitars as these have a wooden block running down the centre of the guitar, which helps reduce feedback problems. The block also slightly strengthens the general body of the guitar.

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