You Need a Hollow Body Electric Guitar

Gretsch Electromatic G5422TG

Yes indeed neighbours, you need a hollow body electric guitar if you do not already have one. If you have one, maybe you need/want another one.

Defining the Hollow Body Guitar

A hollow body is a guitar that is electric but built to the same idea as an acoustic, meaning it has a formed top, sides and back that together make the guitar up. A semi-hollow body is similar but typically has a solid centre block such as in the famed ES-335 from Gibson, or has a series of chambers inside to provide some resonance while the chamber walls hold the top up.

Some folks look at this and think, “oh he means a jazz box, and I don’t play jazz so whatever”.

While hollow body guitars are indeed loved by jazz players, they can be used for any kind of music. Naturally they tend to be warmer and a less bright than a solid body, but we are talking electrics so the pickups have a real impact.

Whether we are talking about a suspended pickup (not mounted to the body at all) such as found in the D’Angelico XL series or a top mounted pickup as in Gibson’s very popular ES-175, a hollow body has a unique sound. Steve Howe of YES fame played lots of guitars but is best known for using the ES-175 in YES, and while his skills are myriad, this is not really jazz. George Benson is a great jazz player and has used Ibanex hollow bodies for a long time. That said, one Ted Nugent made his big break playing a series of Gibson Byrdland models, a guitar never designed for high volume rock. (BTW try to find a Byrdland today that is not multiple mortgage payments).

Billy Duffy of the Cult is not know for being a jazz player but his go to guitar, in fact his signature model, is a Gretsch White Falcon. The immortal Chet Atkins played multiple hollow body guitars as well although he is best known for the Gretsch Country Gentleman. Even Beatle John Lennon liked a hollow body rocking an Epiphone Casino in the famous “concert” played on the roof at Apple Corps.

Seeking a Hollow Body Today

There are still hollow body guitars to be found being made today, and I am not including the many semi-hollows that exist. Gibson still makes hollow bodies but they are very expensive and often Custom Shop only instruments making them unobtanium for many players. Ibanez does hollow bodies as well and they have a range of price points, and certainly their pro level George Benson and John Scofield models are superb, although I have been less excited by their inexpensive offerings personally. Epiphone also does hollow bodies and still make the Casino. The challenge here is finding any. Stock in hollow bodies from Epiphone appears hard to find.

The easiest route to a true hollow body that is easy to find and priced in accordance with what it delivers comes from Gretsch in their Electromatic lineup. They do have a less expensive lineup called the Streamliner but I think you get a much better value from the Electromatics.

Nothing sounds like a Gretsch except a Gretsch. Those Filtertron (hum cancelling) and Dynatron (single coil) pickups have a sound all their own. While I own some more expensive Gretsch guitars, I want to focus on the Electromatic line here. I recently came upon a Gretsch Electromatic, the G5422TG pictured above and in the thumbnail for this article.

This guitar has dual Filtertron pickups. You can have neck, bridge or both via the pickup selector, with each pickup having its own volume control. There is a shared tone control. On the lower front bout is a master volume knob. While this is layout different from many other guitars, you can get used to it really quickly.

Not all hollow body guitars have a Bigsby tailpiece and it is typically buyer’s choice. I did buy a Gibson ES-Les Paul with a Bigsby and it caved the top in. Gibson gave me full credit and I went with a 1960 Reissue ES-355TD which is a semi-hollow body. If you do choose a guitar with a Bigsby, examine the construction for deformation of the top. Bigsby tailpieces are heavy, and as we tend to pull on them a lot more than a stop tail, we are increasing the load on the top of the guitar.

Ok, but I don’t want to spend thousands…

Gretsch G2420T Gunmetal

Getting a nice hollow body guitar is not difficult at all, even when you don’t want to spend a lot of money. The first place to look, in my opinion, is the Gretsch Streamliner family. For 2021, Gretsch has gone to semi-hollow designs using a centre block which is more like an Epiphone 335 but you can still find stock of the G2420T model in stock, like this one showing in stock currently at The Arts Music Store. Price for something like this is about $730 CAD. Very hard to beat for the money and much nicer than other products in the price point. I’ve tried lots in the price range and recommend Gretsch, plus they have that Gretsch “sound”.

If you are willing to go to the thousand dollar range, you have more and frankly better options. The better typically refers to the tonality of the pickups in the case of the Gretsches as the Streamliners are well built, but other brands are less respectable.

In this price range, look to Epiphone and Gretsch again. Both do superb true hollow body guitars in and around $1000 CAD. The blue Electromatic G5422GT pictured above is amazing, so nice that I bought it. The featured one is the special Sapphire colour, other options are available of course.

Epiphone Rivera P93

In the discussion of hollow-bodies in this price range you cannot ignore Epiphone. I own an Epiphone Casino in natural that is a true winner, and of course there are other Epiphone hollow bodies like the Rivera P93 which is a true hollow body in a thin line design with three dogear P90 pickups, each with its own volume control. Epiphones can be a bit scarce on the ground these days but the Asian built hollow body Epiphones are superb. My Casino is so good, I cannot imagine why anyone would pay three times the $890 CAD for the model I own to get one built by Gibson in Nashville. To each his or her own of course, but I doubt that the Gibson built version would warrant the enormous price jacking. You can learn more about the Casino in the article on this site.

Conclusions

There are those who will tell us that we can only play one guitar at a time. This is true, although double necks (I am a fan) and even 5 neck guitars (check out Rick Neilsen of Cheap Trick) as sort of cheats to this silly caution.

The committed guitarist always has exactly the right number of guitars, plus just one more. A hollow body is a different beast. You learn to manage and leverage feedback like on no other guitar. You get a very different tone, and have choices of pickup configurations. Hollow bodies can be used for ANY style of music and bring something different to you and your tone. Why not have a go and see where one takes you. You might even decide that it’s the one more that you have to have.

Thanks for reading and until next time peace.