Hollowbody, SemiHollow, Solid: Can you hear the difference in each?

[silverface]

I can, including the difference between "open" (Gibson-type) and "post-reinforced" (Gretsch-type) full -bodied archtops with the same pickups and between various types of solid-body guitars (including individual guitars) - in most cases both acoustically and "plugged in" through a good clean tone amp.

To be honest, I'm accused of being far too anal about the subject I do part-time tech work and have never profited from it because I'll obsess over things like a tailpiece height's affect on tone. Or tuning machine weight. Seriously - it can make a difference on some guitars!

I joke about my own playing being so crappy I ended up with a tag line about 30 years ago:

"No Chops but Great Tone"©

But I was in the paint/coatings tech end of the construction business for 25+ years and I understand the affect of noise on hearing. I was also company safety direct in a couple different places and was adamant about use of hearing protection when needed.

I still have my SPL (Sound Pressure Level) meter, which I also used at gigs and rehearsals. IMO it's an important "band tool", especially in electric situations. Sound levels *usually* exceed the danger point unless a band is *really* quiet and/or has no drummer.

My dad was an audiophile and educated me about sound pressure levels in the 60's - I've generally used some kind of hearing protection when playing or working a venue's mixing board ever since.

[D.G.]

Got 'em all. There's a difference in the envelope and the timbre between all of 'em They all sound quite fine though. Using a pick I believe would've made the differences a bit more apparent.

Excellent playing by mr. Lerch - love his style.

[Spook410]

But does a Les Paul and an ES335 sound different to you?

Subtle because these are both a humbucker on a solid block of wood. Of course your chiropractor will certainly be able to tell the difference.

[Jonathan0996]

Wes and his L5 are a prominent exception to the rule. Of course, I don't think any of us could quite duplicate that sound even with an L5.

[jazzjames]

I'm sure that Wes would send the same playing a Les Paul with heavy strings as he does on a 175 or L5.

Wes WOULD sound the same...But his guitar wouldn't.

[GNAPPI]

OK, everyone line up and trade those fat uninspiring L5's, 175, Benson, and other great hollow body gits for a Les Paul Clone with Gibson 57's in it. NOT! .

[Thumpalumpacus]

However, I simply cannot get "that sound" out of my heart and head.

Or out of your speakers, if you're anything like me. I can get passable jazz tones out of a Les Paul or SG, but they're just that -- passable. I can still note the lack of breath in the guitar's voice. Doesn't mean I have magic ears, it could well mean I don't know how to set my amp up right (and the number of Tele jazzers would seem to support this). I think I can tell the difference blindfolded, but Dunning-Kruger is a bitch, too.

[Woody Sound]

I have pretty much the same answer for all of these comparison questions. I don’t care if I can HEAR the difference when others play these instruments. In fact many times, I probably can’t. But I can discern huge differences when I PLAY the different instruments. And that is all that matters to me, and why I make the choices I make when I decide what guitar to play in a particular situation.

Good post. I remember replacing a standard t-o-m with a big heavy brass thing (loud fusion band). The bass player asked me if it made a difference. I said "I don't really know, but my playing feels like it does."

[fep]

I think I can tell the difference blindfolded, but Dunning-Kruger is a bitch, too.

Good point. You could test that with that Tim Lerch video. By listening for sustain I was able to guess solid body vs. hollow body for all but one of the examples.

Also cognitive dissonance theory maybe is coming into play for many who love their hollowbody archtops... (me too )

[cosmic gumbo]

I think another factor for some folks' ears is the living room vs bandstand environment.

[feet]

I can differentiate between *my* guitars, but that is by design. I purposely picked them and modded them to give them the maximum amount of space with minimal overlap.

so I can tell between a solid body, semi and hollow when one has minis and the other has supertrons and so forth.

but in general? possibly? sometimes? id have to start listening for differences instead of just listening to the music. I want to say that a 335 has a slight " chirp" to it that an les Paul doesn't, but they can be made to sound pretty similar. I can usually pick out a humbucker from a single and occasionally a p90, but only when they do the thing that makes them sounds unique. they have tells, to my ear.

[rio]

When it gets between a semi and a solid body I think that will depend on the guitars. Some semis are fairly resonant and others are like solid bodies. But if all guitars were set up he same with the same strings and played through the same amp then I think I could tell, and probably also if the archtop was carved or laminate but that can also get dicey depending on the construction and thickness of the finish. Really it comes down to how the strings are vibrating based on how the body is resonating. A solid body will always have a different sound than a resonant archtop and the telltale sounds are the attack and the sustain. Once you get into different setups, different strings, different pickups and different amps it can definitely make the waters murky though.


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[Robertkoa]

Most Semi Hollows don't sound much different from a similar solidbody ...( ES 335 and a Les Paul for example )

UNTIL they get to the magic 2" or 2.25" rim depth which there is very few of but I heard the difference on an ES 137 I played...and IF that had a block just under the Bridge and Stoptail - bet it would be even better toward an Archtop but more sustain ).

I am kind of looking to see who makes thick Semis with 'open ' or no center block at reasonable prices .

It seems semi hollows are designed as ' compromise ' so they don' t make them thicker ...

I can hear hollow bodies easily unless it's a Player who turns the Tone knob on the Guitar wayyy down for those muffled chords ...lol.

[Tal_175]

Excellent playing by mr. Lerch - love his style.

Great comparison. I was able to tell whether each guitar was solidbody or hollow successfully after hearing only a few notes. I listened with a quality pair of headphones. I did need to calibrate my ears with the first guitar though as there are a lot of variables when one listens to a youtube recording. After the first one it was relatively easy to tell them apart. I don't think it's very subtle. I'd be surprised if anyone who spend anytime playing hollowbody guitars can't recognize the hollowbody tone in a clear recording. Airy and with an "echoey" depth when picked hard, to my ears anyways. Decay is different too.
That said, solidbodies did sound very good and Jazzy. I can see the versatility of Tele's. If you're not too attached to the exact nuances of the traditional straight ahead guitar sound, you can live happily with a Tele.

[Epistrophy]

Owned 'em both, and a Les Paul and an ES-335 do sound different, to me. It's subtler than the difference between a 335 and a L-5CES, but the difference is there.

To me, the Les Paul sounds like a string being vibrated over a transducer. There is sufficient mass and stiffness present in the guitar itself that it sort of falls away from the equation, as it were. AND, that string just keeps on vibrating--i.e., it sustains and sustains. (I can still hear Nigel Tufnel's Les Paul that he was holding up to Marty DiBergi in the film.) The 335 exhibits _some_ perturbation of the string vibration, owing to the less stiff/less massive guitar body.

Between the two, I preferred the 335. I kept it for years and sold the Les Paul. The 335 could cover the Les Paul scene, but the Les Paul couldn't as convincingly cover the jazzier things that the 335 could do.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

For me it’s really the opposite. 335 nails certain things really well which is blues and R&B, and for jazz also. But LP can do everything, from hard rock to jazz. I don’t think 335 does the metal thing really well.

[Marinero]

In Chicago, from the '60s through the early '80s, the semi-hollow was the No. 1 guitar for working musicians(non-rock). It was comfortable to play and was very versatile-- getting close in sound to an archtop. Chicago R@B/Jazz/Soul guitarist Phil Upchurch used to play a semi, gigging around the city, before switching to archtop, and had a very convincing "archtop-like" sound. So, since our Art form is based on sound, how many people here did a blind test of prospective instruments before buying and based their purchase on sound . . . not label/image/style? Here's Phil.
Marinero

https://www.labella.com › artists › phil-upchurch

[Epistrophy]

That type of sound is suitable with a hollowbody too. No semi hollows needed IMO. But 335s are great nevertheless.

[Marinero]

That type of sound is suitable with a hollowbody too. No semi hollows needed IMO. But 335s are great nevertheless.

Hi, E,
It's a heavy, cumbersome guitar(archtop) if you're standing for 3 shows a night!
Marinero

[Spook410]

Hi, E,
It's a heavy, cumbersome guitar(archtop) if you're standing for 3 shows a night!
Marinero

While a Gibson 335 is compact, it's not usually light. Probably heavier than most archtops. If I were forced to stand while playing (not gonna happen) I would get a chambered Tele.

[joebloggs13]

I own a LP, a 335 and an Eastman hollowbody with a carved top(AR503CE) and you can absolutely tell the difference. The 335 and LP are closer, but the holl Eastman is very different sounding. The acoustic sound of a hollowbody is very distinctive and cannot be duplicated in a 335 or a LP. They all compliment each other. I love all three.

[Epistrophy]

I only have hollowbodies. Strat for non-jazz stuff. I think Epiphone’s current 335 is a great guitar. Same can be said for their LPs. I really need both and I’m not going to spend that much for a guitar. With 1k one can get both LP and 335. They’re great. I prefer the clean sounds of 335 to LP, and for me LP is really for hard rock and metal, but can do jazz pretty well too.

[krusty]

My Eastman El Rey 1 and my PRS Vela sound exactly the same through my Benedetto Carino. Through my Quilter OD202 there’s a huge difference. The OD202 is incredibly sensitive to pick changes. The Benedetto much less so.

[Alter]

One big difference between these three types of guitars is the attack of the notes, the solid body being the most immediate, a full hollow much less so. Change it with a compressor, and a solid body will start to do the "knock" of a 335. It is the part of the "wood" sound that's the easiest to manipulate.

Then, as the playing sound levels rise, construction starts to play a bigger and bigger role in the weight and complexity of the notes, and in low frequency response . A hollow body has that more, even acoustically or played in low volume. A 335 needs more volume to do it, it might sound weak when compared to a hollow body at home level, but if in a gig it opens up, all the overtones are now hearable, and it starts to sounds like a hollow body would. An electric can't really go there, to my ears it can't reach the complexity and weight of a hollow guitar's tone. The sweet spot always being somewhere between the point where the notes start to come alive, and when they start to approach feedback.

Having a very heavy and complicated note isn't always optimal. If you want to use effects for a modern jazz tone, I prefer a 335 to a hollow body. More effects, or a band with lots of instruments, go electric. Also the player starts to become a factor.. For example, I've always used the 335 as a jazz guitar, I sound awful on it when I try to play with drive, rock, etc, whereas I can easily get great rock sounds out of a solid body.

Ideally, a hollow body lives in a quiet environment, the semi in a mid to loud situation, the solid in a loud one.

I do weekly rehearsals, same band, same room and gear, only the guitars change, depending on what is practical to carry. Les Paul, 335, L5 clone, all with paf pickups. Even in a cellphone recording the differences are pretty obvious, mostly in the attack, and the low to mid frequency areas, but also in the complexity. Archtop notes are born rich. For mainstream jazz,a good archtop is King!

[Greywolf]

Ditto , bottom line the more air in the body , the more air in the sound .