1. Yes. A fully hollow or even semi hollow have a certain airy quality. Sounds to me almost like the tone is slightly rolled off. A Solidbody general just handles gain much better as the pickups dont feedback from sounds echoing out of the fholes. Go to your local guitar store and play les paul/strat/335/175 style guitar with the same type of pickups through the same amp and you will see for yourself. Best way is to see for yourself.

2. Yes, the guitar is assembled completely different, wood thinkness, wood types, pickups are much higher winds. Basically while one is electric and one ss acoustic no matter how you look at it. Just because a pickup is plased in an acoustic guitar doesnt give it the same properties as an electric.

Thanks, man. You've been helpful. And ya, I'm planning on going to guitar center and testing some out.

What do you think of this guitar?

Ibanez AFS80T Hollowbody Electric Guitar Candy Apple and more Semi-Hollow and Hollow Body Electric Guitars at GuitarCenter.com.


It says it's a hollow body, but the depth is one inch thinner, for more "mid-range punch". I like the sound of that. 500 dollars is about my max, too. I'd like to play it before I bought it, though.

What's your take on it?

Since you said you want to play BB king style blues yet be able to crank up the volume and gain when needed I would suggest going with a semi hollow. Its really a compromise between solidbody and full hollow, and I think they are incredibly versital. Another problem with the one you linked to is that guitars in the price range with bigsby style trems tend to never stay in tune. I would recommend a hardtail or be prepared to buy a real bigsby.

My friend has an Artcore AS73 semi hollow and I love it. Plays like a 335 and has is way more comfortable to play than a fat hollowbody, not to mention it can play death metal if you needed it to. I think their is also a version with a trem though.

http://www.mydukkan.com/media/as73lh-lg211924.jpg

Ibanez Artcore AS73 Electric Guitar Brown Sunburst and more Semi-Hollow and Hollow Body Electric Guitars at GuitarCenter.com.

@blastingas10

Just throwing this in there. An Epiphone Dot Flame Top. Epiphone Dot Deluxe Flametop Semi-Hollowbody Electric Guitar Vintage Sunburst and more Semi-Hollow and Hollow Body Electric Guitars at GuitarCenter.com. I play one on occasion and its just plain beautiful. Wasn't a huge fan of the neck pickup, but its still a great guitar, and its a little cheaper than the one you picked out. It handles distortion really well, which is a plus. This was my main guitar for quite awhile til I got a Gretsch CVT. Even still, I break this one out.

Btw, Gretsch makes some nice hollowbody guitars. Its a little out of your range, perhaps, but a G5122 is a good one too. My friend owns one and it sounds insane. It can't handle distortion as well, but has more of an airy sound. The clean sounds we can get out of it are remarkable. Gretsch Guitars G5122 Double Cutaway Electromatic Hollowbody Electric Guitar: Shop Guitars & Other Musical Instruments | Musician's Friend

I'm a pretty big guy, so I'm actually looking for something big. I have a good chromatic tuner, so I'm not that worried about getting one that doesn't stay in tune really well. But how badly do you think it would come out of tune? If I cant even play the thing 'cause it won't stay in tune long enough to do so, then **** that. I just really love the looks of the one I posted. I know, looks aren't everything. If I want to play something with high gain, I can just use my solid body.

And another reason I want a full-hollow body is because they sound good when played unplugged. I played a Epiphone Dot semi-hollow unplugged yesterday and it sounded a little better than an unplugged solid body, not much, though; but I did like it. I don't really like my acoustic, but I like to play acoustic. However, I don't want to buy another acoustic. Volume can be a problem for me, I can't always plug in and play loud.

So, I think a full hollow solves my volume problem. I can play it unplugged and it'll still sound pretty good, and I can plug it in when I want. This is the main reason that a full-hollow sounds good to me. But if they really don't project much sound acoustically, then I'll probably go with a semi-hollow.


I'm still going to consider a semi-hollow. I need to play the two and see how I feel then.


What do ya'll think about this one?

http://www.guitarcenter.com/Peavey-J...60-i1146968.gc


And this one:

http://www.guitarcenter.com/Ibanez-A...51-i1697605.gc

I say you cant go wrong with the artcore series. They sound great and dont really need upgrading.

Thanks for the advice. I'll keep it in mind.

I'd go with the Ibanez too. But I'm biased against Peavey. For whatever reason I just don't seem to like the sound I generally get. But then again I've never played an Artcore.

You think the Artcore's are better than the Epiphine Dot's?

Undoubtedly. Honestly I think its another league of guitar. In your price range its unrivaled.

Keep in mind thats just my opinion. I have played at least 15-20 brands in that price range though, and still find what I said to be true.