Hollow / Semi-Hollow Body Guitars

Hollow / Semi-Hollow Body Guitars

The concept behind the electric guitar began with the Hollow body and Semi-Hollow guitar. Based on the acoustic guitar, these instruments were made for jazz players. They needed clean, warm tones to suit the genre and these guitars were then adopted for many other playing styles such as blues, rock, country and pop. We stock all the major Semi-Hollow and Hollow body guitar brands including Gibson, Epiphone, Ibanez, Gretsch and more!

A lot of Semi-Hollow and Hollow body guitars will have a fixed bridge, but if they don’t, you’re likely to see a Bigsby trem. This gives you a stunning trem system, made for slow, wavering trem tones.

These Electric Guitars are largely associated with Rock n Roll & Rockabilly legends such as Chuck Berry, Brian Setzer (The Stray Cats), BB King, Gene Vincent & Carl Perkins. However, more modern guitar hereos rock these guitars including Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters), Noel Gallagher (Oasis & High Flying Birds) & Tom DeLonge (Blink-182).

Semi-Hollow Body Guitars

Semi-Hollow Body Guitars are called semi-hollow because they will generally have a centre block running through the body that the pickups will be mounted on. They’ll still have the famous f-holes however are part solid body and part hollow body. This still gives them that warm, airy acoustic tone that’s loved and coveted by all guitarists.

They handle high-gain better than a hollow body would but can be prone to feedback when using extreme amounts of gain. Famous semi-hollow guitars that we stock include Gibson ES Guitars such as the ES-335 & ES-339, Epiphone Hollowbody / Semi-Hollow counterparts including the Casino and Riviera, and the Gretsch Electromatic range.

Hollow Body Guitars

Hollow body guitars are more akin to acoustic guitars than a solid body guitar would be but it’s still powered by electric guitar pickups. Though, these instruments won’t have a centre block in the middle and therefore have a touch more sustain and resonance and are even warmer sounding than your average semi-hollow.

You’ll often see a hollow body with a floating trapeze bridge piece because you can’t mount a bridge onto the thin hollow body top.

Check out our selection of Hollow / Semi-Hollow Body Guitars below and take advantage of our interest-free finance options and free next day delivery options.