Help me Decide on a Semi-Hollow Body

[AngryGoldfish]

Not sure what your price range is but I am working on a couple models of semi-hollow electrics right now. ;-)

You tease, you!

[echodeluxe]

[AngryGoldfish]

Yeah, I'm keenly interested in the Guild Starfire guitars. I'll be keeping my eye out for a bargain.

[Nelson Instruments]

The only "thing" with the pictured starfire III is that it is fully hollow, not semi hollow.
The starfire IV-VI were semi hollow.

Just for funsies here is a current progress pic of the Nelson Riddle guitars along with the Provocateurs in the background.

[AngryGoldfish]

I went to try out a few guitars in Dublin yesterday and I've theorized that I definitely want my next guitar to be a full hollowbody. They had the resonance and 'earthiness' I was looking for, and the bigger bodies didn't bother me as much as I thought they would. My shoulder became fatigued slightly, but something similar happened when I bought my first Telecaster. After six months I had almost fully adjusted to it.

Another preference is a double cutaway body. It dawned on me how much time I spend past the 12th fret when I played a jazz box that didn't allow access to frets that high up the neck. I also found the thinner bodies more comfortable. I had a thing for this Gretsch G5422TDC one guitar shop had. Also, the Guild M-75 Aristocrat is a fantastic instrument. It's so light and small it feels like a toy to play, but it has an amazing acoustic quality and really balanced, perky pickups.

I still really want a semi-hollow, but unless the perfect one crops up at the right price I'm probably going to aim for a hollowbody guitar. Maybe the Gretsch Electromatic or Guild, or even a second-hand Gibson if I can afford one. I'll definitely keep your new models in my mind. At least once a month I check your websites and just admire the view contemplatively.

[D.o.S.]

Did you get a chance to play with lots of gain during your test runs?

[AngryGoldfish]

I'm afraid I didn't. I don't like guitar shopping because it's never the right conditions, i.e. the ones you have at home. I'm nervous in crowds of people. I often can't talk properly, my hands go clammy, and I don't know how to request anything without feeling rude. I've been to that shop before in Dublin and wasn't impressed by their services. What basically happened was, I was trying out a bunch of amplifiers and an Orange Rocker 30 caught my attention, so I started playing it in the way I would at home: loudly. Now, I wasn't planning on doing for it very long. I just wanted to get a feel for it. But instead of asking politely to turn down the amp, the shop clerk stood over me and unapologetically turned the amp down to whisper levels and then began serving another costumer like nothing happened, who also wanted to try out an amp.

I try to be a caring person. I try to be selfless in all that I do, so allowing this other costumer to have their moment was definitely not something I was going to ignore. But sometimes you have to wait your turn. I was playing first and wanted to stay that way for another five minutes while I gave the amp a good going over. But I was so pissed off by the clerk's actions that I just turned it off and walked out. They lost a sale because they couldn't say "would you mind if this young man also played an amp?" Or how about this: "Excuse me, if you really like the amp and would like to give it a proper test drive, although we don't have a sound booth, we can take it downstairs to the drum room where you'll be able to crank it. Would that be all right? We don't mind you playing, it's just this young man here would like to try this other amp. Is that cool?" And of course it would have been cool, but whatever.

They were better on Sunday. I was jamming on a few guitars, and I had been doing so for half an hour, and a young man wanted to try out a Tele, and since I was often playing without the amp on—I was starting to become nervous about annoying everyone—the store clerk, the same one from two years ago, politely asked if I minded if the other guy tried the guitar out through the amp. I don't know why they couldn't use another amp, but I said it was fine, that I was only playing unplugged at that particular moment (I was trying to get a grasp on how the Gretsch felt and sounded acoustically). I then offered the chair near the amp as well and said I would sit elsewhere. Because of my actions, I wasn't able to play on the amp for the next 45 minutes—and couldn't hear the guitar acoustically any more because of the amp being used half a dozen feet away—because other people came in and did the same thing, but it was the right thing to do. I'm not complaining at this, but it does exemplify why I find guitar shopping frustrating. The one good guitar shop I've been to happens to be one of the most famous: World Guitars in the UK.

Anyway, to answer your question, because of the amp the guy gave me (a Fender Blues Junior), I didn't get a chance to try it with distortion. I felt too nervous to ask for a different amp and felt too shy to play the styles of music I play that I knew others wouldn't like and would judge me for. They had a bunch of top of the line Orange amps, but I knew there was no chance I'd actually get to use them properly. That was another reason why I didn't bother asking for a distorted sound. I can't afford the guitar right now anyway, so when I do have the money I'll probably head back up there and give them all another test drive, and with a distorted amp. I'll have a few drinks or something and assert myself more.

[D.o.S.]

No worries, I'm the same way in guitar stores--even and especially the ones I like.

Only reason I ask is that it can take a little while to adjust to the feedback with a hollowbody if/when you're getting noisy.

[AngryGoldfish]

I would have loved to have properly tested that out, but I just didn't feel confident enough to play the Fender any louder. To be honest, though, and I hate saying this, if it works for Two Gallants that I can make it work. They're playing at stage volumes (louder than me most of the time) and use Big Muff type fuzz pedals and huge reverb. It's a technique in and of itself, so like it say, it might take getting used to.

[D.o.S.]

The reason I bring it up I do the big muff (although I got rid of my big reverb tonez) thing with a semi-hollow.

[AngryGoldfish]

Ahh cool! What guitar is it?

[D.o.S.]

Bass, brah!

Ze trusty Epi Jack Casady I've had for what feels like a million years, but has actually only been seven or eight.

[Mudfuzz]

Epi made a guitar version for a very short time, but finding one… good luck.

[D.o.S.]

Did they do it in Black?

Black + no pickguard is where it's at.

[Mudfuzz]

Did they do it in Black?

Black + no pickguard is where it's at.

I don't know but I think just gold and burst, and yes I agree