Best semi or fully hollow under £1000

NelsonP

So, what is it?

Winny_Pooh

Used Eastman or MIJ tokai for semi.
Gretsch electromatic with upgrades for fully hollow.

PonchoGreg

Do you have any specific usage requirements and/or ideal specs? i.e. full hollow for jazz, bigsby or not, 335 style, etc.?

Hard to go wrong with Ibanez I think, usually good value for money and they have a few different styles (and I'm not saying that just because I may have one coming up for sale soon )

A good Epiphone Sheraton can be ace

Used Eastman?

Probably plenty of other quality choices

NelsonP

Ideally a 335-a-like - mainly for playing rock....e.g. Foo Fighters, Wolfmother, Biffy Clyro, ACDC, Black Keys, Pearl Jam, Rage Against The Machine, QOTSA. That sort of thing.

Prefer hard tail vs Bigsby.

Roland

NelsonP said:

So, what is it?

A second hand one

LKV_Jazzmaster

Schecter Corsairs are a great semi-hollow option. definitely try and get a hard tail though, I loved mine but the licensed bigs by was a pain!

Teacherphil

Used Gibson Midtown

chrisj1602

Eastman...

https://www.peachguitars.com/guitars/electric-guitars/eastman-t386-classic.htm?gclid=CjwKCAjwnrjrBRAMEiwAXsCc4ydt3IpGoGqvnteFfR74uF4WNi2ssoxf8mm7EAZg6S4P9toGX8WFXBoCGUQQAvD_BwE

Teyeplayer

Winny_Pooh said:

Used Eastman or MIJ tokai for semi.

This^

Jalapeno

A Tele Thinline is probably best value.

Otherwise a budget 335-a-like

Epsilon

I've always thought the Epi Dot/Casino/Sheraton is a great buy for considerably less than £1000. Only really let down by the poor quality wiring (which is admittedly a pain to fix).

Others have mentioned Eastman. Their acoustics have always impressed me when it comes to value for money, so I expect if their electric range is similar then that would also be a strong contender.

sweepy

Secondhand Yamaha SA and fit better bickups

Musicwolf

Probably first question is whether you want semi or full hollow body, they're quite different.  My hollow body is a Casino + Bigsby, definitely not an all rounder but that's probably it's strength.  When it is the right guitar for the job then it really is right.

My semi is a PRS S2 Semi hollow.  I paid £1250 new, which was a bargain, I think that they are £1500 ~ 1700 now.  By chance I got an email tonight from Sound Affects Premier telling me about the SE version for £799.  When I got my S2 the SE didn't have the trem - these do.  I had one of the original SE semi hollows (the one with the Rickenbacker-ish slashed sound hole) and both the SE and S2 are very versatile.

Casino

S2

SE (now my son's)

Heel

I’ve got a semi. 









(Someone had to)

mikeyrob73

Prs Se Zach Myers

you can thank me later 

DrJazzTap

Tokai jap semi. I had one gorgeous guitar 

mcsdan

Epi 339

Dominic

sweepy said:

Secondhand Yamaha SA and fit better bickups

half right ; the pick ups are actually as good as anything else ........I put Lollars in one .....they were no better really

rlw

Sheraton. Stormy Monday’s. Proper bridge and tail piece. Rewire. Locking Grovers.
Near York?  Come and try it.

TINMAN82

I love the look of es335 style semi hollows. The Yamaha AS73/83/93 range look great for a good price. Never tried in person though.

What I’m not sure about is whether they add anything significant tonally that you can’t just dial in with amp and pedals using the neck pickup on a les Paul or even a strat. I’m currently getting very close to the Live at the Regal tone with both of the above.

EbolaSideroom

Hello newbie here and this my first reply!
My main(ish) squeeze is a 2013 Gordon Smith Galaxy that was made for
me. Girson-Smith are not in the same hands any more and the new owners have chosen not to carry on with the model.  Whilst uncommon (and not without construction issues, if a particular instrument was built on a Monday morning or Friday afternoon) they don’t go for much and are reasonably improve-able. Mine had and unfortunately still has some issues but plays beautifully, is light and comfy and sounds great (although I had mine built with 2x P90 so it is somewhat individual). It’s the semi-hollow version btw.