Best semi or fully hollow under £1000

horse

The Edwards I had was a good 335 for rock, partly down to the SD pickups which are fitted as standard.

https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/121257/sold-edwards-335

dazzajl

I’ll wager it’ll be an Ibanez of some form. They quality and feel they manage to produce is just beyond what anyone else does at 2 or 3 times the price point. 

If they had any cool factor they’d be way more expensive 

Musicwolf

TINMAN82 said:

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.

It depends.  My Semi Hollow sounds quite different to my solid bodies by the same manufacturer, the true hollow body is quite distinct.  That said the difference becomes less pronounced with higher gain or with the application of modulation effects, but it is still there.

If I'm recording, whether that's original material or making a demo for my covers band, I'll switch guitars to get the tone that I'm after (and add variety if I'm playing several guitar parts on the original material).  Equally, I'll switch amps on the Kemper or Helix.

Live (covers), I don't like switching guitars on stage.  Even though I'm using the Helix into the PA I'm only using a small number of amp sims.  I find that the benefits of simplification, be that dialing in a sound or less faffing between songs, far outweigh the benefits of variety.  I can, and have, played the full set on various guitars.  Over the last year I've tried a Strat, a PRS solid, a PRS semi and my old Patrick Eggle solid trying to find the one that I'm most comfortable with (presently it's my HSS Strat).  They all work but on certain songs I'd prefer the semi or a different solid - but not so much that I'll swap mid set.  I'm convinced that 99% of the audience couldn't tell.

rivercider

mikeyrob73 said:

Prs Se Zach Myers

you can thank me later 

I've had a few PRS Bernies, which are very similar apart from the f-hole, is there a substantial difference tonally?

I do wonder with these thinlines, like the teles etc. if the 'semi' bit is a compromise on the 335-style, or if it's sufficently it's own thing? 

OilCityPickups

dazzajl said:

I’ll wager it’ll be an Ibanez of some form. They quality and feel they manage to produce is just beyond what anyone else does at 2 or 3 times the price point. 

If they had any cool factor they’d be way more expensive 

I was very impressed indeed by the Ibanez Artcores I had (two of them) ... that is, till I bought a recent Gretsch Electromatic. Everything about the Gretsch feels better quality: fit finish, electrics ... and an overall more solid and professional feeling instrument.

Matt_McG

I'd second @OilCityPickups . I've not owned either, but have tried a lot of them, and the Electromatics are much more complex sounding, well sorted guitars.

Slightly left field choice, and only available second hand now, the Fender Modern Player Coronado reissue from a few years back is a nice playing and sounding guitar, if you don't mind a bolt-on neck. The fretowrk and neck felt a step above similar priced low end Gibsons (and high end Epiphones).

rossi

Used Gibson Midtown .

Creed_Clicks

Just beware that a full hollow will likely feedback way more than a semi hollow based on your musical choices. I often found that semi hollows I had didn´t sound too different too solid body guitars when overdriven especially. Full hollows, I definitely noticed the difference. I recently had a Casino, and while it was a nice guitar, it was surplus to requirements, so I moved it on. 
I played one gig with it, and it handled overdrive pretty well, but was prone to feeding back like crazy if you stood in the wrong place!

Creed_Clicks

rossi said:

Used Gibson Midtown .

I had one. Solid, well built, not sure why I sold it, but don´t miss it either.

NelsonP

Wow - thanks for all of the suggestions. Keep 'em coming. Let's see if we can get to some kind of consensus!

robinbowes

Dominic said:

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

This.

Yamaha SA series are great guitars, and the pickups sound great. I have two - a modern SA2200 and an older, refinished (80s) SA2000S. Both are lovely guitars.

NelsonP said:

Let's see if we can get to some kind of consensus!

Hahahahahahahahaha

R.

dazzajl

OilCityPickups said:

dazzajl said:

I’ll wager it’ll be an Ibanez of some form. They quality and feel they manage to produce is just beyond what anyone else does at 2 or 3 times the price point. 

If they had any cool factor they’d be way more expensive 

I was very impressed indeed by the Ibanez Artcores I had (two of them) ... that is, till I bought a recent Gretsch Electromatic. Everything about the Gretsch feels better quality: fit finish, electrics ... and an overall more solid and professional feeling instrument.

I feel totally lost with the Electro line. I’ve owned three or four, jets and big’uns, being a huge Gretsch fan and been left cold every time. Found my AF75 to be better in every sense. 

Wish I could see what everyone else does in them. 

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

Used Gibson Midtown is probably a good shout for the kind of music you're looking at playing, as it is a chambered solid-body construction rather than a true arch top, so has more of a solid-body thickness to the Sound and will probably be easier to tame the feedback if you're playing the heavier stuff.

A cool budget option that no-one has mentioned yet would be the Hagstrom Viking. Easily within your budget even new (even more bargaintastic used!). Personal opinion, but I think they look a bit 'cooler' and less traditional than the straight up ES-335-a-likes. They do have a more Fender-esque 25.5" scale length though, so would depend on your preference.

https://www.northeastguitar.co.uk/hagstrom-super-viking-tobacco-sunburst.html

They also do a smaller version called the Alvar, which is to the Viking as the 339 is to the 335...

https://www.northeastguitar.co.uk/hagstrom-alvar-swedish-frost.html

Creed_Clicks

The artcore AF75 is a lovely guitar. I´ve had one with the trem and without. Couldn´t quite get used to the trem, but nice guitars all the same.
Isn´t the red AF75T a shallower body v the white one?

OilCityPickups

Creed_Clicks said:

Just beware that a full hollow will likely feedback way more than a semi hollow based on your musical choices. I often found that semi hollows I had didn´t sound too different too solid body guitars when overdriven especially. Full hollows, I definitely noticed the difference. I recently had a Casino, and while it was a nice guitar, it was surplus to requirements, so I moved it on. 
I played one gig with it, and it handled overdrive pretty well, but was prone to feeding back like crazy if you stood in the wrong place!

The single master volume on Gretschs is really handy for dealing with feedback, and I've found my deep body, fully hollow 5420 feeds back much less than the fully hollow deep body Ibanez Artcore I had. I put that down to much stiffer construction. I've gigged a lot at high volumes with fully hollow semis over the years, having been influenced a lot by Ted Nugent and George Thorogood in my teens: dealing with feedback is a knack ... and can be used to huge advantage for feeding back notes almost indefinitely.  Personally I prefer fully hollow to centre block semis, as the latter respond much more like a solid. With a fully hollow you get that nice 'honky' woodiness.  

Greatape

Lots of choice in Reverends. I'd try the Airsonic. 

https://www.reverendguitars.com/guitars

OilCityPickups

Creed_Clicks said:

The artcore AF75 is a lovely guitar. I´ve had one with the trem and without. Couldn´t quite get used to the trem, but nice guitars all the same.
Isn´t the red AF75T a shallower body v the white one?

I've had the deep and thinner bodied AF75s (a white deep bodied one and a black sparkle thin bodied).

dazzajl said:

OilCityPickups said:

dazzajl said:

I’ll wager it’ll be an Ibanez of some form. They quality and feel they manage to produce is just beyond what anyone else does at 2 or 3 times the price point. 

If they had any cool factor they’d be way more expensive 

I was very impressed indeed by the Ibanez Artcores I had (two of them) ... that is, till I bought a recent Gretsch Electromatic. Everything about the Gretsch feels better quality: fit finish, electrics ... and an overall more solid and professional feeling instrument.

I feel totally lost with the Electro line. I’ve owned three or four, jets and big’uns, being a huge Gretsch fan and been left cold every time. Found my AF75 to be better in every sense. 

Wish I could see what everyone else does in them. 

The latest Electromatics (and Streamliners) are radically better than the older ones. My Electromatic is last year's model I believe: no 'Electromatic' on the narrower headstock, and upgraded electrics (best pots I've tried on a Korean guitar). Everything but the bridge is staying the same on it ... and this comes from someone who both winds pickups and builds harnesses for a living. With my Artcores the pickups and harnesses were the first things to be replaced ... the stock pickups were truly awful. Everyones experience varies however ... I liked the Artcores and still would recommend them ... but only with upgrades. 

Creed_Clicks

What about the AF55 from Ibanez? Probably way below the OPs needs though...