Sound & construction of solid/semi/hollow body guitars
-kk-
different types of guitars. Please correct/ answer as appropriate.
Solid bodies electrics are just that, pickups on a piece of wood, no
holes, no chambers. Semi-hollows are guitars that have a neck-thru
design with spaces on either side of the guitar (eg ES-135, 355 etc).
what differentiates a semi-hollow from a chambered body? Are chambered
bodies semi-hollows without the f-holes?
Hollow bodies are fully ‘cleaned-out, except for bracing or
structural frames to hold the guitar together, much like an acoustic,
right? with f-holes in place of the soundhole. Are there full hollow
bodies WITHOUT any holes? As in one BIG chamber??
In terms of sound, what kind of sound progression should on expect
going from a solid body à full hollow body (on an electric guitar).
Also, pickups are commonly said as a tool used to amplify the
signal/resonance of the body and wood. In a hollow-body, what does it
pick up? The ‘air’ inside the body? Can I say that a
pickup amplifies the signal generated by the string vibrations, and is
coloured by the wood? Is that a fair assessment? How does this work in
a semi/ hollow body then? Why the difference in sound?
In terms of sustain, I take it that a chambered body guitar would have
longer sustain period, compared to solid bodies (both made with same
wood). So where does the semi-hollow and hollows fit in on this scale?
I know that’s alot, hope someone can help me understand this
better. Thanks
kelvin
Tom Lippincott
>holes, no chambers. Semi-hollows are guitars that have a neck-thru
>design with spaces on either side of the guitar (eg ES-135, 355 etc).
>what differentiates a semi-hollow from a chambered body? Are chambered
>bodies semi-hollows without the f-holes?
>
actually, I think a "semi-hollow" body will be one that is constructed
similarly to a hollow body; seperate top, back and side pieces glued together,
BUT with a solid block of wood inside the body (usually in the center). A
chambered solid body will usually be one solid block of wood with a seperate
top. Before the top is glued on, the main body will have a section or several
sections routed out. Once the top is glued on, this creates hollow "pockets"
inside the body. But I think the key difference is that a chambered solid body
is created from a single slab of wood (plus a seperate top) whereas the
semi-hollow uses separate pieces for the back and sides.
>Hollow bodies are fully cleaned-out, except for bracing or
>structural frames to hold the guitar together, much like an acoustic,
>right? with f-holes in place of the soundhole.
well, once again, like a semi-hollow, a hollow body will have seperate pieces
that make up the top, back and sides of the body, so there isn't really any
"cleaning out" that happens.
Are there full hollow
>bodies WITHOUT any holes? As in one BIG chamber??
>
not sure about that one; I think some Gretsch guitars were made that way.
I'll let some more knowlegeable folks take some of the questions about sound.
Tom Lippincott
Guitarist, Composer, Teacher
audio samples, articles, CD's at:
http://www.tomlippincott.com
Bob Russell
tomli...@aol.comnospam wrote on 3/9/02 3:23 AM:
> Are there full hollow
>> bodies WITHOUT any holes? As in one BIG chamber??
>>
>
> not sure about that one; I think some Gretsch guitars were made that way.
I think that some of the Gretsches with the "decal" f-holes (like a lot of
Country Gents) were completely hollow inside. Those can be really
sweet-sounding guitars if you get a good one!
-- Bob Russell
http://www.uncwil.edu/people/russellr
David Brosseau
> signal/resonance of the body and wood. In a hollow-body, what does it
> pick up? The ‘air’ inside the body? Can I say that a
> pickup amplifies the signal generated by the string vibrations, and is
> coloured by the wood? Is that a fair assessment? How does this work in
> a semi/ hollow body then? Why the difference in sound?
Yes, the string vibration causes vibration in the wood, regardless of the
type of body. The resulting vibrations in the body will cause the string to
vibrate differently and, as you say, "colour the sound". It's easy to think
that the string vibrates and body just holds the string when in fact
plucking the string causes the entire instrument including the string to
vibrate. The resulting timbre will depend on the body type, wood type,
finish type, string type, bridge type, tail piece, nut, fingerboard, pick
type, etc, etc, etc. In other words, almost everything on the guitar and the
way you play it will affect the sound. Oh... and then there's the room, the
amp, what's in the room, is the amp plugged in? :-) I'm going on and on
about this because in the search for your desired sound it can be quite
frustrating to "find it" at a music store with a particular guitar, amp,
room, etc, only to take the new gear home or to a gig and find you can't
reproduce it.
Faizal Ali
"-kk-" <kel...@inbiotech.com> wrote in message
news:e64b1575.02030...@posting.google.com...
>
> In terms of sustain, I take it that a chambered body guitar would have
> longer sustain period, compared to solid bodies (both made with same
> wood). So where does the semi-hollow and hollows fit in on this scale?
>
Just the opposite, actually. The more "solid" the body, the less the
vibrational energy of the string is transferred to the body, and therefore
the longer the string will keep vibrating. In fact, the achievement of
greater sustain was the main impetus behind Les Paul's development of the
solid body guitar (not that he was the first to build one).
All things being equal, then (which is, of course, impossible), in order of
increasing sustain, the various models would go 1) hollow 2) semi-hollow 3)
chambered 4) solid (although I'm not 100% sure there would be an appreciable
difference between the last two.
-kk-
Semi/full hollow bodies are constructed somewhat similarly to
acoustics, in a sense that they use different peices of woods for
sides, front and back, and bracing on the inside. btw, anyone ever
played a carvin holdsworth model?? they are fully hollow inside. i'm
curios to hear what they sound like.
Chambered body is pretty much a solid body but with some sections
carved out. my question is, does different size/shape chambers affect
sound? i would imagine so, and is this why 2 guitars with the same
pickup (and all other things being equal) would sound different? eg a
LP and a LP copy, or between LP models (from similar woods).
if the chambers does play such a big part then they must be kind of a
'secret' for each manufacturer then? i'm tryin to filter out all the
marketing talk to really understand the different type of bodies.
thanks all for the reply.
kelvin