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January 2007
Posts: 672
Location: New South Wales, Australia | I was in a music shop the other day and got talking to a fellow customer. Told him I had an acoustic/electric guitar and he told me it was a semi-acoustic.
Is there any difference? |
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March 2005
Posts: 1421
Location: Orange County, California | Semi-acoustic usually refers to a more or less electric guitar, like a hollow body.
Acoustic electric usually refers to an acoustic guitar with the ability to plug into amplification.
I've been known to refer to a SSB as semi-acoustic, but I was just being mean. :D :p :D :p |
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January 2007
Posts: 672
Location: New South Wales, Australia | Thanks Fred, but this raises another inane question...what's a hollow body mean. If my guitar has a soundhole doesn't that mean it has a hollow body or am I way off the mark here? |
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November 2005
Posts: 1126
Location: Omaha, NE | Hollow body is normally a term used in the world of electric guitars. As you point out, ALL acoustics are hollow bodies.
A hollow body electric is normally identifiable by its "f" holes, although not all hollow bodies have them (my Lucille, for example). |
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January 2005
Posts: 4903
Location: Phoenix AZ | Solidbody and Hollowbody refer to electric guitars. For example a Breadwinner vs. a Thunderhead.
A Semi-hollowbody refers to a hollowbody electric that has a solid center block. For example a Gibson 335.
Some solidbodies are not completely solid, they are chamberd. For example a Viper.
Acoustic guitars are either acoustic of acoustic/electric depending if they have a pickup or not. For example a 1117 Legend vs.a 1617 Legend.
Semi-acoustic guitars are very thin body guitars which might look like acoustic guitars but are really only designed for plugged in use.
Dave |
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January 2002
Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | Well then, what's a semi-solid body? |
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March 2005
Posts: 12759
Location: Boise, Idaho | Originally posted by Mauvais Beal (cwk2):
Well then, what's a semi-solid body? Me, after a few years of not working out. I'm actually feeling kind of hollow right now. I haven't eaten today. |
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December 2003
Posts: 1889
Location: Central Massachusetts | and I thought this thread was going to be another UPS vs. guitar tale. |
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January 2005
Posts: 4903
Location: Phoenix AZ | Originally posted by Mauvais Beal (cwk2):
Well then, what's a semi-solid body? I would call that Chambered. |
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May 2005
Posts: 486
Location: North Carolina | That exchange had all the early elements of a bar fight. It's a good thing you were in a music store. |
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February 2002
Posts: 1817
Location: Minden, Nebraska | ESP actually marketed one of their higher end Eclipse models as the Eclipse Semi-acoustic. It was a chambered body with a piezo in the bridge as the only pickup, very similar to the EA-68 Viper but with a skinny ESP neck. The Eclipses also included a solid body and and a semi-hollow, and they are all very well made guitars if you like slim profile necks. |
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August 2006
Posts: 122
Location: Tucson, AZ | ...this most convincing evidence for the name "chambered" body is this picture:
http://www.ovationguitars.com/pics/series/viper01.jpg
...from what I understand, the body is actually made by the Hamer people. |
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December 2004
Posts: 567
Location: Denmark | All I can add is some to the confusion:
I think ES-335 and likes are also referred to as block guitars as they have a block "structural member" in the middle like "The Log" shown in the picture.
Some people refer to acoustic guitars with small depth as "thinline". IMO the telecaster thinline is not an acoustic guitar. But it does have at least one major cavity and an f-hole. |
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September 2006
Posts: 10777
Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | Before I got my 4861 (My First!) I was looking at an Epiphone 335 Dot. I thought that because it is a "Hollow-Body" electric, I could play it sans amp.
Now I know that it is a semi-solid, with a 2X2 down the middle. And you really cannot play it without an amp. What I really wanted was an acoustic that I could plug-in. I kept trying to play acoustic songs on my electric. (It can be done, but even on a clean setting it ain't the same) Now the only time I really use my Pseudo-Strat is when I wanna play with my effects.
I still wanna get me another electric, just for the fun of it. |
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semi vs a/e