If you are thinking of buying or building an electric guitar one of the most dominant visual considerations is the body. There many different types of bodies. They differ in the overall shape, the style, they remind you of certain music icons, a type of music or a time in your life. The choice is esthetical for sure, but is also sentimental and practical.
The shape and design of electric guitars developed and evolved in the last hundred years and today you can choose which you would fit your preferred style of music, fashion or guitar icon.
With all these different shapes and styles one can get a bit confusing. Whether you are planning on buying or building your next guitar we’ll try and sort things out to get a clear view of what these guitars are all about.
Miscellaneous & Oddball Guitars For Sale, Ed Roman Guitars
The first electric guitar was the Rickenbacker ‘Frying Pan’ from 1931. Despite the technological achievement, as the name suggests, the minimal flat circular body, wasn’t much in style department. It did though show that electric guitars did not necessarily need to follow the traditional shape of classic Spanish guitars and acoustic guitars as they relied more on their pickups than acoustics. The Gibson ES-150 from 1936 was more of a traditional shaped guitar which was followed by their ES-175 in 1949 which followed similar lines but introduced a cutaway which will become prominent with most electric guitars. The real revolution in style and shapes started in the 50s when Fender introduced the solid body Telecaster and then the Stratocaster. Gibson followed with their Les-Paul and a little later the SG model. Although most manufacturers still make guitars that that follow or stay in the general shapes of these makers, guitar shapes have been something open to interpretations.
There are many factors that determines what a guitar sounds like. The size, weight, type of wood, scale length, pickups, other mechanics and of course the shape. The most obvious factor is the acoustic aspect. Generally speaking, the more acoustic properties a guitar will have the warmer and fuller the sound will potentially be. On the other end of the tone scale will be very clear and clean sound with ‘chimy’ and metallic properties. This will be felt more with a smaller body made from very hard or dense material. It is hard to separate one factor from another but the general rule of thumb will dictate that the more material and chambers a body has, the more it will tend to give a warm sound and if you eliminate air and material you will be clear and twiny.
Taking the basic traditional shape of classic Spanish guitars and adapting to electric was maybe the obvious choice, but till this day is a favorite of many artists. These guitars are characterized by staying truly and fully hollow and add a lot of warmth and depth to the clearer metallic sound of the pickup. The acoustic sound that accompanies and mixes with the electric pickup lends itself well mostly to Jazz and blues and have even been used by the Beatles. The main drawback of the Hollow Body Electric Guitars is their tendency to create a lot of feedback when amplified.
Gibson Flying V
First introduced in 1949 the ES (Electric-Spanish) got its number from the original price of 175$. With it’s Florentine cutaway and the warm Jazzy sound it became a favorite for many artists and was in production for 68 years. Originally equipped with one and later two, P-90 pickups the ES-175 produces a warm yet very clear sound that enabled it to handle distortion fairly well and was used by fusion artists as well.
A few Specs: Scale length of 24 ¾, 20 frets, Tune-o-Matic bridge on rosewood base, one or Two single-coils P-90, (Two humbuckers from 1957) and a laminated maple top.
Gretch have a name for their quality and playability. From the Pro series to the Electomatic the distinct Gretch sound and feel. For fans of the Gretch brand, the Streamliner is a very moderately priced line of hollow guitars that still delivers the quality and finish you expect from the label. There a few details like knobs and pickguard that stand out as different. Many known artists keep a Gretch for special occasions. If you’ve ever played the ‘House of the rising Sun’, that was a Gretch.
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A few Specs: Scale length of 24 ¾, 22 medium jumbo frets, optional Bigsby Tremolo, Two Broad’Tron humbuckers and a laminated maple body
The Artcore series, started at 2002, are Ibanez’s version of great value Hollow Body guitars. This is a very versatile guitar that manages to give great sound, typical of Hollow Bodies with a moderate price.
A few Specs: Scale length of 24 ¾, a 12” fingerboard radius, a linden body with a Nyatoh Neck, 22 Frets and 2 Classic Elite pickups
Epiphone Dave Mustaine Flying V Prophecy Aged Dark Red Burst 7.7 #22091530859
Epiphones are usually perceived as the cost effective sibling of Gibson (Which they are) and often dismissed when it comes to quality and success compared to the bigger brother. The Casino is one exception with an impressive number of artists who used it in studio and on stage. The Casino was first sold in 1961 and has had minor changes to it since. At one point or another all the Beatles (well, except Ringo) played an Epiphone Casino
A few Specs: Scale length of 24 ¾, a 12” fingerboard radius (14” on the original models), optional Bigsby Tremolo and two P-90 single coil pickups
Famous for being played by: George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Keith Richards, The Edge, Joshua Homme, Daniel Kessler, Noel Gallagher, Peter Green and Dave Grohl
Flying V Guitars
The Semi Hollow Body Guitars are trying to combine the benefits of the Hollo Body Guitars without the drawbacks. They produce a lot less feedback than the Hollow guitar but can still be problematic with high volume and when heavily distorted. These guitars have made their mark in history and have been used by many iconic artists. Semi Hollows can be thought of as Hollo Bodies with a reinforced center or Solid Bodies with hollowed out sections and construction wise there are probably both. The dominating shape is usually symmetrical with a fairly large round body (much like acoustic guitars) but with two symmetrical and round cutouts. Another typical trait are the f-holes (or other shape) giving away the hollowness and reminiscent of classical instruments such as violins and violas. The Semi Hollow Guitars lend their sound well to Jazz and blues musicians but definitely made their way into rock as well.
Gibson tried to combine the qualities of its ES-175 with the practicality of the solid body guitars it was already making. In 1958 the ES-335 was born and was an immediate success. The result gave that deeper, warmer sound of Hollow Bodies but also gained the improved sustain and more resistance to feedbacks. On the one hand it was a compromise for both types of guitars, but what you actually gained was a much more diverse guitar with appeal to a wide range of styles and just looking at the list of musicians who used this guitar will give you a sense of how versatile it is. From old school blues to progressive rock. It was even the chosen guitar for Marty Mcfly (played by Michael J. Fox in Back to the Future) when he practically invented rock’n’roll.
Variations: There have been multiple variations, custom versions and signature model based on the ES-355, best known is probably B.B King’s Lucille.
Guitars With Totally Unprecedented Body Shapes
A few Specs: As most Gibsons it has Scale length of 24 ¾, a 12” fingerboard radius, 22 frets, Mahogany neck and two Burstbucker pickups
Famous for being played by: Trini Lopez (2 Signature Models) John McLaughlin, Chuck Berry, John Lennon, Dave Grohl (Signature model), B.B king, The Cure.
This PRS is part of a Solid Body line of guitars and has that little extra depth you get with the hollow chambers and the f-hole without too much sacrifice on the top end and the punchiness.
Custom Voxx Style Electric Guitar Accept Guitar In White Color Customized On Logo Shape Hardware
A few Specs: Scale length of 25”, a 10” fingerboard radius, 22 frets, Mahogany neck and body with flamed maple top and 2 PRS S2 pickups and the PRS Tremolo arm
Everyone knows the Fender Telecaster (and there will be more when we get to Solid Bodies), but the Thinline is a bit more obscure. First introduced in 1968 it was designed to have reduced weight by leaving a center block for stability and sustain and leaving the wings hollow. There have been a few variations of pickups, from the original Tele setup to two wide-range humbuckers, which give a very gentle depth to the normal extra clear of the typical Tele.The newer versions with the humbuckers replacing the single coils have the added value of loosing the typical single coil noise but at the same time the hollowed body is more sensitive to feedback at high volume and when using distortion.
A few Specs: Scale length of 25.5”, a 7 ¼ ” fingerboard radius, 20 frets, a bullet truss rod, 2 Fender “Wide Range” Humbuckers and a Semi-Hollow Ash Body
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The 300 Series first appeared in 1958.
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