Semi-Hollowbody Guitars

American Musical Supply is excited to be your stop for Semi-Hollowbody Electric Guitars from top brands! We offer True 0% interest payment plans - applying is easy. Use your own debit or credit card, enjoy fast and free shipping, and add a Semi-Hollowbody to your creative setup.

We make buying a Semi-Hollowbody Electric Guitar quick and easy - in-stock items that are ordered before 5PM will ship out the same day! (see our Shipping Information Page for more details) Do you have questions about Semi-Hollowbody Electric Guitars and want to know which one would be best for you? Give us a call at 800-319-9043 - our experts are standing by.

The standard solidbody guitar might get the lion’s share of the attention, but the big, bold semi-hollowbody guitar is a giant in its own right – these electric guitars are what really took rock’n’roll and popular music to a whole new level back in the late 1950s and early 1960s! What’s the difference between a solidbody guitar and a semi-hollowbody guitar? While the body of the first is fashioned from a solid block of wood, the second is constructed to have a chambered open interior enclosed by multiple pieces of wood. The pickups and electronics interact with these bodies differently, making each suitable for different types of music at different levels of volume.

Unlike those very first true ‘hollowbody’ guitars with a completely open interior chamber, a ‘semi-hollowbody’ instrument has smaller internal sections that are commonly separated by a solid center block. Why the difference? Well, mounting the pickups to the interior of a fully hollow instrument came with its own set of challenges. Overdriven high-gain signal was much more likely to lead to unpredictable distortion and feedback. Simply put, the center block added a more secured housing for the pickups. In 1958, the first semi-hollow - the Gibson ES-335 - was released and players in the hollowbody tradition were now able to power up their performances.

This family of guitars is often described as having ‘the best of both worlds’ – the increased stability of a solidbody with the characteristic clean tones of a hollowbody, tweaked slightly for an extra amount of edge and presence. As a result, this wonderfully complex and versatile sound makes the semi-hollowbody the ideal choice for jazz, blues, folk, country, rockabilly, alternative, and of course the vintage 50s-style rock n’ roll. We’re stocked with semi-hollow guitars from historic brands like Gibson, Epiphone, Gretsch, and Ibanez.