Making semi-hollow electric guitar sound like a solid body guitar

[Wayne27]

Can you make a semi-hollow sound like a solid body guitar? Will using a equalizer on your amp or pedal help?

 

[Mincer]

Actually I've heard of people trying this the other way- trying to make a solidbody sound more hollow. But I'd be curious if anyone comes up with an answer outside of guitar modeling with a hex pickup (which works well).

 

[ehdwuld]

Tape over the holes to kill feedback
turn up the gain

 

[jeremy]

you can fill the open cavities with something which may cut down on feedback but it wont change the fundamental tone as much as youd like it to

 

[idsnowdog]

Solidbody guitars are cheap so buy a solidbody guitar and let your hollowbody be what it is.

 

[ehdwuld]

Well a 335 or Gretsch wont sound like a strat

Strat-ish

But not blindfold worthy


335 can get some LP like tones

Gretsch filtertron style pickups are more p90 single coily

 

[chadd]

Short answer, I don't think so.

My 335, and my corsair to a lesser degree, has a more open and less direct tone than any solid body I've played. Scooping some mids (slightly) with an EQ is the only way I could think to even try

 

[GuitarStv]

The two sound differences I most notice with semi-hollows is that there's something different in the attack of a note (it's a little faster/harder/more spiky), and something different with the way it feeds back.

For the attack of the note, it may be possible to use an expander to achieve a similar effect. I've never found anything that makes them feed back the same way at higher volumes though.

 

[Boogie Bill]

I think if you were blindfolded, sitting in front of my amp, you'd be hard-pressed to hear differences between my Gibson ES-335s and my LP Elegant. The Elegant is a chambered model; both feature '57 Classics.

And the same is true for my Antiquity-equipped 335, and my 1960 Classic Premium Plus, also with Ants. The Classic is a 1997 model, and is weight-relieved.

Feel-wise, the 335s seem to have a softer attack, but it's real subtle.

I use them interchangeably. But I have other Les Pauls with different pickups, and they do sound different.

So what differences do YOU hear, and what are you trying to accomplish?

Bill

 

[Lewguitar]

Back when I was gigging five nights a week in a low volume R&B band in Detroit, my ES-355 was my main guitar.

Once in a while I'd bring my Les Paul instead and it always sounded thin and plinky at the low volume, no overdrive, sound levels we played at.

My ES-355 always sounded better. Fuller. More resonant.

With overdrive and distortion solid bodies and semi hollow bodies might sound sort of similar.

Sort of.

 

[ErikH]

Sem-hollows have a softer attack, warmer feel to them than most solid bodies I played. I wish I could've kept the Hamer EchoTone I had. What a wonderful guitar that was. Even with the Duncan Designed Distortion pickups that came in it, it was still warm and smooth. I loved playing it.

 

[Erlend_G]

I've always preferred semi/full acoustic electrics, to solid-bodies;

I could live with a strat though, since it has all the cavities beneath the pickguard, and also the tremolo system...

My Wildkat is hollow, with the exception of a "tone block" right under the bridge. So it's kinda a "crossover"-

the bridge pickup got plenty of attack, while the neck pickup got that acoustic sound and "bloom".



-Erl