Zhangliqun
Questionologist
Re: Pickup Set Recommendation For A Hollow-Body Guitar
Blueman is technically correct in that archtop literally means a guitar with an arched top. The problem is that then a solidbody Les Paul would then qualify as an archtop, which is not what people mean when they say "archtop". When someone says "archtop", they always mean a fully hollow guitar with a trapeze tail, which archtops have to have because top wood is to thin and weak to hold a stoptail. In fact, the bridge "floats", e.g., is not screwed or even glued to the guitar but is held in place only by the down pressure of the strings.
The reason people mean such a guitar when they say "archtop" is because back in the days before 335's or LP's or any kind of electric guitar, you had two basic kinds of guitars -- flat top acoustic and archtop acoustic. The flat top was the round hole guitar with the flat top, while the archtop had the arched top and the violin-style f-holes. Both kinds are still with us today, though 99% of archtops you see now have at least one magnetic pickup.
A semi-hollow is just that -- half hollow. There is a solid block of wood running down the center of the body and only the sides are hollow. They are also usually very thin, about as thin as a solidbody, which is why they are also often called "thinlines".
You will sometimes see semi-hollows with trapeze tails, often on 335's, but they can hold a stoptail because of the solid wood center block so you could convert a semi with a trapeze to a stoptail.
As you can imagine, a typical semi-hollow sounds about halfway between a solidbody and an archtop, more bass and low mid than a solidbody but less than an archtop. A semi-hollow with a stoptail will have more sustain than an archtop or a semi with a trapeze tail because the trapeze tail tends to reduce sustain.
Gibson now makes the 135/137 series of guitars that are almost as thick/deep as an archtop but have the solid wood down the middle, and they have a fatter tone than a semi-hollow and pretty close to an archtop, but they are still semi-hollows because of the wood block.
Semi-hollow guitars are more prone to feedback then solids, and archtops much more feedback-prone than either.
Hope that helps clear things up.
It definitely is an archtop model but they use a trapeze tail piece with it.They also said on that page "Our most sought-after hollowbody",though I don't know for sure if that has a defining meaning to your question.If it does,I'm waiting for some answers Zhangliqun
Blueman is technically correct in that archtop literally means a guitar with an arched top. The problem is that then a solidbody Les Paul would then qualify as an archtop, which is not what people mean when they say "archtop". When someone says "archtop", they always mean a fully hollow guitar with a trapeze tail, which archtops have to have because top wood is to thin and weak to hold a stoptail. In fact, the bridge "floats", e.g., is not screwed or even glued to the guitar but is held in place only by the down pressure of the strings.
The reason people mean such a guitar when they say "archtop" is because back in the days before 335's or LP's or any kind of electric guitar, you had two basic kinds of guitars -- flat top acoustic and archtop acoustic. The flat top was the round hole guitar with the flat top, while the archtop had the arched top and the violin-style f-holes. Both kinds are still with us today, though 99% of archtops you see now have at least one magnetic pickup.
A semi-hollow is just that -- half hollow. There is a solid block of wood running down the center of the body and only the sides are hollow. They are also usually very thin, about as thin as a solidbody, which is why they are also often called "thinlines".
You will sometimes see semi-hollows with trapeze tails, often on 335's, but they can hold a stoptail because of the solid wood center block so you could convert a semi with a trapeze to a stoptail.
As you can imagine, a typical semi-hollow sounds about halfway between a solidbody and an archtop, more bass and low mid than a solidbody but less than an archtop. A semi-hollow with a stoptail will have more sustain than an archtop or a semi with a trapeze tail because the trapeze tail tends to reduce sustain.
Gibson now makes the 135/137 series of guitars that are almost as thick/deep as an archtop but have the solid wood down the middle, and they have a fatter tone than a semi-hollow and pretty close to an archtop, but they are still semi-hollows because of the wood block.
Semi-hollow guitars are more prone to feedback then solids, and archtops much more feedback-prone than either.
Hope that helps clear things up.
