# Semi hollow body for metal?



## PyramidSmasher (Dec 2, 2010)

Buy Paul Reed Smith SE Custom Semi-Hollow Electric Guitar | Semi-Hollow and Hollow Body Electric Guitars | Musician's Friend

I like to play metal in my free time, but I am currently in a more beatles like band. Will this guitar be good for metal? It is the only guitar I can get for a long time.


----------



## Guitarman700 (Dec 2, 2010)

Oh yes.

Im a firm believer that any style can be played on any guitar.


----------



## GuitaristOfHell (Dec 2, 2010)

Semi Hollows are great, here a few other bands that use them. Not exactly "metal" but it's not the 1st kind of style most people associate with hollow bodied guitars... or at least the people I talk to.



EDIT: This as well http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wgbv3d-k7sA&NR=1


----------



## stryker1800 (Dec 2, 2010)

Guitarman700 said:


> Oh yes.
> 
> Im a firm believer that any style can be played on any guitar.



quoted for truth.


----------



## Stealthdjentstic (Dec 2, 2010)

You won't be plaing gain drenched death metal with one...


----------



## Dark Aegis (Dec 2, 2010)

Tom maxwell from nothingface and hellyeah plays a hollowbody


----------



## DSilence (Dec 2, 2010)

Wes borland plays quite a nice semi hollow body


----------



## Hemi-Powered Drone (Dec 2, 2010)

Tosin Abasi sounds epic on his hollow body eight string, and some of his stuff is pretty heavy.


----------



## xJeremiahx (Dec 2, 2010)

I played my Hamer in almost every metal/hardcore band I've ever been in.


----------



## PyramidSmasher (Dec 3, 2010)

dragonblade629 said:


> Tosin Abasi sounds epic on his hollow body eight string, and some of his stuff is pretty heavy.



He hasnt recorded anything with that yet. I heard he recorded most of the AAL album with Bulbs Carvin DC727


----------



## Hybrid138 (Dec 3, 2010)

You will initially have a LOT of feedback problems, but I'm assuming there are ways to get around it. I've seen people use them for heavy stuff. I haven't found out how though...


----------



## MTech (Dec 3, 2010)

Always worked good for Acacia Strain and Bury Your Dead......


----------



## ShadyDavey (Dec 3, 2010)

Chris Poland would probably approve


----------



## xJeremiahx (Dec 3, 2010)

Hybrid138 said:


> You will initially have a LOT of feedback problems, but I'm assuming there are ways to get around it. I've seen people use them for heavy stuff. I haven't found out how though...


 
I've never had a single issue with feedback...even on a noisy ass 5150. No tricks...just guitar-cable-head-cable-cab.


----------



## ESP_0bsessed (Dec 3, 2010)

Killing joke springs to mind...


----------



## possumkiller (Dec 3, 2010)

If Ihsahn can do it on a hollowbody I think anyone can.


----------



## Grand Moff Tim (Dec 3, 2010)

I used my Hamer Echotone in the last black metal band I was in _instead_ of my Jackson. It just sounded better for it, for whatever reason.


----------



## aslsmm (Dec 3, 2010)

my raines fusion 7 kicks ass, i cant talk this guitar up enough. not only are the pups awesome for stock pups, but the neck feels superb for a 7 string hollow body. it sounds very metal/classic/twang rock ish. i love it.


----------



## Hybrid138 (Dec 3, 2010)

When i used my semi hollow with my current settings i got tons of feed back. It happened with my old amp too.


----------



## Duke318 (Dec 4, 2010)

OP, I had that exact same PRS SE Semi-hollow. It's a good guitar, but rock is as heavy as I'd go with it. There's no issue with feedback, but it just always seemed super bright and it couldn't get as chunky sounding as my schecters.


----------



## MaxOfMetal (Dec 4, 2010)

Hybrid138 said:


> When i used my semi hollow with my current settings i got tons of feed back. It happened with my old amp too.



Well, if it's not the amps, then perhaps it's the guitar, and not the construction. Check the wiring, as well as the pickups.


----------



## highlordmugfug (Dec 4, 2010)

MaxOfMetal said:


> Well, if it's not the amps, then perhaps it's the guitar, and not the construction. Check the wiring, as well as the pickups.


Having microphonic pups'll do that.


Also trying other amps/less gain/standing further away from the amps. All of those could be a possible issue.

I plan on getting a semihollow to play doom/drone on 
Any guitar can be used in any genre, it just takes creativity and flexibility (using tones that are different from what is the norm in a genre is very much not a bad thing ).


----------



## aslsmm (Dec 4, 2010)

^^Any guitar can be used in any genre, it just takes creativity and flexibility ^^


even paper jams?


----------



## highlordmugfug (Dec 4, 2010)

aslsmm said:


> ^^Any guitar can be used in any genre, it just takes creativity and flexibility ^^
> 
> 
> even paper jams?


----------



## SnowfaLL (Dec 4, 2010)

I think the feedback thing depends how large the semi-hollow chamber is. I had one of those Ibanez semihollows (the Jazz box ones) and when I messed around with distortion, it would give tons of feedback, almost unplayable. But on smaller semi-hollows like the ones in the 2nd post or the Hamer, im sure it would be fine.

For me though, I find certain guitars have a "feel" to them for different genres; I wouldnt want to play chordal jazz on a 27" 7 string with a Wizard-thin neck, and I wouldnt want to play brutal metal on a 24" 335 style.. but thats just me maybe. Scale length, construction, neck thickness, etc are drastic changes to me


----------



## technomancer (Dec 4, 2010)

PyramidSmasher said:


> He hasnt recorded anything with that yet. I heard he recorded most of the AAL album with Bulbs Carvin DC727



But Tosin is using it live, which is where you'd be likely to run into a problem. The way they tracked the album he could have used a full jazz box and wouldn't have had a problem with feedback or anything since they went direct.



NickCormier said:


> I think the feedback thing depends how large the semi-hollow chamber is. I had one of those Ibanez semihollows (the Jazz box ones) and when I messed around with distortion, it would give tons of feedback, almost unplayable. But on smaller semi-hollows like the ones in the 2nd post or the Hamer, im sure it would be fine.



It's not so much the chamber size as the connection between the top and the back inside the guitar. On a true jazz box there is no connection between the two aside from the sides and neck joint (sometimes), and the pups/bridge are mounted to the top (or sometimes to the neck). You're way more likely to get feedback with a guitar with this design because you'll get more vibration of the bridge. On most semi-hollows the bridge sits over a wood block that connects the top and back of the guitar. This dampens the vibration of the bridge a bit and massively cuts down on feedback.


----------



## aslsmm (Dec 4, 2010)

i get feed back in my neck pup but not my bridge pup. i just use the feed back morello style.


----------



## technomancer (Dec 4, 2010)

aslsmm said:


> i get feed back in my neck pup but not my bridge pup. i just use the feed back morello style.



Sounds like a microphonic pup


----------



## slumcitysounds (Dec 4, 2010)

xJeremiahx said:


> I've never had a single issue with feedback...even on a noisy ass 5150. No tricks...just guitar-cable-head-cable-cab.



Dont forget the
Boss NS2 !!


----------



## slumcitysounds (Dec 4, 2010)

xJeremiahx said:


> I played my Hamer in almost every metal/hardcore band I've ever been in.



Me too!!!DEF A SWEET ASS GUITAR!!


----------



## Hybrid138 (Dec 9, 2010)

My semi hollow is a custom AS from Agile so I have a lot of chambering. I hope the feedback isn't a construction problem...


----------



## Saber_777 (Feb 4, 2011)

Dark Aegis said:


> Tom maxwell from nothingface and hellyeah plays a hollowbody


 
I won the HealYeah dean Custom, I love it


----------



## shadowsea (Feb 4, 2011)

I like the black curvy LP thing


----------



## Shadowspecced (Feb 4, 2011)

You can definitely pull off a semi-hollow body for metal, you might need some, in my opinion, otherwise undesirable pickups if you wanna tighten it up a little though. I'd say stay away from 335-s or anything like that because they're too mushy and too compressed sounding, but something like what you posted, would be fine. =)


----------



## Chickenhawk (Feb 4, 2011)

aslsmm said:


> ^^Any guitar can be used in any genre, it just takes creativity and flexibility ^^
> 
> 
> even paper jams?


----------



## Cybin (Feb 8, 2011)

Well we know it can do a mean Priest.


----------



## ellengtrgrl (Feb 8, 2011)

I don't see why not? I did it for years with this guitar:

Gibson Howard Roberts Fusion (not mine - mine was tobacco sunburst)





I played everything from hard rock, to fusion, to thrash metal in the bands I was in with that guitar. I'd still have it, if money hadn't been tight for me, forcing me to sell it in 1999 (I've been debating saving for another one - they sound and play great, but they're so heavy! [mine weighed 13 pounds!]). The Howard Roberts Fusion is like an extra large Les Paul in a semi-hollow format - 2 1/2" deep x 15" wide. I never stuffed anything in the body to fight feedback - I just knew some tricks (learned over the years), for watching feedback, to make sure it didn't get out of control. If you don't make enough of an effort to control the feedback (say by turning down the guitar's volume when not playing, or switching to the amp's clean channel), things can get out of control in a hurry. But, if you do keep things in control feedbackwise, you get a way cool throaty sound at uber gain, and not only that, it's fun playing with the feedback!


----------



## ESP_0bsessed (Feb 9, 2011)

What sort of difference do they make tone wise?
would they affect the attack and bite of picking etc?


----------



## deathscar (Feb 11, 2011)

Fender Jim Adkins JA-90 Telecaster Thinline | Sweetwater.com
I live right next to Sweetwater and whenever I go, I HAVE to play this hooked up to an EVH 5150. It's got one of the best metal tones I've ever heard and still amazing at jazzy sort of tones!


----------

