Best Hollow Body Builder ?

[JazzGtr]

If you could buy the best hollow body guitar, regardless of price, what would it be?

 

Why?

 

Jazz

[Shade]

I really can`t answer the poll question... And as always... how do you define "best"...

 

If I could chose any guitar regardless of price and so on... I`d take the one that sounds best do my ears and feels best when playing it...

 

At the moment I would go at a Höfner (Chancellor, New President, Jazzica Custom or the Verythin JS) or an old Roger (which isn`t built anymore)...

[L5Larry]

Whether myth or legend, the reputation and instruments of guitar maker John D'Angelico always seems to be on the top of everyones list.

 

So I guess for me the ultimate archtop would be a vintage John D'Angelico built New Yorker.

[zigzag]

I don't like the question, either, so I didn't vote. I assume you mean hollow body electric. And the question doesn't account for music genre or the type of tone you are looking for.

 

For jazz, Gibson is the standard. I love my Gretsch 6120 Nashville.

[CajunBlues]

Don't forget Guild ?? But I think Benedetto did some work for Guild at one time ? the X-500

[tbonesullivan]

Hmm... There's no Hamer up there, no Heritage up there, no Guild up there, no Hofner up there, no Carvin up there, no Hagstrom up there, no Yamaha up there, no Ibanez up there, etc etc etc.

 

Also, there are so many types of hollow and semi-hollow bodied guitars. do the telecaster thinlines count? Does Carvin's H2F count?

[Murph]

Hmm.. Does Carvin's H2F count?

 

Good point Tbone.

 

And then ya gotta wonder. The new Les Pauls are chambered. I'm digging my new Studio.

[milod]

Okay, take this as you will...

 

The question was best hollow body builder.

 

One might make a case that there are instruments as good as a Gibson, or perhaps better, especially for an individual's personal tastes special-made by a talented luthier.

 

But frankly the Gibson designs are "it." To me, there's no better design than the 175. The thin and semi-hollows are classics, other brands functionally are copies.

 

The big jazz boxes... well, they're as good as anything, although frankly I'd not to care to spend the cash on any "higher-end" instrument if I couldn't add a truly professional setup with my preferred strings and action.

 

Guild? Once, yupper. Gretsch, ditto.

 

Ibanez? Darned good, but yah know, they were at their best in the mid 1970s when they were Japanese craftsman-copied Gibson designs except for using their own name on the headstock. In fact, in spite of their own name on the headstocks, they were such perfected instruments of Gibson design that Gibson sued for patent infringement and won.

 

Hagstrom, Hamer, etc... I dunno. I've had a hagstrom solidbody 12 back in the olden days and it was nice, but...

 

Best hollowbody builder? Custom shops can do excellent work, the other major US "biggies" are gone, folded into Fender or whatever. They ain't what they used to was.

 

That leaves Gibson as the best hollowbody builder for the past 60-70 years.

 

Acoustics? Well, now we're in a different game. Classical guitars? Double ditto.

 

m

[djroge1]

Whether myth or legend' date=' the reputation and instruments of guitar maker John D'Angelico always seems to be on the top of everyones list.

 

So I guess for me the ultimate archtop would be a vintage John D'Angelico built New Yorker.[/quote']

 

Ditto

[milod]

D'Angelico? Very nice, but I'd consider them more a matter of "boutique" guitars in ways, or "luthier shop" doing customs a bit more than a "guitar maker" in the sense of Gibson or Martin.

 

Perhaps that's just me. It's why I said Gibson. I did do a story on an area jazz picker who has a couple D'Angelicos a year or so ago combined with a bit on the local state university's ability to confer music degrees with a guitar major.

 

It's kinda like ... I've friends who are getting a wine operation under way here. They do great stuff that has gotten the attention of the university of Cali in Fresno's oenology folks. Very nice quality. Yet given their current output until their new "big" vineyard is ready, they're pretty much a "boutique" winery as opposed to a "wine maker" operation.

 

m

[L5Larry]

D'Angelico? Very nice' date=' but I'd consider them more a matter of "boutique" guitars in ways[/quote']

 

Since John D'Angelico built only 1164 guitars in his lifetime (between about 1932 and 1960), all by hand, you make a very valid point. But I think that since his name, reputation and instruments have endoured and continue to be sought after (and even reissued), that puts him up there with the big boys. In fact, the production of nearly 1200 guitars by a small two or three man shop is pretty impressive.

 

I remember when the instruments of Bob Benedetto and Bob Taylor were handmade "boutique" guitars, now look at them (especially Taylor).

[milod]

Larry...

 

Yeah, I was thinking' it was something along the lines of some 30 guitars a year. I can't believe I even know a guy who has a couple of them.

 

I guess I'd say a custom luthier makes maybe a dozen or two a year; a "boutique" shop maybe 3-12 dozen a year...

 

But then, I don't know how many of the nice jazz boxes Gibson actually makes a year. Still, given the number of years and types, I still think of them as a "maker," such as D'Angelico more as "boutique" makers - more than a couple of dozen, but not into the thousand-plus of a "maker."

 

OTOH, it's more a matter of semantics than anything perhaps.

 

Whatever - I still think that even were I truly wealthy in monetary terms, I'd not want any high end hollow without personal input at least into the setup and strings...

 

m

[JazzGtr]

Milod,

 

I sold my Gibson ES 175 and bought my current L5 because it was too bright for my taste. I used the stock 11's. Why do you like your 175? I know it's thicker than the L5 and it all maple versus a spruce top.

 

 

 

L5Larry,

 

Have you every tried pure nickels 12's (or any guage)?

 

 

Jazz,

[milod]

You'll laugh at this, but I'm using Elixir 9-42.

 

I just plain am in love with the neck and the feel of the body shape that seems to fit me better than anything else I've played of any sort.

 

I figure an amp can help thicken sound a bit, but it can't help my fingers and body position themselves and wiggle around those strings and frets.

 

I'd planned to work more on my semi and my solidbody and then last night thought to myself, "Why?"

 

I'm not all that good a picker, but email me your adx and I'll put you on youtube to see a coupla guitar+vocal practice things I put up for the heck of it to hear the guitar sound.

 

Most of the time I'm just doing guitar-only personal fun arrangements of old stuff.

 

m

[Nick Beach]

I voted Gretsch, because I only have one hollowbody which happens to be a Gretsch that I really like.

[L5Larry]

L5Larry' date='

 

Have you every tried pure nickels 12's (or any guage)?[/quote']

 

No, I used D'Addario Chromes flatwound 13's until I switched to LaBella Black Nylon Tape wound 14's a few years ago.

[JazzGtr]

No' date=' I used D'Addario Chromes flatwound 13's until I switched to LaBella Black Nylon Tape wound 14's a few years ago.[/quote']

 

 

I tried D'addario Chromes 14's with my L5, but I switched back to Chromes 12's. Labella??? Are these the George Benson Vienna strings? They sound $$$

 

Jazz

[L5Larry]

JazzGtr, the LaBella's are a little pricey ($20), but they last forever. My L-5 regularly gets 10-20 hours of usage each week, and I change my strings once a year. They also give you a spare 1st and 2nd string in each set in case of breakage or tarnish, etc. The nylon winding on the 3rd-6th strings does not add to the tension, so the overall feel of the set is not what you would generally exect from a 14-67 set. I will say that the sounds of these strings are an aquired taste, or a sought after sound, and are not for everyone.

 

These are the strings used by Bucky and John Pizzarelli (seven string set of course), and any of their recordings will give you a good idea what they sound like. I recommended these strings to another member here, and he did not like them, so beware. I originally tried the 12 ga. set, but they were way too sloppy for me, the 14's feel perfect.

 

http://www.stringsbymail.com/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=8_404_688

 

I'm not familiar with the George Benson Vienna strings you mentioned.