Quote:
Originally Posted by gfsark
...I want a true hollow body guitar with a short scale, and a smaller body would be nice too...Could probably go up to $2K but that would be a stretch. Really like the idea of the switchable coil from dual to single.
Why hollow body? First, my Ibenez is heavy. I'm hoping that a hollow body will weigh less. Tell me that this is so, please! Second, I really want a bit of acoustic sound coming from my guitar since pure electric starts to wear on me after a while. For playability, must be short scale.
Ideas? What are you playing? Thanks.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by blue
...why dip below your lawsuit LP in quality?...If the floating pickups bother you, look at Godin...you'll be able to get an amazing guitar with your budget...
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My pick:
https://www.amazon.com/Godin-5th-Ave...ZSC14AXH8VCRG5
Got mine from an Amazon Christmas Day stealth sale a few years ago; has that early-50s ES-175 visual/tonal vibe but more lively like an old Brooklyn Gretsch (
Bottom Line: you won't need a coil tap - the P-90's will get you both single-coil and humbucker-type tones, depending how you set your controls at both ends), thanks to the lightweight woods used in its construction (probably about half the thickness of a typical all-lam archtop) mine tips the scales at just a hair over five pounds -
about as much as a typical dread/small-jumbo acoustic 
- sounds
fabulous with flatwound 13's, and factory setup/QC is good enough that I've needed no adjustment whatsoever even with the heavier strings (feels like I'm using 11's - the 24.8" scale helps a lot in that area too, BTW). You could literally gig this one right out of the box if need be; in my book that's the ultimate testament to quality - and you don't need to pay an arm, a leg, and a couple other indispensable body parts to get it...
If you're a rockabilly/roots, early soul/R&B, first-wave Brit Invasion, blues, or jazz player you need one of these,
period; FWIW I understand Tony Bennett's guitarist is using one - and I'd tend to think that
both of them know a little something about tone...
Since you placed a premium on light weight I didn't include the MIK Gretsch Electromatic 5400/5600 Series; although their QC and tone are, like the Godin, head-and-shoulders above anything else in their price range - I own a 5622T that's every bit the equal (and in some cases the superior) of not only the MIJ Professional Series but most of the Brooklyn originals I've played over the last 55 years (including my own '64 Double Annie) - even the full-hollow models start in the seven-pound range, and my three-PU semi is well into LP territory at 9 lbs. 5 oz. ...
If you don't already have a tube amp - shame on you
- one of these would make a nice companion, and still keep you well within the budget you allocated for the guitar alone:
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/V22InfiCombo
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/V55Infinium
In the event you go this route invest some of the money you saved in a set of good tubes (the POS $1.29 Chinese tubes are the weak link in the equation); you'll not only have all the amp you'll ever need, you'll raise a few eyebrows among knowledgeable audience members - and furrow a few foreheads among some big-buck boutique amp owners - when you plug in and crank it up...
