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Originally Posted by Warrenaines
Thanks, this and all the other info is very helpful. Obviously I'll have to get out and try different guitars, but knowledge is always helpful.
Where does the Gibson SG fit into this spectrum? I realize one of the most well-knownt players is Angus Young and I gave AC/DC as an example of the opposite tone I'm inclined towards, but these have also been played by more melodic players (a lot of my favorite Jerry Garcia playing came from an SG or others before his famous customs; Allman brothers/Derek Trucks). Also recognizing iconic players can get certain tones out of all sorts of guitars and have far different rigs, though Derek Trucks is light on effects.
Additionally, I've read that the Fender Thinline Tele produces a 'rich and vibrant sound unplugged.' I'm actually trying to avoid too much unplugged volume, is this (or other semi-hollow) unplugged volume still much less than say a Martin dread lightly played with a pick?
Lastly, I realize that most standard Fenders are more susceptible to feedback and EMI compared to a Les Paul with humbeckers. Is this only a concern on stage, or are Fedners also prone to hum at home from dimmer lights, wifi etc.?
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The SG can be a fine guitar. I have one and it's getting more playing time lately. The one knock against them is that they tend to suffer from neck dive when played with strap standing up. Many/most have traditional Gibson-sized humbucker pickups, and the pickups contribute the most to the sound of an electric guitar, so different than a Tele. Some SGs have a wider single coil pickup set (P90) and though of course the connoisseurs will say "not the same" a P90 and a Tele bridge pickup have a timbral relationship.
A thinline Tele (semi-hollow body made by routing out wood from the back and then capping it with a hardwood back is not necessarily a very loud guitar unplugged. In fact I have solid body Teles and a Les Paul copy that easily drown out my thinline Tele unplugged. Thinlines can be very light bodies (mine is) and those that are suffer therefore from the neck dive on a strap like an SG. In either case, a wider suede strap will let you strike the rock star pose of clapping over your head while the guitar headstock stays off the stage floor (grin).
The worst plywood dreadnaught is louder when strummed than any of the popular electric guitar models (true hollow bodies excluded). I sometimes try out chord changes, unplugged, on a Tele I keep next to my computer. It's loud enough I can hear it, and that's about it.
No, Fenders and Telecasters are not more prone to feedback than guitar with humbuckers. With enough gain and position to the speakers anything will feedback, and full hollowbody guitars (many Gretschs and Epi Casinos for example) are the ones that you have to worry more about feedback with. Of course if you're trying to sound the first two Velvet Underground records or the lead-in to the Beatles "I Feel Fine" this is a feature not a bug. However single coils can pickup more electrical interference, the problem that humbucker pickups were designed to combat. There have also been many Fender guitar pickup designs (often labeled "noiseless") that mitigate this. This is not a huge home guitar player problem in my experience--and you can have hum/crackle/radio station noise in an electric guitar signal even with a humbucker guitar because the noise can get in elsewhere in the chain. Most guitars with more than one single coil pickup are wired so that they "buck the hum" from the pickups when the pickup selector is moved to use two pickups instead of one, something to remember if you're ever called to gig under a badly grounded flashing neon sign in some roadhouse.
Single coils sound different that humbuckers. More than enough people like that sound so that humbuckers didn't take over the world when they were invented.