moving to electric
 

hi guys i have an accoustic player for couple of years now yes a beginner but i love the blues and jazz and have been looking for a guitar maybe a hollow body one or a simi hollow guitar that what the internets says???? anyway. so i thought i would come here and ask what should i look for for this style of guitar . i have two expensive accoustics and love them so i was looking for a budget electric just to get this bloody feeling of gas out the way. i have looked at epiphone guitars looks rather budget also ibenez , so what do you think......
thanks

Not a hollow body or semi hollow body, but I do have an Epiphone, a Les Paul. My friend has a Gibson Les Paul. In fact that is why I wanted one, but I didn't want to shell out that much money. Anyway, we've yet to discover anything different between the two. I love my Epiphone Les Paul.

I'm not sure what you consider as budget ...

But if you can find one yamaha sa2200 are an awesome semi hollow.

Only reason I sold mine was i play with a strap all the time and it is too heavy

SX Hawk MN Alder H VWH Semi Hollow. $189.95. rondomusic.com

Look at a Godin Kingpin - no cutaway / neck p90 / Canadian ES125 knock off a perfect gateway drug for transitioning into electric guitars. You will eventually want a Telecaster though.

Jazz and blues can be played just as well on a solid body as a hollow body. Epiphone is a great brand and I have a LP 59 and a LP Special, both of which are just really good guitars! A Squire strat or tele can also work nicely. If you want a hollow or semi hollow, an Epiphone Swingster or a 335 clone may be up your alley. But, I also think the Ibanez option is not a bad one. They are very upgradeable.

Hi Bain, lots of great options in the electric world. What's your budget?

What makes you want a semi hollow body electric over a solid one (like a Les Paul or a Strat, both of which are great for blues too)? Is it an artist that is inspiring you or some specific songs? Or just the tone?

Any good ES-335 copy will do you well. Mine is an Epi Dot with Seymour Duncan Antiquities installed. It's a terrific guitar for Blues IMO.

I'm a long-time acoustic player & made the jump to electric about a year ago. I ended up with an Epiphone es339 & a Bugera V5 tube amp from Sweetwater. Added a couple of pedals & couldn't be happier!

Frank

Epiphone makes some excellent semi-hollowbody guitars similar to Gibson's ES-335 but much, much less expensive. This thread has some embedded videos on some of the Epiphone semi-hollowbody guitars that are well known in the marketplace. I own a Gibson ES-335 that is at least 40 years old, so I am used to some good semi-hollowbody tones, and yet I was very impressed with how good these Epiphone guitars sound in the videos.

This is a great video on the Epiphone Sheraton. To me, this guitar sounds terrific!



Have fun with your search!

- Glenn

I have an impulse to say 'Mexican Tele' every time somebody asks this question . :D

Beat me to it!

Since nobody's recommended it yet, check out one of the Korean-made Gretsch Electromatic 5400/5600-Series hollows/semis (avoid the Chinese/Indonesian stuff - not built to the same tonal/structural standard IME): probably at the top of your preferred price range but has the vibe you say you're looking for, and built to a standard of QC/tone/playability that matches (and exceeds, in some cases) similar instruments costing 3-4 times as much - these are genuine professional-quality instruments that just happen to sell for intermediate-player/step-up prices, and there are a whole bunch of your fellow AGF'ers (myself included) who are happy owners... :guitar:

moving to electric
 

Check out the Ibanez Artcore series. It represents a range of budgets, but reputed to be good values from what I remember reading. I had an AS103NT. Great guitar.

Another vote for an Epiphone Dot here, I really like mine.

It gets even playing time with my Gibson LP.