Glad you enjoyed it and love the feedback!

Wow, your analysis is on point.

Yes, you can hear a difference, but like you said it's pretty subtle. There are some differences particularly in low and high end as well as sustain though. I thought about doing similar video with distortion (still might) but easier to hear differences when played clean.

The tone is in the fingers.

? subtle? plz get your ears check huge difference hollow was more full more like a reverb built in it

Thanks! Totally agree about doing another demo between these two using some mild to moderate distortion. It's on my list of things to do and am hoping to get around to it soon!

Thanks for the kind words and for subscribing!!!

Thanks! I also did a comparison with distortion but I always like to start with clean. Differences are fairly subtle but I think you can hear some small differences with clean as compared to almost no differences with distortion. It has been pointed out that these two guitars have slightly different scale lengths and bridges (which arguably can make a difference) but overall the two guitars are very similar, which is why I thought it was still a video worth doing

Glad you found the video helpful! Differences are fairly subtle but in my opinion definitely there.

Thank you so much for the kind words and glad you enjoyed the demo! You pretty much nailed the majority of the reasons of why I started making some gear demos. I always like to start with a nice and clean/dry comparison and will add some pedals and what not sometimes later but would get pretty annoyed at seeing demos comparing guitars with primarily super saturated tones!

Thanks Juan! Just to clarify, the black guitar in video is a solid body and the sunburst guitar is fully hollow. I do have a 335 knockoff guitar that is semi-hollow that I thought about comparing but it has different pickups, which certainly can make a lot of difference.

Thanks! Yes, the hollowbody gets a lot of sustain!

Thanks for sharing your feedback! I think EQ wise the difference is quite subtle but I agree that you can notice a more considerable difference with the note attack and decay between the two.

Thanks Luiz! The gauge strings definitely make some difference in the tone. I actually switched the PRS SC 58 to 11s recent;y (had 10s in the video). I primarily use the Hollowbody for my jazz and jazz/fusion gigs and the PRS SC 58 for more rock/blues or Top 40 gigs. Love both guitars! Being solid or hollow definitely changes some characteristics of the guitar, which is primarily why I wanted to do this video.

It's a good point! I think taking away the visual of someone playing does make people focus more on the sound of the guitar. Similarly, when someone is playing an expensive/nice guitar I think the brain is more likely to come to the conclusion it sounds good and vice versa with a cheap guitar. Plenty of non-expensive guitars sound quite good!

Thanks! I liked doing this demo since the guitars are very similar and have the same pickups. I see too many demos where guitars are compared with different pickups which makes a really big difference!

Agreed, and very well said! You definitely explain it better than I do :) I love both sounds depending on what kind of thing I'm playing or recording.

@@sheifiproductions Thanks. Yeah, both are needed to have a good, wide-ranging "tool box" for whatever gig or jam you're playing. I love and play my solid bodies as well as my hollows and semi-hollows.

@@rhmayer1 the physics that you describe has no basis in the measured differences between real solid-body, semi-hollow, and hollow-body electric guitars. The measured frequency differences have been shown as due to higher bridge admittance in less-solid bodies, with the bridge becoming less rigid/more mobile (vibrate-able) as one moves along that continuum. A less solid body loses more of particular string vibration frequencies that way. So "The sound waves generated by the vibrating wood can add and amplify or cancel and suppress frequencies, creating a broader range of distinctive overtones and harmonics" doesn't come into it (as well as vibration 'amplification' being against the laws of physics, particularly the Conservation of Energy Law). How would that be detected by the pickups ? There is no good evidence of significant detection of string vibration-induced body vibrations by pickups, either by microphony or direct pickup vibration. Nor does a solid body "suppress overtones and harmonics." On the contrary, a solid body has less string vibration frequency losses. A greater proportion of string vibration frequencies has been measured to remain in the strings. See for example Ch7 in Zollner's "Physics of the Electric Guitar" for direct measurements of many such guitars. So a hollow-body is not "fuller", it is demonstrably "less full". With those greater frequency losses, other (remaining) frequencies may sound more prominent and/or you might also EQ the guitar differently. Also, high sound wave volumes in a room may affect a less-solid body differently. Of course the listening tests here are not blinded, so it's not obvious that everyone would pick the hollow-body if we weren't told which one we were listening to. But any differences we can hear (that are not due to any of the other many things that cause any guitar to sound different, like the different bridges and potentiometer loading of the pickups' resonant frequencies here) are due to more string frequency losses in the hollow-body compared to the solid-body.

That’s awesome!! This PRS has hollowbody has 57/08’s with coil splitting and it is similarly very versatile! I need to get around to doing a full demo on guitar as it has so many great sounds.

Glad you enjoyed it!

Definitely! Volume will for sure effect things, love the sound of a hollowbody at lower volumes but can be problematic with feedback at higher volumes. Definitely about selecting the right axe for the gig!

Interesting to hear the range of opinions. If you listen with decent headphones you can hear a difference. I would agree the hollowbody has a little bit more a full range with more lows and highs and the solid body is a little more focused.

Glad you enjoyed Doug! They both sound great for different things!

@@sheifiproductions PS:I am in Australia have so much trouble getting any import guitars the shipping more than doubles the cost so as a pensioner I 'am still saving up the $s lol cheers

Thank you! Yea, I've seen too many videos where people compare various things on guitars but aspects are totally different! Comparing hollow vs solid I think is pretty useless unless you have similar guitars and definitely the same pickups!

Thanks and thanks :)

Glad the video was helpful! Differences are relatively subtle, but can definitely hear some with clean tone. When I tried comparing them with some distortion you could barely hear any difference!

Yes! The sustain is pretty incredible on the hollow body (and hollowbodys in general). Even just playing clean or without an amp you can hear how long notes will sustain for.

If you crank that amp up loud enough with a 4x12 or a vertical 2x12 you can get that effect with a solid body too. Just might not be a super practical volume level, but it is fun though lol. It’s an “only when nobody is home” kinda thing

@@lifeofalex9199 Sounds fun :)

feedback machines.

Thanks Andrew! I wasn’t surprised to hear a little more bass come from the HB but was a little surprised to hear more brightness/highs! Both are great sounding guitars but I do really like the HB. I particularly like this HB guitar as it’s close to a Les Paul in size and isn’t nearly as big or thick as the more jazz box hollowbodies.

Definitely will hear a bigger difference with large body (for hollowbody). I have a larger hollowbody guitar I like to use for more straight ahead jazz or solo guitar stuff. This smaller PRS hollowbody works great for some of the jazz/fusion stuff I do as it gets some the hollowbody thickness and “airiness” but doesn’t feedback as easily.

Yes, very good point! PRS SC 58 has two piece bridge vs the one piece bridge of the hollowbody I.

I'm gonna give my take on the subject: in this case, the 2 piece bridge would add a more "air" (harmonics) to the tone, albeit in this case very little compared to what long distance from tailpiece to bridge adds (think jazzmaster vs telecaster), against the more imediate tone of a one piece bridge... so, in this demo, the bridges add the opposite tone from what people expect (airy to hollow, imediate to solid) to the guitars they are actually setup.

I definitely agree! Hollow body was more airy as well as having more bass and treble. Solid body was a more focused sound with probably more mids. Both sound great, just good for different things! I expected the hollow body to be more airy and have more bass but was a little surprised by it having more treble.

Thanks! It’s often hard to capture “the feel” of the guitar on demo videos. While these two guitars sound pretty similar (you do hear subtle tonal differences), the two do feel quite different both in terms of playability and sound. Stylistically I would play more open and clean stuff on the hollow and lean towards more distorted tones on the solid body.

Agreed! I love the hollowbody for cleans, but it also sounds surprisingly good with distortion as well!

I especially like the hollow body I that I have because it is fully hollow but it's not nearly as thick or big as the typical jazz boxes (it's a little thicker then les Paul). It allows me to play a larger range of styles since it won't feedback like the typical hollowbodys do!

Thank you! Hopefully doing another follow up video soon that adds what they sound like with some mild overdrive and maybe throw in a 335 style guitar :)

😀

Thank you!!!!

Thanks and I 100% agree with your description! They both sound great depending on what you’re looking for.

Thanks! It’s a good question about the strings. I believe at the time of the video the hollowbody had 11s and the solid body had 10s but I can’t remember for sure. At some point I switched to 11s on the solid body as well but don’t remember if it was before or after this video.

Agreed! I was also a little surprised to hear more top end/sparkle in hollowbody as well as overall sustain.

Tonal differences are fairly subtle, but both have their place for sure! Definitely agree, one is not better then the other but really depends on what kind of music you’re playing and preference.

Both guitars are PRS and the sunburst guitar is actually hollow (not semi hollow). I really like both guitars. Prefer the hollow for cleans and more jazzy stuff and the solid body when I’m doing more rock/blues stuff. The hollowbody I believe is 25” scale, and the solid body is shorter, around 24.5”

Thanks! I like the sound of both depending on what I’m doing but the resonance and sustain of hollowbody is definitely a pro!

Totally agree about the feel! I would probably agree that the difference in feel between the two guitars is greater than the tonal difference. The HB also has a little bit longer scale length neck. I definitely lean towards playing different stuff on each based on the feel. Being that the tonal differences are fairly subtle I imagine you could get them to sound very close with a little EQ.

Ok, so which one feels better ?

Thanks!!!!

Thank you for the kind words! Had fun doing the comparison of the solid body and hollow body. The danelectro does get a surprisingly good jazz sound. Working on some new content (variety of gear demos, solo guitar, and original projects) so please stay tuned and thanks for the support!

Thanks for the detailed explanation. Spot on and does very well explain the “openness” to the sound of a hollow body!

Thank you! Yea, I’m theory the semi hollow should be somewhere in the middle. I didn’t include a 335/semi hollow guitar on this video just because the two guitars in this video have the same pickups, but I might go back and do another video to add in semi hollow.

The PRS SC 58 is a Les Paul copy, so quite close to a Les Paul. I agree, the hollow body has a larger range of eq, including more bass and top end. Definitely also more airy and acoustic sounding. The solid body is more focused and has a little more mid range to my ears.

Agreed, think the difference is pretty subtle but it's there.

I agree! While I think the tonal differences are pretty subtle, I prefer to use the solid body for bigger band settings like wedding/top 40 gigs or rock/blues gigs while I like to use the hollow body for jazz, fusion, and solo guitar gigs.

Yes, would have been nice to have exact same string sets on the two guitars but they’re similar; both have D’addario roundwounds, but hollowbody had set of 11s and solid body had 10s. I actually have 11s on the solid body now so will be an even more fair comparison next time!

Typically hollow bodies aren’t used as much with distortion due to feedback and increased bass response. However, the hollow body in this video is a little smaller and thinner then many and sounds quite good distorted!

I wanted to compare a fully hollow vs solid body guitar first as I figured the differences would be more dramatic, but it would also be interesting to see comparison that added in a semi-hollow. It's just difficult to find a solid, semi-hollow, and hollow body guitars with same pickups!

Agreed! Think that’s why people refer to the “airiness” in the notes.

I do think that things like the bridge and body wood contribute some to the tone but agree that pickups cause the most difference in the tone! That’s one reason I don’t like seeing comparisons like this with guitars with different pickups.

Depends on the situation, but generally I would say solid body. I love my hollowbody, but generally use it for jazz or jazz/fusion stuff. I think the solid body is generally a little more versatile for other genres.

I have 11 D’addarios on both guitars now but the solid body might have had 10s at time of video. Not 100% sure! The hollow body has a 25” scale length as opposed to the solid body that has 24.5”. Besides that, guitars very similar! Same pickups and same wood.

@@sheifiproductions thanks for the reply! Maybe all the guitar body styles is a lot of marketing since amps can give you a range of sounds. Loved your playing too!

I would say there is definitely a difference but it’s not a huge difference. Keep in mind these guitars have same pickups and are quite similar besides being hollow vs solid. While I do think the instrument impacts the final product I would argue the person playing it has a far larger impact :)

Yeah I can't tell the difference but then again it is crappy youtube audio

I imagine the wires have a pretty minimal effect on the tone. Still definitely sounds and resonates like you would expect from a hollowbody.

Check out link below. I compare several guitars including the PRS hollowbody with humbucker in neck and Godin kingpin with P90

kzfaq.info/get/bejne/b7pkl6RitsvOhGQ.html

True, there is a difference in scale length. I believe the solid body is 24.5 and the solid body is 25” scale length.

I would argue there is a tiny bit of difference but it’s definitely minimal. However, these two guitars have slightly different scale lengths and bridges, so one could argue (if there is a difference) this could be why.

@@sheifiproductions oh intresting I didn’t know their scale lengths where different. As I was listening to the demos and reading comments they sounded identical and I could get if their was a change or not. That’s a great exercise to do Cos you’re not expecting anything and you hear it with no intentions or markers to trick you. They sounded the same and I’m listening on monitors

That is true. I know for example in a tele the differences in time between steel and brass saddles are fairly noticeable but I’m not sure how much of a difference in tone these two more similar bridges would make, but certainly possible it would account for some tone difference.

Hollow body definitely has a certain “airiness” to it.

Haha, yes true! The difference in weight is not so subtle!

Agreed! I always want to see how a guitar sounds first clean before putting on any distortion (especially when comparing to another guitar). Too many demos have so much distortion and effects on it becomes difficult to really hear how the guitar naturally sounds.

This video just compared a solid body to a hollow body but would have been cool to throw in a semi hollow as well as definitely a great option!

@@sheifiproductions ES-335 has the best guitar tone of any electric guitar made to date.. in my opinion.

I think the wood of the body of guitar makes a slight difference but pickups make far more of a difference. That's why I like seeing comparisons of guitars with same pickups.

Difference is probably more subtle the most people would expect. If you listen with good quality headphones you can definitely hear a difference but it’s still relatively subtle.

I thought about it (and still might) but the semi hollow I have has different pickups then the two guitars being compared here. Since pickups make a pretty big difference in tone I decided to stay with these two guitars since they have same pickups.

The hollowbody seemed to have a bit broader of an EQ range, but agree differences are fairly subtle. You do also notice difference in sustain (not really shown on this video).

@@sheifiproductions I think player and then the electronics(pickups and etc) then body stuff and lastly tone wood BS. Good geometry probably has a decent effect too. How far strings from pickups and etc. But hell I can't even begin to play so what do I know. Lol

Yes, but the sunburst PRS in this video is fully hollow. Not semi-hollow.