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Hello friends,
So I am new here, but I've been using this forum for a little while - lots of helpful info on here.
So I am looking around for a guitar - something in the sub $2000 category - and I've completely fallen in love with the idea of a small hollow/chambered guitar with no f-holes and a tailpiece.
I am aware of a few boutique makers making what would be the perfect guitar such Yanuziello (beautiful but not in this lifetime) and Grez (a little more affordable but still out of my price range), as well as the old Hofner Clubs, though I am generally a little worried about playability with those. For a lot of reasons, the features on these aforementioned guitars are absolutely perfect for what I need.
Question is - does anyone happen to know of any makers making something of that ilk for under 2k?
Worth mentioning I live in Europe, so that may affect a few options price wise.
I'd appreciate any suggestions!
Thanks all.
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05-13-2018 12:49 PM
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Hofner makes a modern reissue of the Club; it should be fine in terms of playability. A similar guitar is the Guild Aristocrat, also available in an affordable reissue.
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The Hofner reissue of the club I am aware of - looked into them but haven't heard anything too great - but to be honest, they do seem to be going for peanuts money wise, so I may take a 400 euro risk on a used one, just looking around for other options.
I was actually not aware of the Guild Reissue - thanks. I played a recent Korean Guild (A-150) recently and was pretty impressed with it, especially for the money, so thats good news. I'll do some digging around. I've never played an original, but some youtubing around comes up with a lot of that "jangly"/empty-mids sound that is so popular these days, which is not really what I am after, and some rock riffin'. Anyone here have any real experience with these guitars to be able to tell me a little about their tonal characteristics?
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Eastman ER-1?
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There are thinline tele's with no f-holes, by many different makers, that could do the trick. Maybe not with a tailpiece, but is that necessary? At a little over $2k, there are many more options.
I just happened upon this:
Mcgibney Telecaster Thinline Semi-hollow Spruce Top | Reverb
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D'Angelico makes something pretty similar, the Premier SS. Try the Thomann's site to see if the models without f-holes are available in the EU yet.
Last edited by LtKojak; 05-13-2018 at 03:28 PM.
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You may be able to get a used Benedetto Bambino in that price range. They're double that new, but can often be found used for ~$2k - $2.5k. The Bambino is as good as you'll find in that style. I won't part with mine.
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That looks absolutely drop-dead gorgeous! But unfortunately once I factor shipping/taxes I am looking at something closer to 3 grand.
Originally Posted by marcwhy
Short answer is - nothing is absolutely necessary, and I am pretty flexible in general, but it's a feature that has always worked for me, and I'm just trying to get a general picture of what the options are out there.
Regarding the D'angelico - thanks, I wasn't aware. Looked around - they are available, not with the combined no-f holes/stepped tailpiece though. I may be wrong - I will look into it. These seem very moderately priced and might fit the bill.
Regarding the El Rey - I do actually find a bridge pickup useful, but its a good suggestion. ER-2s tend to be a tad over my price range (costs are always a bit higher over here), but if one shows up used I'd certainly investigate.
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Guild Aristocrat.
M-75 Aristocrat in Antique Sunburst – Guild Guitars
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I've always been intrigued by small hollowbodies with no f holes. The Guild Aristocrat RI seems to deliver tonally, but I didn't much like how it played. Would have needed a refret for me to do it. Another lower priced guitar like that is the Eastwood Airline Tuxedo. Which had really good playability and feel, but the P-90 p/us were quite noisy. Tim Lerch had one, made some changes including swapping in Lollar Minihums into the stock p/u bases:
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This is the guitar I use, a Gibson ES-139. It was around 1200 bucks -brand new-, and I think it's around 800 bucks used.
There's also the ES-339 pro, which I believe i've seen around your price range
...and a variation of the ES-135 without soundholes
...but I think the Eastman that many others have suggested is a good bet. Nothing wrong with some cheeky haggling
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grez is a forum member...i'd reach out to him.. he and yanuziello are in different league than any current production model guitars (inc.- hofner clubs and guild aristocrats)
much as i like the latter two!!
i own a hofner club...which i love, but it's not acoustic loud
luck
cheers
ps- current issue airline tuxedo's were fun..but heavy
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The old Gretsch Country Gentleman was more of a full sized archtop but it had painted on f-holes, not actual f-holes.
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I've spend plenty of money on 'the idea of' some guitar or another over the years. Originally Posted by sys
My tag line on another forum is, "I wanted one until I got one." Unless you enjoy spending money exploring, my advice is to find an actual guitar to fall in love with, rather than a notional one. The difference between some particular ES-139 and some particular Eastwood Tuxedo could easily be the difference between 'squander' and 'lifetime keeper.'
Happy hunting . . .
That guitar, that one
Might be a lot different
From the next one down
This one is THE ONE
For this moment, at the least
But that one is not
The differences
May be minute or arcane
But they count right now
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Benedetto Bambino is the best by a large margin, and a bit more than $2k used. Worth every penny!
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Of all the guitars I have owned/played, I feel that this one was most successful at producing a great jazz sound in a really small body:
This is a Roger Borys B222 "Jazz Solid." It's chambered, rather than hollow, but Roger somehow managed to make it sound like a much bigger, more hollow instrument. This particular guitar was custom-built for me with a number of cosmetic upgrades; however, even his stock version sounded great. Of all the guitars I've sold over the years, this would be one of the very few I really wish I had kept, along with a couple of other guitars Roger built for me.
I have no idea whether you (or anyone) could find one or how much one might cost now, but if you come across one, check it out.
Danny W.
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I was going to suggest the B-222 for the OP, but I paid $3450 for mine, and I waited for years to find one. Originally Posted by Danny W.
Of all the guitars I have owned/played, I feel that this one was most successful at producing a great jazz sound in a really small body:
This is a Roger Borys B222 "Jazz Solid." It's chambered, rather than hollow, but Roger somehow managed to make it sound like a much bigger, more hollow instrument. This particular guitar was custom-built for me with a number of cosmetic upgrades; however, even his stock version sounded great. Of all the guitars I've sold over the years, this would be one of the very few I really wish I had kept, along with a couple of other guitars Roger built for me.
I have no idea whether you (or anyone) could find one or how much one might cost now, but if you come across one, check it out.
Danny W.
The guy I bought it from had at least five other B-222s (along with 170 other guitars!), and he's not gonna be selling them anytime soon.
Roger told me he's selling them for 5K now, so I was pretty lucky to find one for well under that.
It's the ultimate gig machine AFAIC, because you can use them for any type of music, and they'll cover the job. I've got about 30 gigs coming up over the summer, and I could use the B-222 for all of them.
I tried every solid or chambered-type guitar I could find, but Roger's is the only one that IMHO gets a convincing jazz sound.
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Nobody suggested a hollow tele with trapeze tailpiece yet?
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A very good idea. Less the trapeze tailpiece, that was pretty much the formula for the best sounding tele I've tried. A partscaster with a rare Chandler body - heavily chambered ash with thin spruce top. Lost in NYC unfortunately. It would feedback a bit up loud. Had a crisp acoustic edge. The low wind neck p/u (Don Mare "Nancy" set) sounded so good (and so responsive to tone knob rolloff), I never used the other positions. Originally Posted by Little Jay
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Warmoth website has an interface that allow you to put together a custom set up (woods, shapes, features) and give you a price:
Warmoth Custom Guitar Parts - Begin Body Builder
You can also browse their "in stock" bodies, some are hollow with no f holes. That would be cheaper than custom build option. The nice thing is you can choose your neck specs independently (mostly) of the body.
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Lots of information! Thank you folks. I mostly posted expecting maybe one or two options that I hadn't thought of but looks like there is an embarrassment of riches in this type of guitar making (I had no idea about the gibson models, the Eastwood, the D'angelico...most of them actually). More than enough information here to help me figure out what to look out for. Looks like a few options for much less than I thought I'd have to spend (which is nice), and and some wonderful ones for more than I hoped to. We'll see what I end up with, but there is more than enough information here.
Cheers!
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This is a wonderful guitar that punches way above its weight. In fact, I have several hollowbody and semi-hollow guitars, and the Eastman El Rey 2 equals or surpasses them all. Originally Posted by M-ster
The one caveat that I'd add to this recommendation is that it is a neck heavy. Dealer Jay Hale used to offer a mod where he would add weight to the inside of the guitar near the endpin to properly balance out the guitar, which seems to have worked for many. I'm still in the process of fidgeting with the guitar to balance it out. So far, I've swapped out the metal tuning buttons for ebony and added a bit of weight tape to the pickguard. While said modifications have improved the situation, it's still not perfectly balanced the way I would hope it would be.
I'm confident that when I do find the right balance, this will be a formidable instrument that will garner heavy playing time.
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Nothing touches the bambino mickmac
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Why no f-holes? For feedback reduction? If you could live with f-holes then I'd highly recommend the Collings Eastside Jazz LC. In Deluxe with parallelogram fretboard/headstock inlays if you can afford it as the added bling is gorgeous yet tasteful. Deluxe's are very rare but the standard model pops up on the used market from time to time for around $4K.
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There are several versions of the Hofner Club guitars: Originally Posted by sys
-early-mid 1950s - carved spruce tops, flat laminated backs
-late-1950s-through the 1960s - these have laminated spruce tops, and flat, then arched laminated backs
-Chinese made CT Clubs - softwood center block, 16th fret neck/body joints, laminated spruce tops, and arched laminated backs - available @2007-2010
-German-made Club reissues - laminated spruce tops, and flat or arched laminated backs, either with Shadow stacked humbucking pickups (look like old black bar pickups) or Hofner mini-humbuckers. - available @2007-current
'50's Clubs have a wide range of neck shapes and various pickup configurations - some are really great, some less so. No truss rods, often in need of service/restoration, chancy pickups. But good ones are out there, and not expensive.
Chinese made CT Clubs are good cheap little semis w/blocks, but I wouldn't recommend them for jazz.
German-made Club reissues are your best bet, IMO, and are definitely within your price range used. Not many have been made over the past fifteen years, but they should be easy enough to find in Europe. Here are a few:Last edited by Hammertone; 05-15-2018 at 03:18 PM.
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