First some history: the electric guitar first appeared in the 1930s out of a need to solve some of the problems that blues and jazz guitarists were having at the time. Guitarists were often part of big bands and other large ensembles often containing drums, piano, brass, and even strings, so it was, of course, quite difficult for them to make themselves heard, and, often, even to hear themselves! They were, therefore, looking for a way to play louder and that’s how the idea of the amplifier came along, thanks also to the progress made in pickups. It was Rickenbacker that made the first electric guitar prototypes, which used tungsten pickups. They were on the right track, but feedback was still a major issue due to the fact that all guitars were hollow bodied at the time.

It was in the 40s that Les Paul, working at the time with Epiphone guitars, came up with the idea of building a guitar that didn’t have a sound chamber, so as to avoid feedback issues: The solid body was born! It was a radical departure from traditional hollow body guitars, but henceforth the electric guitar was now a feasible idea. It was through the work of Leo Fender that the electric guitar really came into its own. In 1950, Leo put his finishing touches on the Telecaster followed in 1954 by the Stratocaster model. Meantime, Gibson came out with its famous Les Paul model. In just 4 years the major principles of electric guitar building were established; principles that are still used to this day.

Choosing the shape of your electric guitar

In general the choice of shapes and finishes for an electric guitar are much larger than for acoustic guitars. In the last 60 years, manufacturers have experimented with just about all possible shapes and sizes, so its basically down to the player’s personal taste. There are, however, certain classic shapes (like the Fender Stratocaster and the Gibson Les Paul) and their countless spin offs and variants. Putting taste aside, what really makes the difference between electric guitars is what they are made of and whether they be solid or hollow.

Solid Body Guitars

Solid body guitars are just that: solid body. They are the modern version of the electric guitar and by far the most common. The absence of a sound chamber enables these guitars to resist feedback quite efficiently while allowing the builder total freedom when designing its shape. But you must always keep in mind how a specific shape will feel while being played in different situations: a Gibson Flying V, for instance, isn’t the easiest guitar to play sitting down, which is not the case with a Les Paul: just something you should to think about…

Fender Telecaster	Gibson LesPaul	Gibson Explorer	Gibson Firebird	BC Rich The beast

Hollow Bodies Guitars

This category consists for the most part of jazz and retro-looking guitars, and are usually grouped into either hollow or semi-hollow. The thinner they are, the less acoustic sound they produce, and therefore the less likely they are to feedback. One must also keep in mind that a guitar can have a hollow/ semi-hollow body without there being any visible holes in the sound board (BB King’s famous Gibson Lucille guitar is a prime example). Semi-Hollow guitars have a solid center block, that runs the length and depth of the body, which stabilizes the soundboard, making the guitar less prone to feedback (a consistent problem plaguing all hollow body guitars).

Gibson ES-175	Gibson ES-335

Electric guitars with chambered bodies / sound boxes

Some electric guitars have one or more chambers (sound boxes) carved into the body, which can be visible or not from the outside. There are, of course, a thousand subjective opinions about how these chambers effect the sound of an otherwise solid body guitar which can range from "woodier" to "more airy", but, ultimately, one must forge their own opinion.

G&L ASAT Semi-Hollow