20 Best Hollow Body Guitars and Semi Hollow Body Guitars in 2026

Hollow body guitars are often associated with jazz and blues music, but you’ll find them played across many different genres. While we still have the likes of Pat Metheny, George Benson, John Scofield, and Lee Ritenour delivering some very smooth jazz tones, rock musicians like Dave Grohl, Jack White, and Johnny Marr are also known to be very fond of hollow and semi hollow body guitars. While mostly focusing on darker tones, hollow body guitars can find their use in blues, rock, hard rock, and sometimes even metal music. There are plenty of different variations and these guitar designs each offering something a little different when it comes to tone and great aesthetic qualities as well.

I’ll start this article by reviewing the best hollow body guitars and semi hollow body guitars at each price point, but if you want to learn more about them before reading reviews, check out our informative guide at the bottom of the page.

Here Are the Best Hollow Body Guitars and Semi Hollow Body Guitars

1. Gretsch G2622T Streamliner (Best Value)

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Estimated Price	$600
Body Top	Laminated maple
Body Back and Sides	Laminated maple
Neck	Nato wood
Fretboard	Laurel
Pickups	Two Broad’Tron BT-2S humbuckers

Design and Main Features: Gretsch is an old player in the game of hollow body electric guitars. They’ve come a long way, but they’re still at the forefront of innovation, all while staying true to their signature design traits and features. Their G2622T Streamliner simply deserves all the praise, especially because it blends some innovative features with the classic Streamliner body design. Although we have a standard double-cutaway formation here, this particular body shape is a bit “offset.” The body on this fine guitar is made out of laminated maple, while the neck is made out of nato wood.

The guitar’s slightly “offset” design is rounded up with a very unique finish, as well as the arched top. And even the instrument’s functional features are designed in such a way to form a full old school guitar package. While we’re at it, the guitar comes with a standard Tune-o-Matic bridge paired up with a licensed Bigsby vibrato tailpiece.

This Streamliner guitar features two Broad’Tron BT-2S humbuckers. However, the instrument’s controls are a bit different than what you’d expect. There’s one knob for master volume and two individual volume controls for each pickup. And on top of all that, we also have a master tone pot. Of course, this is all followed by a standard 3-way pickup selector switch. This particular configuration of controls gives a bit of a different perspective on the whole tone-shaping process on your instrument. The main purpose behind such a configuration is to use the middle position when both pickups are selected and adjust the overall volume without having to ruin the perfect balance that you’ve made.

Tone: Just as its design would suggest, this guitar’s tone is mostly focused on the classic rock ‘n’ roll and rockabilly stuff. But nonetheless, the instrument is still extremely versatile, thanks in part to its use of somewhat “unconventional” parameter controls. The guitar is somewhat bluesy and jazzy as well as it can cover some of those “smoother” territories.

Bottom Line: While the body features laminated wood, which can be considered a lower-end trait compared to solid wood, this is an incredible instrument considering its price point. The guitar is built extremely well and brings an all-around quality package that’s useful for a wide array of playing styles and genres. Overall, I would say that this is one of the best semi hollow body guitars for the money.

2. Godin 5th Avenue CW Kingpin II (Editor’s Choice)

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Estimated Price	$1000
Body Top	Canadian wild cherry
Body Back and Sides	Canadian wild cherry
Neck	Silver leaf maple
Fretboard	Rosewood
Pickups	P90 single-coils

Design and Main Features: Bringing some unique designs to the hollow body market, the Godin 5th Avenue CW Kingpin II is worthy of all the praise it gets. In fact, it’s another really great value purchase considering the quality of this instrument as well as elegant simplicity and all for a great price.

The guitar’s body bears a classic single-cutaway shape, but it’s pretty clear that this is a mainly jazz-oriented ax. What’s quite interesting is that the instrument’s main body material is not often seen with commercially available guitars.

The top, the sides, as well as the back of this instrument are made out of Canadian wild cherry. Because this is a guitar with a completely hollow body (not the semi hollow body one), this makes a big impact on the instrument’s tone and sustain. The neck is also made out of a not that common material, silver leaf maple. However, on top of it, we have a standard rosewood fretboard packed with 21 frets. The guitar’s scale length is also a bit different compared to conventional standards with a total of 24.84 inches.

The guitar has a Graph Tech Tusq bridge along with a vintage-styled Trapeze tailpiece. This particular design resembles those old school hollow body electric guitars from the late 1940s. Accompanied by two amazing Kingpin P90 single-coil pickups, as well as standard controls for volume, tone, and 3-way pickup selection, this guitar is fairly simple to use.

Tone: But, on the other hand, this instrument has a very specific use compared to many others that we included in this list. In fact, this is one of the best guitars for jazz that you can find on the market these days, especially for its price. The P90 pickups manage to pronounce some of those higher ends, although the overall construction of the instrument boosts the bottom end. Additionally, P90 pickups are known for that “fatter” tone, and the ones that we have on this instrument bring a pretty unique type of “beefiness” to the tone.

Being a jazz-oriented instrument with a completely hollow body, you’ll have to be careful when playing with your distortion pedal on as feedback could become a real issue. Godin’s 5th Avenue CW Kingpin II shines the best when paired with an old school kind of tube-driven amp, especially if we’re talking about traditionally “American” ones with 6L6 or 6V6 tubes in the power amp section. Add a simple boost or an overdrive pedal, and you’ll be in for a treat.

Bottom Line: From top to bottom, this guitar is perfect for jazz, blues, or even acoustic style guitar playing.

3. Ibanez Artcore AS53 (Budget Pick)

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Estimated Price	$300
Body Top	Sapele
Body Back and Sides	Sapele
Neck	Mahogany
Fretboard	Walnut
Pickups	Two Infinity R Humbuckers

Design and Main Features: While Ibanez is often associated with shred guitars, mostly used in metal music, the company has a pretty diverse arsenal, including some great hollow body and semi hollow body guitars. One of the examples that truly stands out is their AS53 from the Artcore series. The instrument fuses not only great tonal characteristics with good playability, but it also brings a very stylish and eye-pleasing design. First off, the body is made entirely out of Sapele wood, with a subtly arched top and quality-made sides and back. The instrument also comes with a fairly comfortable mahogany neck, as well as a walnut fretboard bearing 22 medium frets. The neck also forms a set-in construction with the body with a meticulously designed heel, making it pretty easy in those higher fret areas. Its body is also not that thicker compared to regular solid-body instruments.

This is all accompanied by two Infinity R humbucker pickups with ceramic magnets. Along with this, we also have a simple 3-way switch and one volume knob, and a tone knob. The bridge is an expected Tune-o-Matic one, along with a standard stop-bar tailpiece in the style of Gibson guitars.

Tone: Aside from being one fairly comfortable and pretty-looking electric guitar, Ibanez Artcore AS53 has a pretty great tone and a somewhat diverse application in many different genres. The addition of ceramic pickups brings a bit of a boost to the mids and higher-ends in the Tone. However, you’ll also experience smoothness and great sustain due to the body’s semi hollow construction.

Bottom Line: Considering that this is a fairly cheap instrument, we’d say that it’s practically a steal with all of the features that we mentioned. Sure, it’s a somewhat stripped-down version of a classic 335 model, but it brings more than enough qualities to those who enjoy blues, blues rock, hard rock, and even jazz music. It’s a perfect choice for beginners, intermediate players, or even those experienced ones who just want to get into hollow body electric guitars.

4. Gretsch G6136-55 Falcon (Best Overall)

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Estimated Price	$3000
Body Top	Spruce
Body Back and Sides	Laminated maple
Neck	Maple
Fretboard	Ebony
Pickups	Two TV Jones T’Armond single-coils

Design and Main Features: Gretsch takes us a long way back to the earliest days of rock ‘n’ roll. While there’s plenty of variety in their arsenal, their most prestigious guitars bring all the qualities and features of old-school instruments with modern concepts improving their overall performance and tone. With this said, there’s hardly any electric guitar model out there that could outperform the wonderful G6136 Falcon by Gretsch. This is a classic fully hollow body instrument, with its body made out of laminated maple and the top made out of solid spruce. This is followed by a maple neck that features a classic “U”-shaped profile and an ebony fingerboard with 22 frets. The scale length of Gretsch’s G6136 is at 25.5 inches, also making it useful in case you need a slightly lower tuning or thicker string gauges.

In short, this is one of the best examples of how well an instrument can be built. The single-cutaway body is accompanied by standard “F”-shaped soundholes. The body has specially designed binding on all the edges, as well as the sound holes. Then the neck comes with its own binding, as well as Mother-of-Pearl Hump Block inlays with the so-called “Feather” engraving. This comes up in one of the best-looking guitars that you can find on the market. This is all accompanied by a stylish Gretsch tailpiece and golden hardware, including uniquely-designed tuning machines.

Packed with two TV Jones T’Armond single-coil pickups, the guitar comes with two individual pickup volume controls and a master tone control, as well as a classic 3-way switch.

Tone: This guitar, made in accordance with the old 1955 specs, as conceived by Jimmie Webster, you get a tone that’s as great as the guitar’s looks. In fact, it will take you right back to the 1950s and will have you covered for jazz, blues, and classic rock ‘n’ roll. The single-coil pickups on it still manage to get some smoother tones with the right setting. But otherwise, this guitar “rings” really hard and manages to bring those full yet very bright tones for true hollow body vintage lovers.

Bottom Line: With this price, it’s obvious that the guitar is intended for professionals or high-end guitar collectors. But if you are a beginner or intermediate player and you have the cash, this is a forever guitar. The kind of instrument you pass down to your kids or your grandkids. Incredible tone, impeccable craftsmanship and playability, and looks that you can’t find with any other instrument out there. This is easily one of the best hollow body guitars out there.

5. Glen Burton GE355 BLS Memphis (Best Cheap)

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Estimated Price	$200
Body Top	Maple
Body Back and Sides	Maple
Neck	Maple
Fretboard	Rosewood
Pickups	Two ’63 chrome-covered humbuckers

Design and Main Features: While the Glen Burton name is not as widespread compared to Gibson, Ibanez, Epiphone, or some other models, they still have a lot of great stuff to offer. If we’re looking at hollow body electric guitars, we’d single out their GE355 BLS model, also known as Memphis. Now, right at the very beginning, with its basic features, we can notice that this is a slightly different instrument. The guitar is almost entirely made out of maple. The top, sides, the back, as well as the neck – it’s all maple. Meanwhile, it bears a rosewood fingerboard, which is pretty much a standard, and it has 22 frets.

To round things up, we have an incredibly stylish design. Although a fairly cheap one for a semi hollow body instrument, Glen Burton’s GE355 even has some nice touches, like the binding on both its body and the neck. This is also accompanied by nice-looking inlays, which just boosts its aesthetic qualities.

Going over to the electronics, the pickups on it are two standard humbuckers, mimicking some stuff from the 1960s. Standard to most Gibson 2 humbucker design guitars, this guitar also has two volume and two tone controls, one pair for each of its pickups. Another nice touch is the output jack located at the body’s front side, just like on those old classic Gibson guitars. Other than that, we have a standard Tune-o-Matic bridge with a stop-bar tailpiece.

Tone: The surprising thing about this instrument is that it can deliver some pretty great tones considering its price. Sure, the GE355 model by Glen Burton Guitars is not a top-tier instrument, but it’s still more than just a decent guitar when it comes to its sonic output. It’s a pretty potent one and is a generally useful option for blues and blues-rock music.

Bottom Line: While you can’t expect much from a cheap semi hollow body electric guitar, it’s still something worth getting your hands on, especially if you’re a beginner player. This is a simple electric guitar for those operating on a budget.

6. Guild Guitars X-350 Stratford

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Estimated Price	$1400
Body Top	Spruce
Body Back and Sides	Maple
Neck	Mahogany
Fretboard	Ebony
Pickups	Three Franz P90 single-coils

Design and Main Features: Now we bring one of Guild Guitars’ awesome hollow body instruments, the X-350 model. But here we have somewhat of a unique formation. The body, bearing a single-cutaway shape with a spruce top and maple sides and back, it’s a completely vintage-oriented guitar, made especially for old school rock ‘n’ roll, rockabilly, jazz, and blues.

We have all the important elements in there – Guild’s Bigsby-style tailpiece and tremolo, a Tune-o-Matic bridge on an ebony base, complete body and neck binding, vintage headstock, and even open-gear tuning machines. But what makes it especially interesting is the addition of three Franz P90 pickups with individual volume controls and one master tone.

Tone: This can be anything from a virtuoso machine for fusion jazz players, up to rock ‘n’ roll rhythm settings. It might not be the best idea to use it with higher-gain settings, although the instrument truly manages to produce awesome tones with such a configuration as well. Three P90 pickups with individual volume controls truly opens up some interesting options as well.

Bottom Line: Guild’s X-350 is a fully professional instrument for those who are already familiar with hollow body guitars with Bigsby-style vibrato systems. At the same time, it comes with some diversity, covering anything from jazz and up to the classic rock.

7. PRS SE Hollowbody Standard

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Estimated Price	$1000
Body Top	Mahogany
Body Back and Sides	Mahogany
Neck	Mahogany
Fretboard	Ebony
Pickups	Two PRS 58/15 “S” humbuckers

Design and Main Features: You’d be hard-pressed to name a guitar company that manages to bring such quality and consistency for the price as PRS Guitars does with their SE lineup. While we usually remember them for their SE Standard solid-body models, the company has also delved into semi hollow body stuff.

Here we have their SE Hollowbody Standard model, bearing some of the standard design and overall build features that we can see on their solid-body instruments. The body’s top, back, and sides are all made out of mahogany, and this is the same material used for the guitar’s set neck. We also have the classic double-cutaway body design along with a pretty comfortable heel at the body and neck joint. The neck features an ebony fretboard with 22 frets and a so-called “Wide Fat” profile that makes it similar to PRS guitars made back in the ’70s and the ’80s.

Another great thing about this instrument is the choice of hardware. We have the company’s Adjustable Stoptail bridge. Its design fuses the standard Tune-o-Matic bridge and tailpiece configuration into one more practical unit. Along with the instrument’s tuning machines and an overall headstock design which keeps strings almost straight from one side to another, the guitar’s tuning stability is pretty reliable.

And as far as the pickups go, the guitar is equipped with a set of two 58/15 “S” humbuckers. This comes with a pretty standard control configuration, featuring one volume knob and one tone knob, followed by a regular 3-way pickup selector switch.

Tone: Bearing a mahogany body and these particular humbuckers, the tone of this guitar gets somewhat “darker” and smoother. Of course, having these pickups, there will be some crunching high-ends involved in there. But overall, the instrument is fairly useful for rock and hard rock music, although it works with jazz, blues, and plenty of other genres.

Bottom Line: With this price level, features, and sonic characteristics that we described here, PRS SE Hollowbody is one of the most versatile and useful semi hollow body guitars on the market. Whatever setting that you’re looking for, this guitar has it. And that’s not uncommon for PRS instruments.

8. D’Angelico Excel DC

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Estimated Price	$1700
Body Top	Laminated maple
Body Back and Sides	Laminated maple
Neck	3-piece walnut and maple
Fretboard	Pau Ferro
Pickups	Two Seymour Duncan ’59 humbuckers

Design and Main Features: D’Angelico is easily one of the most underrated electric guitar brands out there. Looking at a model like their Excel DC, we’re pretty impressed with what this guitar brings for its price. Al