Tele Semi Hollow Idea

What is it you want?

 

If I was that intent on a semi-hollow tele, I'd just build a body from scratch.

Luckily I'm not intent on having a semi Tele, because there are few things I suck at as bad as woodwork.

 

It's pretty out there!

I think you'll end up hearing a chorus of "why not just build what you want from scratch?"

The reason for this is the task of shaving off the back of the guitar and attaching a new and deeper back will certainly require most of the same tools and skills as building one from scratch would. So, if you can dream it... you can build it.

As for the tone part of this... I don't mean to unleash the internet crazy on this one... but the change in the sound of the guitar would be questionable at best. If you have a thinline you don't like the sound of and are not looking for a build project the best bet is probably to just buy a new guitar. That said I'm personally a big fan of taking what could be a simple purchase and making it into a big build project!

Hope this helps

 

I dunno - sounds kinda cool.
As I understand the question, he's thinking of a deeper body - perhaps like the diff between an ES 335 and ES 175.
And I'm down with that, even though I've got no idea what you'd wind up with after you add another inch or two to body depth.
Let's see!
Peace - Deeve

 

How much depth would you need to add to make a noticeable difference in the sound ? You could use something like this and even blend it with the standard pickups to get a semi hollow sound

 

I built a thick chambered body from a sandwich of chestnut (the bread) and yellowheart (the cheese). Rather than use longer screws to attach the neck, I recessed the back of the body where the neck plate attaches to allow for easier access to the upper frets.

It really didn't create a "semi-hollow" tone, but that was not my intent. I tend to think thinlines sound the way they do because of the pickups--not the air space in the body.

 

You can get a Warmoth chambered thinline body, prob in the 4-$500 range.

 

Thinline (semi hollow) teles don't really have traditional tonal aspects of hollow/semi hollow guitars, I mean, they don't really have any of that big jazzbox sound.
I was disappointed to learn this, and, I wish it wasn't true, but it is, in my experience

 

Same, even though I remember having read that thinlines weren’t really semi-hollow before I got mine. Part of what excited me about the acoustasonic is that it’s seemed more like what I wanted a thinline to be able to sound like, in some ways.

It’s interesting that they went thinner than a traditional tele with the acoustasonic when you’d think the additional airspace of a traditional thickness body would have seemed like a good baseline. I wonder what a thicker hybrid tele would bring to the table.

 

Build it OP, you might create a masterpiece! The worst you can get is something that sounds like a Tele.

 

I have wanted the same thing for years. You literally can't find a deep Tele semihollow out there except maybe very expensive. I think through the process like you are all the time. How to cut it off cleanly though? I came to the conclusion that starting with a finished guitar is not going to end well.
One thought I had was to buy two Tele Thinline aftermarket bodies. One left hand one right hand. Then join them and do the sanding and finish work. The problem is you'd have to get someone to make the left hand one without a neck pocket etc.

I did find this years ago, IIRC it was expensive though, and not that thick a body. It's definitely a niche some builder should fulfill, Jazz players like Teles, you'd think they might like a thicker one.


I compromised with this; it's an arch top hollow so deeper than a flat top at least:

 

Sounds a bit crazy, but give it a go!

 

The right Gretsch may scratch that itch for ya.

 

I made a fully hollow Tele. The body was routed from from my drawing. it's a great guitar; sounds much bigger than it is.