Help me decide on a hollowbody?

[Matt.Madoni]

Hey everyone, I have been saving for a little while to buy myself a really nice, somewhat-high end guitar. I am the singer/rhythm guitarist in a post-metal band (Alter Bridge, Breaking Benjamin, Creed, are among a few influences) and I am thinking about getting a hollowbody. We play mainly in Drop C.

So far I have it narrowed down to:


Hollowbodies:
Gibson ES-335 (swap the bridge pup to a duncan if I got it)
PRS Hollowbody Spruce with Piezo
PRS 25th Anniversary Singlecut Hollowbody II with piezo (my favorite, but also the most expensive by far)

I am also considering a few solids, I can't help myself

PRS Tremonti Singnature
PRS Mira
PRS SE 245
Gibson Les Paul Custom
Flaxwood Voima (the most tempting for the money)


I know this is a big list, but I really can't decide. I've played most of them and love them, but its a lot of money for someone my age (for anyone) to spend without some advice. What would you guys get? Again my band plays with fairly high-gain settings.

Thanks,
Matt

Thanks!

[dennistruckdriver]

We won't be playing it. Which one do YOU want to buy?

[paulatics]

my vote is 335 but that is because of my 78 335. you have to go with you like we all have our own gas

[The_Sentry]

Tough call....That's a bit of wood, too. I have this suspicion though that the PRS models are sort of edging out the Gibsons here as far as what you REALLY want..

[dougk]

Personally, for drop tuning none of those would be my choices. Especially the spruce topped PRS's (though they are great, fantastic sounding instruments). Sentry heard my Hollowbody the other night, he might be a fair judge on its tone.

Personally I'd be looking at something thats semi hollow to hollow and mahogany / maple or limba / maple for what you want.

[The_Sentry]

Originally Posted by dougk

Personally, for drop tuning none of those would be my choices. Especially the spruce topped PRS's (though they are great, fantastic sounding instruments). Sentry heard my Hollowbody the other night, he might be a fair judge on its tone.

Personally I'd be looking at something thats semi hollow to hollow and mahogany / maple or limba / maple for what you want.

Doug's hollowbodies are BADASS. They're just as good as if not better than something you're going to get from PRS or Gibson Custom Shop.

(and you can get them in multiple configurations, too.)

And on a side note...Doug...those don't really feed back like other hollowbodies do either. I thought that was pretty sweet.

[dougk]

Originally Posted by The_Sentry

And on a side note...Doug...those don't really feed back like other hollowbodies do either. I thought that was pretty sweet.

Thank you buddy!

They don't feed back for a couple of reasons: I carve the tops thicker than a traditional hollowbody (bout 3/32-1/4) so they are fairly stiff still. They'll vibrate and do the hollow thing at volume but they wont feed back (less your pickups are microphonic). This also helps keep them pretty snappy on the attack.

Also, some might be do to the fact the hollowbody I was playing didn't have any f-holes unlike the new ones:




Personally, if you were a customer of mine I'd really steer you towards a semi-hollow instead like Scotts. I think that would be a much better choice for drop tuning.