Semi hollowbodies...

Lennon played a Casino, which is semi-hollow, but he didn't play that one exclusively until around 68. The Beatles played solid body guitars too. Strats, Gibson SGs, etc. But a number of players play a semi-hollow body. On the last Stones tour, Richards played a semi-hollow bodied Gibson the entire set instead of his customary tele.

I think it's the resonance of the body that accounts for the quality of the sound.

What guitars paul mccartney uses in -

-Maybe i am amazed

-Sgt peppers lonely heart club band

-While my guitar gently weeps

I'll leave someone more knowledgeable to answer your Beatles question, Rahul, except to say that I believe Eric Clapton played on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" - and played the solo on a Les Paul.

Semi-hollowbody guitars are lovely things, and they're played by all sorts of people. BB King famously played a Gibson 335, and later a 355. Clapton has played a 335 from time to time, and one of my favourite jazz guitarists, and a huge influence on the way I play, John Scofield, plays an Ibanez Artcore AS-series like the ones in your 2nd link. (Actually it's AS-200, which they don't list - but it looks very like the AS-73, which they do.)

It's a shame they're so expensive. One day, I might buy an AS-73 or 83 - if I find myself with some spare cash. Or I might just buy another Telecaster - by now, I've grown to fit those better than anything 8)

I have this carvin SH and love it:

http://www.carvin.com/products/guitar.php?ItemNumber=AE185

I don't think its a true SH since it is kind of a hybrid, with the acoustic bridge and all, but it still sounds great. Not too bad price wise...comparitively, anyway.

The Dot (both Gibson and Epi) are semi hollow bodies. Their tone comes about because they have a block of wood, running from the neck to the back of the body (like a through-neck) to add sustain. The Riviera and, I believe the Casino, are not semi hollow bodies, because they don't have the sustain block, they are simply shallow, hollow bodied guitar.
The sustain block not only add sustain, but also reduces feedback, which is the bugbear of hollow-bodied guitars.
John Schofield has his own signature guitar (but it's not in the same price class as the Artcore series, I may be wrong, but I seem to have EUR 2000+ in mind) - the AS200, AS100 and AS50 disappeared a long time ago.
For those in the States, a Washburn HB35S is extremely good value for money - beautifully finished and can be had off ebay for around $350 - and for that price you can kick an Epi dot right into touch. The HB35 is the "top end" line to the "budget" Oscar Schmidt OE30.

If anybody happened to see paul mccartney playing at live 8 , i guess he was playing archtop type guitar only and if i saw correctly in the magazine it was an epiphone.

Also PV ..how can Eric clapton do a solo for beatles ? I am confused.
He might have made cover of it...is that what you are talking about ?

The Beatles didn't always play all the instruments on their records. Eric Clapton did indeed play the lead on the Beatles' version of While My Guitar Gently Weeps. Billy Preston often played keyboards for them, most notably, of course on various songs on the Let It Be album.

If you take time to read album notes, you'll find a lot of guest musicians about. Back in the sixties, though, many record companies didn't give them credits for the songs they played on.

Peace

I think that Casino is a thin hollowbody, rather than a semihollowbody.

The semihollowbody's got a solid block of wood in the middle, glued to the top and back. Makes the guitar behave a lot more like a solid body than a hollowbody.

Another thing you'll find is that well-known artists that appeared on other people's records often did so under assumed names, so that you wouldn't know who it was.

I think that Casino is a thin hollowbody, rather than a semihollowbody.

Casino is indeed a thinline hollowbody -- and suffers from an extreme tendency to feedback. The P90 pups probably exacerbate this problem. Nevertheless, that would not stop me recommending the Casino. It's a cool playing and sounding guitar.

The Beatles didn't always play all the instruments on their records. Eric Clapton did indeed play the lead on the Beatles' version of While My Guitar Gently Weeps. Billy Preston often played keyboards for them, most notably, of course on various songs on the Let It Be album.

If you take time to read album notes, you'll find a lot of guest musicians about. Back in the sixties, though, many record companies didn't give them credits for the songs they played on.

Peace

And i was thinking paul did it...i was so impressed :oops:

Oops. I stand corrected on the Casino. I thought it was semi-hollow because it's thin.

My favorite reference, by the way, for Beatles' instruments is Beatle Gear by Andy Babiuk of Guitar Player Magazine.

I also recommend this website, Fab Guitars of the Beatles. It seems to be a reliable and well researched site.

The Dot (both Gibson and Epi) are semi hollow bodies.

The Dot would be my recommendation. The Epiphone's been my main axe for about 5 yrs, sounds great both plugged in and unplugged. I live in an apartment so I end up practicing unplugged quite a bit. It's a great value at $400.

At the time I got mine I was working in Germany but I purchased it in the US on vacation. By the time customs police at the Frankfurt airport were done with me it was quite a bit more expensive. But that's a different story.

The new Epiphone Dot Studio appeals to me, and the price is very reasonable (around £200 in UK) - like a Dot but top binding only, plain neck, and just one each of volume & tone controls. (Being a Tele player I like single controls best - I get lost with 4 knobs :wink: )

Grey, if you check John Scofield's website http://www.johnscofield.com/equip.html what he actually plays is an old (now discontinued) AS200. The signature model is the JSM100, of which Scofield himself writes, “When Ibanez wanted to reintroduce my original AS200 guitar with the original specs they had to fly me to the Ibanez R&D facility in L.A., where detailed measurements were taken of every conceivable dimension. This became the basis for the JSM John Scofield model, which reproduced the original guitar plus added some improvements such as a side-mounted jack."

But the AS73 and AS83 (the '83 has a flamed sycamore top, the '73 ordinary maple) are lovely guitars - IMHO much better than the Epi's, and they sell for around £300 (more or less according to exact spec.) in the UK. Not cheap cheap, but real bargains for the quality. Play like butter, sound like gold 8)