The body of an electric guitar does three things: it holds the pickups and bridge, it adds its own resonance to the sound, and it decides how much the guitar reacts to the sound coming back from the amp. The more air inside, the more of all three.
On November 3, 2026, Thomann had 4,286 electric guitars in stock. We sorted them by what Thomann says about the body.
| Body | Guitars | Median price | From |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solid | 3,657 | $1,345 | $84 |
| Chambered (hidden hollows) | 97 | $863 | $212 |
| Semi-hollow | 356 | $1,233 | $111 |
| Hollow | 176 | $1,383 | $302 |
The prices barely differ. The choice is about sound and volume, not budget.
Solid body: loud and sustaining
A solid body, from a Stratocaster to a Les Paul, barely vibrates on its own, so the strings ring longer and the pickups hear mostly strings. It can be played very loud and with heavy distortion without feeding back. That's why 85% of the electric guitars at Thomann are solid.
Chambered guitars, like some Telecasters and Yamaha's Revstar, hollow out parts of a solid body to make it lighter and a little more open, while looking solid from outside.
Semi-hollow: the middle ground
Epiphone ES-335, $559
A thin maple body hollow on both sides, with a solid block running down the middle under the pickups and bridge. Epiphone calls this one "Inspired by Gibson". #41 of 168 semiacoustic guitars.
The center block stops most feedback, so a semi-hollow handles a crunchy amp, but the hollow wings add air and a softer attack. It's the guitar of blues, indie and a lot of 60s rock.
Gretsch G2622T Streamliner Center Block, no longer sold
Gretsch's take on the idea, with a Bigsby-style tremolo, two Broad'Tron humbuckers and a coil split, for $636. It shares first place among 167 semi-acoustic guitars in our ranking. .
Hollow body: the jazz box
Ibanez AF75, $547
A full hollow archtop, 70 mm deep, with two humbuckers and a trapeze tailpiece: the warm, round sound of jazz guitar for $552. #4 of 36 jazz guitars.
A hollow body is close to an acoustic guitar with pickups. Played clean and at moderate volume it's the warmest of the three; turned up, the top starts to feed back. Jazz players, rockabilly and some country players live with that, or use it on purpose. Ibanez has the most hollow bodies at Thomann, 41, ahead of Gretsch with 32.
Which one?
- Rock, metal, high gain, loud stages: solid.
- Blues, indie, classic rock, a bit of everything: semi-hollow.
- Jazz, rockabilly, clean tones at moderate volume: hollow.
- A solid guitar that's lighter on the shoulder: chambered.
Semi-hollows and hollows are bigger and, especially the deep archtops, less comfortable sitting down at first. If you can, try the size before you buy.
Where the numbers come from. Every electric guitar Thomann had in stock on November 3, 2026, from its partner feed, without bundles. Body types come from Thomann's categories (semi-acoustic, jazz) and descriptions (hollow, semi-hollow, thinline, center block, chambered); everything else counts as solid. Places are from our rankings. Prices are Thomann's US-dollar prices.
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Denis Kataev runs AudioFu. Every night the site records the prices of more than 38,000 instruments and studio tools at Thomann, and he writes about what those numbers show: what got cheaper, what just arrived, and which discounts are real.
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