Best Budget Semi Hollow Guitar (2024 Update)

I've wanted a semi-hollow for some time and I took the plunge to get this one. It's a very nice guitar that looks good and plays well. I was initially suspicious because of the price, as other guitars in the range did not play so well to me. Anyway, I had the store do a setup to ensure everything was fine and had the strings on I like to use. I change my own strings, of course, but I don't have tools for doing a proper setup. Good thing I did. Their Technician/Luthier CONNER, was very, very conscientious about his work, even fixing a slightly raised 14th fret. He was very meticulous in his inspection and work. If you don't have a semi-hollow body ax, this would be a good choice for the money. I have not had it long enough to say much about the two split-coil switches for the humbuckers. Maybe they'll turn out to add some good sounds as I play more. My only significant gripe is that the back of the neck has a standard gloss finish. If you play guitar, you probably hate that, as well. But some light sanding and oil should improve the playability.George

The guitar is almost perfect. There is a noticeable finishing blemish where the nut meets the neck on the bass side and another blem in the finish on the back of the neck. Other than that the guitar is great. Plays well, fretwork is good, and the pickups sound great. I bought this one over the other 335 models because of the flamed Raspberry burst and block inlays. It is easily the best looking one in person IMO. This is my 7th newer Epiphone (2020+) and they ALL have come with dirty fretboards, scratchy frets, and cheap factory strings. After 5 minutes of playing your fingers will be black like you handled coal. Just expect this. Change the strings, clean/oil the fretboard, and give the frets a quick polish. That done they're all 8/10 or better guitars and are fantastic values. Can't say enough about how much I love these new Epiphones!Mark

This was for my son, a late beginner, to add to his Ibanez s521. This was ordered online, not bought off the wall. It comes very well packaged for shipment and arrived with zero scratches or damage. The strings that it has are actually OK and I may keep them for a bit. I am not a huge fan of the gold metallic but it is the kid's preference, and the finish seems nice. I did not see much of the paint covering part of the binding in places as some have remarked, and the binding seems to be pretty decently done. The only really startling indicator of low build quality on ours is the very rough finish on the insides of the f holes. There are places that the paint has small runs in it and you can tell there was cost savings. There are guitars in the price category that are much better finished in there and I would have gladly paid a couple of extra bucks for this. At least they could have painted it black on the sides of the holes, like they did on some of the other colors, to hide it somewhat. On the gold, it is just jarring. I may do just that, after it is out of warranty of course. It is sad because there aren't any other significant issues on mine. The fret ends seem pretty nice and there really isn't any lifting, sprout, or sharpness on any of them. I am intermediate, so I can't really say authoritatively how the tone compares to others objectively, but to my ears it sounds pretty good especially compared to some others in the price range, like the stock Ibanez pickups. Seem to have clarity and not muddy. Like the neck profile. Neck required a slight loosening of the truss rod to straighten and the action was easily lowered to 1.5mm at the 12th fret low e without significant buzzing. The treble bleed does its job and single coil option is nice too. It won't sound like my strat but it does give some versatility. The guitar is very fun to play with its neck profile and radius once I did my mild setup on it, and hard to explain, but I don't want to put it down once I start using it. Despite the one flaw, I still think it is a good buy and recommended.JM

I am rating it based on the price point expectations I had before ordering. It is a really great guitar. You have to expect that it will come with some defects and issues. Small paint/binding issues, some glue and wood chips loose inside the guitar that I took out. The guitar wasn?t set up well on arrival. I did a string change and truss rod adjustment to get rid of some fretting out on the first fret. The components are cheap, input Jack was broken shortly after my first show with it. The guitar itself is solid! Well built, stays in tune. Neck is very thick. I would purchase another even with issues. I wasn?t expecting a perfect guitar just something that I can play hard and maybe replace some components down the road.Cory

Very nice looking guitar. Set-up pretty well out of the box with fret ends nice and smooth. Needed slight intonation. Unfortunately the shipper basically smashed the box and the three-way toggle switch was damaged and not functional. Rather than send the guitar back I pulled out the switch and was able to repair it. Finish around the switch hole (under the retaining ring) was slightly damaged/cracked and had to repair that as well. The guitar plays and sounds quite nice and other than a small kink in the binding where it joins the neck (smooth and under the finish) it is a pretty guitar. Has a minor rattle somewhere that I can't locate (not string buzz), but doesn't come through when amplified. All in all, I am happy with it and its well worth the price.Michael

This is a nice guitar. It?s well made, has a beautiful charcoal burst gloss finish, and has the wonderful mellow sound of a semi-hollowbody guitar. The blacked out hardware is a nice touch. I learned about this guitar from the guitar gear bloggers on YouTube. They ALL gave it great reviews. Some of the older reviews mentioned that the fret ends needed more polishing, and there was some nitpicking about the size and font of the Indio logo. More recent reviews indicate that these issues have been addressed. MY Indio guitar has polished fret ends and it APPEARS to me that the logo is a bit smaller. The fit and finish are EXCELLENT, so perhaps Monoprice has listened to customer complaints and has tightened up their QC. The BIG news here is the PRICE. EVERYONE, myself included, is STUNNED by how INEXPENSIVE this guitar is. The $250 list price is a STEAL! The YouTube bloggers claim that this guitar will go head-to-head with other 335 style guitars costing 3 times as much! I agree.Kevin

Great guitar for beginners. Looks better in your hand than in the photo. Quite loud acoustically (without amp). Came tuned with strings provided no extra fee. Delivery as stated next working day. Very satisfied overall.Dean

Received new guitar – fret buzz all over, bridge saddles were touching each other and causing vibration buzz. Originally, I raised action (still buzz) and then adjusted truss rod – still buzzing. Almost returned guitar due to bad buzz. (Utter frustration at this point) Tried one last thing: Loosened strings and started on low E string string (thickest string) – moved bridge saddles so not touching for all strings one by one ( string order E, A, D, G, B, E). Fret buzz or general buzz gone. Lowered string height first — still no buzz and then adjusted truss rod back to original position ( I added more relief originally but not necessary since neck bow was not problem) . Fret buzz still gone and now action is much lower and fast. Great guitar super light in weight – Have Vintage natural finish, finish has no gloss or very low gloss but looks great. Watch bridge saddles that our touching too much, mine had almost no space and jammed next to each other causing buzz or vibration. Watch for this problem on string changes, only need a tiny space.SolarEclipse

I really like everything about this AG75. I was pleasantly surprised. The pickups are very sensitive and responsive, over the full aural range, and with utmost clarity. The slim D neck and finely finished fretboard affords comfort with low and fast action! The overall body integrity is impressive with attention to detail. I have been playing it exclusively for three weeks, and like a good book, it's hard to put down! Makes hours of otherwise monotonous practice FUN and enjoyable again! Just a slight problem with "honking," but it was very easy to adjust it away with the pickup height adjusters. I prefer this over my other two Ibanez Artcore AF types, and they are fine as well. My highest recommendation, especially if you can buy it for under $500.00, total! Sounds and plays like a $2-Grand Gibson when set up and intonated properly.rgwhitlock

Guitar was not setup properly had to adjust everything. The cheap Vinyl that's glued on otter edge already pealing. When it arrived there was glue seeping from the edges, didnt realize until I touched it & ruined my $$60.00 gold plated strings. I replaced truss rod cover, junk. Knobs dont match/ugly replaced. Nut was junk, not cut right, made my own in my shop. The glue seepage awful. Removed cheap Vinyl treating guitar to remove exess glue, ridiculous. Huge scratch on back chip on rear bottom of neck where vynil was joined. For the 60th anniversary edition… Worst I've ever seen! My original 59 still looks plays and sounds fantastic. Cutting corners using cheap materials and trying to save money is no way to honor guitars from our past. Sound not that great but I'll have to replace some wiring & tuners as well. stuff to get it to sound halfway decent. I play in a Zeppelin tribute band at all the hotels and in Vegas, definitely not stage worthy! What a major disappointment. Way over priced. My appraisal $80.00 and that's being generous. If you want one, build your own instead.niceguyvinny1968

Someone in the band said we should do one of those early 60's songs. I listened to it, and it clearly had that 12-string jangle so characteristic of the period. The best thing for that is a Rickenbacker 12-string, but I wasn't going to spring for that for just a few songs. So I zeroed in on a few possibilities, including this Danelectro, and the Dean Boca and the Ibanez Artcore in about the same price range. But the Dano is of course pretty much the exact same instrument that they made back then, and it is arguably better now than it ever was. It was always an inexpensive brand, but had the distinction that a lot of famous people played them. Therefore it has that "original vibe", like the Rickenbacker, but at a fraction of the price. So the Dano was the obvious choice, and I got this NOS version (No-S = no S or F hole which some other models have and the originals did). They say it is still made from Masonite, but you can't tell since it is completely painted and while the website says it is laminated, it is very light-weight. And it still has that textured plastic tape around the whole perimeter like it's supposed to have. The neck strap button is in an awkward location, so you may have to cut a piece off your strap to make it fit (I did, and I replaced my strap buttons with Schaller black strap locks). These guitars are made in Korea, and the build quality is excellent. I was afraid that I'd have get a setup, but the one I received has a fine neck with a nice rosewood finger board, has low action and plays easily enough (for a 12-string), so I'm going to leave it as is. The sound is great! It has that unique Dano sound because of the two lipstick pickups. It may be too bright when using the bridge pickup only, but the thing is you get used to the tone really quickly, so it may work just fine. It certainly will cut through the mix! It is louder when using both pickups, which is probably what I will use most of the time. In sum, I'm very happy with it! It will do!Willy

I didn't have high hopes for a 12 string electric at this price point, but I also couldn't resist, and WOW – am I completely satisfied! This guitar plays really well. It came with a good set-up and when I fine tuned it all the systems worked as they should. You can even adjust intonation on all twelve strings. Thus far the neck has been straight and easily adjusts to string or environmental conditions – I've given it a slight adjustment once it acclimated to my desert conditions and since it has been stable and true. Of course I should protect my guitar from the elements, and I bought a gig bag, but it stays out pretty much constantly and is used daily. This guitar is tons of fun. It easily does the Byrds style of 12 string sound. Also, I never knew just how many early Beatles riff where on 12 string until I started messing with this guitar. It's a blast. I own a Rick 6 string and have always wanted an electric 12. This Danelectro is great quality and great fun and it more than satisfies my itch (for now) at fraction of the price. You will not regret buying this guitar – it will unlock a new world!Mike

This is a beautiful guitar and if it were 1000$ it would be well worth it. For 2300$ though I would like to have some inlays that don't look like cheap plastic and not have fret buzz. The buzz could be fixed with a set up but for 2300$ I feel like it should come set up. On the back the slots for the cover plates are not routed so they just sit on top. Not a deal breaker but this does make it look a little incomplete. Overall it sounds great minus the fret buzz. I'd say no better than a se model and not worth the extra money unless you just want a bolt on neck. I prefer bolt on or through necks which is why I bought the ce but I plan to return it and either get an ernie ball music man or an American strat.Not satisfied with AMS quality c

I bought this because I was in the market for a US guitar and I already had a US Strat. I was thinking about a Gibson Les Paul Classic and then PRS showed up on my radar. I did some research and decided to play both. I have an Epiphone Les Paul so I thought I would prefer the Gibson. I played this guitar first and the Les Paul just didn't feel right after that. I bought this one a couple weeks later. After having it for an extended period (12 hours) I started thinking about selling my Strat and buying a Silver Sky. This guitar just felt so good I didn't want anything else. The neck feel is fantastic. The tone options are amazing The color is sooooooo much more vibrant in person than in pictures It is sitting in the rack in the other room while I type this and I wish I was playing it right now. It was totally worth every penny and I would recommend it to anyone who wants a true quality instrument.Jay P

Up to this point, my guitar collection has been all solid bodies. (four Strats, a Tele, Les Paul, SG and Firebird. I've been craving a good semi-hollow. But the ES-335 is just too expensive for my tastes. The Epis, and Ibenez clones were too low-end. I was looking for something in between. This turned out to be the perfect choice. First, the fit and finish was flawless. A beautiful cherry red with lovely grain showing. (Not quite as 'stripey' as the photo–much prettier, I think.) The binding was perfect. I couldn't find anything wrong with the finish or construction–not a single blemish anywhere. Acoustically, it sounded lovely. Rich and clean. Plugging it into my Vox AC15, I fell in love. I found I could dial in everything from super clean chords to wonderful, nasty, dirty blues. (I remembered seeing Son Seals play one of these on the cover of Midnight Son, and I could recognize the tone.) Dialing it back, I could get warm BB-esque tones, and playing with the tone knob got me a pretty convincing Woman Tone. As for the neck–I felt instantly at home with it.The 9.5 radius felt perfect, and the neck wasn't too thin or too thick. This guitar is really an extraordinary value. Even the case is solid and well-made. At about 1/3 the price of the ES-335, it is incredibly impressive. I would recommend having a look at one of these to anyone looking for that semi-hollow sound.Dante1963

Guild has always made fine guitars, and my new Guild Starfire IV keeps that tradition of excellence going. Great tonal versatility, easy playability and beautiful craftsmanship in one magnificent semi-hollowbody. I must also say dealing with AMS is a dream. They are the most professional, courteous and helpful purveyors of musical instruments on the planet!Chris R.

I have to admit that I did try one in a Music store and I was very impressed. The sound,look,and feel are so good. The neck is rounder and a bit heftier than the original but is still very comfortable to play. It will kick butt in most styles and is a keeper. I own a 1970 Starfire and it is still a monster guitar,but as I mentioned above,the originals have a smaller U neck and full size humbuckers. The lacquer finish is now age cracked a bit but the guitar is in very good condition. I am a big Fan of the higher end Guild electrics and acoustics. Play one and you will be a Fan too.Wayne

Looks are stunning. Sound is great. Pups have high output despite "medium" description. Rocks with all genres of music (Jazz to metal). Love that I can use my clean channel for both sparkle and overdrive just by turning up the vol. The 3 position switches for coil tapping aren't really necessary, but you can "kind-of" sound like a single coil Pup. Dont buy this if you want to sound like a strat style coil. This guitar can give a Les Paul studio are run for its money.Gerry

I have one but from a different retailer. MF did not carry this brand when I got mine. These are the real deal or real Gibson product line from the same folks in Kalamazoo who refused to relocate. The quality is fantastic. The tone is genuine. My 535 is my fave semi-hollow humbucker 23.75 inch scal guitar I have. You can tell these guitars are hand made. You're not getting a guitar assembled from the band saw body guy, or the neck blank guy, or from some fellow who just mans a saw / sander for their entier shift. Each guitar is luthier made. The older models even have an ebony pick guard. If thats an option then MF should get that instead of the plastic.David Seattle

Was really pleased with this guitar right out of the box. Little to no set up required. Plays great but may be difficult for novices. The hollow body makes it necessary to have skills a novice may not have. The sound and electronics are great. A little heavy but otherwise solid insrument.Dave

Well built short scale bass; very cool that it has a high F on the first string, my '75 Fender Mustang only goes up to D. This bass is more of a thumper axe that plays well with fingers or pick; feels similar to a Precision bass neck. It is not much for slapping and snapping but I'm starting to find the sweet spot to do that in a pinch. I've been using the natural finish model regularly for about three months and get a lot of positive comments and questions about it. The Starcaster is a heavy bass so if weight is an issue you had better look elsewhere; if you like easy to play short scale thumpers this would be an excellent choice.jzbassguitar

The Starcaster is quite good quality although the original set-up from the factory was fair at best. The intonation had to be adjusted and set correctly. Now corrected it is a fun bass to play and has a nice warm vintage tone. I use a vintage Traynor Bassmaster (1966) Tube Amp YB1-A with a Yamaha 12" bass driver cabinet. Sure gets the old 100 year old windows a rattlin'! For the money its not only a good quality instrument but a piece of artwork, especially in the Cherry Sunburst!G the Bassmaster

I bought mine new and it's everything positive others say about it. Don't know what bobz429 is talking about. Obviously he has a modified model. Hardware is first rate with a Hagstrom designed P90 single coil at the neck and classic '58C humbucker at the bridge (Hagstrom winds their own pickups). It's a joy to play, very clean factory pups, beautiful finish, very well crafted and flawless. Rivals guitars up to 3 times the cost in my opinion. The Hagstrom composite Resinator fret board is fast and has good sustain. This guitar can be used for jazz with very clean articulation and voicing, moan the blues, fit right into classic or grunge rock and growl with the best of 'em throughout it's entire range. The ringing clarity is stunning! It's a lot of bang for your buck, and lighter than you'd think for a guitar with a 28" scale. A "tad" neck-heavy balance wise, but once you play it and realize it's potential from mild to wild, this is easily overlooked and by "no means" a deal breaker. It has 5 star ratings across the board for a reason. It's simply that good! This is a players guitar and one I'll keep the rest of my life. It will surprise and please you once you plug it in. This is an amazing baritone. Plug it in, crank it up, and jam 'til the cows come home! If your in the marketfor a baritone guitar, the Hagstrom Viking Deluxe is very hard to beat! I personally don't think any others in it's price rang hold a candle to it. Highly recommended. Enjoy! Edit: Was surprised to see I wasn't listed as a verified purchaser (don't know how that works). Oh well, I assure you I own this guitar purchased from SoundsCheapMusic on eBay out of Pleasant Hill, MO on April 22, 2015… in the Cosmic Black Burst finish. All the same, you won't be disappointed. 😉honorable1-us

With more than 15yrs. of experience with various Hagstrom guitars and over 40yrs. of playing and performing, this instrument and review was an unexpected and a very pleasant surprise. I will acknowledge that I was prompted to pull the trigger on the purchase in no small part because of a couple of reviews here on MFI, one by a fellow who is an American musician living in Sweden. From what I was able to glean from a collection of YouTube videos from past NAMM shows, it looks like the Viking DLX 12 made it's debut about 2016, and has had at least one major update since, with the most notable being larger, but traditional-shaped F-holes on the top, fully creme bound, of course. I very much agree with the opinion previously expressed about there being a major advantage for Hagstrom because of their sourcing all woods(primarily Canada)and all hardware and electronics, leaving their factory contractors in China to concentrate on building the best looking/sounding instrument possible. I would place current Hagstrom product on a par with anything from the Park factories in Korea, and nearly on par with some of the older product that came from Matsumoko in Japan. IMHO, and as pointed out by a previous reviewer, the only real contenders in this narrow category of instrument are the hollowbody Ric 300 Series, and the current Gretsch Electromatic 5422-12, both of which are 2-3X the cost of a new Viking DLX 12. Pickups are clear voiced but fairly hot, and the Resonator fretboard feels great and works with the overall timbre of a maple bodied guitar. The bookmatched flame maple body sides, top, and back are a sight to behold; laminated but beautiful. The most playable and comfortable neck I have EVER put in my hand for a 12-string; a profile similar to an early 60's Gibson or modern ESP being "thin", but with a 15" radius and a 45mm black Tusq nut. Perfect for chording and rhythm, but enough room between string pairs for either finger or flatpicking with precision. Get ItArch69er

It caught my eye hanging in my local Guitar Center in Goodlettsville, TN, which has a terrific staff btw. I asked to try it and was quite impressed with the overall build quality and set-up. Simply perfect; action, intonation, fret dressing, etc. It didn't need a thing! Thought about it overnight and returned the next day to buy it.Alan

This is a beautiful guitar and if it were 1000$ it would be well worth it. For 2300$ though I would like to have some inlays that don't look like cheap plastic and not have fret buzz. The buzz could be fixed with a set up but for 2300$ I feel like it should come set up. On the back the slots for the cover plates are not routed so they just sit on top. Not a deal breaker but this does make it look a little incomplete. Overall it sounds great minus the fret buzz. I'd say no better than a se model and not worth the extra money unless you just want a bolt on neck. I prefer bolt on or through necks which is why I bought the ce but I plan to return it and either get an ernie ball music man or an American strat.Not satisfied with AMS quality c

I bought this because I was in the market for a US guitar and I already had a US Strat. I was thinking about a Gibson Les Paul Classic and then PRS showed up on my radar. I did some research and decided to play both. I have an Epiphone Les Paul so I thought I would prefer the Gibson. I played this guitar first and the Les Paul just didn't feel right after that. I bought this one a couple weeks later. After having it for an extended period (12 hours) I started thinking about selling my Strat and buying a Silver Sky. This guitar just felt so good I didn't want anything else. The neck feel is fantastic. The tone options are amazing The color is sooooooo much more vibrant in person than in pictures It is sitting in the rack in the other room while I type this and I wish I was playing it right now. It was totally worth every penny and I would recommend it to anyone who wants a true quality instrument.Jay P

Deep acoustic body with great sound even without amplifier. The finish on this guitar is great. Has arched back and front. It has a great neck for me as I have small hands. The pickups are adequate with quite a range of sounds. Truthfully, I am not really an experienced guitar player but I have other guitars and this one is my favorite. I have had it about a year and a half and it stays in tune very well. You won't see many of these and it shows as a much more expensive guitar. I hope this helps someone toward this guitar. I recommend it wholeheartedly but I do not own any expensive guitars to compare with it. I don't have any negatives to report. For the size it is fairly light.gypsyjazzplayer

Having previously owned this guitar I would say that for a beginner to immediate guitarist looking to expand his/her collection or looking for something that can open up your tonal range to blues and classic rock. This would be the perfect guitar for you. If you are a professional looking for a project guitar this would also be a good choice. I do not recommend this guitar over any of the hollow/semi-hollows offered by PRS, Gibson, Taylor, and Godin. Hopefully I offered a realistic point of view for potential buyers. This is a great guitar but having a 335, JA-15, Multiac Jazz, and SC245. I modded my Hag with piezo from graph tech, gibson p/u's, schertler tuners, new wiring and jacks, tusq. nut upgrade and made this thing sound like a beast but at the end of the day I spent 3 times as much upgrading it than I did paying for it and I was still a little let down when it was all said and done. The viking has a pretty standard layout of two tone and volume knobs with a three way switch. These semi hollows are not expected to have more options accept the occasional piezo or synth options (godin, carvin, prs to name a few). I can't subtract points for Hagstrom hitting the mark in this department. This is a vintage designed guitar so extra features are not asked of it. You do however get what you pay for with the tuners, nut, bridge…etc. Less expensive guitars may sound ok but at the end of the day you have to spend 400 or more just to even try and compare it to a higher end semi hollowbody. Most people will think I am crazy for rating this a 6 but after reading the other reviewers compare this guitar to PRS and Gibson I must strongly disagree that this guitar does not come close. You have to consider a lot more when reviewing a guitar. Wood types, builder quality, components, and finally out of box conditions. By reading these reviews people are complaining about getting it set up or crooked parts or input jacks falling off. I dare somebody to tell me PRS does not do a significantly better job with out of box condition. So my quality is low because I am comparing the Viking to a PRS/Gibson and not an Epiphone or other more equivalent company. Value I would say is right where it should be. This is a less expensive guitar offering decent tone and workmanship. However, there is no excuse to have consistent complaints of out of box condition, therefore I can not give a perfect rating. It is priced just right for what it is worth; unlike Gibson studios which are way over priced as well as Fender American series guitars.Vintageman

This guitar is poorly made and has a very cheep feel. The sound is interesting and I like the tone, but a good epiphone in this price range would be a much better value. I'm very thankful for Guitar Center's return policy. I ordered this guitar on Guitar Center's website and returned it to my local store.Brian

Great guitar listed as used (Hagstrom Viking). Bought it for about half the normal price. It wasn't used. It arrived in mint condition, hanging tags, plastic on the pickups pick guard and tuners. Brand new. Thanks.rickholly

I bought this item for my daughter for her birthday and she loved it, it came to our door on time, it was playable and very attractive, unfortunately a relative with a drug problem stole it within a day and we haven't been able to afford a replacement. It would be wonderful if BCP would be willing to ship another to us, but either way, very good product. I'll buy another one in time when we are able to afford it.Steve H.

I would give it 20 stars if I could. I’m not going to say that I can even play guitar. I am still trying to learn. I have a Stratocaster that I have been learning chords and following the lessons in a book that is instruction for learning scale. But the semi-hollow body has such a wounderful tone that I have to get better. It is so Inspirational that I have been practicing more than I ever did with my strat. LOVE IT! Thank you.Ronald P.