Best Hollow Body Guitar Under 1000 (Jan 2023 Update)

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

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.

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

Sound: Stock pickups are very hot. So, not as articulate (less dynamics) as they could be if wound a lot less. Also, be prepared for sympathetic ringing. It’s the nature of the beast when dealing with this type of bridge. I used a piece of dense foam that is almost invisible between the bridge and tailpiece to solve the ringing. Features: Has all the bits you’d expect on this classic Ease of Use: I love the neck shape and upper fret access Quality: My only gripe was the ground wire that popped off a pot. It was the wire that connected the jack ground and the rest of the guitar which made it electrically buzz more than single coils normally do. Value: Fantastic value. Even if you gut it and upgrade everything, you will have saved enough on the original purchase to easily afford upgrading parts with top shelf components such as pickups, tuners and nut. Manufacturer Support: No issues The Wow Factor: A Casino in cherry? It’s a classic look. Overall: I liked the specs on the es-339 but didn’t like the neck shape and I wanted p90s. I played a regular Casino at the local store and liked the neck shape but upper fret access was limited. The Casino Coupe has given me all the specs I wanted.I expected to have to do some upgrades on such a low priced guitar. I knew what I wanted and so, after adjusting the action and playing it stock for a few weeks, I first upgraded the pickups. GFS p90 set and black knobs = $80. Next up, Tusq nut and Hipshot locking tuners = another $80. Now, this guitar is EXACTLY what I wanted and still under $700 total but outplays other guitars costing FAR more. The next cheapest hollow body that plays this well are D’Angelicos at $799. Alas, zZounds has a limited selection on those. I’m glad I got the Casino. After the D’Angelicos, the only guitars that I like as much as my Casino cost over $1400. I’ve put my time and half that amount into this Epi and couldn’t be happier.If I wanted to keep it cheap and gig with it, I’d have probably just upgraded the nut and pickups and stopped there. Maybe even just the nut and used the stock pups for high distortion or fuzz only, hehe. My only gripe is that when I removed the electronics to install new pickups, I found a bad ground wire that caused extra buzzing. Between that and being too hot of a wind for my liking, the pickups were a must change item. That said, I measured the tone caps, all the pots and inspected the wiring. Other than the ground that popped off the pot (common issue) and the very hot pickups, the electronics all measured within specs. Even the wiring looked and solder just fine. No need to upgrade to a high priced harness, not worth it.I finally have the hollow body that I’ve wanted for many years. Thanks to zZounds payment plans and a few parts, I got it!Tony

A well built fully-hollow small semi acoustic. It's smaller that a standard casino…only slightly bigger than a Les Paul. Build, hardware, electrics are all good for the price. It sounds great with a distinctively woody sound and is very light. Only let down by very microphonic pickups. Not a problem at lower volume but any overdive is a problem.Much debate online about this, it is definitely the metal pickup covers that cause a loud squeal. It was easily fixed by carefully stuffing some high density foam between the pickups and covers.mistercanetoad

The Wow Factor: Is this a guitar for beginners? Sure…but get a professional set-up. Hollow-bodies, in my experience, "fight back" a little more than a semi-hollow, or LP/SG/Tele/Strat I've played and that can be off putting to beginners. P-90's hum too, it's just the way it is from the design of the pickup. If this would bother you, the Epi 339 is a great little guitar. A good set-up and this guitar plays as comfortably as any of my guitars that cost 3-4 as much. Quality and build wise, it's the equal to any recent electric I played or owned that cost up to $1K…after a good set-up. Overall: Love this guitar! Punches far above it's class, but you'll need to probably tweak a few things first.Instead of starting out with what I love, everyone does, here's the cons I had:Frets needed a little leveling. Not much…but three did, which for a guitar in this price range isn't bad. But one was noticeable right away, the other 2 frets I probably would have wouldn't noticed until I really got in there with a detailed setup. I can dress and level frets, so this isn't an issue with me at all, if you can't take that into consideration. One tuner needed to be replaced. The high E tuner had about an 1/8 of a turn's worth of slack before engaging….but it held tune just fine. I have spares…again for me no big deal, YMMV. The nut cut is cut a little high, but it's still within the norm. Bridge rattle…well if you've ever owned an Epi or Gibson you expect this. It annoys me so the bridge was replaced. For new buyers of an Epi, it's only heard when played unplugged, you won't hear it thru the amp.The pros:I bought this guitar strictly to put a pair of Lollars I have into another older Casino. I've got a very well made '95 MIK from the Pearless era…and the nut width of the guitar is way too narrow to comfortably play. This neck is fairly beefy. If you've played a Les Paul with the 60's taper for example, the D shape will be more of a handful but isn't a baseball bat at all.The build on this guitar over all is the equal to what it's replacing. The finish is flawless. The original wiring and pickups were good. I did play the stock pickups for a week…they sound good. I like lower output P-90's, these are a little hotter but still sound good. The smaller body seems to feedback a little less.The smaller body also makes this a VERY comfortable couch guitar…and it weighs almost nothing. Slight neck dive, my full size Casino has more. The Pau Ferro board on mine is pretty dark…I honestly thought it was Rosewood when I unboxed it.Sounds fairly decent unplugged when you're on the sofa without an amp.David

Who knew Monoprice sold quality guitars! I ve been buying cables,adapters, and lots of other stuff from Monoprice for years. I had no clue they sold guitars. This ES335 clone came next day shipping at no extra charge and it plays like a dream. I m a professional musician, so I can tell you that for $199 you ll never get another guitar like this for the price. It s fully binded front and back. A beauty. I m going to shave a couple fret ends, but they re really not that bad. A killer deal.Jillian

I was excited about getting this guitar because I am so impressed with the Idyllwild acoustic I purchased last year. I was very disappointed with this Boardwalk hollow body electric. Almost all frets had sharp unfinished ends that needed to be filed and polished. The nut was improperly cut for the strings making it impossible to stay in tune. The pick guard was attached with oversized screws that were not properly tightened because they were too long. Needless to say intonation had to be adjusted. No amount of truss rod and bridge adjustment would clear some fret buzz when set to normal string height at the 12th fret. If this guitar went through your California set-up shop someone should be looking for a different career. The general fit and finish is pretty good and the electronics seem to be ok. I’ve been playing, maintaining, and repairing guitars for over 50 years and was able to make this guitar playable. If someone without my knowledge would have returned it as unplayable.Larry

As an owner of 3 other Indio guitars–Cali Classic, Retro Classic, and Helix–I know the quality of the Indio line, but I was unprepared for this beauty. Frets level and smooth, D'Addario strings, flawless transparent red finish, flawless binding–body and neck, set neck, decent tuners. Great playability. I LOVE THIS GUITAR!William

I received the product damaged from the vendor and had to return it. The volume knob was broken,there was a crack near bridge, and the delivery was put early delivery and then put,on time delivery.Raymond