Understanding Our Guitar Kit ConstructionUpdated 16 days ago

We get a lot of questions about what is inside different guitar body styles. Here is how each one is built, and what that means for your build or a planned hardware change.

Guitar body construction types

• Solid body — entirely solid wood with no internal cavities. Solid bodies are best suited to rock, metal, and high-gain styles.
• Chambered — a solid body with internal cavities for weight relief. It looks like a solid body from the outside.
• Semi-hollow chambered body — a solid body with internal chambers routed out of it and a top capped over them.
• Semi-hollow electric — large hollow wings with f-holes, often with a center block for stability. This produces a warmer tone than a solid body.
• Hollow electric — the largest internal cavity, with prominent f-holes. Some have a center block under the bridge. Hollow electrics provide the warmest, most resonant tone and are best suited to jazz and clean styles.
• Acoustic-electric hollow body — a thin hollow box with one continuous internal cavity, optimized for piezo pickups with an onboard preamp and EQ. They are closer to an acoustic guitar than an electric.

Which hollow and semi-hollow kits have a center block?

Our hollow and semi-hollow kits are built in three different ways inside the body. This affects which bridge the body can take.

1. Semi-hollow with a full-length center block

A solid block of wood runs the full length of the body, down the center, with hollow wings on either side. This gives you plenty of solid wood to anchor into.

Kits: E35 and OH.

Bridge: These bodies comfortably take a fixed, stud-mounted bridge with a stopbar.

2. Hollow body with a bridge center block

The body is hollow, but there is a solid block of wood set under the bridge. It does not run the full length of the body. That block still gives you solid wood to mount a fixed bridge into.

Kits: E25, E75, L5, Acoustic-Electric, Violin, and similar hollow body models.

Bridge: These kits ship with a floating archtop bridge and trapeze tailpiece. Because of the center block, they can also take a fixed, stud-mounted bridge, or a fixed bridge paired with a vibrato tailpiece.

3. Hollow body with bracing and no center block

This is a fully hollow body with internal bracing and no solid block under the bridge. This construction suits a floating bridge held in place by string tension, not a fixed, stud-mounted bridge.

Kits: None are currently listed on our site.

Center blocks and internal support

A wood block under the bridge can be used to support the bridge and tailpiece. It does not automatically make a body semi-hollow. A semi-hollow body is defined by its overall construction, including its hollow wings and, in many designs, a center block that provides stability.

Center blocks sit inside the body, and their size can vary from one body to the next. We do not publish center block dimensions because any figure we gave you could be wrong for the body you receive. If you are sizing hardware around a block, tell us what you plan to fit and we will check that specific body for you.

Sound holes

Semi-hollow and hollow electric bodies commonly have f-holes. Some designs have a single f-hole, while acoustic-electric hollow bodies may have a round sound hole instead. The sound-hole design depends on the body style.

Can I fit a different bridge?

Each body is built around the hardware that kit ships with, and any internal support is sized for that hardware.

• The kit works as supplied with the bridge and tailpiece in the box.
• On some bodies, a tune-o-matic with a stopbar, or a tune-o-matic with a Bigsby-style tailpiece, can work. We confirm this per body, so please ask us before you buy the hardware.
• A fixed hardtail bridge, which anchors studs straight into the top, is normally used on flat-top bodies. We cannot promise it on an archtop or hollow body.
• If you need a larger block to suit hardware you already own, our workshop can build a body to match. Contact us and a member of the team will come back to you with the details.

If you are buying a body and neck only, or buying a body on its own, and plan to use your own hardware, please check with us first. Parts from other makers may not line up with our bodies without some fitting.

If you have a specific bridge in mind, reach out before you order and we will confirm the fit for you.