Nathan T.
8 min read
Over the years at Guitar Kit World, I have helped thousands of builders navigate the differences between body construction types. It is one of the most common sources of confusion, especially when product listings use terms like "semi-hollow" and "chambered" interchangeably. This guide breaks down each body type so you can choose the right kit for your build with confidence.
Guitar body terms are often mixed together in product listings, especially for kits. Words like solid, semi-hollow, hollow, chambered, and acoustic-electric describe different aspects of construction and function. They are not interchangeable categories.
This guide explains each body type clearly and shows how electric and acoustic-electric designs overlap.
Every kit listing states three fields that together identify the construction exactly. If you only read one thing on this page, read the rule below.
The Internal Support field, not the body name, is what tells you the construction.
The Internal Support value sometimes names the block's timber after a comma, for example Bridge block, Mahogany or Full-length center block, Maple. The wood after the comma tells you what the block is made of. It never changes the construction class, so read everything before the comma.
The Comparison Overview further down sets out all six construction types side by side, including tone and pickup type.
A solid body guitar is made from a fully solid block of wood with no internal cavities.
Mahogany TR Guitar Kit with Bolt On Neck, SSS Pickups, Rosewood Fretboard
Solid body construction is the standard for most rock, metal, and high-gain electric guitars.
A chambered guitar starts as a solid body, but internal cavities are routed into the wood before the top is installed.
Important: Chambered describes a construction method, not a guitar category. Many chambered guitars are still marketed as solid body guitars. Because the chambers are sealed under the glued top, you cannot see them on a finished instrument, which is exactly why they cause so much confusion on a spec sheet.
In our own catalog, chambering usually appears combined with visible semi-hollow features rather than on its own, so look for the routing description on the listing rather than the label. The two sections below cover those combinations.
Semi-hollow guitars have large hollow sections but retain solid wood in critical areas for strength and feedback control.
On every kit we list as Semi-Hollow, the spec sheet reads Internal Support: Full-length center block. That block runs the length of the body and divides the cavity into two separate wings, which is what keeps a semi-hollow controllable at volume.
Semi-Hollow Double-Cutaway Electric Guitar Kit, Flame Maple Veneer
The semi-hollow chambered body is a subtype of the category above. It originated as a weight-relieved T-style variant in the late 1960s, combining chambered construction with visible semi-hollow features.
These guitars were originally designed to reduce weight while keeping the feel and response of a solid body electric.
Bill Antonitis took the same category in a very different direction on a baritone semi-hollow archtop, with a hand-carved rune, shotgun shell knobs and LEDs behind the f-holes. See Bill's first build.
A note from experience: One of the most common questions we get from builders is whether a chambered body is the same as a semi-hollow. The short answer: a semi-hollow chambered guitar is one kind of semi-hollow, but not every semi-hollow is chambered. Chambered guitars typically start with a solid-body outline (like a T-style shape) that has been routed out internally and capped with a top, whereas many semi-hollows are built from the ground up as hollow instruments with a center block added.
Thin Semi-Hollow Single-Cutaway Electric Guitar Kit, Mahogany Body, Pau Ferro Fretboard
Fully hollow guitars have the largest internal cavity and the thinnest body structure. On most of our Hollow Body kits the spec sheet reads Internal Support: Bridge block. A bridge block is a small support under the bridge only. It does not divide the cavity, and that is exactly what separates a Hollow Body from a Semi-Hollow.
Fully hollow electric guitars behave more like acoustic instruments that use magnetic pickups. They are commonly used for jazz and traditional styles.
Every hollow body kit we currently sell uses a bridge block. It is worth knowing that a block is not the only way to hold a hollow instrument together. Archtops and acoustics are traditionally braced instead: struts glued to the underside of the top carry the string load and spread it across the plate, with no block anywhere in the body.
The difference matters to a builder. A braced top is lighter and freer, so the instrument is more resonant unplugged and takes more of its character from the top itself than a block-supported body does.
It is also the most feedback-prone way to build, and the bridge has to be seated accurately because there is nothing solid underneath it.
Either way, the rule on this page still holds: read the Internal Support line on the listing in front of you rather than assuming what is inside the body.
Hollow Body Archtop Electric Guitar Kit, Maple Body, Ebony Fretboard
Byron Stafford has been building since the 1950s and still leaves every new kit boxed for a week before he starts. His most recent build is a thin hollow body with a Florentine cutaway and gold hardware. Read why he lets a kit breathe first.
Acoustic-electric guitars are thin acoustic instruments designed primarily to be amplified. They are not electric guitars with magnetic pickups. Both acoustic-electric kits we sell are Hollow Body on the spec sheet: one round sound hole, and Internal Support of Bridge block. Neither has a center block, so neither one is a semi-hollow.
These guitars are designed for live performance where feedback control and comfort are more important than unplugged volume.
Important distinction: Despite similar wording, acoustic-electric hollow body guitars are closer to acoustic guitars than electric semi-hollows. The construction class is the same Hollow Body as an archtop jazz box, and it is the pickup system that differs, not the body.
Six ways a body can be built, and the one line that tells them apart. On any spec sheet, read Internal Support first.
Entirely solid wood. Best for rock, metal, and high-gain styles.
A solid body with cavities routed out for weight relief. Looks solid from the outside.
Large hollow wings either side of a solid spine. The most versatile of the resonant electrics.
A semi-hollow subtype that originated as a weight-relieved T-style in the late 1960s.
The largest internal cavity and the thinnest structure. The classic jazz box.
A thin acoustic built to be amplified. Closer to an acoustic guitar than to any electric on this page.
When choosing a guitar kit, always check the internal routing, pickup type, and whether a center block is present. Those details matter more than the marketing label.
Christoph and his son Fionn wanted a deep even black on an open-grained mahogany body with the figure still showing through, and the pores kept drying lighter than the surface. Follow the build from the bare kit to the finished bass, and see how they diagnosed it and what you can copy from their approach.
