Do Thinline Tele® bodies sound as good as solid or chambered?

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[@jackp8583]

Appreciate all the effort you put into this!

[@rogerarmstrong8893]

They were so equal the thinline didn't seem to have the depth of the other two, just a tad more base in the chamber and solid. I allways favored the thin line and I own one they are so close in sound quality it would come down to weight for me long sets I would still favor the thinline but honestly the other two just sound better.

[@stephenleung9189]

I am a rhythm guitarist playing in a band for pop and rock music, the Thinline is my choice, I have 4of them with varies pickups. My main reason to choose it is the weight, 6lbs 4 oz is hard to beat for this 73 years old man.

[@brianbrazil4426]

I have Thin Line also. Mine was made from Warmoth one piece Maple neck & fretboard with a light Ash body and all Fender parts. When it was assembled it weighed under 5 Pounds. I love the fretboard it has a nice snap and bouncy feel. The body is very resonant and sounds loud enough to practice at home without an amp.

[@GabrielSayeghJr]

I know I'm a bit late watching this one, but I recognize just how much effort this takes (times three...), and it means the world to have you answering questions like this because it's exactly what I ponder when considering buying custom parts from you guys. Thank you for this!!

[@warmoth]

Thanks Gabriel!

[@AvnerRosenstein-ULTRA-LXV]

I honestly thought A was the Solid. Couldn't believe it wasn't lol. I thought A actually sounded the best over the other two. That volume drop with B over A/C was very noticeable. Great video and comparison.

[@ryanmccabe7821]

Yep I thought exactly the same.

[@dutchfpv7010]

@@ryanmccabe7821 same here. Very interesting!

[@chadnedohin]

Same

[@chrishyde1216]

But does the volune drop matter? You can just turn up the volume on the amp.

[@mattbrown5234]

Honestly the most impressive/useful part of this for me was to see how the body weights change from thinline to chambered to solid. It was honestly a bigger difference than I expected.

[@narvul]

I think the Tele is by far the most versatile electric guitar regardless of the wood used. You just keep doing what you're doing Aaron!

[@geoboggs3897]

I was just talking to a friend about T bodies. Mine (solid) is sooo heavy. Now thinking the thinline is the way to go. Thanks for all yoir effort.

[@iagobroxado]

Great video Aaron. I'd suggest another topic: hardtail Strat x decked Vibrato bridge Strat x Floating Vibrato Strat. (all from the same piece of lumber, same pickups, etc etc). I always wanted to hear how much of a difference (if any) the back cavity and springs make.

[@bloozedaddy]

Good idea but you can't get the same body specs with a true hardtail against the decked or floating trem routed bodies... but comparing the last two would be cool.

[@iagobroxado]

@@bloozedaddy That's exactly why the comparison. Obviously the weight won't be the same, no cavity on the back, no springs... Often people claim that a "hardtail-string through body Strat has a sort of Tele-esque character" - let's see if it does change that much compared to the 2 other configurations.

[@bloozedaddy]

@@iagobroxado Well I have a 1981 hardtail...and a 2007 tremelo Highway One and a 1992 telecaster and I can say the strats sound like strats and the tele sounds like a tele :-) I'd be more interested in the blocked vs the hardtail or blocked vs non-blocked sonic differences.

[@richsackett3423]

@@iagobroxado "Often people claim that a "hardtail-string through body Strat has a sort of Tele-esque character" Of course it does. Body shape is not a huge factor in electric guitar tone.

[@phillamoore157]

That's a GREAT idea... I'd also like to see a Tele with an LP-style bridge, to see how close to that sound you could get with a Tele. I'd love to have a tele where I could get that LP bite, and clarity from the bridge, then have a classic tele sound in the neck. You'd be able to cover almost any territory that involves a guitar hero with a guitar like that.

[@howardskinner4916]

Thanks, Aaron! I've got all three bodies, in swamp ash, as tested. They are all resonant, toneful, soulful. In my opinion, the Warmoth bodies are better than Fender. My '68 body was especially poor quality - it appeared to be pieced together from packing crates. It's five pieces and is now a wall decoration. I replaced it with your one-piece Swamp Ash solid body and it just SINGS!

[@sunn_bass]

Nice comparison. I couldn't tell any significant tonal difference between the 3 except a very slight difference in the clean middle position for the thinline. Might be more of a slight difference in playing than the body. I notice that when I play, how the body feels, the weight and shape all tend to affect how I play the guitar. This for me has more impact on my sound than the wood, at least for me. Great video as always.

[@BrianBrazilHarmonica]

The Thin Line model sounded the best in all positions. There wasn't much of a difference between the other 2. As you said most of any difference can be changed by turning the controls on the guitar, the amp or effect pedal. What's the most important to me is the profile of the neck, the radius of the fretboard, the comfort contours of the body, the balance of the guitar and the weight. I have one of your 1972 Thin Line models with 2 Humbuckers that weighs a little under 5 pounds when it was completed. It was given to me buy a very good friend. I won't ever let it go.

[@giuliocarmassi]

Thanks so much for these tests! Another great one! C definitely had more core and focus than A and a whole lot more than the thin line. It is true that in the end you could just favor a thicker sounding amp and/or speaker and/or pickup. In the end each element is just another mild eq. it's not an accident that a lot of semi hollow bodies have humbuckers instead of single coils. For me a relatively light solid body is still the best compromise. Also you could use a softer wood like mahogany to tame the high frequencies a bit on a thin line.

[@iagobroxado]

The reason semi hollows originally started getting humbuckers is because Gibson wanted a hum-free solution for the P90 pickup that would normally come on all of their guitars. The other brands just copied them afterwards.

[@mnemonik61]

Yeah, I was surprised that C was my favorite because I expected to prefer the chambered body! I kept coming back to C because it had that Tele 'quack' goin' on and sounded tighter in the bottom end. Always loved that sound even though I'm a "Srat guy," lol.

[@jameswalker4704]

The fact that they don't sound noticably different will never stop endless debates among those who think they can tell a difference.....

[@2204JCM]

I can tell the difference between a 10 and a 20 instrument cable (Plugged into guitar and front of amp) but these all sounded the same minus the human variation in the performances.

[@DrLumpy]

@@2204JCM To me, a 10 foot black cable sounds just like a 20 foot red cable.

[@johngermain5146]

I loved A, the chambered, thought it had both great bass and treble. B, the thinline lost the bass but otherwise sounded nearly the same. C, the solid body was closer to A, chambered, but not quite as full. The neck position had the least difference between guitars, while in bridge mode, the difference was more obvious. That's my opinion, and I'm sticking to it.

[@shredgd5]

I read your comment after mine and definitely agree! That’s probably why I love the tone of my weight-relieved LP standard from 2013! This video adds to facts when debating about guitar body resonance and its effect on the plugged-in guitar tone!

[@russellzauner]

Dang. That's hard core. I love so much that you included the shot of them all sketched out on the same slab. We appreciate some good wood and woodcraft here in Orygone lol

[@Dorachagi1]

I think the difference is noticeable when clean, but throw in some pedals and it's almost imperceptible. All sound good, but in every one of your videos comparing different bodies, after listening through fully blind it always turns out that my favorite was the chambered. This was very educational, thank you!

[@Jydmd]

I'd be curious to know how much weight is lost from the tummy, forearm and heel contour. I'd assume it's not that much, but it would probably do *some* difference.

[@AR-do3gj]

C was a super noticeable difference. A and B sounds super close

[@chrishyde1216]

If the sound is close, and the guitar is a noticeable lighter weight, then that's the guitar for me. Sound can be shaped with pedals, but you can't easily make a guitar more comfortable.

[@crimson8606]

A test 1: 3:37 B test 1: 4:00 C test 1: 4:23 A test 2: 4:50 B test 2: 5:22 C test 2: 5:54 A test 3: 6:29 B test 3: 6:46 C test 3: 7:03 A test 4: 7:24 B test 4: 7:40 C test 4: 7:59

[@ClaudioMartella]

I thought A was solid, as I perceived to have more low end. I was surprised to see how much i could tell the thinline had less low end (nothing extraordinary, but very noticeable to me).

[@johngermain5146]

That's my same conclusion. I listen using a good home theater setup, so no pc speakers, ear buds, etc.

[@mojostephen]

Honestly? I really couldn't hear much difference between the 3. At the level at which I play, it probably wouldn't matter anyway. However, I'm thinking that my next guitar will be a thinline...

[@lonpollard902]

For me it was A. B was disappointing, as it sounded actually closer to C than A did. I would have expected it to be A) thinline, B) chambered, and C) solid. But of course the f hole have it away that B was thinline. I have a thinline I'm getting ready to construct, and this video has me thinking that chambered would have given me more of what I was looking for. But, so be it. And really, all three sounded closer to one another than I was expecting, so it probably isn't that important. And most things seem to make only subtle difference, al of these adding up to that guitars sound. Though of course there are those who insist that only pickups make a difference, and would go on endlessly about how the pickups were probably at subtle height differences.

[@copperaudio9664]

Aaron - thank you! Almost nobody else does these kinds of comparisons and explanations. Really helpful and interesting stuff.

[@davidrussell8783]

From here, it seemed more reverb in the low to mid frequencies in the thinline. A bit of sostenuto. The chambered I recognized as a closer sound to the thinline. The solid seemed the most flat of the three but a little brighter on high frequencies. But I wasn't holding any of them. Just listeneibg on a mobile phone. But there is not sufficient difference in the tonal quality to prefer one. Weight would make the thinline my choice.

[@Sperzel]

I think your point at around 10:00 about acoustic tone vs amplified tone is spot on. Unless you’re playing with closed headphones or at really loud levels the acoustic sound will influence what you hear.

[@The11eleven]

And feel

[@chuchuchip]

I had a Fender Double Cut Thinline with P90s in the past. I loved the sound of the Thinline, but I disliked it to the point of annoyance as it felt headstock heavy. I was never comfortable except when sitting to play the guitar & even then I found myself constantly shifting to pick up the headstock. This could be the reason I prefer solid bodies.

[@peterschaefer1665]

Hello Aaran! Do any of the lighter variants cause neck dive when wearing the tele?

[@WyldestZakk1980]

I found the Solid one had the tightest sound. The Thinline had a "wider" sound.

[@JDStone20]

Nice work! I couldn't tell a difference between any of them.

[@Mark70609]

They sounded the same to me. If there was a difference Is wasn’t enough for me to worry about.

[@soyborne.bornmadeandundone1342]

@@Mark70609 Perhaps acoustic there is a diff. If you're in the same room live with it making sound in real life while carefully listening like a mofo... Then you might notice some SLIGHT diffs lol. Also string gauge matters for that sort of acoustic thing. 9s are easier to bend than 11s but 11s are a tiny bit louder acoustically speaking. Bigger the string, bigger the sound. No one should really care all that much about these minor deets. Pickups, amp, effects, and player skill/style matter the absolute most. Then small crap like tuners, bridges, terms, strings, finishes, neck/body/wood type/shape/size etc etc...

[@Spaceman-jo5mz]

Agree with your observations 💯 And to my ears the C had a minuscule bit more snap than A & B

[@juddalexander5642]

That’s a LOT of work! Good results! I couldn’t tell much difference between the chambered and solid bodies. Definitely heard the volume drop in the thinline. If I we building one, weight would be a major consideration. I’d probably go with either the chambered or thin-line given the tonal differences are minor. Appreciate your videos!

[@NorthShoreMike]

I thought the chambered and solid body sounded quite similar in clean tests, but the thinline had less body/girth to the tone. With some dirt, I found it difficult to tell them apart. Based on those clean test perceptions, I *slightly* favored the solid body over chambered but not by much at all. Thanks for doing this, very enlightening.

[@acme.videos]

I was fooled...I thought that guitar #1 was the solid body and #3 was the chambered body, but I preferred the sound of guitar #1 the chambered body. 🤯🤷‍♂ Great comparison demo!!!!! Thanks for the great videos!!

[@stevepuffery8918]

I was sure A was the solid body….

[@perrins57]

I was surprised to find it was the chambered body I liked the most - tone wise. But I agree that the differences were not significant. If you want to save your back, get a chambered or thinline.

[@riders.oregon4474]

They all sound good. Each have their own thing. Balance is important to me. The thinline would probably neck dive.

[@warmoth]

Yep, agreed. Neck dive is a non-starter for me as well.

[@JosephGallagher]

OMG, I thought the chambered was the solid 😮 On the cleans the Thinline really drops all bass, but it makes no difference once the dirt comes on. Amazing comparison, Aaron ❤

[@nealixd.3011]

I took both a solid pine body SSH Tele and a Thinline mahogany Tele to a six hours gig. They were both the (made in China) Fender Modern Player Series, but the Thinline had the Seymour Duncan USA P-Rails with single coil, P90 and HB tones from the push/pull pots. Both guitars packed a lot of single coil and HB tones. The solid body simply had a little more volume thump, cut and midrange presence that better cut through or sat better in the mix of vocals, drums, bass guitar, keys/steel guitar, with one player alternating on either the steel guitar or keys, and singing too. He was very talented. The Thinline was more airy and bass-y, and didn't cut through as well, it had more of a scooped midrange. It seemed to be a little less present, more lost in the mix, or didn't sit in the mix as well. Just my experience with those two particular guitars running through a Fender Super Champ XD. I was playing both lead and rhythm guitar parts. The Thinline might have fared better with a little more wattage and a 12" speaker, but the solid body pine carried the day on that gig, at least to my ears. YMMV.

[@joeschlicht]

I did get it right (and I didn't cheat), the thinline was obvious, but the other two... I felt C was brighter and I associated that with a solid body... At first I liked that the best, but further in the test I started liking A the best. I'm surprised, I kinda thought I would like the thinline best or the solid, a chambered would be my last choice, but here it's my favorite. Cool test. Big thanks for doing it.

[@RedArrow73]

Roasted Mahogany, Aaron!

[@evankolpack]

The solidbody sounded more defined, tight, thumpy bass, clear ringing notes and string definition. The thinline sounded warmer, flatter, more "jazzy", less tight. I thought I was going to prefer the thinline, but ended up being the exact opposite on every test. THANK YOU for taking the time to make this. I came out to your shop in Puyallup about 30 years ago and bought a B-stock neck for a strat I built when I was 14 years old. That thing is still my #1 guitar....never finished the neck (despite your warnings) and it's been rock solid! Pau ferro on maple. You guys rock!

[@IamMusicNerd]

Thinline for the win!

3:30 you're killing it today best video

[@warmoth]

BAD MONKEY!!!

[@italoop7850]

I got the 3 Teles right... chamber > hollow > solid. I'm in the studying phase to build my 7th Warmoth guitar. This will be a Telecaster with 3 Lollar Charlie Christian pickups. Body will be swamp ash with a black korina top (for the looks). I'm mostly attracted to the chambered choice as tone is nice, close to the solid and it doesn't have the reduced volume of the thinline one. Weight relief is also a bonus there. But I have to consider better the chambered version vs. the solid one as I'm still not 100% set on this. Another source of big doubt is the bridge!!!! It has to be a steel base plate with brass saddles, that's undebatable but the issue for my ears is intonation. Old vintage saddles are out of question. The new modern compensated ones seems to be a better choice but I'm still afraid that they'll always be a compromise about good intonation, which is something a 6 saddles bridge can handle with far superior precision but it won't completely sound as a Tele where 2 strings share the same piece of metal.. This will be a hard one to decide! Thank you for your videos, Aaron! Thay can be a big help for us out here.

[@Donnybrook10]

A has the edge to mine ear. The bridge sounds great. The B guitar is not as bright and loses resonance from that F hole I guess. I'm surprised the chambered sounds better to me but we all know no two pieces of wood are alike. Grain pattern, density...everything matters and they change over time. Old string instruments and woodwinds have dramatically better tone than new as the wood matures and gets "played in". The opposite experience could be true from a different solid body and a different chambered body. You could literally build 10 exact same guitars and they would all have subtle differences. We all know there's that 1 in a million guitar that inexplicably has that magic. If you are lucky enough to land one, never let it go. So it's an interesting test but not scientific as mileage may vary.

[@jorisguitars]

You always do great vids man, thanks

[@MrAbonze]

Listening directly on my phone speaker, to be honest, I can't tell the difference. I pick a chambered body as weight is quite an issue for me at this age. Thinline i don't really prefer jz bcoz of that neck pickup wire has to go inside

[@HEZ63]

I like Thinlines, have a slighty different attack and for me a more complex sound than a solid body Tele. But anyway every Tele sounds different in some way... One of my favorite guitars is a rare semi-solid / intensely chambered Les Paul with solid maple top. When I got it, I thought, wow, this is light weighted. Only 3.2 kg instead of the 4 kg of my solid body one. Then the tone is a typical Les Paul tone concerning sustain, but with a slightly faster attack, some more freshness and some really beautiful, well audible acoustic quality in the tone, which you hardly get from a solid body, but also very different to the more percussive tone of an ES-335 or ES-339 or an Ibanez AM. So it's for me some sort of best of both worlds for me. I only replaced the high-gain pickups, for me a Les Paul needs PAF's or P90's. But I added a bass-cut for the neck pickup, which makes this guitar to one of my most flexible ones, as this control also affect the combined pickup sound(s) and so even makes a Strat obsolete. At the moment I am considering, if I should buy a Thinline or solid body Tele, but it's not so easy to get a good sounding one in a reasonable price range. Once I had a wonderful, but also expensive 1990's ash Blade Delta, this was more or less perfect (apart from the typically abrasive gold hardware) and also a Squier Double Fat with chambered mahogany body, set-neck and Duncan designed humbuckers, also nice sounding, but the nut width was too low for me. (39mm). So my personal experience is, the diffferences for an audience (or on KZbin) may not be so intensely audible, but the feeling, if playing, certainly is it for the player himself. Simply sounds more natural, organic and right in some way. A semi-solid or Thinline adds some more "dimensionality" to the tone, I would say. This is something, which you hear in the room, but even the best microphones hardly will capture this authentically. If you want to keep things simple, you cannot do much wrong with a solid body Tele too. But my favorite among the bodies here would be the semi-solid, I think. Alone, because my pullovers, shirts or hoodies and the sharp edges of the f-hole never ever became the very best friends... ;-) Nice comparison!

[@barnettg66]

Spot on that the perception when holding and playing is different than just hearing it over speakers or headphones. When I got my first Warmoth neck -- a Gibson conversion -- I did maybe 100+ swaps with the stock Fender Strat neck trying to hear subtle differences. I concluded that I was mostly chasing sound gremlins in my imagination. But the Gibson conversion was easier to play, and so I sounded better on it. It was me, not necessarily the neck itself.

[@rickbarmore1167]

I have 5 Tele's. 50th, 60th, 70th, and the 75th Anniversary Editions and a 1960 CustomShop Relic. You can hear the difference from from the hollow and the 2 other guitars (solid/chamber) big time. The hollow sounds hollow! No punch to 😮 it. Whereas the solid/chamber has a great punchy/crunchy sound I have altered 2 of the tele's with the Dimarzio Super Distortion at the Bridge and a neck Single Coil Humbucker pickup. The sound, AWESOME. Learned that from Phil Collen's of Def Leppard. The twangieness is literally gone. I own a few Gibsons and a few Strats to include the SRV Lenny remake I bought on 08. Played it once and boxed her up occasionally changing the strings and tunning it up w/a few strums. To me, the Tele is forgiving and the neck just feels tight & right. The 1960, I purchased a week agand I do believe that I will change out the Bridge Plate and the pickups 🎉 Party time, lol. Thanks for the demo and keep them coming. Great Value😊... JAM-ON,, Ricky

[@sonijam]

Oh wow! I picked A as my favorite in every example. Guess I prefer a chambered tele. 😊

[@user-cq3oh8eq3n]

I guessed all three, and thought that the differences are similar in every test. I own Warmoth (and other) solid and chambered body guitars, and I prefer the solid bodies. I've had problems with the chambered bodies sounding too thin. Anyway, thanks for the meticulous and well-conducted test. You and Warmoth contribute a lot to knowledge of the guitar.

[@BenBreard]

I love these videos. Aaron, please tell your boss that I said you've earned a raise!

[@LLSicilia]

have spoken to yr boss and he will approve if you also include metric units for weights 👍🏻

[@bengreenwellmusic9225]

Haha, I thought A was solid and I preferred it. I was gutted because I’ve just bought a chambered body. Brilliant. Thanks 🙏

[@FunkAndFluff]

Aaron does such a solid job of both indulging the tweaky folks who are tough to satisfy while also making it clear these tonal differences in types of construction, species of wood, etc. are so minor that nobody will care about those details while listening to your playing. Just pick out parts that suit your style and you'll be fine~

[@steverolfeca]

I was surprised by the volume difference and slight low end loss with the Thinline. Doesn’t change the fact that amplified to equal volume, my Mahogany thinline (Squier body, fat and wide roasted maple aftermarket neck) sounds as big (and a little more open) than most solids. Don’t know if that’s just luck of the draw, or the mahogany… Plus, I like the feel of the lighter thinline. Makes me want to jump around in a way when performing that I don’t feel when playing heavier instruments.

[@warmoth]

Yes, it surprised me too. Because humans tend to perceive louder as better I considered equalizing the levels, but then I said "no...gotta post the true results, no matter what they are." Equalize the volumes and I think they sound very, very similar, and if the weight of a thinline gives you wings on stage.....gotta fly!

[@michapikua7974]

For me chambered have fullest sound and sustain..... Thinline was for me flattest..... And solid less sustain..... Make sense?

[@averysbragbook]

Listening to this in my headphones while playing stfc. Not realizing that your even switching guitars. The main difference might be how they feel. Almost no perceptible audio difference.

[@CarlWinter-oy8uf]

Do you have the chord tabs for those great sounding chords ? (test 5 bridge position A--CHAPTER 8 ) -8:18--APPRECIATE !

[@simonsmith2642]

I had a bit of trouble, with chambered and solid, but had nonissue hearing thin line. But, Im also almost 50 and never wore earplugs so my high end is gone just ringing tinnitus. The thinline I could pick it out blind though. Deffinitely has an almost 339 quality to it but not quite. I could hear the chamber box resonating. If you were in the same room as the amp. Thats what I heard. Your amp entering the F hole and resonating a “bloom” and a woody thing I didnt hear with the other two. But I admit my old ears had trouble between chambered and solid. I can hear it on a LP but couldnt on a T style.

[@crimsonwring2723]

Certainly not DRAMATICALLY different from each other, but that makes sense given these are variations of a well-defined “recipe”. That being said, I can hear the subtle differences between all 3. For me the Thinline is the most pleasing to my ear, especially on the clean chords in the middle position. The differences were more in the harmonics for me as the chords progressed & decayed. A pushed higher harmonics that were a bit shrill for me, B (thinline) the harmonics were more mid/balanced and “softer”, and C has seemed to have some harmonic highs fighting each other…it actually hurt. Makes sense why I just played my first Thinline ever yesterday and instantly connected with it…soooo, there may be one in my small arsenal very soon.

[@nachyomoney3598]

I dont know how much they sound similar or different plugged in, and a lot depends on your amp, pedals, tone, and your fingers. But, what I like about my thinline tele is that the semi-hollow body has enough volume that I can play late at night and practice unplugged, and it still sounds amazing and doesn't wake family, roomates, or neighbors up. Also, a true thinline tele has the wide range of humbuckers vs. the traditional tele single coil pick-ups. My MIM 72 Thinline sounds noticably diffrent from traditional tele's or even your thinline with single coils.

[@olsterful]

I felt as if there might be more articulation for the bass on the thinline, an airiness, which I could only really hear on rythmn / strumming?

[@prattacaster]

It was odd that the thinline, just in bridge position, didn't have as much volume. Seems like the other positions were closely matched. I wish the volume was normalized

[@DeadRedRider]

Wood choice, thickness, density, and cavities make NO difference when it comes to how an ELECTRIC guitar sounds. There is no such thing as tone wood. Pickup choice, pickup position, pickup clearance, and pickup orientation, matter. Wood choice is only aesthetic.

[@FrazySting]

Excellent as always.

[@markmm1066]

Cool test! I have a Deluxe Thinline from Warmoth with humbucker-sized P90s (GFS Dream 90s) and everyone comments on the tone. P90s can be dark, and I wonder if the lack of "girthiness" of the thinline helps tame that.

[@MulaMusic67]

If pushed, I'd pick the chambered (A), but I agree there's not much in it, the loss of volume on the Thinline being the most noticeable difference. The weight difference on the chambered is probably the main reason to go for it, rather than any tonal differences, but it's still the same conclusion. Thanks for doing this Aaron - a lot of effort on your part. 😎

[@TristanJCumpole]

It's always a false lede to open with; "Does X sound as good as Y or Z?" "Good" is absolutely subjective. One may sound more appropriate for a specific style, or may shine in a particular person's hands....or ears. They have differences, and it's the player's job to navigate those differences and find their "one". Pickups are likely going to exaggerate some of the real differences, especially with a particularly lively Thinline in volume situations. I like them a little microphonic and direct-mounted if the body is a bit lively and sounds loud acoustically.

[@pastorkev777]

I preferred guitar A the whole time, but it was not a big difference. How it sounds, ays and feels unplugged in my hands is nost important.

[@JackTheSkunk]

Listening on a Tablet I couldn't hear much difference at all. Maybe at the library with headphones. (?) My ideal Tele would be a chambered body, (swamp ash/maple top), Sienna finish, humbucker at the neck and single coil at the bridge and a 25" scale neck. Add a Bigsby and I am a happy camper.

[@anthonydallago2971]

Aaah I just ordered A Chambered tele Korina body, and then found this video! I have been a guitar tech for 25 years And I knew the solid body the moment I heard a low E string note. It sounded too big strangely, compared to the Thinline or Chambered They sounded much the same..... so its Chambered for me.

[@prattacaster]

Those pickguards sound completely different

[@Faydit212]

I usually play Solid Bodies, but also like Thinlines or Chambered guitars. But, a guitar itself is a complex, interactive system, even more in a signal chain with pedals and an amp, so things are depending on a lot of interactivities. Even a different speaker will give you a dfferent, sometimes better, sometimes worse final sound. The best sounding guitar, I ever had, is a Chambered Les Paul, but I did not like it's original pickups (bridge pickup was some sort of high-gain pickup, which I did not like in a LP) , so I replaced them to a comparably cheap vintage PAF Set, added a controllable, passive bass-cut to the neck pickup (tone pot) , as this one tended to sound too bassy due to the chambers and changed the other tone control to a master tone and now it sounds awesome and even more flexible, as I can add some bass for clean neck pickup sounds and reduce it for rock or high-gain overdrive and also can use the neck pickup for overdrive lead sounds. But, the feeling and the weight is different to a Solid Body. It still rocks perfectly well, sounds great, has more than enough sustain, but also has a beautiful acoustic, organic, more directly responding and percussive character added, which a Solid Body does not offer and still sounds like a Les Paul and not like an ES-335. Same with Thinline Teles, if the rest of your setup can handle or reduce the more intense bass, you can get great, in some way more broadbanded sounds and if the neck-body connection is well made, a little less sustain is no problem, but you get the advantage of some more additional acoustic qualities and more bass, which can be an advantage or also not. Also price is an argument, usually Thinlines are more expensive than Solid Bodies. Another argument is, that the body of a Thinline has less weight that the one of a Solid Body, so it will hang even less comfortable on the strap than a Solid Body Tele, which anyway is hanging there in a not so pleasing very horizontal position, if compared to a Strat. So my perfect thinline would be one with a longer upper non-cutaway and typical strat routings (like eg. a Pacifica or Cort TC), so that the neck moves into the right, slightly upward position automatically. But this is a matter of taste. Thinlines or Chambered guitars sound very similar, more or less, the difference mostly are single coil or humbucker pickups, a Semi-Hollow (like a ES-335) is a different thing, an ES-339 or Ibanez AM something in between. Meanwhile some budget companies also offer "Thinlines", which only have routed a slightly larger part around the f-hole, but not other addidtional and authentic chambers within the body, so these are no real Thinlines in my opinion. The problem is, that you hardly can control this, if the top is glued onto the body, but the weight difference most probably will tell you the truth, about, what's really inside. If you have a weight reduction of about 0.7 to 0.9 kg, compared to the solid body model, you most probably have a real Thinline, Semi-Solid or Chambered model. If not, the f-hole is just there for cosmetic reasons and the guitar more or less is a Solid Body with the (fake) look of a Thinline or Semi-Solid, but not really with the sound of one.

[@chrispodesta8105]

I hope somebody watches this and is like But they're from different SPOTS in the same piece if lumber! Everybody KNOWS ask the tone is where they had the thinline body coming from

[@jr-g]

Really nicely done, as always, Aaron! I couldn't hear any difference between them, and totally agree with your conclusion that any slight differences one might hear (such as volume level) can easily be dialed in with pedal/amp settings.

[@KajHeGeHaggman]

Maybe I was lucky (and I have good headphones) but I got them right. I thought A sounded a bit more yangly playing clean, B had (a lot) less volume, and C sounded very solid :-) I have never thought about a chambered guitar before, but I actually preferred it here.

[@gcvrsa]

OK, I covered up half the screen so I couldn't see which was which. Although I felt I could easily live with all three of those guitars, I had a slight preference for A. I did guess correctly that is was the chambered. But the other two I got wrong. I thought B, which was my second favorite, was the solid, and C, my least favorite-buy I'm splitting hairs here, because it seemed to somehow be lacking sparkle and sounded a little more hollow, less focused, I thought was the thinline. I thought B sounded the brightest and most focused of all and I equated that with being more rigid. I felt A was the best balanced of the three. I did not perceive a volume drop with B; rather, I felt C had a slight volume drop. I should mention that my main guitar is a Rickenbacker 330, and when I bought it, the main competition for it for my money at the time was a Fender American Standard Telecaster. I ended up choosing the Rickenbacker, because I felt it had a more versatile range of sounds.

[@IanFrancisco-CAPianoman]

1.6 lbs is a significant factor. I thought the top three strings resonated more with A. Top 3 of B and C were indistinguishable. Thinline seemed weaker in the bottom end, so is it worth the weight savings? Maybe not compared to chambered, which would now probably be my choice.

[@HBSuccess]

I got it. I'd say the solid was very noticable in the low-mids (more thump as you said) also shocked at how much volume was lost w the f-hole. Great demo and shootout - good job!

[@stephanematis]

+1 for the Baaaaaad Monkey (oh Josh, what have you wrought!) I hear a small variation in Test 1, but minute to my ears. Test 2 I heard C adding more follow-through, which I guess is resonance. I love Thinlines, so maybe I have unconscious bias.

[@HaraldEngels]

In all testing scenarios I assumed that model A was the solid body. Sound-wise I would always be going for model A. As a Thin Line player I was disappointed by the Thinline body and truly astonished that the chambered model is sounding so much more rounded than both other bodies. Therefore I will look in the future for a chambered body Telecaster.

[@joegold1001]

I would have liked to have heard some clean playing on the neck pup. I think the solid body sounded the most musical. Too bad you couldn't have gotten all 3 bodies to be roughly the same weight as the solid body which was fairly light for an ash body in my experience. Anything lighter than 4lbs doesn't work for me. Both the thinline and the chambered bodies are too light for my tastes and my experience with bodies that light leads me to expect a thin sound from them, which is exactly what I heard. A chambered swamp ash body that comes in around 4.5 lbs would have been interesting to hear.

[@WmAndrewWynn]

Do the lighter bodies create a "neck heavy" guitar? While i like a lighter weight guitar, I find it very helpful when playing with a strap if a guitar is balanced to stay still on its own.

[@2needles]

I nailed the identification, wouldn't change a thing about my preference. Thinlines rule! (Hey, I'm old, every ounce lost is a win.)

[@yafittsouri8054]

i hear a substantial difference. the thinlines is slightly whimpish, less mass is auditable, so less bass. however, i loved the sound of the bridge pickup on it. If one wants Rock out i would take the solid or chambered, but i think the thinline might be more interesting to play. I have a solid tele so its just for me to decide without comparison, if i like thinlines, and i can afford trying one. If i could only choose one, id probably y go with a solid or chambered thanks for the video. I'm considering a thinline, but with humbuckers. thanks

[@sparrowhawk81]

Screw the guitar body what is the table you are using made out of? I'm wearing headphones and every time you touch it or set something on it I hear what sounds like an elephant stomping on a huge drum.

[@druwk]

Weight. I really don’t like playing heavy weight guitars. So yeah, after this test, Chambered or Hollow for sure!

[@aalperuzun]

It's a great job you do here. Thanks a lot. And i knew C is the solid one and its the best one. But is it worth that much weight? As a 4 hours gigging working man, for me, no! My main guitar is a thinline for almost 20 years.

[@SlavJerry]

I can't tell a difference, but thinline tele sure looks pretty

[@onewiththings]

tone holes matter! Everything is nullified because you stood closer to the camera with A. Also, you should have played Van Halen songs so that we could hear the true tone of the guitars, without these post rock riffs masking the tone woods. Congrats on being a Grandpa!

[@rickjason215]

Thin line was the worst for me. Surprisingly, I liked the chambered the most. They all sounded pretty much the same.

[@jacqueslapidieux3182]

Super effort! The review we all needed. Fwiw, I nailed all 3. My favourite was A.

[@WalterStoermer]

Guitar A sounds like what I play, and chambered sounds different, but you notice it more after playing one for a few years, and then you play something else.

[@akwamarsunzal]

All pretty close. A and C were almost identical. Only heard a real variance on B, it´s the pickguard.... I guess that goes to prove the tone plastic is a real thing! 🤣🤣🤣

[@welmoeloraculo]

I guessed right!, I prefer the chambered for hoy it sounds. The low end and high end are like compressed, without edges. Thanks for al these videos, they are very useful and informative

[@donbishop6994]

Got all 3 right, but the tonal difference in a full mix would make it almost impossible to tell them apart. No need for such nitpicking. Play what feels comfortable, the crowd doesnt care about the tone.

[@lairlair2]

I did get the chambered right, but I really went blind test mode and swapped out the thinline and solid bodies. I agree though, they all sound similar, I'd be curious to test the difference in feel

[@yafittsouri8054]

and just observation, the chambered has slightly more highs and starts having a thinline character. so to me, less wood - less bass or lower midrange, which clears up the spectrum for more high to be audible.