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any ways to reduce hollowbody feedback?


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hey, i play a few hollowbody guitars through a fifty watt silvertone amp. with just compression and sustain, they sound fine, but i want to know if anyone knows about any tips on how to play with over drive or light distortion without uncontrollable feedback. i know it could just be my guitars. ones a harmony meteor, the other is a harmony hollywood. if thats the case, can anyone recommend some hollowbodys that can sound alright through distortion. thanks

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The only time I've had the problem, I stuffed a Godin multiac nylon with soft foam. I bought it at an upholstery shop.

 

It stopped the feedback cold. The acoustic sound of the guitar clearly became muffled, but the electric tone wasn't audibly affected.

 

I've heard that blowing up ballons inside the guitar can also work.

 

Somebody on the web sells nice looking covers for f holes. I've heard they work, but I've never tried them.

 

Taping the holes on the Godin did NOT work.

 

One last point: I fully agree with the comment above about compression. It can definitely contribute to feedback. My Godin will still feedback if I use too much compression. Even with all that foam.

 

Rick

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thanks for all the info, one of the reasons i ask is because theres a few artists ive seen perform with hollowbodies, and use distortion without too many problems. theres videos on youtube of the white stripes playing lets build a home, and a lot of josh hommes guitars are hollowbodies, along with troy van leuween or whatever his name is. do you think they stuff theirs? jack white in particular because his is a cheap japanese es 335 knock off

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The unique tone of hollowbodies come from the fact that the top resonates. Filling the guitar with foam will only lessen the acoustic sound of the guitar. Some of the greatest tones come from the guitar 'hearing' the amp.

 

My first suggestion would be to get rid of the effects and only use a distortion pedal. Also, facing the amp another way can help.

 

I have 2 different hollowbodies currently and have had a few others in the past. Keep the signal chain as simple as possible. Try a smaller amp and drive the tubes harder.

 

Johnny

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I read an interview with BB King where he talked about stuffing the f-holes in his 335 with towels to kill feedback many years ago, one of the reasons his signature model doesn't have any f-holes like the much rarer 355. Ted Nugent said that he used to use blow-in foam to kill the feedback in his Byrdland. I'd be scared of that method, especially with the expandable foam stuff they sell nowadays. You could spray a little bit of it in and before you know it CRACK!!! goes the top or the sides of the guitar. The modern gap filling gunk can really expand quite well.

 

Anything you do will have an effect on the tone, although how much of an effect is debateable. There are certain guitar players *coughericjohnsoncough* that believe some effects pedals sound better if one takes the screws out of the bottom plates and holds them together with rubber bands instead. It's just a matter of weighing the pros and cons.

 

Have you tried a parametric EQ? Sometimes hollowbodies tend to resonate primarily on certain frequencies. With a parametric you could slice out the offending frequency without killing your overall tone too much.

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Originally posted by where02190

If you're going to stuff the guitar to lessen the feedback, just play a solidbody.

I have to disagree with that comment, it's a completely differant tone. If you want proof then try it. It will sound NOTHING like a solid body in the slightest. Yes it will change the tone, but yuou might like that tone more than before, and for that tone sacrifice you will have no feedback, kinda like adding a noise gate to your rig.

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I have a Cort Yorkville Semi-hollow body and experience the same problem. The post about the EQ may work because I defenitly noticed my guitar's body has a resonant frequency around 440 A. With the right amount of distortion, I can hold an A all day, go for a bite and come back and it's still "AAAaaaa".:D Sorry I can't add much info though because i've yet to try stuffing it, I just use my strat, but i've been told it works. Thanks for posting though, I'd forgot I had this problem. Enjoyed the advice.

 

-Scott

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Nuge trying to kill feedback? Man, that's disappointing... feedback was one of the hallmarks of his sound and style. And his tone through those SuperTwin stacks depended on it.

 

Then again, last I saw of him was the biker thing on VH-1 and he was using a LesPaul. I liked him much better using the Byrdland.

Originally posted by J.

Ted Nugent said that he used to use blow-in foam to kill the feedback in his Byrdland. I'd be scared of that method,

Gotta say, if I were looking to avoid feedback I'd use a guitar that doesn't feed back! Why mess with the acoustic properties of a nice hollowbody?

 

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Speaking solely from the experience of having stuffed one guitar, the amplified tone didn't noticeably change, even though the acoustic sound was muffled by the foam. This was a Godin nylon multiac with the hex RMC pickup (piezo, I guess, mounted in the bridge saddles).

 

Apparently, the vibration of the top didn't matter that much to the pickups, at least not at feedback frequencies.

 

Previously I'd attempted to manage the feedback with EQ, with an acoustic amp with an antifeedback circuit, with playing in stereo with the amps facing away, by keeping my body in between the guitar and the amp and by taping the soundholes. None of that worked.

 

Using compression, though, makes it feedback even with the body stuffed.

 

On the other hand, years ago a friend and I traded solos using a 175 and a Les Paul and neither of us could tell them apart by sound on a good quality field recording.

 

Still, based on this very limited experience, I'd say that it may make sense to stuff the body rather than switch to a solid body, particularly if you like the feel and look of the guitar. I'd suggest soft upholstery foam cut into narrow strips, so that they can be removed without too much trouble, if necessary.

 

Rick

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