Semi Hollow acoustic Bass / choices

[Gazz]

I'm looking at purchasing a Semi Hollow bass in the New Year. Far too many to chose from, anyone had experience with Hagstrom Viking? 

[Bigguy2017]

Re Hagstrom Viking - good and bad

 

The good - it's an affordable semi and has a good solid thumpy sound.

 

The bad - the crappiest selector switch ever, ergonomic issues - like all the semis with a trapeze tail piece, the bridge ends up being halfway up the body, so you have to shove the thing well to the right to get to a sensible plucking position.

 

After a fret level and replacing the 6 way rotary switch with a Switchcraft toggle (and binning the coil taps) I am a lot happier... 

 

I suggest trying one before buying. Sound wise it's good and the slim neck is great.

 

I'd look at a Guild Starfire as the best (?) option. YMMV

 

 

[Len_derby]

How about the Yamaha Bex? Let me know if you like what you see or read.

 

 

[Rich]

A Chowny CHB would be a great one if you can find one for a good price.

 

[neepheid]

Narrow it down for us - what scale length are you wanting?

[Gazz]

45 minutes ago, neepheid said:

Narrow it down for us - what scale length are you wanting?

not fussed about scale length tbh, most of my basses are long scale, so I'd probably prefer long. 

[neepheid]

Long scale?  Epiphone Jack Casady.

 

*mic drop*

 

[Gazz]

49 minutes ago, Rich said:

A Chowny CHB would be a great one if you can find one for a good price.

 

Havnt heard good reports about the Chowny, there's not many I like the look of, all crazy colours, like bright blue and bright green, love to see a black one, or a white... 

[Gazz]

3 minutes ago, neepheid said:

Long scale?  Epiphone Jack Casady.

 

*mic drop*

 

Cheers, I'll check it out... 

[Rich]

1 minute ago, Gazz said:

Havnt heard good reports about the Chowny, there's not many I like the look of, all crazy colours, like bright blue and bright green, love to see a black one, or a white... 

 

The photo doesn't do the sapphire burst justice, it is utterly gorgeous in the flesh. If I was to buy one, it would absolutely be in that blue. And IMO, they are damned fine basses. Surprisingly versatile sound. 

[BigRedX]

Warwick StarBass

[Gazz]

3 hours ago, Bigguy2017 said:

Re Hagstrom Viking - good and bad

 

The good - it's an affordable semi and has a good solid thumpy sound.

 

The bad - the crappiest selector switch ever, ergonomic issues - like all the semis with a trapeze tail piece, the bridge ends up being halfway up the body, so you have to shove the thing well to the right to get to a sensible plucking position.

 

After a fret level and replacing the 6 way rotary switch with a Switchcraft toggle (and binning the coil taps) I am a lot happier... 

 

I suggest trying one before buying. Sound wise it's good and the slim neck is great.

 

I'd look at a Guild Starfire as the best (?) option. YMMV

 

 

I don't mind a few things to sort, how tricky was the Switchcraft toggle to sort? I can do most electrical, but I ant a dentist.... you know what I mean. Don't like the look of the Starfire. 

[casapete]

1 hour ago, Len_derby said:

How about the Yamaha Bex? Let me know if you like what you see or read.

 

 

I’ve toyed with the idea of getting one of these Neil , do you have one?

[Len_derby]

Just now, casapete said:

I’ve toyed with the idea of getting one of these Neil , do you have one?

I do, Pete. I’ve switched over to short-scale basses almost exclusively so it’s not getting played anymore. I’ll send you a pm.

[PaulThePlug]

I'd like a Harley Benton HB50...

https://www.thomann.co.uk/harley_benton_hb_50_vintage_orange.htm

with Flats...

https://www.thomann.co.uk/harley_benton_hqs_bass_45_100_flatwound.htm

£225...

[Dad3353]

I have an HB50, an Epiphone Casady and a vintage Hofner Verithin to cover my 'f-hole' bass needs. I'd like a Chowny one day, and a Ricky 4005, if I came into riches.
Of the three I have, they cover different 'bases'. For those troubled by weight, the (vintage...) Verithin cannot be beaten (although the violin basses and the Hofner Club are light, too...). For variety of useful sounds, and for recording, the Casady is tops, and for general-purpose basic bass-playing the Harley Benton does a fine job. Be aware that it can be an issue, finding a suitable hard case (or even a decent gig-bag...) for some of these basses, due to their bulk. 

(I'll spare you the list of my other Hofner f-hole basses, not considered 'modern' enough these days, but excellent instrument ...)

Edited 20 hours ago by Dad3353

[Franticsmurf]

Ibanez AGB200 or the tastefully reliced AGBR200. They are short scale basses but very nice to play and a lovely 'woody' sound. 

[Bigguy2017]

6 hours ago, Gazz said:

I don't mind a few things to sort, how tricky was the Switchcraft toggle to sort? I can do most electrical, but I ant a dentist.... you know what I mean. Don't like the look of the Starfire. 

Pretty straightfoward... it needs the short toggle switch.

Managed to do it via the F hole - tie some twine onto the old switch to help fishing in the new one...

 

 

 

 

Hagstrom Viking Bass switching LAYOUT 01C.pdf Hagstrom Viking Bass switching LAYOUT 03A toggle.pdf

Edited 20 hours ago by Bigguy2017

[Gazz]

3 hours ago, Bigguy2017 said:

Pretty straightfoward... it needs the short toggle switch.

Managed to do it via the F hole - tie some twine onto the old switch to help fishing in the new one...

 

 

 

 

Hagstrom Viking Bass switching LAYOUT 01C.pdf 1.29 MB · 3 downloads Hagstrom Viking Bass switching LAYOUT 03A toggle.pdf 15.48 kB · 2 downloads

Wow, thanks for that, a great help if needed. 

[SICbass]

12 hours ago, Franticsmurf said:

Ibanez AGB200 or the tastefully reliced AGBR200. They are short scale basses but very nice to play and a lovely 'woody' sound. 

I really want to try one of the Artcore basses. Most of the shortscale semis seem to have narrower string spacing. The Jack Casady has “normal” 19mm spacing and feels great in the hand, but for my money didn’t sound old-school thuddy enough.

Thomann (with the exception of the Artcore basses) have the annoying habit of listing the nut width, but not the string-spacing at the bridge, which IMO much more affects how wide string-spacing feels.

 

I love my Eastwood Classic 4, but even that is only 16mm spacing, which is sub-optimal 

Edited 9 hours ago by SICbass

[Franticsmurf]

4 hours ago, SICbass said:

I really want to try one of the Artcore basses. Most of the shortscale semis seem to have narrower string spacing. The Jack Casady has “normal” 19mm spacing and feels great in the hand, but for my money didn’t sound old-school thuddy enough.

Thomann (with the exception of the Artcore basses) have the annoying habit of listing the nut width, but not the string-spacing at the bridge, which IMO much more affects how wide string-spacing feels.

 

I love my Eastwood Classic 4, but even that is only 16mm spacing, which is sub-optimal 

My unscientific measurement suggests that the string spacing at the bridge of my AGBR200 is 18.5mm with an overall width (outer edge of string to outer edge of string) of 57.5mm.

 

 

 

 

[SICbass]

1 hour ago, Franticsmurf said:

My unscientific measurement suggests that the string spacing at the bridge of my AGBR200 is 18.5mm with an overall width (outer edge of string to outer edge of string) of 57.5mm.

 

 

 

 

Luvverly. I hadn‘t seen an AGB with the aged look. I thought they only offered that finish on the AFB.

Do you feel that the fixed bridge affects the sound much? They are less faff than the moving ones, but is that at the cost of the woody sound?

[Franticsmurf]

52 minutes ago, SICbass said:

Do you feel that the fixed bridge affects the sound much? They are less faff than the moving ones, but is that at the cost of the woody sound?

I'm sorry but I couldn't tell you how the bridge affects the sound as I don't really have any experience of comparing the two designs. I bought it because I was on the lookout for a semi acoustic to give me that woody sound as the band were doing songs that could benefit from it. It was also bought to replace an acoustic bass that just wasn't holding up at acoustic gigs. I'm very happy with the sound - it's usually played via a clean pre-amp with little shaping into the desk as the natural tone needs nothing else (in my opinion). I had previously tried a Sire GB5 which was a nice bass but uncomfortable to play and the sound was too 'clean'(i.e. not woody). I was fortunate enough to see the AGBR200 2nd hand in GAK and snapped it up.

[uk_lefty]

On 05/11/2025 at 13:47, neepheid said:

Long scale?  Epiphone Jack Casady.

 

*mic drop*

 

This all day long.

 

There's an Andertons video where they compare some semi-hollows including the Warwick Star and Epiphone Jack Cassady, some others too I think... That should give you a good idea of the possible sounds. 

 

I had an Epiphone JC and found it really versatile, great bass.