thoughts
Who Uses Hybrids?
The hybrid guitar market seems to be growing. Ibanez is the latest company to offer a hybrid — the Montage — joining Taylor, Parkwood, Michael Kelly, and Ovation. The fact that the market is growing is not a huge surprise, but it does make me wonder who buys these guitars? And why?
Is it players looking for the best of both worlds — acoustic and electric tones in one guitar? Or is it players looking for a completely new tone — a blend of acoustic and electric? Or is it a matter of convenience — only carrying one axe to a gig?
I am a little skeptical that you can get both a great acoustic and a great electric tone from one guitar. You may get a great acoustic tone and a passable electric tone, or a great electric tone and a passable acoustic tone, but I doubt both tones will be great. [Note to manufacturers: I am willing to be proved wrong. Email me to set up a review.] This is not necessarily a bad thing. If you only need an electric or acoustic tone for a song or two in a set, a passable tone may be all you need. Which would place the guitar in the convenience category. I can certainly image this scenario:
Perhaps you play acoustic guitar in a worship band on Sunday mornings. There is also an electric guitar player in the band. You might play six songs, five of them needing acoustic, but one that is more of a rocker where two electrics would work better. You could play using the "acoustic" tone for five songs and then switch to the “electric” tone for that one song without needing to switch guitars (or bring an electric for one song.) In this case a good acoustic tone would be very important and a passable electric tone would be fine for one song. The opposite would also be valid. You play electric on five songs, but need to switch to acoustic for one song. In this case the electric tone would be more important.
Or maybe you do a solo looping act and want to cover both acoustic and electric tones and are looking for a “versatile” tone that works well for both since you use a lot of different effects and amp tones. You are more concerned with versatility than “pure” acoustic or electric tones. A hybrid might be just the thing.
I would love to hear from some hybrid players. How do you use your hybrid? Email me and I will post your replies below. Thanks.
Tim
I actually have an answer to the above question. The guitarist is Mark Lee from Third Day. He uses a PRS Hollowbody with a Piezo pickup to switch between electric and acoustic sounds in the same song. I am told by a friend of mine that Alex Lifeson of Rush does the same thing.
Rev. W.R. Greenstreet
I visit your site often and I think you're doing a great job! I use the Taylor T-5 in Worship Service. We have drums, keyboard, and a top-of-the-line Saxophone player. The T-5 is the perfect mix. It has all the electric tone one could ask for from a Premium electric, with a flick of the switch the T-5 becomes an amazing acoustic. Over the past twenty years I have owned 50 guitars or more, but if I had started with one like this I would have needed only one.