what is the point of a semi hollow guitar
Semi-acoustic guitar Gibson and other makers followed these variations with an entirely new type of guitar that featured a block of solid wood between the front and back sections of the guitars cutaway. This guitar still functioned acoustically, but had a smaller resonant cavity inside, which makes less sound emit from the f holes. Gibson first manufactured this variant in 1958. It is commonly referred to as a semi-hollow body guitar, because of the smaller, less open body.[2]
Solid body The first commercially successful solid-body instrument was the Rickenbacker frying pan lap steel guitar, produced from 1931 to 1939. The first commercially available non lap steel guitar was also produced by the Rickenbacker/Electro company, starting in 1931 The model was referred to as the "electric Spanish Guitar" to distinguish it from the "Hawaiian" lap steel.