Hohner Owners

[LGOberean]

A couple of years ago, I started a thread about Hohner guitars. Since I have been a long time owner of a Hohner G-940 acoustic, when I started that thread I was thinking of acoustics, and so I placed that thread in the "Acoustic Heaven" section.

But since the name of the thread was "Any Hohner love out there in TDPRI land?" periodically TDPRI members would post about their Hohner (and Steinberger) electrics. So every now and then I would think about starting a Hohner club thread, and placing it in the Guitar Owners Clubs section. But I wasn't sure the interest was there, and so I never got around to it.

Well today something else occurred to me. At times I've caught myself thinking of my Hohner thread like a club thread. But since it's not, posting to it after long periods of dormancy could raise "zombie" accusations.

So, I'm officially starting a "Hohner Owners" (say that five times real fast ) club thread. Acoustic and electrics are both welcome. I'll post pics and descriptions of mine a little later on, when time permits. But I just wanted to get this started. If any other of you Hohner owners beat me to the punch, well, that's just fine with me.

 

[bridgepinSr.]

Hi Larry
Here's a little shot of what a have been able to find through the years. ( Hohner HG and G-900 Arbor series guitars)
(L to R) HG-920, HG-930, HG-940, HG-950, G-930, G-912,

 

[LGOberean]

Thanks, David. I never get tired of seeing the pics of your impressive collection. It wouldn't be the same without your input here.

 

[LGOberean]

Okay, I'll post about my Hohners now. Or begin to, at least. I have two and I'll probably comment on them in separate posts.

As I said back 2009, many if not most references to Hohners I had read to that point were either apologetic or outright derogatory in nature. I started "Any Hohner love out there in TDPRI land?" as a means of correcting that problem.

I wanted people to know that there are some nice Hohners out there. And I don't just mean nice entry level guitars, although that's certainly true as well. I mean nice, really nice, quality guitars on the higher end of the spectrum.

My Hohner G-940 case in point. I've had her now for 28+ years, she's just great. She's a part of that 900 Arbor series that David (bridgepinSr.) just mentioned. All solid woods, aged woods. These guitars were made in Japan from 1979 to 1985, IIRC. Bought mine in 1983 for $600, which is equivalent to $1,300 + today. I'll put her up against anything Martin or Taylor has in that price range today.

The (my) 940 has an "aged close grain solid spruce" top, solid select mahogany back & sides, solid Honduran mahogany neck and an ebony fretboard. The bridge is rosewood, the body is bound with maple, top and back. The neck and headstock are also bound in maple. Position markers are inlaid maple, as is the name on the headstock. The nut and saddle are bone. The only plastic on this guitar is the pickguard.

Here are some pics of what I’m talking about.

The Hohner is on the right in the picture (in my left hand). The other acoustic is my Breedlove AD25/SM acoustic/electric, and my Logan Custom mahogany Tele is in the middle.

An older pic, of me playing the Hohner for my grandson Corbin (he's 10 now).

My Hohner in action.

That neck still plays like butter, and she has balanced tones and great projection, no doubt due to all the solid woods and the dreadnaught size. I don't take her out of the house much anymore, but she's the centerpiece of my meager collection of 7 guitars (4 acoustics, 3 Logan Custom Teles). I'll never part with her. My son inherits her when I'm gone.

 

[shorty1]

I've had a Hohner L-59 for what seems like forever,20 years at a guess,maybe more.It has the Kent Armstrong pickups.My Gibson 1971 LP Custom and Deluxe,both fantastic guitars got slod off years ago but this one stayed with me,even through 20 years in the Bass wilderness when i didnt even pick up a six string.I love it,even if the edge binding needs repair,quite a common event im led to believe.

 

[LGOberean]

Thanks for chiming in. Pics would be nice of your old faithful, if you've got some.

 

[LGOberean]

Here's the story on my second Hohner. Back on September 1st, I pulled the trigger on a later (albeit discontinued) model Hohner, the DR550. All solid woods: solid cedar top, solid rosewood back & sides, 1 piece mahogany neck, ebony fingerboard, ebony bridge. Here's a stock photo from the Hohner website.

I wanted to the get the DR550CE, the cutaway version with the Fishman electronics, but I couldn't find one. The DR5500 is the (strictly) acoustic version. Here's my review.

This guitar is built of all solid woods. The top is a solid cedar top, the back & sides, solid rosewood. The neck is a 1 piece mahogany, and the fretboard is striped ebony, with a striped ebony bridge. The body and neck are bound in maple, and the top has some nice purfling. The fretboard abalone inlays are understated but attractive, as is the gold hardware.

Speaking of which, the Grover 18:1 high ratio tuners are nice; they operate smoothly and efficiently. I de-tuned to double-drop D, then to an open G, then back up again to standard. Like I said, smooth and efficient.

The workmanship is very, very good. No sloppy glue residue inside or out, sanded well, etc. The matte finish is attractive. The frets are a little sharp, but not too bad. There is one flaw on the top of the guitar, a very small and shallow ding on the treble side of the soundhole. You have to look hard to find it. It could very easily have been done in the music store, not the factory. Really no big deal. All in all, this is a really beautiful instrument.

And as for sound, this baby is a cannon. She's plenty loud, and projects very well, good for strumming. At the same time, she has a nice string to string articulation, does a nice job of handling both fingerstyle and flatpicking. And sustain? Man, just pluck a harmonic, set her down and walk off and get yourself a cup of coffee! This baby rings for days!

The action was just a little high for my tastes (I'm spoiled to my G-940), but definitely playable. I've used this guitar for experimenting with slide playing (something I've never done that much of). If I choose not to play it for slide, I'll probably get a tech to do a setup on this guitar to optimize playability.

The street price for these guitars was around $600 when they were in production. As I understand it, they are now discontinued, and the music store from which I purchased this guitar bought up a lot of units of this and other discontinued models. Like I said before, I wanted the DR550CE model, w/ cutaway and Fishman electronics, but they sold out before I was ready.

I paid $300. Definitely worth the money. More pics to follow.

 

[shorty1]

Heres a few pics,the serial number is C101180,im guessing the C donates Cort factory.Is there a site that you know of that i could use to date this ?

 

[LGOberean]

shorty1, that's a beaut!

As for dating your Hohner Professional L59, Hohner isn't any help. Their website ("Date Your Guitar" - http://www.hohnerusa.com/index.php?1781) states:

Over the years we have offered many different models of instruments. Unfortunately we don't have the resources to provide information to the public on these timeless instruments. We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused.

My Google search came up with a website (http://94.23.92.95/Hohner-Professional-L59/)
stating that the release year for the Hohner Professional L59 was 1996.

You might find some L59 owners over in the Les Paul forums. Maybe they have more information.

 

[shorty1]

I think the link with the 1996 release year,may refer to the date that the featured guitar was built.Mine was certainly bought before then,at least 1992,as i switched to bass in 1993.Im surprized at the lack of info on Hohner gear as they have made a lot of good gear................the search goes on.

 

[LGOberean]

Yeah, it's a shame there isn't more available Hohner info. That's one reason I started this thread (and my other one). I'm hoping this can become a repository of Hohner information.

 

[amancalledhorse]

...and now for something completely different:

 

[LGOberean]

Well, yeah, different...but it looks like fun, too...

 

[LGOberean]

So "horse," can I ask about the headless guitar? It certainly has a distinctive and unusual look to it. But beyond the look, I don't get it. What advantage is there to this type of construction? Is there anything about this headless construction that is an advantage over traditional construction?

My question is not meant as a slight in any way. As I already said, it looks fun. I'm just curious is all.

 

[amancalledhorse]

Ok, for a sense of context I own four guitars and this is probably the worst of the four. There's the Hohner, a Pacifica 604 (essentially a fat strat), a PRS SE Soapbar and a Schecter Ultra. I don't own a tele (oopsy!) but am working towards getting one.

Advantages-wise - the construction is neck-through which is what it is. The guitar is 100% maple but is pretty light because of the design. The pickups have individual toggle switches wired in parallel (I think) so you can get some interesting variation.

Downsides - strings cost more because they need to be double ball ended. The pickups are not really any better than ok - They sound better through the line 6 software I used than my amps but the amps I own aren't really as high gain as the modelling software can go. The big downside (on mine only, maybe) is that the saddles are held still by string tension and the g saddle migrates towards the nut while playing. Tried to glue it in with nail polish but it has only worked as a temporary fix.

I have some quite varied guitars in terms of pickups, fret size, neck size, radius, string gauge etc. etc. but the Hohner feels harder to play than the others, even over the Schecter strung with 12s.

That said,

Would I sell it? No.
Would I gig it? Yes.

I saw Bowie playing on the Brit Awards with Placebo in about 1998 with the Steinberger that this copies, and thought it was one of the coolest things I'd ever seen. Mine has a very, very faint blemish in the finishing (on the back too) so I got it in 2004 for about £230. It was a deal I just couldn't turn down.

Look on youtube for 'Hohner G3T' and you'll find that they have quite a unique honky tone unlike any other guitar I've heard.

 

[amancalledhorse]

Actually, I forgot the biggest plus points of the design.

- They can be flipped for lefties;
- Supposedly they fit in overhead lockers on planes.

 

[LGOberean]

Oh, okay. So the appeal is a distinctive look, light weight, easy to transport, tonal variation, and a killer deal.

As for your other guitars, the Pacifica is a Yamaha, right? And you really got my attention with that PRS Soapbar. I'd like to have me one of those.

 

[steincaster]

...

The big downside (on mine only, maybe) is that the saddles are held still by string tension and the g saddle migrates towards the nut while playing. Tried to glue it in with nail polish but it has only worked as a temporary fix.

...

I think that the saddles can be locked with a recessed hexheaded screw in a threaded hole that should be visible if You look down at the bridges top surface when the guitar is in playing position. The screw pushes the six saddles firmly down (Down direction when the guitar is in playing position) in the bridge.

See attached images top left corner.

 

[amancalledhorse]

Cheers for the post Steincaster.

I just picked it up for a fiddle and the saddle screws are raised 1-2mm already.

What's happened is that they (all of them to a small extent, but the g massively so) move towards the nut and the base of the screw carves into the metal. On the g it's more pronounced for whatever reason so it moves more easily as there's less resistance from the base plate.

I tried clear nail polish knowing it can be removed easily but I googled recently and saw epoxy suggested by someone with a similar issue. Obviously, being able to re-set the saddles at a later date is desirable should I want to change gauges/tuning.

Got a pic off the interwebs so you can see what I mean by the baseplate bit.

 

[shorty1]

I also used to have a Hohner 2Ba in black/white,rare as hens teeth so im told.