This one is for Buck62....

[LocusLarsen]

I STILL WOULD TAKE MY D-41 OVER THIS ANYDAY, but..........

I was looking for a cheap guitar to take on trips that I may freely destroy and feel no pitty when I stumbled upon a brand new Honer (? is that how you spell it). It has a classical head stock with steel strings and steel string bridge, binding on the neck and binding + abalone on the body. The top seemed to almost look like pine...the back and side were gorgeous, koa like. I don't know and neither did the shop owner, but I must say, the guitar played like a dream and sound terrific. The bass was good and the mids and highs shined through perfectly. Everthing was just very pronounced.

The point....

It was only $224.

(There was another one there that didn't sound half as good, but this one was definatly up there with a $500 Alverez in the sound and playability departments, if that explains more than my description.)

Oh ya, the model was called

( )

yes, like a pair of parinthesies-thingy-ma-jigs, (maybe that is some kind of a fancy O, like oo28 martin....), and they guitar only had 12 cleared frets. Not a dreadnought. I think it was the HF75 concert.

[LocusLarsen]

I'm so disapointed, not even a, "dude, that guitar sucks"

Come on, where has everyones fight gone to?

[TheGuitarMan]

Hohner? HOHNER!? ARE YOU SMOKING CRACK!?!?!?!?

There you go.

My Hohner is sitting in the gig bag in my closet with the finish sanded off. Did it myself. Gotta love those cardboard tops and backs. Harharharhar...

[battleminnow]

The brand new Hohners got rave reviews from Acoustic Guitar magazine in their under $500 shootout. They weren't first, but I remember them getting a lot of positive feedback.

Pete

[battleminnow]

Here is the caption:
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HOHNER HW 640

$299. Limited lifetime warranty. Solid spruce top, laminated maple back and sides, rosewood fingerboard and bridge, maple neck. Nut width: 111/16 inches.

With a list price of only $299, the Hohner was the biggest surprise of the review. When it comes to appearances, what you see is what you get. The neck was grafted from three pieces of maple, there were visible knots in the guitar’s maple sides, and the top was not likely to win any beauty contests. However, everyone who played the guitar was simply stunned by its sound and huge dynamic palette. The Hohner was quite responsive when picked softly, and it really came to life when played hard. Where many guitars begin to compress or "bottom out," this one just delivered more volume. Moreover, its tone was nice and bright without being tinny. The guitar was not as playable as some of the other instruments reviewed; its action was slightly stiff higher up on the neck. But the setup was good, and there were no buzzing problems. For the truly budget-minded player who values tone over looks, the Hohner HW 640 may very well be the perfect ax.
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[hixmix]

Aren't the reviewers for Acoustic Guitar instructed by their bosses not to diss any of the products they review for fear of loss of potential ad revenue?

I mean wouldn't you, just once, love to read a review of some truly crappy guitar in a "guitar" rag where the reviewer say's: "Dude, this guitar sucks. Don't buy it"?

thanks LocusLarsen

[LocusLarsen]

I found their website after I figured out how to spell the name. I still can't say it...

The back and side are made of Okenvodka-something....all I know is that Taylor uses that in some of the lower line guitars. The top I forgot, but YES, the one that I thought sounded good had a nice, well not really, but a distinctive KNOT in it.

I haven't purchased it yet because I still am looking around but it is on the top of my list right now.

Any thoughts on having a KNOT in the top of the guitar. Half inch wide, just over two inches long, and about two inches below the bridge and back a bit?

[Buck62]

I just saw this thread today... (I've been resting from surgery all week)... and I'm glad to see that you guys finally realize that "lower cost" doesn't always mean something is crap. Although that's probably true most of the time, there are some good products (read: nice guitars) that can be found at the sub-$500 level.

You just have to look for harder them.