Hofner CT Club

2008 China
22 frets
Semi-hollowbody
Spruce top, maple sides and back, maple neck, rosewood fretboard
2 Hofner mini-humbuckers
Burst finish (nice finish for this price point)

I have had the guitar for only a few days, so my impressions are immediate. First, the controls are limiting due to their historical design. The "Rhythm" setting is muddy, but the "Solo" has a nice bright tone. I rely on amplifier equalizer much more with this guitar than any of my others. The mini-humbuckers are pretty hot and sound great. A little twangy on "Solo" and have a nice bite. Nice sounding pups. No need to change these out. Neck and bridge pups are selected separately by switches. When both are turned off you get a buzz, probably due to a break in the ground. But this would come up very rarely; why turn off both pups? Volume controls for each pup in what seems to be the wrong orientation, but this is again historical. Volume pots could be a little more sensitive, but they work pretty well.

Action out of the box was pretty good. A little high maybe, I will need to lower and perhaps tighten the truss rod. But overall very usable. Read on, but if I had bought this in-store I would have looked for a different unit. But I could not find this guitar in any brick-and-mortar. So the online gamble was taken.

Fit and finish: The finish is lighter on my unit than I expected from image shots online. It is more of a honey burst than sun-burst. Other than that, this section is where you start to see how they offer this thing for so cheap. Pros are plenty. Nice wood. The spruce top is tight and even grain. The maple is flamed. My guitar has only two noticeable knots. Both are quite small. One on the side and one, unfortunately on the neck. The neck is very nice otherwise and the fretboard is simple and smooth. The frets are nothing special but smooth on the side and playable. The headstock is very nice, but the tuners are cheap. These will eventually get replaced. The bridge saddles are small metal inserts into cut channels in an ebony bridge. Some of my saddles are crooked. When I do my first string change I will see if this can be straightened. The other more annoying problem is that the height crews in the bridge pup are offset and a little crooked. The pup sounds good though, so I am not messing with this.

Only had it a few days, so no opinion.

Got mine at MusiciansFriend.com. So support would be excellent if I needed it.

Had it 3 days. Played maybe 6 hours. The body is a little thicker wood than other semi-hollows. It is certainly not in the same class as a 335-body style semi-hollow, so if you are looking for that type of sound, keep looking. Much more twangy sound than that. You are not going to get a smooth jazz tone out of this; it just isn't made for that.

Favorite feature is the body style and funky older vibe to both the looks and the sound. Price must also be mentioned as a strong positive and overall quality is very good for this price-point. The few compromises made for price are acceptable and do not affect sound or playability.

I would buy again.

Body Type: Single Cut Elec
Body Wood: Flamed Maple
Top wood: Spruce
Scale Length: 25"
Neck Joint: Set
Neck Wood: Maple
Fretboard: Rosewood
Neck Shape: C
Frets: 22
Nut Width: 1.6875
Fretboard Radius: 12"
Bridge: Ebony
Pickup Bridge: Hofner Mini Humbucker
Pickup Neck: Hofner mini Humbucker
Made in China,2007. German electronics.

This is the sound and body type I've been searching for. Hollow body with no f holes, center internal block prevents feedback. Sounds like the guitars you hear off a beatles record. I love these pick-ups! For me, the tone controls are unusable. Doen't matter, just set the tone and thats it.

No flaws but nothing fancy. No polished frets or amazing detail work.

Everything seems solid and well made. It is a hollow body so care is needed. Seems reliable but I haven't had it long.

I've been playing 30+ years. I own many guitars some of which cost $1000's. This guitar is nothing fancy, but it is very light weight(big plus),sounds amazing ,plays well and has a total vintage vibe. This will be my main axe unless it proves unreliable on the road.