Hofner Colorama HE CP-90

well..."features" may not be the key word...lack of features is what makes this guitar cool..bare bones...2 P-90's...4 knobs. volume and tone..simple.

another 10....it sounds amazing. I've had SG's ,a les paul special...this is at least as good if not better. sure the pickups buzz..single coil...they should. play loud and you won't hear it.

for $129 it's perfect. a little orange peel near the fingerboard but definately a better paint job than the one on my les paul special reissue. hardware looks good. nice grover tuners.

I've only had it a few days so I'm not sure...I think it'll be a good one. if it gets stolen at a gig I'll survive. a great deal!

ok...my rating is tempered by the ridiculously low price.I've been playing and buying guitars since LBJ beat Goldwater..this has to be the best deal yet.

No doubt this is the best guitar out there for the money. I'm a guitar player, not a guitarist. This one features a rotary coil tap. I'll be critical on this because I believe it's wired wrong. The tapping is great on two of the three selections. Not a problem. This is something easily corrected. Set neck. Grover tuners. Stop tail.

Tunes down well for heavy rock. Beautiful clean tones. All around universal LP sound. I'm playing through a HK Tri-Amp. No effects. I've peeked inside and the wiring is clean. Decent pots and clear paths to all soldering points. 10 years from now these will triple in value.

This was pretty much ready to go out of the box. I added qualiity strings. Oiled the fretboard and tweaked the neck for lower action. The neck feels alot like the early SG's. Not recommended for shredders. My only compliant is the balance. It's a bit headstock heavy. Really not an issue. I may add a weight if I gig with it.

Lots of quality finished details (paint, hardware, frets, etc..). Very well done. Hofner did well this time out with the factory.

Everything is tight. I doubt I'll break it.

no clue

No problem rating it at 10. Perfect for beginners and pros. I'll probably buy another! If you're looking to add something nice to your collection this is a great choice. I've already seen several around the $125 price. My opinion: These are similar to Schecter and Raven (West) quality. A+

2004 model made in China, 2 P90 clones, possible basswood body (grain pattern doesn't look much like my Gibson SG's!) with a "set" neck in a thick cherry poly finish. 22 fret Rosewood board with abalone style dot inlays and cream binding around fingerboard. Hardware all chrome, stop TP and tunomatic clone plus grovers on the headstock. Good basic Les Paul Junior doublecut clone in my opinion.

Perfect for me, I play "Keef" in a Stones tribute and wanted an alternative to my Tele Custom that has the "bark" of the P90. I've also got a Gibson LP Junior DC Faded (not gigged, kept at home) which this is a fair representation of although the pickups aren't as articulate, but who cares when you're barking out five string riffage in Open G!!!!

Pretty good, did a minor setup on arrival, lowered action, tweaked truss rod, cleaned fingerboard with lemon oil and put on fresh strings of course (all "new guitar" strings always seem to be rusty!!!). A few slightly untidy bits on fingerboard, but I've sen worse on a recent Gibson Firebird Studio. Set neck was a perfect fit. All hardware fine after a year

Superb, I can leave this in the case week to week and it's always in tune and ready to go. No electrical problems at all although Chinese stuff has a bit of a bad rep so may change in time (P90's for Seymour Duncan and pots/switch for CTS/Switchcraft). Finish is still unmarked as I do take care of my guitars and don't sling them around.

Not too worried about this one, I can sort it out myself.

Superb VFM at just ?135, it's both my "Dan Armstrong" and Les Paul Junior DC clone and I love the "bark" of the P90, next stepo is the pickup and electronics upgrade, might even let my beloved Gibson DC go if this is successful. Also, a local luthier mentioned that he could put on an ebony fingetboard for me. I love it, perfect for Stones stuff anf blues - the opening chords to Brown Sugar played on this are so authentic!!!

Hofner Colorama HE-CP90, 2004 model, made in China. 2004 Made in China. Lightweight double-cut

solid body (looks to be some sort of Mahogany derivative), with a very attractive grain visible through the

finish, which is a deep "wine" red. 22 frets on a slim profile fixed/set neck (again, not sure of wood -

possibly maple - which has some nice figuring visible through the finish. Bound Rosewood fingerboard,

with the old style "3 dot" fret markers, nicely proportioned headstock with "hofner" block logo and a nice

ornate "lily" inlay (similar to the Epiphone Sheraton or Emperor Regent).

2 volume controls, 2 tone - similar to Gibson "speed dial" style, in black - with a 3-way p/up selector switch.

2 P-90 style generic pickups with black covers. Stop tailpiece and Tune-o-Matic bridge. Suprisingly, the

non-locking tuners are Grovers, but I suspect they are a "low end" Grover product! Comes in a cardboard

box containing a free guitar lead. As this is no thicker than a patch lead, best thrown away when you ditch

the box!

When I plugged this in at the shop, I was immediately conscious of the speaker hum when switched to the

bridge pickup. However, this is only a shielding problem, common in most budget guitars. There are 3

distinctly different tones from the three selector switch positions, and this guitar sounds amazingly good!

On the bridge p/up, it is bright and clear, but add some gain and the P-90s really growl! On the neck p/up,

with the tone turned down a little, you can get a creamy blues sound. The pickups are fully responsive to

the tone controls, making this quite a versatile guitar. The sustain is surprisingly good.

So far I have played this through a 30 watt Traynor, my Twin Reverb, and my little 25 watt Fender

Frontman, and it has not disappointed through any of them - far from it.

At this point, I have to take exception with the anonymous reviewer who incorrectly identified this as a

"DC-90P" model, and would ask him if he actually SAW the guitar at all before he bought it? If it was as

bad as he claims, why buy it in the first place? If he is looking for a top quality guitar straight out of the box,

go buy a Fender Custom Shop job - but he won't get one for #135! Anyway...... back to the review......

The factory set up was pretty poor. In fact, there was no set up! It came fitted with those awful Chinese

pre-rusted strings (8's or 9's), which should just be discarded straight away. The tuners are not quite fitted

dead straight, there was a little laquer overspray on the fingerboard binding, the fingerboard was quite dry

and needed a good coat of Lemon Oil, one of the volume knobs was set a little high on the body, one of

the P90s was not quite seated correctly, and the p/ups were not shielded. Several of the medium size

frets, although fitted nicely, had several rough nicks in places. The action was a little high, and the

intonation was some way out.

On the plus side, the nut was seated and cut almost perfectly, the neck was as straight as an arrow, the

neck joint was spot-on, the p/up routes are clean and neat, and the finish on the body, headstock and back

of the neck is amazing - I don't know how they do it for the money.

And that is just the point - for #135, you would not EXPECT a perfect set-up. I spent over #1700 on my

Gibson 335, yet still took it straight to my usual guitar tech and spent #75 on a fret dress & crown, new

strings and a full set-up before I even took it home. Half the fun of the Hofner is dressing those frets, setting

it up just how you like it, putting on your favourite strings, and then being blown away by the sheer

playability and versatility of the guitar.

So far, this guitar has not had all that much playing. However, I have sufficient confidence in it to have

decided that it will be getting its first live gig this weekend, and I have no doubts that it will not let anyone

down. This is a nicely made guitar for very little money. Will it last? Only time will tell..... I will be only too

pleased to submit a follow-up review after 6 months or so.

This guitar would not be gigged without a backup - but then how often DO you risk busting a string in the

middle of your first number and being stuck without a backup?

A company called The Music Group took over (in March 2003) the running of Hofner from Boosey & Hawkes. Their UK subsidiary is called Besson Musical Instruments Ltd. I haven't had to deal with them and, to be honest, don't expect to have to. This isn't a vintage investment....

I have been playing for over 30 years (and I'm still crap). I have 15 electric guitars, including my Gibbo 335,

6 Telecasters, 2 Rickenbackers, a Strat, and an Epi Sheraton, plus 7 acoustics, 3 ukeleles, a banjo, a

mandoline and a ukelele banjo. Add to that 3 Fender amps, 2 Sessionette 75s, a Peavey Basic 50 bass

amp and a little Epiphone practice amp, and you're probably asking "Why on earth has he gone and

bought this Hofner?".....

In summary, this Hofner has taken me by surprise. I didn't expect much, but it is a genuinely nice guitar with

a great versatile sound and great playability. You normally buy a "cheapo" guitar and then spend time

trying to disguise it as something else, but a Hofner is a Hofner - nothing to be ashamed of, and a guitar

you could add to your collection with pride. Try one - spend a lttle time setting it up and you will be amazed

at how much you find you've got for so little money.

If it was stolen? I'd be pissed off 'cos I'd have to spend time setting up the replacement which I would

immediately go out and buy - before they put the prices up. Take it from me - that will happen.