Hofner Colorama Special

Made in China. Solid body with set neck. Vintage sounding P90's. Grover tuners.2 volume and 2 tone controls.Tune-O-Matic bridge. Transparent red finish. Kind of reminds me of a rounded off SG.

Has a great vintage sound very clean for a single coils, not noisy at all. With a little overdrive it gives up a nice growl. Just bought a compressor pedal and slide. I betting this will Rock.

There are some finish issues. When applying the red finish to the neck person either masked the neck half way up the binding on the low E side or could paint a strait line but just not where it should be. This make the neck look warped or twisted. The bridge was too high and the pickups were not adjusted to each other giving a difference in volume between pickups but these was a quick and easy adjustment.

The guitar is solid and very good hardware it should last for many years.

I have been playing for 5 years and play about about 5 times a week. I have a Hamer EchoTone with Seymour Ducan Vintage Blues pickups, a custom Strat and this Hofner that now has Scatter wound P90 pickups. My amps are both tube, a Peavey ValveKing and an old Electar Tube 10 and both have been modified to the max. The guitar is an excellent value. I enjoy this guitar very much. I did replace the pickups with high end P90's and experienced minimal improvement. If stolen I would look for another and not change out the pickups. I play 60's and 70's rock and this guitar fits the bill.

It looks as though "made in China" isn't so bad, seems to be improving.
Purchased mine from Guitar Center in Arlington Hts. IL. in June of 2009. The look immediately caught my eye. Bought it used. Seems as though their are two different headstock designs as far as the Hofner logo is concerned. Mine came with the more ornate vine/flowers, block letter logo. Has (3) pearl dots per fret marker. The P90s are very smooth,of a high quality. Hard to find/get these guitars-Hofner dealers are nearly non existant and may only carry a very few types. Stumbled on mine by accident, didn't need another guitar but the price and stunning appearance/quality were too good to pass on. I only had to lower the action a bit, neck was straight thankfully. Mine is missing it's pickguard, would like to find an original one. The vibe of this guitar is definitely Hamer FM special/PRS/Gibson double cut & a you're getting a set neck with a nearly flawless joint in my case. Double bound neck, nice witch-hat knobs,tunamatic style bridge,grovers, also give an impression of a higher quality built instrument. The finish is so nice it almost hurts the eyes, high gloss, mine's a cherry red/SG type finish.

I plugged into a early 90s Fender all tube Champ 25 and really liked the cleans without hesitation. Distortion settings are very good as well but I haven't tweaked that enough just yet to the point of total satisfaction.

Only flaw on mine was a missing pickguard. Those who like a perfectly balanced guitar might want to add or move the strap button on cutaway to behind the neck joint or thereabouts as the instrument is a bit neck heavy/tilts.

Since this guitar is maintaining it's tuning integrity, no hesitation to use this live/for recording.

Don't know/don't care. I got lots of local support from a guy called Custom Shop Bob.

I've pretty much said it all in first part of my review.
Unheard of value at this price point,would be good at 2-3 times what I paid.

From the Musician's Friend site. This info appears to be accurate except for the implied Hofner gig bag promise which they proudly displayed in their photos link. If I could give a rating on the based on the bag it would be a 5 but I'm not going to short the guitar on the merits of bad marketing.

Hofner German-made P-90 pickups are just one of the amenities that take this vintage vibe giant to the next level. This bound fingerboard, set-neck guitar also features Grover tuners for tuning stability, and beautiful abalone inlay work on the neck and headstock. Two P90 single-coil pickups. Conventional wiring. Set-neck construction. Grover tuners. Gig bag. Don't count on the Hofner gig bag. :-(

I got this guitar because I always wanted one with P-90 pickups but I didn???t want to spend a ton. I???ve already got too many 6-strings but I???m a recording musician and I needed that sound. As stated, I???m in the studio most of the time and I don???t need to crank my amps very loud. I don???t know if this Hofner makes any noise in a live setting but mine is very quite. It looks like there???s even a little shielding paint near the one of the pickups. That may account for it???s quietness? Very slight finish flaw noted but if it keeps the P-90s quiet I can live with it.

The Colorama Special is quite versatile. I can get some raunchy rhythms with the bridge pickup and, oh so buttery, lead sounds with the neck pickup. Roll off some of the tone on the bridge and it gets nice and full, with tons of sustain, by adding a little distortion. Overall, I got more bang for the buck than I expected. I play some blues but mostly power pop and this little tiger will get the job done.

OK, the bad stuff first. There are some real finish issues if your looking for perfection. This isn't going to be your guitar. On my Hofner one of the bridge posts is installed at an angle. It doesn???t appear to have any impact on the the playability or intonation of the instrument. It does, however, give me a lack of confidence in the Chinese guitar maker. Did someone have a bad day at the office?!?!?!? It's also cosmetically sloppy on the fretboard finish. I don't know if they "stained" the board, or what, but there's brown pigment on the side binding. There's also brown brush strokes on the binding at the bottom of the neck. Tit has a slight gouge in the board but it doesn't effect the feel or playability. The tuners are installed at all kinds of angles. Precision installation? NO WAY! Very noticeable? Yeah, you can see it. Are the tuners good? No complaints for the money spent. I guess that's the story here. If you look there are a lot of little things "off" on this guitar but it doesn't affect the playability or the wonderful sounds this baby can grunt out. It's a players machine and for the liquidation price of $149.99 you really can't complain. Now if you're paying anywhere the list price of $519.00, you'd be getting ripped off; actually more like mugged and left in an alley.

Strapped on it is neck heavy as stated in other reviews. This can be a bit annoying when standing with it for long stretches but the overall weight is very comfortable.

When I received my little Colorama I had to lower the action slightly. As someone else noted, it needed some real attention to the fretboard. It was quite dry so I had to give it a generous amount of conditioner. Out of the box it feels like running your fingers over a rusty surface. Condition that pup if you get it new. After the attention above, it's a real player!!! :-) After my slight adjustments I would easily give it a 8 or 9 but I can only say 6 ???out of the box???.

I never was a road warrior, even in my jamming days, but I think this machine could take it on the road. The parts seem quite durable, and as noted before, this is a player's guitar. It???s meant to be used and not hung on a wall!!!

As for Hofner, I didn't have any dealings with them and I'm sorry they may get a bad reputation from this review. Again, Hofner buds, my apologizes because you???ve made a very utilitarian instrument!!!

I purchased this guitar through Musicians' Friend site. There I have a complaint. I ordered my Hofner Colorama Special Electric Guitar Transparent Cherry and was disappointed that it didn't come with the Hofner gig bag they advertised on their web page. I did get a generic bag that looks like it's WAY TOO BIG for the Colorama!!! This is a BUMMER considering the marketing used was, 'just one of the amenities that take this vintage vibe giant to the next level.' Hey guys!!! Part of the vintage vibe is the darn Hofner bag on your website and not in the box sent to me!!!

Am I happy with the price and the guitar? Yes. Will I be cautious about buying anything more expensive than just a fun "toy instrument" from The Friend? You better believe it!!! Part of being considered, ???The Best for Less Shipped to Your Door???, is being able to believe you are going to get what???s being advertised. I???ll keep my Gibson, Fender and PRS inklings locally because, I guess, ???The Best for Less Shipped to Your Door??? is at the discretion of Musicians Friend? :-<

I've been playing for 28 years and have seen my share of machines. The Hofner Colorama Special will never match the quality of some of my expensive guitars but that's not why I got her. I needed a serviceable rocking machine and it delivers with generous amounts of useable tones. If you're not a perfectionist freak she looks quite attractive with her, 3 dot per fret, abalone inlay, lily headstock inlays and see through cherry finish. For the money you can't bitch because she delivers the goods in gross at the liquidation price of $149.99. You know, I'm not even going to let Musicians' Friend ruin my enthusiasm for this little keeper. I'm giving this beauty a 10!!!! Thanks Hofner for your engineering genius and to China for giving this baby birth.