Hofner New President

This is a made-in-Germany, carved solid-top spruce, laminated flamed maple sides and back archtop. Fingerboard is ebony, and the very unique feature of this archtop is that it has 24 frets. I do not believe there is another archtop in the world that has a 24-fret neck (with easy access to the very highest one). Other features are already stated by the previous reviewer, but I have to repeat that this is one lovely, exquisitely-made archtop that defies logic for the price. Maybe the laminated back and sides save some manufacturing costs, but the concensus seems to be that lamination in those places do not affect tone. The tone comes from the solid carved top. I can find only one thing to nitpick on: The cable from the Kent Armstrong floating pickup goes through the top via a small hole on the top of the guitar at the end of the fingerboard; why didn't Hofner just route the cable to the f-hole? There must be a good reason, but it bothers me to have a tiny hole drilled into the top; however, you would never know it unless you looked carefully. The ebony pickguard and tailpiece contribute to Hofner's theme of minimizing the amount of metal/plastic and maximizing the amount of wood. Let me repeat, this is a lovely guitar that looks as if it could have come from a custom builder.

Acoustically the President has everything you would expect from a fine archtop. I would suspect that the solid carved spruce top will improve with age and playing. Amplified, it has that classic jazz tone that defines what a jazz archtop is all about. The Kent Armstrong pickup has ample output and low noise, and feedback is easily tamed with judicious location of guitar in relation to the amp. The guitar sounds good no matter what kind of amp is used, including headphone practice amps.

There are no flaws that I could find after 4 months of ownership. Hofner's quality control must be first-rate; my President looks and feels like it came straight from the shop of a master guitar builder.

I cannot give a valid assessment in this category after 4 months of ownership. I do not gig with this guitar; however, there is nothing that indicates it would not last if given the proper care that any guitar deserves.

So far I have not had to deal with the distributor.

Prior to purchase I played a number of other archtops -- Guild Award Artist, Heritage, D'Angelico (the imported ones), and Gibsons. In this price range there is nothing else that comes close. Maybe Hofner does not have the name recognition in the US, but in Europe it is very well-known. Hofner's claim to fame is the famous Beatles bass that Paul McCartney uses, but they sure make one great archtop.

Year Made 2002. 90% handmade in Germany. Spruce top, maple sides and back. The figuring on the back is excellent and very pretty. Single Kent-Armstrong floating pickup. Ebony pick guard, ebony volume and tone control knobs, ebony tuning knobs, ebony fret board, hand carved maple neck that is slightly eccentric to the low-string side. Very comfortable.

See the Jazzica reviews for other features as they share most everything. I'm sure I've left out a lot of features. Everything is first rate.

The main difference in the New President (like the old President) vs the Jazzica is that this is a full size archtop just like a Gibson L5. It's about 4 inches in depth from neck joint to lower bout. It has traditional f holes rather than the Jazzica's stylized f holes. The appearance is of a very traditional jazz box a'la Gibson, Guild, etc.

I did a lot of on-line and in-store research. For half the price of a Gibson, I got a solid wood (no laminate), hand carved (not pressed), full ebony fingerboard (not rosewood), high-end guitar. Like a Jazzica reviewer mentioned - Hofner could sell this guitar for twice the price and get it with no problem. Let's face it. The jazz box market is pretty limited. When someone needs a big archtop, they accept the fact that they are expensive in general. Get a Hofner before the price goes up.

For the record, I've had this for three months, not three days. So far, no problems except the pick guard (See fit and finish).

In a word - beautiful. I use it with a Marshall AS50R acoustic amp. wonderful, bright, full tone just as I would expect from a solid wood archtop.

I use it for jazz accompanying, jazz soloing, and for more fusion type jazz like Larry Carlson/Rippingtons type stuff.

Handles everything great. I use a solid body Alvarez (strat clone) and a Vox AD60VT amp for the blues. Jazz is my interest, blues is my escape.

So all in all, it's a jazz box. Plain and simple.

Guess what I'm going to say. Yup, the fit and finish are perfect. German craftsmanship. Nothing else to say.

The only problem was the pick guard was lose at the neck end. It seems the screw hole was too big for the screw. It tried fitting a slightly larger screw but the ebony was too hard to be re-tapped using a screw. I finally fixed it with double-sticky model airplane "servo" rubber tape. Has been stuck in place ever since. I don't know why or how this happened. Could have been done at the dealer or the factory. this was a little disappointing but has turned out to be no big deal. The quality of this quitar far out weighs some small problem like this.

Came with a large case with tweed covering. I've had it three months and the tweed will get dirty in a hurry. But the case itself will last for years and protect the guitar for as long as it holds together.

The case even has a hydrometer and a humidifier built in.

I gave it a 9 only because of the pick guard being lose. I really don't think it left the factory that way.

It will certainly hold up like any other guitar. If you drop it, it will get dings. If you treat it with care, it won't. The hardware is first quality. The gold finish is holding up fine. The overall finish is glossy and reasonably thick. The wood is solid too - not too thin.

The strap buttons are solid.

I always keep a backup. I have an Epiphone semi-hollow body that is always close at hand. I prefer the Hofner and have not had a problem, but I don't like driving my car for three hours without a spare tire either.

Overall the guitar has been very dependable so far.

I bought it from Jeff Hale Music Supply. He has been an email or phone call away. I highly recommend him.

As for Hofner - they are distributed by Boosey-Hawkes. I think they are in England (but I'm not certain).

I haven't dealt with them or Hofner.

I have been playing for forty years - blues - light rock. - folk - fingerpicking, bluegrass. Jazz for one year.

I own a high-end Lowden f32c flat top, the Epiphone alleykat I mentioned previously, and an Alvarez fender clone. Amps are the Marshall acoustic and the vox. I have owned fenders, martins, customs, ibanez, and a Sears silvertone (that was a long time ago).

There is nothing more I could ask for with this guitar for Jazz. It's wonderful, beautiful, and makes me a better player. If you've never played a real ebony fingerboard you owe it to yourself to try one for an hour or so. I bet with round-wounds on it, it would make an excellent un-amp'd acoustic too.

I like everything about his guitar. Haven't found anything to not like.

As for lost or stolen - I've gotta ask how does somebody lose a $2000 guitar? stolen, yes - lost, hmmm. If anyone wants to lose their guitar in front of my house, be my guest.

Overall, this is one terrific archtop. It does what an archtop is supposed to do, perfectly. It needs nothing.

GET ONE before the price goes up. Dollar for dollar, feature for feature, it will kick a Gibson, Epiphone, Guild, etc. archtop to the curb.