Product: Hofner Nightingale Special
Price Paid: Euros 1800 USED
Submitted
06/24/2009
at
01:44am
by
Jens Hausmann
Features
:
10
ES 335 deluxe style made in Germany. Bird??s eye maple body & tone block, ebony fingerboard with 24 frets, two Schaller humbuckers, special electronic circuity: with tone control on 10 for single coil sound, turn back to 9-8 for humbucker on both pickups. But it's not true splitting: instead of switching one coil off totally it's done via capacitor, which means that the bass is still there from both coils! Also it features an additional master volume control & stereo output with the pickups separately. Heavy duty hardware by Schaller, it was produced 1986 - 2000 as can be found out on the Hofner Website.
Mine is from the mid-90ies. It also feature a beautiful sunburst and block inlays.
Sound
:
10
It's softer more jazz compared to an old original ES335, as the upmarket models like ES 355 would be too. Fat with more silk on the individual notes. Maybe a good alternative for Scofield fans, since it has still got that cool sharpness and bite as well due to that special versatile electronic circuit. I mostly play it with a Fender Tube amp and sometimes go in the P.A. via Yamaha DG-Stomp.
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
No Opinion
It has a bit wider neck and a long 65 mm scale approx. 25.6". So it's great for classical players or those who come from acoustic guitars. The jumbo frets are a perfect fit for any style especially fast playing and bending is piece of cake on the axe. The ES 335 I used to play was to narrow for me.
Reliability/Durability
:
10
Well, mine is about 15 years old and already has outlived the case on a lot of gigs. It's still as good as new and never made any trouble. A great workhorse, further more that beautiful thing is always good for a high brow...
Customer Support
:
10
I wouldn't know, I never contacted them on this matter because I didn't need to. But I do know that they are very friendly and know damn well what they are doing. So I'd still give it 10 points here.
Overall Rating
:
10
I've been a professional player and guitar freak for quite a while, I've sold a Gibson ES335 for this one and use the Hofner more frequently than my Fender Strat and a Gibson ES 175 because it falls sort of between the two. The guitar works beautiful in a vintage setting with a tube amp like it does on the more modern side like a P.O.D. which sometimes can be hassle in terms of noise for instance.
