Product: Hofner Senator
Price Paid: AUD 1600 USED
Submitted
04/23/2009
at
03:35am
by
Aaron
Features
:
8
1958 Hofner Senator Acoustic. Laminated maple back and sides (figured), laminated spruce top (very rare on Senators), full depth acoustic body, 22 fret rosewood fingerboard, cantilevered neck, sunburst finish, non cutaway, Hofner "Compensator" tailpiece, and a little floating rosewood bridge. A very FAT neck too. Some may find it a bit too fat. I like it though.
Sound
:
9
I play jazz (more old school jazz). This guitar is great for that. Despite the body being laminated, it has a very powerful loud tone, that is not tinny by any means. This is the sort of sound that make you say "this don't need a pickup!". VERY LOUD for the size, comparable volume to much larger guitars. I'm using .11 strings (I'd usually have .13 on an archtop, but this is a 51 year old guitar- treat it with some care!).
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
7
The guitar is incredibly well made. The only thing that I don't like much is the neck join. Hofner use a mortise and tenon join (like on a violin) for the neck. This is good, but it's needs to be reset more often- but it's easier to reset than a dovetail. The guitar is very tidy, and does not look at all like a 51 year old guitar. It is in NEAR MINT condition still- it was made to last.
Reliability/Durability
:
8
This is an old guitar. I'm not going to gig with it (much...). It's OK for a small restaurant where you can feel safe that nobody is going to throw a chair at you. I'll take it along perhaps once or twice when I put on a little floating pickup, but it's one that's going to be more at home. It's well made, and I am confident that I COULD gig with it. I don't want to damage it though.
Customer Support
:
10
Hofner still are very helpful with queries regarding the old models of guitars (despite it being out of production for decades).
Overall Rating
:
No Opinion
I've been playing for a fair while now, mostly jazz. My other guitars that I play are an Electa NL-100 archtop (solid timbers used throughout) which is my main gigging guitar, a Samick RL-1 (like a mini 335), and THE HOFNER. If the Hofner was stolen I would crucify the thief. I am going to get a floating single coil pickup fitted to a replacement pickguard to amplify the guitar.
