Hohner HF-75

Slot neck, small bodied (om size) guitar. Solid spruce top, Ovankol back and sides. Gloss finish with 12 fret satin neck. Made in china? Tuners a little cheapish, but do the job and seems to stay in tune pretty well.

This is where this guitar suprises. Purchased as a blem on ebay for well less than $100. When it arrived, I tuned it up and it sounded very good but the strings where very heavy and old enough to have some rust on them. Replaced with some extra lights and changed bridge pins to ebony. Wow. Brilliant and bright, almost Taylor-esque, but with more low end. I used to own a Taylor big baby and the sound is quite similar - the Taylor was more resonant but the Hohner is more balanced from low to high. The rating I give it is based on comparing it to other sub-$400 guitars and not against high end Martins and Taylors.

Wood joinery is visible on the top (I said blem, right?) The Ovankol is beatiful and is so vibrant in color as to almost look fake. Plastic saddle and nut - I wonder how much better it would sound with bone or Tusq? The neck is absolutely great!! Fast, shallow D neck that feels better to me than most guitars i have ever played (except my trusty Tacoma dread). Nice low action - I usually adjust my own guitars, but to make this action any better I would have to take it to a pro for setup. Smooth and even frets. I would give the action a 9 and finish a 7 (blem) so give an average of 8.

Cheapo plastic button but otherwise feels extremely solid. I was afraid to take the Taylor big baby out, as it seemed so light as to be fragile. No such issues with this one. Finish is heavy and durable. Tuners will probably go first. Fairly light, but extremely solid. I don't play out (I'm an ex semi-pro harmonica player) - but every seasoned guitar player should have a backup.

Non-issue. Blems are not warranteed.

I am a "perpetual begginer" on the guitar - been noodling around for over 15 years. I have owned several acoustics, but have only kept Tacoma DR 12. This one is a keeper as well. Payed less than $100 but sounds better than almost anything I have played in the sub $400 class. Less low end and not as woody as a Seagull folk, but payed 1/5 of the price of one of those new. The neck on the Hohner feels better in my hand than the Seagull. Build quality is not as good as a Seagull but has a more harp-like tone. If it was stolen or lost I would by these all day long for what I payed. Again the rating is for the money spent and not comparing it to high end guits.

This has been pretty well covered by previous reviews.

Guitar was purchased new but may have been sitting for a while. Strings were corroded. Sound was pretty quiet with little sustain. Restrung with new light PBs and sound improved tremendously.

Tuners were near impossible to turn. Felt like I was going to snap them in half. When I replaced the strings I lubed tuners, which helped a lot. Action was not too bad but shaved saddle slightly to get to it where I wanted. Finish was nice with no runs as a previous review had seen. Finish did seem a little heavy. Frets weren't dressed correctly and very sharp so had to file them down. Bridge, saddle, and nut were fine. I liked the fretboard and markers. Small amount of glue noticable on inside bracing. Pickguard was not installed and I will keep it that way. Looks much better without it to my eye.

Not sure about this area. I would assume that this would not be a great backup due to it being a low end guitar. Just my .02

n/a

I bought this guitar mainly due to the steel string slothead and will use it mostly for finger playing. For the price, it is very acceptable. If you are able to do a setup on it yourself then it is an even better deal. I have classical guitars, a few Taylors, and now this Hohner. It is exactly what I was looking for and at a good price too.

Solid Sitka Spruce top, laminate Ovangkol sides and back, OM/000 style body, 18 frets, 12 frets to body. Mahogany neck, Rosewood fretboard, unusual double layer slotted headstock veneer -- looks to be a thicker layer of Maple topped with a thin layer of Rosewood. Fretboard is nicely bound with side markers and stylized "O"s for fretboard markings. Highly ornate brass in-line tuners (reminiscent of Waverly tuner) with pearlized mahogany colored buttons. Thick style neck. Thin abalone perfling and soundhole inlay. Rosewood bridge and came with a plastic B-compensated saddle. Made in China, I'm estimating sometime in 2002 from the serial number. Came with a chipboard case, hex wrench.

Guitar sounded okay when I got it as a gift in December 2002. Had a deep and resonant tone, so-so on sustain. Within the past six months I have installed a bone saddle and different brand strings and it sounds much better, still robust, but brighter and lots of sustain -- surprisingly nice sounding for the price. Sounds nicer doing palm-muted picking than my Washburn dreadnought.

Overall, the guitar is solidly put together, with no obvious manufacturing flaws that I can find. The back has some fine figuring with is bookmatched very nicely. The top also has areas varying grain patterns, which seem well matched from side to side. The guitar was purchased from a retailer at a local flea market, and the setup was very poor, with a big hump in the neck where it joined the body and strings buzzing on all the upper frets. I put shims under the saddle to make it playable and dealt with poor action and intonation for the next 3 1/2 years. Recently I researched and discovered what was wrong with it and corrected the problem. The top is thin, solid wood and it had dried out terribly, starting from long before I got it. I rehydrated the guitar (it took about 2 weeks) and the neck problems resolved themselves -- no hump. The bridge lifted as the top filled out and I was able to remove the shims and cut and install a new bone saddle. After the guitar stabilized, I put some relief into neck, and adjusted the action to about 5/64" -- it frets out nicely now with no buzz anywhere. The fingerboard still tends to slope downward a little as it crosses the soundboard past the 12th fret, but the neck/body joint itself is clean and straight. Except for the fact that it has a fatter neck than I prefer, it plays and sounds fine now -- much credit to the instrument for the abuse it took before getting to this point.

As noted, the guitar took a lot of abuse in the past 4 years and held up without breaking down. I think it is a very durable and reliable instrument.

Never tried, and hope I never have to.

The thick neck makes it more difficult for me to play with my smaller hands than my Washburn WD-46S dreadnought, so I deduct one point for that. I still like to drag it out and play it anyhow, because the sound is different than a dreadnought. It's a solid, fine sounding guitar. It's not a Martin or a Taylor any other high-end guitar, but it cost only 1/10th to 1/20th the price. I think it performs and sounds as well as or better than many mid-level makes and models. I think highly enough of this guitar that I bought a hard-shell case to protect it.

Solid Sitka Spruce top, laminate Ovangkol sides and back, OM/000 style body, 18 frets, 12 frets to body. Mahogany neck, Rosewood fretboard, unusual double layer slotted headstock veneer -- looks to be a thicker layer of Maple topped with a thin layer of Rosewood. Fretboard is nicely bound with side markers and stylized "O"s for fretboard markings. Highly ornate brass in-line tuners (reminiscent of Waverly tuner) with pearlized mahogany colored buttons. Thick style neck. Thin abalone perfling and soundhole inlay. Rosewood bridge and came with a plastic B-compensated saddle. Made in China, I'm estimating sometime in 2002 from the serial number. Came with a chipboard case, hex wrench.

Guitar sounded okay when I got it as a gift in December 2002. Had a deep and resonant tone, so-so on sustain. Within the past six months I have installed a bone saddle and different brand strings and it sounds much better, still robust, but brighter and lots of sustain -- surprisingly nice sounding for the price. Sounds nicer doing palm-muted picking than my Washburn dreadnought.

Overall, the guitar is solidly put together, with no obvious manufacturing flaws that I can find. The back has some fine figuring with is bookmatched very nicely. The top also has areas varying grain patterns, which seem well matched from side to side. The guitar was purchased from a retailer at a local flea market, and the setup was very poor, with a big hump in the neck where it joined the body and strings buzzing on all the upper frets. I put shims under the saddle to make it playable and dealt with poor action and intonation for the next 3 1/2 years. Recently I researched and discovered what was wrong with it and corrected the problem. The top is thin, solid wood and it had dried out terribly, starting from long before I got it. I rehydrated the guitar (it took about 2 weeks) and the neck problems resolved themselves -- no hump. The bridge lifted as the top filled out and I was able to remove the shims and cut and install a new bone saddle. After the guitar stabilized, I put some relief into neck, and adjusted the action to about 5/64" -- it frets out nicely now with no buzz anywhere. The fingerboard still tends to slope downward a little as it crosses the soundboard past the 12th fret, but the neck/body joint itself is clean and straight. Except for the fact that it has a fatter neck than I prefer, it plays and sounds fine now -- much credit to the instrument for the abuse it took before getting to this point.

As noted, the guitar took a lot of abuse in the past 4 years and held up without breaking down. I think it is a very durable and reliable instrument.

Never tried, and hope I never have to.

The thick neck makes it more difficult for me to play with my smaller hands than my Washburn WD-46S dreadnought, so I deduct one point for that. I still like to drag it out and play it anyhow, because the sound is different than a dreadnought. It's a solid, fine sounding guitar. It's not a Martin or a Taylor any other high-end guitar, but it cost only 1/10th to 1/20th the price. I think it performs and sounds as well as or better than many mid-level makes and models. I think highly enough of this guitar that I bought a hard-shell case to protect it.

This is a new Parlor size solid spruce top steel-string acoustic made in China. It has 19 frets and an unusual "open" headstock. The back and sides are OVANAGOL wood it comes with a uninstalled stickyback pickguard that the guitar looks much better without. The neck is pieced to the headstock with a clean and strong diagonal joint.

Amazingly resonant. Clean and even highs and lows. Sounds best with regular light Phosphor bronze strings; I tried SILK & STEELS and they didn't sound as good.

I lowered the action slightly by tightening the truss rod, I did not have to shave the bridge. The guitar is SOLID. It has modest oval Perloid inlays as neck markers and on the bridge. No flaws

As I said before SOLID. It will last. Strap button on the bottom only. Gloss finish. Gold In-line tuners O.K. for the open headstock, Hey,the're not Grovers but work fine.

N/A Don't know about customer support. There is a warranty

I don't play very well but I have A good ear. I started playing in my late 40s (55 now)and own 20 guitars including a custom Martin. I would replace this with the same guitar if I lost it. This is a small wonder. Ry Cooder, John Fahey and Leo Kottke are gods to me, I hope to live long enough to play 1/10th as well as they do. This Hohner HF75 will still be around if I ever get there.

Solid spruce topped, open tuners, 12 frets to the body, standard 25.5 scale. Really pretty guitar. Ovankol laminated back and sides, gold Grover tuners, really glossy. Neck is standard 1 11/16" at the nut but the spacing is tight.

Way cool sound for retro blues. Don't buy this looking for a Martin OM sound, you'll be sorely disappointed. But if you play Delta blues, you are going to be one happy son of a gun. I give it a 9 because I like it for retro blues. It is LOUD, which is really surprising given the small body size and lamninated wood. Not boomy loud like a higher end guitar, just loud. Fades to harmonics real quick, cool for blues.

Well, it's a cheaply made Chinese import, so don't expect too much and be pleasantly surprised for the most part. I mentioned the string spacing is too tight. There are finish runs in several places. The saddle slot was cut a tad too wide. The bridge pins are a little loose. The tuners are very good, better than I thought. Maybe they are genuine Grovers? The gloss finish is applied way too heavy but might add to the sound I like, not sure about that.

I have no doubt you can depend on it. It's laminated back and sides, heavy gloss finish will do just fine.

Never dealt with them and never will.

This is a way, way cool guitar. I've got Martins and Taylors for other things. For playing dirty, nasty, Delta blues, this thing is hard to beat. I like it so much, I'm changing the saddle to bone, the nut to bone with better spacing. I'm also going to open up the soundhole by about an 1/8" just for grins. Hey, for this price, I can play with it and if I don't like it, I'll just buy another one! Always wanted a 12 fret, now I've got one. What a bargain.

China made with a solid spruce top. Laminated back and sides from Cocobolo wood Grand Concert shape. Tuners are knock off adequate types. Nice cosmetic details, fret board markers, purfing, slot-head. This is a 12-fret they have a sound of their own. I have three so there might be some bias here. I would give it a 7 except for the 12-fret which merits an 8.

I'm partial to 12-frets so its sounds good. Not as good as a Martin or a custom Joel I have but good. I wanted a travel guitar but wasn't crazy about any of the smaller parlor guitars. This is a good choice, it's sturdy and has a nice sound.

If you get one have a setup done right away. I do my own and spent an hour or so tightening tuners, adjusting neck and saddle. The construction and fit are very good not handmade good but guitar under $500 good.

This is a solidly built guitar. It is perfect for me as a travel guitar. It is not a small easy to store model but not Dred size either. Comfortable, sounds good and it's inexpensive.

I'm playing about 2 years and have a Martin 000 and a custom Joel. This guitar is not their equal or close but for my needs it is fine. If it were lost right now there is nothing at this price point that would be better suited to my use. So yeah I'd get another. This is a very good value for the money.

Made in 2002 in China, Old school short scale basic acoustic, concert sized steel strings. Solid stika spruce top, solid ovangkol sides and back, mahogany neck, rosewood fretboard, bridge and headstock overlay with white plastic and abalone binding and inlays. Even the soundhole "rosette" is inlay, not paint or a decal. The inlay and binding is attractively done and subtle, not overstated. Hand carved Scalloped!!!! X bracing made of spruce. No electronics. Semi gloss finish on the body and rosewood overlay on the headstock. The neck is left natural oiled wood with no finish on it (fantastic). The guitar is about 39 inches long with a 15" lower and 11 inch upper bout. Body depth is about 4 inches. This guitar has a traditional open style headstock like a nylon string classical guitar has. The cutouts are extremely well finished and very attractive. I won't know what brand the tuners are, but they are top shelf items. As good as grovers or one of the other top brands (they could well be). The neck is bound and the frets are well laid and erfectly finished on the ends, vry smooth. The guitar has a double action truss rod. Overall, this is a top end guitar. Nothing whatsoever to answer for or be ashamed of. Not a lot of gimmicks, but if you consider the construction and quality, this is at least a 10.

The sound is beautiful, not loud and boomy like a dred, but loud enough. Very typical of a higher quality 000 sized guitar. It is just what I was looking for personally. If you want a lot of bang and bass, go for a larger bodied guitar. If you want to fingerpick or play traditional folk or country, this is the one.

The action was spot on perfet right out of the box. I will not have to adjust a thing. I was quite surprised to find that the strings were great right out of the box too. Especially considering this has sat in a Hohner warehouse for the last 3 years. It was made in 02 as an 03 model and I bought it NOS in 05. The spruce on the top is great. A darker stripe right down the middle where the bookmarked pieces were joined and some bearclaw, but tight grain and very attractive. No knots anywhere on the guitar. The back and sides are very attractive typical light and dark ovangkol stripes. Like i mentioned earlier, the neck is the best I have seen so far. Better than any other guitar I have. Very attractive tight grained mahogany. The rosewood on the bridge is tight and dark. The only flaws on the guitar are two small spots (1 about the size of a quarter and one about the size of a dime) in the finish on side that dried slightly hazy. Considering the set up and other attributes of the guitar, I definaely wouldn't send it back over this though. You can't even see them unless you hold the thing at a certain angle in the right light. This would also be a ten except for this. Based on the suggested retail price of between 4 and 5 hundered dollars (I paid 125.00 shipping included), I am docking it a bit.

I wouldn't have any qualms abut giging with it. But would have a bckup of some sort with any guitar. I expect this guitar to only get better with age!

Hohner was very good and answered an email within 24 hours. Discount Music (Discount_Music on eay,)where I bought it is very good and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to anyone..

I currently own a Hohner HC30 (nylon string classical very similar to this HF75), Oscar Schmidt OE30DL, Kona K1E, SX Strat, Linden mandolin, CheckMate banjo and am very happy with them all. I think this is m favorite though. I looked a several other small bodies guitars including Larrivee (great, but too high priced), Cort Earth 50, A&L, Trinity River to name a few.... chose this one based on price and my prior experience with Hohner "O" series guitars and am very glad I did. Another reason I chose this ws the open headstock, which I like, but is uncommon on steel string guitars nowadays. This was a definate plus for me, but could be a minus for others. To me it makes it that little bit different from the run of the mill steel string guitars.

Acoustic guitar, made in China 2004-2005. Some features:

* solid spruce top with scalloped braces(!)
* ovangkol back/sides - complex, colorful, and fancy-looking
* slotted headstock with remarkably smooth gold tuners
* double-action truss rod and compensated bridge
* concert-sized body, 12 frets to the body (imagine a classical guitar with steel strings)
* "O" shaped inlays on fingerboard and bridge, mother-of-pearl purfling to match the inlays (almost certainly plastic, but it looks good!), bound neck (again plastic, but still, wow!)

Visually, most budget guitars are either stripped-down, or gaudy and tacky-looking. This one just looks - nice. Elegant and only slightly overstated (much better than, say, a transparent red finish on a laminated curly maple top!)

The sound is typical of medium-bodied acoustics like 12-fret 000 Martins, B-25 Gibsons, etc. It's really a fingerpicker's sound, although it's okay for strumming and flatpicking if you aren't going for power. String-to-string separation is very good, as is balance. Seems to play well up and down the neck, although i haven't played it enough to be critical. It can be somewhat nasal and honky in the midrange - this isn't a criticism, as lots of guitars in this class are the same way. Think of Bob Dylan's 1960s acoustic sound, for example.

It's an *excellent* sounding guitar for country blues and folk! Lots of bite and dynamics. There's a reason the old country guys played small-bodied Gibsons and Martins, not dreadnaughts - that biting, aggressive midrange really brings out the melody lines.

By point of comparison, i got this as a backup for a new, handmade Running Dog Mini-Jumbo that cost THIRTY TIMES as much. And yes, the Running Dog (which i consider a real bargain for a handmade guitar, holding its own with guitars twice its price) sounds much better. But not thirty times better.

It gets a 9 for sound just because i've heard a lot of acoustic guitars that sound better. But the nearest sonic competitor i've heard in the bargain bin is the Breedlove Atlas, which costs almost $400, and the cheapest new guitar i've played that is clearly better is the low-end Larivee, at around $800. Honestly, this Hohner would give a lot of $1500 Martins and Taylors a good slapping around sound-wise.

Construction quality is shockingly good for a guitar of this price. Frets are smooth and well-crowned, with no sharp edges (unlike, say, a brand-new Gibson or Fender). Intonation is spot-on, in part due to the compensated bridge. Binding and inlay are smooth and well-sanded, without gobs of glue or rough edges. I don't know where they get their tuners, but they rival Waverlys in smoothness! I don't know if they'll last, but they sure feel good now, no cheap sloppy or tight feel at all.

The sitka top is certainly not prime visually, but sounds good. The ovangkol is visually striking, but has some small knots and isn't perfectly quartersawn. Oh, darn. There are some gobs of glue around the braces, and some minor imperfections in the finish. Again, darn. Did i mention yet that it cost $109 new?

The neck is a little thicker and narrower than i prefer, but typical of many acoustic guitars. If i were to level a criticism at the design, it's the neck dimensions. A wider 1 3/4" fingerboard would have been better for the fingerpickers attracted to its punchy sound. But that's a pretty minor nit, especially considering a wider neck would turn off a lot of the entry-level buyers who normally get guitars like this.

I don't see any reason to believe it is less reliable than any other acoustic guitar, but it IS brand-new, so i can't really critique properly. Ask me again in five years.

The dealer, Discount Music Supply on EBay, apparently has a couple hundred of these sitting around. They were prompt and it came well-packed. Beyond that, i dunno. If anything ever broke, i'd just take it to one of our fine local luthiers rather than deal with any sort of warranty.

This guitar is a STEAL, and i recommend it to anyone looking for a budget fingerpicker's steel-string. I purchased it to back up a beautiful, handmade Running Dog Mini-Jumbo (another superb instrument that i would recommend to anyone, on any budget). But not everyone can afford a handmade custom guitar. Almost anyone can afford an HF75! I could be quite happy if this was my only guitar.

Chinese-made guitars today remind me strongly of Japanese-made guitars from the 1970s. The construction quality and sound are top-notch, and make no apologies to anyone, at a fraction of the price of other factory-made guitars. It may be inexpensive, but there's nothing CHEAP about it!