Hohner HJ5-VS

This guitar is handcrafted in Korea by Samick. The specs have all been documented by a previous reviwer, Tom Samarati. This guitar is a sunburst thin semi-hollow single-cutaway guitar with a solid center block in the body. It is made by Samick and is a slightly modified clone of the Samick Royal RL5. It has a solid spruce top with mahogany back and sides and a mahogany neck. For the exact differences between the Samick Royal RL-5 and this model please go to the graphic at
http://209.197.70.207/differences.jpg

This is a warm mellow jazz guitar using both the neck pickup alone and even with the bridge pickup in various configurations. There is no hum or noise and, contrary to the previous reviewer's comment about no tone control, I found the tone pots on my guitar to have a fair amount of tonal influence and suit my tastes just fine. Besides a nice clean and clear sound it sustains beautifully.

Playing action had to be adjusted to my taste and now is very good. I replaced the factory round wound strings with D'Addario ECG25 (12-52) chrome flat wounds. I replaced the white plastic jackplate with a gold Gibson Les Paul jackplate (fitted perfectly) and replaced the thin 2-ply pickguard with an identical shaped sturdy 5-ply pickguard by Terrapin Guitars in Eugene, OR. You can view both the new pickguard and glimpse the gold jackplate at http://209.197.70.207/new_pickguard.jpg

Guitar is as heavy as a mahogany Les Paul and built like a tank and should hold up as well as the best of them. I suspect the input jack may be somewhat weak as the cord 'click' in and out is a bit lame on my particular guitar. With the flimsy 2-ply original pickguard I can only give it a eight but the guitar itself should rate a ten. So I compromised with a nine overall.

I bought this guitar new from a wholesaler who had bought up the remaining discontinued models of this guitar. I have never dealt with the Hohner company itself but there is a Hohner dealer here locally whom I am good friends with and have no fear of not having qualified service personel available if ever needed.

I've been playing guitar for 54 years. (see www.peterhaskell.com) I have played them all and this is a substantial guitar. It compares with the Yamaha SA 2100 in quality and feel and I think a bit better in sound. This is probably mostly due from the beautiful TESLA pickups. Overall, I believe the Hohner HJ5-VS is a gem for jazz and 'middle of the road' oriented players. (I'm not a rocker so I have no idea how this guitar would suit that genre but I bet with the right effects you could play any style on this instrument). Two of my students have bought this model since they played mine. If you can still find one I highly recommend it. Overall I don't give a 10 rating for any category very easily so please take that into consideration when looking at the ratings. The guitar's MSRP was nearly $1000.00 and at this price is more reflective of it's true value. I consider mine, for $350.00 with case included, an absolute steal!