Hohner HS-35

Pretty close Gibson 335 copy including the chunky 50's neck. The pickups are Sky designed by Kent Armstrong and sound awesome. No change needed. 24.75 scale, stop tail piece, maple body with f-holes, rosewood neck and decent tuners. Nice sunburst finish. Even the Hohner HS 35 Made in Korea label in orange and inside the left f-hole like the old Gibson's.

Mojo Blues. These Sky Kent Armstrong pickups deliver classic PAF tones. A blues machine. I have owned 2 Lucille's, 2 135's, ES-125, Heritage 335, Tokai 335, 4 Epi 335's, Samick 335 and maybe a couple others I don't remember. The tone and playability on this rivals the Lucille's and is better than the Heritage and 135's and in a different league than the rest. It is that good.

Classic sunburst finish. No flaws I could see.

I would play it every day and I keep it in hardshell case with strap locks.

Don't know.

I bought this used in great shape for $175 + a $50 hardshell case for a total of $225 and it is the best $225 I have spent in a long time. I don't know about the Chinese made HS 35's, but the Korean is top rate. If you can find one for even $300-$400, jump on it. You can see where it is made by looking for orange label in left f-hole. Pull of the neck humbucker and it shoud be labeled "Sky designed by Kent Armstrong" or something to that effect. If you are looking for the 50's 335 vibe and don't want to spend over $500, this is a no brainer. You would have to spend a $1000 plus to get into this quality and tone. I have owned atleast 5 Gibson 335 style and 1 Heritage 335 and 2 Guild 335's, and this is as good or better than all but my Lucille. I would rate it a 9 in comparison to what I have owned but give it an 11 since the others were all over $1000 guitars. This is that good. I have not seen to many Korean made one's around or even on Ebay, but they seem to sell for about $150 to $300 or about the same as a Chinese made Hohner 335. Don't cheat yourself, find a Korean made HS 35 with Sky by Kent Armstrong pickups.

This Hohner is a copy of the Gibson 335. It is a semi-hollow body, Maple with a Spruce top, set Mahogany neck with Rosewood fingerboard.
22 Fret neck, Pearloid block fingerboard inlay. The body and neck are bound in black/ivory/black. Dual Humbuckers, Grover style tuners and Tune-O-Matic bridge. This particular one has a Transparent Orange finish.

Interesting story for you. I'm 57 and have only recently started playing again. Nearly 16 years ago my wife bought me a very nice Ibanez acoustic for Christmas, and 15 and a half years later I FINALLY pull it out and start re-learing to play. SO you see I've been out of the music "scene" for some time.
Back in the day, playing in a few bands, I played a 1963 Vox Hurricane and a Rickenbacker 365 Fireglow semi hollow body along with a Hohner semi hollow through a Fender Bandmaster.
So after getting back into my acoustic, I got the urge for an electric again. I researched for quite some time before buying this Hohner. I considered many other affordable makers, but I'll address them below.
I'm still deciding on an amp, but have played it through the daughters bass amp and I have to admit, the sound is quite tonal and very clean, just what I was looking for. With two volume and two tone knobs for the Humbuckers along with a selector switch for the pickups, you can dial in your guitar through a wide range. From bright all the way through deep and mellow.
My plan is really to just play as a hobbiest as it's a bit late to dream about making the big time.
The Humbuckers seem a bit weak but keep in mind it's only been played so far through a bass amp, but I plan on replacing them. Due to the lower grade pickups, I give this section a strong 9.

I recieved this guitar new in the box, and well set up by the seller. The action is very light with no fret buzz and the Humbuckers were well adjusted.
The woodgrain stands out well with the transparent finish and very beautifully grained and matched. The finish was, to be honest, AMAZING. You'd think this guitar had been dipped in glass. The pickups and pickguard came caoted with plastic which is easily removed. The really great black/ivory/black binding reall sets off the transparent finish and I could find absolutely NO seams along any of the bindings on the body or neck. Like I said, this finish is better than most famous maker high dollar guitars.

Quality wise, I expect this guitar to stand up to reasonably heavy usage as it's one well put together piece of art The finish is anything but thinly applied and actually has the deep thick look of high quality laquer.

I've not had to deal with the Factory, but this does come with a limited lifetime warranty and I doubt I'll ever need to use it.
I will say that I bought this through Ebay from a seller using the username p-hill. If you're looking for something musical, I'd highly suggest this seller. This guitar was far better than I ever expected, double boxed for shipping and insured. And communication with the seller was exceptional.

I stated above that I will play this Hohner as a hobbiest, so I didn't want to spend a fortune on a guitar but was not about to settle for junk either. I shopped many different brands. Ibanez, Washburn, Turser as well as Fender. I started looking closer at Hohner after reviewing this model here on HC. I'd just about sold myself on a Turser 335 copy, but after realizing how much I liked my Hohner back in the '60s, I looked deeper into the Hohner line, as they have been doing business since the mid 1800s. They can be hard to find, and although I did find a few on Ebay, I made an offer for this one. In the end I STOLE this guitar. I paid $175.00 for a guitar that's retailing for $500.00.
I would put this up against any Gibson I've ever played and with a pickup replacement, I'd venture to say that once reset up, it would burn the pants off a Gibson. And finish and quality wise, this is better than any Gibson I've seen, and I've seen and played a lot of them.
Bottom line? I'd recommend this to anyone, buy this guitar. This sweet guitar has to be the best kepy secret in the rather LARGE world of guitars.

This is my second review of this guitar. The features are pretty much what you expect for a ES335 copy. Two tone, two volume and selector switch. Two humbucker pickups and stop bar tailpiece with adjustable bridge.

I play fingerstyle and this suits my style to a t. It has a fairly thick neck but the action is superb. The frets could stand a little tweaking but there is no buzzing at any area of the fretboard. I replaced the standard humbuckers with a set of GFS Retrotron pickups and this guitar now has achieved a sound only available in the extrememly high end guitars. It is unbelievable the difference that mede in the sound of this guitar through my 1965 Fender Super Reverb.

The action on this guitar is fantastic as stated earlier and the finish is beautifu. mine is the natural maple and I can find no flaws in the fit or finish. Great pains were taken in making this guitar regardless of the fact is was made in Korea. To me this is the greatest bargain in guitars. I am somewhat dismayed by the fact that there are not more Hohner owners who are willing to post a review of this fine guitar. Surely I'm not the only owner is the country.

The guitar is so well made I would not be hesitatnt to take it as my only guitar. I don't gig any more but would not be worried about this axe if it were the only one I took with me. The finish is great and looks like its a foot thick. a little Martin polish and the thing really shines.

Don't have a clue as to customer support as I've never needed them. Most minor repairs I can do myself and don't rely on the company.

I have been playing off and on for nealy 45 years and have owned several top of the line guitars, Gibson, Fender, Gretsch. I currently own a Takamine EF360S, lawsuit model, Epiphone Les Paul and this Hohner. I would certainly try to replace it if it were lost or stolen. I love the sound and can't think of anything I hate. I have had this guitar for nearly three years and love it. I still say that Hohner is the best kept secret in Guitars. i have played this next to Ibanez and Washburn and to me there is no comparison. This guitar is far superior to those brands. For th money it would be impossible to beat it.

All the same as Gibson's 335. I dare compare it to Gibson because I have a Gibson 335. I also own a Ibanez Artstar AS-80 which is another 335 copy.

Pick-ups are OK for a beginner. They are low output and the treble pick-up does not regain any clarity at ANY volume. Way to spikey!

Perfect, This is where this guitar really stands out. There is not a flaw on this guitar. The binding is perfect. The neck is BETTER than the neck on a 335 or a AS-80. Neck is styled after a Gibson 58 which has a fater baseball shaped neck. New 335's have 60 thinline necks, big mistake by Gibson. AS-80 necks are the worst of the 3 guitars. Where the Artstar stands out is in the p/u catogory. The Ibanez Super 58's are the best sounding of the three guitars. Gibson's 57 classic's have a higher output but do not retain the clarity that the 58's have. The hohner has the WORST of the 3 guitars. The Gibson IS the best built of the 3. But not worth 2200.00. The quality of the Hohner is right there with the Gibson. The electronic's is where it fails as with the Ibanez. Gibsons pots and 3-blade switch are FAR superior to the other two guitars. The 3-position switches need to be replaced especially on the Ibanez [Already Done]. Neck on the Hohner is the best of the 3.

Due to the electronics the Hohner is not a Durable or Reliable as Gibson. but for 300 bucks you can change the entire electronics on this guitar and add a bone nut. Which Gison also does NOT have. And you will have a Guitar as good as the Gibson for a total of 600bucks! as opposed to a 2200 guitar!

n/a

Guitar has the most potential of any 335 copy I have seen. As I said I own a Ibanez AS-80 and Gibson 335. I wish the Hohner had Ibanez's 58 pups and coil-splits and it would be right there. The combo of headstock, neck and body binding is awesome on this guitar. Wish the Gibson was done like this! The Ibanez has the worst neck of the 3.

This is an update to my other review.
I swapped out the original pickups, which were Sky brand HPAN-1 "Designed by Kent Armstrong" MIK ceramic humbuckers. These pickups were fine stock 'buckers, no issues.
However, I wanted to see how P-90's would work in this guitar, so I got a set of humbucker-sized P-90's from Pete Biltoft at VintageVibeGuitars, and...epiphany!!!
This cheap little Hohner now has monster status. Glorious single coil growl and grit with that Neil Young-John Lennon vibe AND 50's cool jazz tones, with everything in between are now in my tonal palette.

With this mod, I give this guitar a 9-plus: looker, player, tone machine.

I bought this guitar used from a friend-of-an-(ex)-in-law, unseen, 1,600 mile away. Features are as described by other reviewers: MIK, ES-335 knockoff. Mine is natural maple with the typical modern clear-coat finish. This is one pretty guitar!

I use this guitar for blues, jazz, roots rock. It just loves my home-brewed Deluxe clone played through a 4x10" cab loaded with Weber Sig10 ribbed drivers. It is capable of a variety of tones and sounds, as might be expected from twin humbuckers in a semi-hollow guitar. The pickups are stock, and sound quite nice. I originally expected that I would be swapping them out, but have not done so.

I got this used, and received it adequately set-up for the flatwound .011s the previous owner had used. It has be reconfigured for .010 roundwounds since. The wood is pretty, but not highly figured. Tuners, pots, bridge, nut are fine.

This is as dependable as any semihollow guitar I am acquainted with, and would gig with it with full confidence. Always, always, have a back up: guitar and amp.

I only know the Hohner folks from their booth at NAMM, where they demonstrate all 12 points of the Boy Scout law: friendly, helpful, courteous, kind, etc. Regarding the warrantee, I am ignorant.

I have been playing since about 1970 (all that is starting to get muddy in my memory). If this guitar were lost or stolen, I would definitely try to get another ES-335-style guitar. And, if I could find another one just like this one, even if this one were not lost/stolen, and I could snag it for under $200, I'd do 'er. This guitar is nicer than the standard Epi Dot, IMHO, and possibly comparable to the Elite/Elitist Dot for most features.

Price paid: $300
I am the second owner of this gorgeous guitar.
335 copy with a laminated maple top and natural finish.
This guitar has two very smooth sounding humbucker pickups (don't know the maker) and they sound smooth as silk through my 65 Fender Deluxe reverb amp. I can get almost any tone I wnat with it. I think i am even getting close to teh classic CHET sound but nobody will ever match that exactly (the masters touch you know).
The tuners are Grover style and seem to hold tune pretty well even with the self installed Bigsby B7.
The neck is a fat jazz neck which takes a little getting used to but it works and the action is fantastic. I also own an epi Les Paul and a Takamine EF360 (lawsuit model made in 1980) but thios guitar is definitely a keeper.

I would rate this guitar a high 9 for the sound that can be achieved.
It has that smooth jazz sound or crank it up for country and it is still smooth.

The fit and finish of this guitar also rate a high 9. I have not found any major flaws in the finish.
The only flaw is the one I created when I removed the stop bar bridge and placed a Bigsby on it. The hole filled very well but it is not perfect. The flaw is mine and not from the company.

I would place this guitar right up there with any I have played, Gibson, Gretsch,Fender, Epiphone.A lot of great guitar for not a great deal of money. This guitar sells for $799 new from the Company.As I basically only play for my own enjoyment and occasionally in church I don't need a backup but I wouldn't be concerned if it was the only axe I owned.

N/A

I have been playing since I was 16 (56 now).
I would definitely try to acquire another one if this one were stolen.
the only question I would ask is why this great guitar is one of the worlds best kept secrets. I heard about this purely by accident in talking to my friend whose wife had just bought him a Gretsch 6122jr and he no longer needed this one.(personally I think he got rid of the wrong guitar).

Visit Hohner.com for details about the axe. 335 copy of high quality that rivals if not exceeds epiphone's elitist and dot models.

i play blues and jazz but have sworn by a tele and strat for over 15 years. I once owned a epi-Joe Pass signature and have found this guitar to be every bit as goos if not better than that one. I can get a variety of tones with it and have found the dual volumes interesting to deal with b/c unlike my solidbodies this guitar needs to be opened up fully to get the "clean" side out but the p/ups are hot and very full so it's a trade off. I like the sounds I can get out of the neck p/up and for everything from chunky funk rhythm to telecastic twang can be found with a flick of a switch. I can solo on all p/u settings and this thing sings with a bit of overdrive.
i'm still getting used to balancing the volumes on the 2 pups and my amps have had a major tonal overhaul to allow this guitar to breathe more in them. I've yet to use it with my solidbodies during a show. Not that I haven't gigged with it, read on.....

i got this froma fellow guitar palyer setup and ready to go. In order to trial by fire this axe I took it on a gig as my only guitar to force the issue. It passed with flying colors. I was able to get the John Lee sound and yet still pull some Albert King out of it. There was a great BB tone to be had and when I pulled out the stops and laid into it I found it willing to accomodate my every musical whim. the best part: No $2000 price tag(gibson), $1099 (epiphone). And it ahs a 5 year warranty!!!

it passed the lie test without going out of tune after bending and playing my guts out. the natural finish matches my homebrew cab and looks great. i have gigged with it sans backup. Definitely dependable.

haven't dealt with them but found out the company's US place is 50 miles up the road and they'll service it for me if needed.

16 years of palying guitar. American Strat Plus and G&L ASAT CLASSIC run through a Mesa Mark IV with a homebuilt 2x10 equipped with Weber Signature Series spkrs. I love it for the price and quality of tones found in it. The workmanship is great and if it were stolen I'd use the insurance money to get another but probably in sunburst rather than natural finish.

faithfull copy of pre-68 gibson 335 "dot" (even the label is orange) except for the binding on the head.
Made in Korea 2001, tobacco sunburst, single-ply cream body/neck/head binding, stop tailpiece, tune-o-matic, 3-ply maple/mahogany/maple top&back, maple neck, rosewood fingerboard, H/H pickups (don't know the brand), 2 vol and 2 tone controls, black/transparent pot knobs and a set of not so great tuners, chrome hardware.
Only the top is finished in sunburst, the back and the back of the neck are dark brown.
I intend to change the electronics (not the pickups) and tuners for a set of grovers.

First, I play mostly rock/blues (Knopfler, Clapton...) and a bit jazz, also some hard rock. I don't use effects much, most of the time I plug my guitars straight to the amp
This guitar offers quite a wide arrange of sounds. Bridge pickup offers that distinct twang with unbelievable control, neck pickup isn't muddy at all and the middle position instantly reveals thet unmistakeable 335 character.
Somehow they managed the pickups to sound very open and expressive, yet controlled and nicely balanced. Sometimes I wish they were a bit more compressed but then I remember why I like the strat tone so much and why I hate the ibanez tone.
I bought that guitar because of its high construction quality at a reasonable price but when i brougth it home and plugged it into a Marshall TSL 601 the sound just amazed me. I just played it for hours straight discovering things I didn't even know i'd been missing. Comparred to my les paul standard it has softer character, a little less sustain and a bit less output (the pickups are further from the strings and I want them to stay this way). Middle position especially is wonderfully creamy even without tone controls being turned down.
I actually achieve the more convincing slash's les paul overdrive type of sound with this guitar than with les paul.
I always preferred the strat sound over everything else, humbuckers simply sound too compressed for me but this guitar does offer enough character and sound shaping for me to use it in some situations i would normally use my strat. That should say enough to strat enthusiasts like me:) I prefer this hohner over my les paul in almost every aspect except for sustain and paul's nasty edge when needed.

The finish is beautiful, no flaws, tobacco sunburst is rather dark, more like a violin burst with black edge. The neck is what one expects from a gibson 335 or 335-like guitar (that is, a tad too fat but that's just me...). The setup wasn't perfect when i got it (action too low-->buzzing), the neck wasn't properly curved (it was actually straight as a laserbeam) and the pickguard was loose. At least the intonation was (almost) perfect. After some tweaking it is now in perfect playing condition for me. There are no unabolishable errors or flaws such as misplaced bridge, frets, neck curving etc. (i've seen that kind of things even on gibsons).
Dislikes: cheap tuners, I will replace them soon with Grovers, cheap tone/vol controls I'll have that replaced as well (I suspect that they didn't even use the logarithmic but linear pots for volume!)
I wouldn't mind spending a little more money for this guitar if they fixed all the little things i mentioned above but the fact that the instrument itself is really nicely/flawlessly built remains and was the main reason for me to buy it.

Clearly 335 style isn't designed to survive a nuclear war but it will survive (actually it already has) live shows, drunk practicing and transport in soft case. The finish apart from being beautiful also proved to be durable enough (after 2 years stills appears almost as new), my biggest concern is if I dropped it because I'm sure it wouldn't end without consequences like it once did for my les paul. I wouldn't use any instrument without backup bur i use this guitar as a backup for a strat a lot due to string breakage (strat saddles seem to cause a string to break much easier than tune-o-matic)

Two-year warranty, I never had to deal with the company.

I've benn playing for about 10 years, I own 3 accoustic and 4 4lectric guitars (2 strats, a les paul and this one). Fender American Strat still remains my main guitar for its sound and feel of the neck but hs-35 made my les paul a second choice on many ocasions (if i get myself into financial difficulties i'll first sell les paul).
I am very inquisitive and have played a great number of instruments. Before buying this hohner i tried a bit more expensive epiphone 335 dot and some other H/H guitars. Gibson 335 simply isn't worth four times of this guitar but there are some great solid body H/H designs better (not necessarily better sounding) than les paul. Lesson for me was not to be just happy with les paul where i use it and try new things all the time and semi hollow design surprised me with what it offers where you wouldn't expect it. This guitar is simply great, I'd definitely buy another one if mine was gone if it was equally quality made.

As Hohner is an american company I'm assuming this was made in america.
22 frets. rosewood fingerboard.
semi-acoustic
thru-neck.
2volume 2tone 3-way selector.
H/H both standard chrome humbuckers
don't know what wood it is but looks good with clear finish.
ES335 copy
tunematic bridge with stop tailpiece
Big fat jazz neck

Easy to use and effective in les paul style

Suits my playimg style perfectly with big ringing open chords/distorted mayhem/noise and feedback/'after the goldrush'sounds and jazz and thrash available too if I'm in the mood.
using a Marshall 100R combo plugged straight in.
strings are 052-012
can get a bit noisy at low volume settings unless you roll the tone off a bit.

I like:
-many tones available and convincing with most of them
-big fat neck. it's strong and straight and has plenty of space on the fretboard.
I dislike:
-Hitting the pickup selector switch with my hand. jazz to twang in a second!
-tuning can be unstable if you play hard

I bought this second hand from a friend who bought it new so he had the teething problem which was lots of string breakages till bridge wore in. It was well set-up at the factory with 009's which could be great for shredders but at the expense of that fat tone. The binding was flawless but when i took off the black scratchplate(cos i didn't like it) i found the binding on the previously hidden f-hole was fairly rough.

This thing looks like it will age well and last forever! the frets are a bit soft and will probably need replacing after a year or so with something a bit harder.
have played live and will continue to do so for a long time i feel.
Only use a back-up in case I break a string which is a bit of a problem still.
Slighlty neck heavy but I play fairly low so doesnt matter much as guitar is sometimes vertical!

bought second hand and have not looked for information so I dont know.
sorry

I've been playing for seven years and this guitar rates up there with some of the best i've played (les paul studio, fat strat) If any thing happened to it i'd be gutted, I'm really attached to it. I wish it had acoil tap for the bridge pickup so I could get a bit of a strat tone sometimes but thats life. If anyone reading this comes to see the band Drawteddy play in birmingham, england then they can see it being squeezed!