Hohner HW-300 Countryman

Hohner HW-300: dreadnaught, "mahogony (supposedly) body (according to their website)", non-enclosed tuners, mahogony neck, rosewood bridge, plastic nut, plastic bridge. I think the body is some type of plywood (possibly mahogony i suppose). and it has some type of nearly indestructable finish/top on it. i've banged it a bit, and no marks at all (strange i think). i suppose that's good since i've had it since xmas '97. neck is pretty thin, easy for chords,etc. no gig bag. i'll give it a "5", it does look like a guitar.

if i could give it a -10, i would. it's horrible. real bassy. not much definition. the strings were so high, it should be a slide guitar. impossible to play in standard tuning. i've tuned it at times to double flat, and that works sometimes, but still very stiff. i've had the best luck w/ open D, open G. w/ the strings somewhat floppy in those tunings, it's possible to play it (possible, not easy). i think the only positive of this, was it was really impossible to play in standard, so I started experimenting w/ alternate tunings. It opens things up a bit as a guitarist. but the HW-300 as a guitar itself, forget it. I suppose one other positive, I was reading/listening to some John Cage prepared piano pieces and thought about doing that with this thing. Also, my 1 yr old son bangs on it like crazy, so it does have a nice percussive sound to it (boy he can really bang on it!!--and the finish still looks good!)

again, if i could give this a -10, i would. whoever set this guitar up should be fired. like i said above, the action is out of control too high. i pulled out the bridge when changing strings and there was 2 pieces of cardboard proping the bridge up, and even w/ them taken out, it's still high, and now i have some string buzz at frets 11,12 on the high E string. Also, after investigating the impossible-ness of playing it in standard, i measured the string length, and guess what, it's not at 25.5" but closer to 25.75 to almost 26". how about that for some inspection standards. there is also a bit of a twist in the neck--it's not straight by any means.

whatever that finish is on the body i'm sure will last forever. i wonder if it's some type of wood wallpaper looking thing.
who knows. i do know that my son bangs and bangs and bangs on this thing now, so i'm sure it will last. just playing it as a normal guitar will be impossible. if he gets interested at all in guitar, he'll beg me for something better i'm sure.

i guess they have a website, and an address is listed.
i plan on sending this to them.
i doubt i will ever hear from them again.

well, i've been as critical as i could. i've been playing for 19 yrs, and can say that my parker nitefly w/ the piezo through my digitech rp100 w/ the acoustic setting sounds better than this (and people, NO ONE GIVES THE ACOUSTIC SETTING A GOOD REVIEW on the rp100). i think that if the neck is mahogony and the bridge was rosewood, that those specific trees should have been left alone, when contemplating making this series of guitars. i'm sure the body was a wood by-product from scraps of dust on the ground. i will probably keep this guitar b/c it was an xmas gift from my wife and my son has fun banging on it, but when i think of the stupid sales pitch that my wife got at the music store, i get mad. she knew she wasn't buying me a martin, but this guitar's quality is not worth 99$ (i should add supposedly the retail on this was $199--supposedly-it was one of those xmas deals). i played a 30$ silvertone at a pawn shop that was better than this thing. the plywood should have been given to Frank Gehry so he could build a cool house for someone somewhere. i think hohner should stick to making harmonicas. please, do not buy this guitar.

"Mahogony" Back, top, and sides? (Thats what it says on their site) Ummm Don't think so. I think its prob Nato. Nice finishes, 20 frets. Very Very cheap tuners... the cheap tuners really ruin it.

Nice deep warm tone (I know lots of people won't like this), but I like it. Definatly not for you if you want a bright sound. Sounds better than all other guitars I've played in the $100-$250 range.

The action was a bit high, but not that bad. No fret buzz. The finish had a bit of a weird spot on the top of the back of the neck.

I think the tuners will give out, then maybe the bottom strap button. The rest seems okay, but both of those look, and seem really cheap.

I think its a great Guitar, especially for the price. I helped a friend buy this (I have a $1000 Martin, and of course it doesn't even compare to that). The tuners and bottom strap button really worry me though. I have no clue how they will hold up over time. If anything bad happens, I'll make another review saying what happened. All in all, $99.99 is a good deal.

so called mahogony body, adjustable tension rod, rosewood neck, steel tuners. it does have a beautiful finish (transparent with a red tint)

the sound is ok, i bought it as a first new guitar, but my old washburn has a better ring to it, the guitar does hold tune for quite some time, my style is blues and this is NOT a good blues guitar!! I plan on giving the countryman away to my mother-in-law, who is in the process of learning to play!!

the action is set pretty high, i play slide guitar and the action still seems to high, its nescessary to keep pretty heavy strings on it to get a decent sound. The neck is a bit too thick and too narrow (i have wide fingers) compared to my washburn it just doesn't fit me right. the bridge is set good, i had no problems with fret buzz. the harware is pretty nice and the finish is perfect(i could find no flaws in it)

haven't had it long but it seems to have a sturdy finsh, my 2 year old has knocked it over too many times to list, but it shows no wear or damage. seems dependable

no problems so far

i've ony been playing 2 years, the sound is ok, for $99.00 you can't ask for much. my dad's alvarez cost him $500.00 and it doesn't sound a whole lot better. if it was stolen i don't think i would care. i plan on giving this guitar away as a gift. this is not a guitar you could fall in love with, unless you just like to look at a guitar (it is a pretty guitar)i have to say my favorite thing about it was the price. for less than $100.00 you couldn't beat this deal. I would recommend this guitar to someone if they weren't sure they were serious about learning to play, but for someone serious, go ahead and spend some money and get a fender or washburn!!!!

It's basically a Dreadnought-style guitar. Quoting their web page: "20 frets - Mahogany back, sides, top and neck - Covered machine heads - Rosewood fingerboard - Adjustable tension rod." LIARS - it is a plastic coating simulating mahogany over plywood. Ok, maybe not plywood, but a cheap wood that DEFINITELY is not mahogany. The fingerboard is rosewood though and it does have a tension rod. It was made in Indonesia.

Let's clarify one thing: this guitar is a cheap one. I bought it for $189 as my first guitar ever. After hearing and playing many acoustic guitars since I have decided this this guitar was a decent value for the money. It has a good sound, though it is rather weak compared to some of the other guitars I've played. My friend has a $1100 Taylor he bought new and it sounds better than mine, but not by much (ie. I wouldn't pay that much for a guitar). Another friend has a Fender Gemini acoustic he bought for $300 used. That kind of guitar is the kind I'll probably pick up once I get off my current obsession with electric guitars & accessories.
But nothing comes close to the $3000 Martin my friend's uncle has. Ahh to have the money...though I'd probably spend it on a 50's Strat.

Ok, the factory setup sucked. Fret buzz on the high E string. My guitar teacher adjusted the bridge and lo-and-behold it went away. Works great now. The action is high though and with medium string it is a chore to play.

The tuners keep tune, so that is nice. Oh yes two of the struts inside the guitar cracked and fell out. Sound goes down...play live with it? Hahaha.....actually I've never tried. I've always used my electric guitars instead. Yes the strap buttons are solid and yes it holds tune but to get decent sound out of it requires medium string and as I said before, its a pain to play. I much prefer my Peavey T-60.

Never dealt with them. What is the need?

Ok, I've been playing for a little over a year, nonwithstanding I've played many a guitar, Fenders, Gibsons, Martins, Takamines and whatnot. This is a beginner guitar. It is not a quality guitar like a Taylor or a Martin. If it was stolen I'd laugh because no pawn shop owner would buy it for that much. I like this guitar for sentimental reasons, it being my first guitar and all. But I'd recommend for a beginning player to not buy one of these, but buy a used quality acoustic such as a Fender Gemini.