Hohner L 59

Standard 24 frets and made in the late 80's (so ive been told). 2 tone and 2 volume controls, basically everything you'd find in a Original LP. Mine is Purple (yeah i bought it from a woman) Sunburst, which is actually really beautiful.
Its got a nice big neck, which is cool for me cause i allso play spanish guitar. Basically my hole guitar is just as it came from the factory, no hardware upgrades or anything.
Like the others said, the thing is HEAVY as can be. Without kidding i take breaks every hour just to relief my back.

I love to play blues/jazz jams on it, slow or quick. With the right settings its a great guitar if you want create Gary Moore's or Brian May's sound.
I'm using a relatively small amp with it (Fender frontman 15R), but im amazed at the fat, rich sounds it produces. I allso have a Squier Standard Strat with Humbucker, but the difference in sound is just too huge. Ill swear ill never play a squier anymore...
I find the sound not very bright, but thats the way i like it and thats probarly due to my amp setup.
Thought i dont got the right amp and thought its not my style, it has a great heavy/dark but rich sound when you use heavy distortion.

So no matter if i play it clean or distorted, the sound is awesome and the sustain is very good compared to the price.

When i bought it the action was just WAAAAAAY to low, so i had to adjust that slightly ;)
with standard .09's this baby plays too easy, so put some extra fat strings on it. Even with the fat strings playing is easy on it.

There's no rust or oxidation on mine, but the sixth fret seemed to be used a lot (worn out). Everything else is still original, in place and solid.

Like i said earlier, its unbelievably heavy, that alone proves someting. The guitar has been heavely used for allmost a decade and still only one fret has worn out a bit, everything else is still in place. The finish is too good to be true, not a dent, not a wear off mark, nothing! very pleased with the reliability.

never dealt with them

Ive been playing electric guitar for a year now and spanish guitar for about 2 years.

The best features has to be the sound, price and neck.
The only thing i miss is a tremelo, but hey, how lame would that be on a Les Paul copy? :)

for most of my article i compared the guitar to a Squier Strat STD with Humbucker, a Hammer Slammer (its from a friend of mine, dont know the exact type) and a Ecko semi-hollow body.

If it would dissapear overnight, i would buy another L59 in a hearbeat... that is if i could find one... ive checked more then 40 guitarshops in Holland, no one sells a Hohner L59 or L60.

cherry-sunburst finish, gold hardware, aged binding, darn near perfect LP copy-only improvement would be less plastic-y looking fret markers-still, they are unobtrusive and only a minor issue-

usually play single coils (fender & danelectro), was happy to find an LP type to add fatter sounds to home recordings (bluesy rock) without destroying my budget. sounds bright, clean, no static, consistent tonal quality at all volumes and tone settings toggle needed replacing-would not work on bridge position (guitar was slightly used), but easy for do-it yourselfer. the sound--les paul--you know it-you love it. docking 1 point for toggle-may have been user neglect and not manufacturing issue-not sure

great smooth action-had to do zero set-up- gorgeous cherry sunburst finish-only flaw was above mentioned toggle switch-not bad for a used $65 dollar guitar that looks like it was seldom played-tight, smooth tuners-everything aligned properly

dont play live--strictly basement recording-has been very durable construction and finish wise-do not forsee any isues here

N/A

completely thrilled with this guitar--would have gladly payed much more--classic LP sound and attention to quality make this a bargain. if lost i would replace it with same model

Not sure when it was made, I bought it second-hand. Very nice flame-top Les Paul Copy, 2 volume, 2 tone, 2 PAF style humbuckers made by Kent Armstrong. I replaced the stock pup's with a Seymour Duncan Custom Custom in the bridge, and an Alnico Pro 2 in the neck.Seems to be a very solid build, good materials and its HEAVY!!

I play this with a Hot Rod Deluxe, Yamaha DG80, DG Stomp, Full-Drive 2, Marshall Drive-Master. Great for rock and blues. Theres nothing I dont like about this guitar.

Fantastic action and finish.

I have dropped it a few times and its as tough as old boots!

never dealt with them.

I have an American Strat, a G&L ASAT classic, and an old Cort LP. This is my favourite guitar of them all. I replaced the pup,s for Seymour Duncans, and to be honest, I think the original pup's are just as good, they really turned me on to Kent Armstrong Pick-Ups, and I'm really sorry I sold em!

Hohner build the guitar in the 90th. I guess it was made in Korea, but I do not know exactly.
The guitar has got flamed maple veneer top, solid Californian maple body, glued in phillip. mahagony neck with Indian Rosewood fingerboard, two Hohner Professional HP GH-4 Humbucker Pickups(original), modified with a Seymour Duncan "Pearly Gates" (Bridge) Pickup for more clarity and transparency,chrome hardware, 22 silver-nickel-frets, standard L-bridge, deluxe machine heads.

Playin Rockfunk and Blues (my favourites are Prince and Eddie Hazel)it suits well to this style. I got a "hughes & Kettner" Attax 40 Combo. The Humbuckers are a bit "muddy" and were a bit too warm and smooth, so that I replaced the Bridge Pickup and took a Seymour Duncan "Pearly Gates". The sound changed and I got more clarity and transparency. I will replace the neck-pickup and will get a second "Perly Gates" in the neck position. It has a transparent, pressurefull sound with much sustain and sounding through heights. Soundexamples can be downloaded at www.schmitzit.de (Equipment)...

Withthe new pickups it sound great!

Good quality guitar! The maple veneer top catched my eyes. The Pickups are well adjusted. You have really the feling of playin a Gibson, even it is not the original. The guitar has good action, attack and enough punch. It is easy to play...

It is a very heavy guitar that may last ! The hardware is good quality and the guitar is very good for live playing.

I did not need any support, but I know that Hohner has a good support...

I've been playing 10 years. I got a Hohner Professional Telecaster "The Prinz" and a Washburn Telecaster and a Alliance Jumbo Western Guitar, a Hughes and Kettner Attax 40 Amp and Korg A4 Effects.
I would always buy it a second time, because it's a great guitar for low cost. I held a Gibson 59er in my fingers that costs about 10.000 Dollar and I don't think that the sound is so much better that the price is justified. I always would replace the Pickups and got another combination. Very good are Seymour Duncan "Pearly Gates" or the "Jazz" Pickup in the neck-position and "Pearly Gates" or "Jeff Beck"- Humbuckers on the Bridge. With that it is inferior to a genuine Gibson in nothing ! Ideal for Rock and Pop as well as Blues/Jazz. Listen to the sound example at www.schmitzit.de and decide on your own, what it sound like

No need to go into much detail about what the others have said. I'll simply do a LIKES and DISLIKES on the features:

LIKES
Heavy. That's cool. I took a peek inside and it looks like mahogany, again, a good thing. The cap is thinner than on a real LP, but does appear to be maple (i'm not a pro at detecting woods, but I have seen a fair amount in my days). It's NOT a veneer, which is cool.

Double-bound body. Cool.

Tuners are decent. Cool.

Everything else is pretty your basic LP copy.

DISLIKES
Wish the inlays were more "pearl" or mother-of-pearl looking. Its only cosmetic, but that would be cool.

Wish the binding covered the edges of the frets. Typically only REAL les pauls have that, though.

Hardware is a little light; not a big deal, something to upgrade later.

I mentioned that I took a peek under the hood. As one other poster mentioned, the original pickups are "designed by Kent Armstrong" and made by a company called Sky. They are VERY decent pickups! I tried the following in the bridge: Gibson 500T ceramic (too hot, and too harsh; not near smooth enough); Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates (nice); Tom Anderson (not sure of model, but it was very hot too; much smoother than the Gibson 500T though); and a good ol original Gibson 498T (very nice; perhaps the nicest of the bunch). The verdict? The Gibson 498 was MAYBE the nicest, but not by much over the original! And since it was an open coil versus the original gold, I decided to just put the original back in.

The bridge has good attack and sustain, but has a very nice smoothness to it as well. The neck is a little muddy, but to be honest, other than playing the opening to "Sweet Child O mine" I almost never even flick my toggle anyway (except to do that cool feedback trick with the neck pickup off!). So it'll stay in.

Overdrives my marshall plexi nearly as well as my '91 Les Paul Studio (perhaps the nices single guitar I've EVER played; it frikking ROCKS).

Very good sounds for blues, classic rock, and modern rock. Not sure how it'd work for anythign else, but then, I don't play anything else so I don't care!

Very nice. Hardware is a little cheesy, but not a big deal. Holds up well. Cant find any finish flaws.

Very nice axe. Definitely a keeper. Pots/electronics are 2nd rate; I'd recommend a swap, but I haven't gotten around to it myself yet. I will, but even without, it's a killer axe.

I've been playing nearly 15 years. I'm a BIG Gibson fan. This guitar isn't a Gibson--and it also doesn't COST what a Gibson does either. I would not be ashamed at all to gig with this axe, and may this coming summer when me and my band have some outdoor dates at local stuff here in LA.

I've learned since my previous review of another L59 I owned, that these were made from about 90-96 in Korea; they're NOT made in Japan. Typical LP set up: two buckers (made by "Skyy" designed by Kent Armstrong); short scale; 2 vol, 2 tone; tune-o-matic and stop piece; carved top, possibly maple, maybe a veneer overlaid over a hardwood and/or mahogany body. Body binding on top & bottom, along fretboard and headstock. Very well constructed.

Excellent! Though the stock designed-by-Kent Armstrongs were fine, I went ahead and thru a Gibson 498t alnico in the bridge, and a Gibson Classic '57 in the neck. Oh my God! What a tone-monster it is now! Sustain FOR DAYS.

No problems.

How the hell should I know?

Right....

This is the 3rd Hohner LP styled axe I've owned (one other L59, one goldtop with p90s). They ALL rocked! These are well-made (and VERY inexpensive) good quality axes. Do a pickup swap and you've got a KILLER axe for less than 3 or 4 bills! Amazing!!

I am not particualary sure of when or where this guitar was made but I know when i bought it I was tossing up weather to bye an eppiphone or something else.
This particular guitar took my fancy because it had the look of a standard les paul but more important had a better finish than the eppiphone les pauls on offer.
I was told but I don't know the validity of the claim but the pick ups were made by some sub brand of EMG but that could've been sale talk too.
The gold hardware sucked me in too, kinda set it off from the rest and the nice sunburst and flame combination.
It's your average gibson set-up, three way switch, twin humbuckers (gold covered) 2 tone 2 volume.
I am impresses with the tuners too, I thought they were grovers to start off with, (having bought them for another guitar)
Great neck, really playable, though when I bought it, it was equipt with 9 gauge strings and I couldn't get used to that and ended up setting it up for 11 or 12's now.
I got it in a weird one day half price sale and that kinda reduced my chances of getting anything with it but I was happy.
I did get rid of the scratch plate but I would've done that on a gibson too, can't get used to them

When I first started with it , it took a while to get used too because i was used to my Telecaster but once I did i found a lot of avantages.
On the Rhythm setting with the pick up selector, there is a warm fat bluesy feel and a real bite to the treble setting.
I play a very diverse range of music from usual to insane sounds and this guitar has held up well under pressure.
I have six guitars and i find myself coming back to this one all the time.
I am only running it through a 60 watt park amp @ present but have had it through 100W marshall and Fender amps and it gives a great soung through both.
I also record direct into the computer or 4 track, through a Digitech RP6 and it has proved very versitile.
The only problem i have incounted. is it seems a litle flat some times when going for high, industrial style distortions but that can be fixed a lot of the time with tweaking the effects and the vast amount of sounds to come out of it make up for that.
I don't think it is the best grunge guitar, sounds too neat/smooth, I use my tele for that stlye of music.
A friend of mine has a les paul 63 reissue and a les paul gold top and he commented on the accuracy of it to his originals in playability and was rather impressed, ot saying I wouldn't swap him if he asked though :)

When I bought the guitar it had no flaws in the actually guitar but the action was a bit up the creek and took a bit of adjusting but once set it was fine.
Beautifully bookmatched top, flame, action was the only problem but I got right on to that, i was a bit worried when the action wasn't right after I bought it but my guitar teacher set it up for me and that was cool after

I wouldn't use it on a gig with out back up but that's just me being paranoid, plus there are some songs i prefer my telecaster for but the guitar it's self is reliable to cut it.
I bought strap locks as soon as I bought it, same as all my guitars since an incident with my old strat copy and a strap slipping and concrete, ouch, but one strap button did come out once on be, might have been my fault for not drillin' the locks in properly, I fixed and haven't had any probs since.
I have played it live plus I leant it to my guitar teacher to do a couple of gigs with and it's been around the traps a bit, the gold has faded off the pick ups a fair bit and the brige but I expected that.
It's my song writing and main guitar so I think it is relieable enough!

I didn't want to get anything done from where I bought it because they don't give things back quick....i had an input cover replaced on it from another music shop. wasn't warrenty, took 2 min.

Synopsis:
I love this guitar and if it was lost or stolen I would be really annoyed cos it has grown on me, yes I'd like to buy another but I would have to wear it in.
I have 2 eppiphones, an acoustic 12 string, a twin neck-eds1275, a Squier telecaster, a Yamaha acoustic-fg 310, a crap strat copy (doesn't everyone) and the Hohner and I go back to my Hohner more than the others. I have been playing for about 10 years now and this guitar is a great weapon in my inventory, I would like different pick ups but i still like the sound it has, so if I bought another on I might change the pick ups so i can have one original.
Overall out of my guitars....very happy with it!!!!!

Korean, not sure about the year of manufature but it was purchased new in 1998. Antique/faded cherry sunburst flametop veneer - classy, not bright! Gold hardware, H/H, 3-way selector Tune-O-Matic bridge etc.. basically a really nice looking Les Paul copy :)
Same controls as a Gibson, i.e good tone shaping via 2 tone and 2 volume so I give it an 8.

I play pretty varied styles.. blues/rock/ballad/metal/pop and I've never had any reason to fault this guitar. I don't know who made the pickups but they're VERY good. I play thru a Marshall Valvestate half-stack as does the other guitarist in my band. the only difference between our setups are the guitars - mine is a Hohner L59, his is a Gibson Les Paul Std. Git. However, during a soundcheck I listened carefully to him play, then got him to play on my guitar and there was virtually no difference in tone. The neck pickup gives good woman-tone, very smooth and fat (like a milkshake!) and the neck pickup gives raw blues balls tone. Dirty, this guitar is great. Clean it CAN be great, but sometimes it's not quite as inspired as the dirty tones so.. 9 but nearly a 10!

Things started out on a bum note when the 3-way selector was smashed shortly before I was due to pick up the guitar, but that was quickly replaced (free of charge) with an original Gibson selector switch :)
The action was fine as supplied, but the guitar came with 9's and I sweet-talked the shop owner (Brian, top bloke) into replacing them with 10's (free of charge!) and these were increased to the present gauge of 11-52 (my fingers are so rip - beefcake! BEEFCAKE!) and I get a nice fat tone out of them. I also dropped the action a little lower with minimal fret buzz. For a sub-#300 guitar, I think the finish is great but if I'm to be totally objective I think the paint has over sprayed slightly onto the binding where the neck meets the guitar. Only I would ever see it but still.. I know it's there! Otherwise it's beautiful, a real looker - way sexier than a Les Paul Std.. but not as good as a Les Paul Classic Plus! *drools..*

I've gigged with this guitar 6 times and never snapped a string when it's mattered! At home I've occasionally nearly lost an eye due to flailing snapped strings but that's due to my inability to wipe my strings regularly after heavy use.. which brings me onto my next point! CLEAN THE PICKUPS REGULARLY! My sweat has eaten thru the gold plate, thru the chrome plate beneath that(!) and now it's some weird orangey metal beneath that's visible (only on the very top edge of the bridge pickup where my palm usually lives).
I think that the pickups should be more resistant to sweat so I've knocked off a point but in truth that's just aesthetics and the headstock has survived MANY knocks (into mirrors, walls, cabinets, mic stands etc.) and it's completely unscathed! My backup guitar is way more unreliable than this (Antoria SG copy, 70's model, dodgy electrics) so essentially I DO gig without a backup. I leave my strap on the guitar when it goes back in the case (or on the stand) but the strap buttons are rock solid and I never worry about it falling off.

Never had to deal with them.

I've been playing guitar for about 8 years and I run my L59 through a Marshall VS100R head, Marshall VS 4x12 cabinet, KorgAX1G and occasionally a pedalboard comprising Vox wah, BOSS Flanger, Octaver and DS2 Distortion pedals.
I've tried playing a US Strat and a Gibson LP Std, but I prefer the feel of this guitar (and the price!). I would never buy an Epiphone. For #300 I would recommend a Hohner L59 or maybe a Gordin Smith. If mine was stolen I'd be completely gutted, cos I love this guitar! I'd definitely try to source an exact replacement from somewhere. I'm currently trying to get an Ibanez JS100 (or a JS900 from Japan if I can slip one past customs with minimal expense) so this guitar will likely become my backup. I know I can rely 100% on my L59. I sometimes feel like fitting Zebra coil pickups and adding coil tapping to it but nah, it's fine as it is :)

I think it was made in the 70s or 80s, probably in Japan. Can't say for sure. Set neck, deep faded cherry sunburst with gold hardware, trapezoid inlays, nice inlay on headstock, binding on top and bottom of body and along the fretboard. It's a nice, HEAVY Les Paul style guitar. Top appears to be a real flame maple top, but can't be sure, maybe a veneer?

These humbuckers are really good. I would swear they're not the originals, because the tone is so nice and rich and fat, like a humbucker should be. Slightest bit of muddiness, nothing major. Plenty bright enough, surprisingly so. No microphonics, EXCELLENT sustain! Playing thru a Crate Vintage Club 30 tube amp. I play rock and roll (Stones, Zep, Bad Co, Everclear, Foo Fighters, Aerosmith and the like). Pickups not noisy at all, no scratchiness to pots or anything. Amazing after all these years.

Overall great, but for one minor issue. A few of the trapezoid fret markers have sort of lifted over time. Initially, I sort of "shaved" them down, and I nicked the fretboard in a couple of places. Then I just put some superglue at the edge, and mashed the markers down. That seated them, they're fine now.

Very heavy, very solid guitar. I think it will continue to hold up fine. It's held up fine for a long time, I'll rate it high.

Very high. This is a nice Les Paul style guitar. I don't even see any need to swap the pickups at this time, maybe down the road if I hang onto it.

Manufactured late seventies. Les Paul Custom copy. Laminated maple flame top. 22 frets. 2 made by Hohner passive humbuckers. Ping sealed tuners.

Playing through a Laney tube amp and a Marshall half-stack. (Total of 6 12" speakers) Sounds good playing heavier rock like Metallica or Monster Magnet. A little thin on the highs though. No hum or buzz even after all the years this guitar has been around however.

Nicely bookmatched top. Neck joint has stress crack in the finish, but the guitar is over twenty years old. Doesn't seem to adversely affect play. Pickups are not secured as well as I would like. Inlays in the fretboard are not as nice as they should be. Glue is visible

Very solid construction, heavy durable finish. Hardware is of good quality.

Pretty nice guitar, not as nice as a Gibson of course, but servicable.