I was looking for an affordable semi-hollow guitar and Hofner HCT-VTH Verythin attracted my attention. While most similar guitars are more or less copies of the 335, Hofner offers something a little bit more unique, most notably a very thin body (hence the name "Verythin"). I really liked the visual styling, especially the headstock inlays, and the demos sounded quite good, too. In reality, however, things were quite different.
As soon as I opened the box, I noticed a lot of minor cosmetic imperfections. I completely understand that it's perfectly reasonable for an inexpensive instrument to have some flaws but this guitar had too many of them to ignore: uneven binding on the body and neck, questionably fit nut, blemishes in the finish. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that the neck pickup isn't parallel to the strings. As soon as I removed the pickup, I realized that the cavity is improperly cut and there is not enough space for the pickup to sit at a proper angle.
Despite the negative first impression, I decided to plug the guitar in. As soon as I started playing, I realized that the action was very high and some of the frets were buzzing. After a few adjustments, the guitar was finally playable and I immediately noticed how resonant it was (Probably because of the thinner laminate used to make the body.). As you would expect, the tone was reminiscent of the 335 but had a little bit more brightness to it, especially on the bridge pickup. I really liked that the nut was quite wide making it very easy to play complicated chords without accidentally touching other strings.
I don't know whether Hofner has a terrible quality control or I was just unlucky. Either way, this is unacceptable. I really wanted to like this guitar but it just felt like a cheap toy. I wouldn't recommend buying this guitar without trying it personally.
