Höfner HCT-VTH-BK Verythin Contem.

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.

Besitze die Höfner Verythin seit ca. 1 Jahr. Bei der ersten Bestellung war sogleich die Klinkenbuchse defekt. Da man nicht ohne weiteres an die Buchse rankommt, musste die zweite her, diesmal mit (immernoch) funktionierender Buchse. Dank Thomann Service alles kein Problem.

Soundmäßig bin ich nach wie vor sehr zufrieden. Matscht am Hals PU nicht und klingt am Steg PU immernoch fett. Zudem ist sie auch wenig anfällig für Rückkopplungen. Mit meinem AC30 und dem Dual Drive harmoniert sie sehr gut.

Nun zu weniger erfreulichen Aspekten:
Die Gitarre ist leider kopflastigt, sodass ein Ledergurt her musste. Geschmacks- und Preissache, aber ein Gitarrenhals der sich ständig der Schwerkraft hingibt, ging gar nicht. Habe mir mittlerweile auch neue Tuner zugelegt, da die alten nicht wirklich stimmstabil waren. Meine MexStrat kann das besser. Zuletzt macht die Sattelfräsung für die hohe E Saite auch keinen Eindruck, als wäre sie für die Ewigkeit.

Hoffentlich hält sie noch eine Zeit.