S
Happy with it, despite some minor issues.
Pros
- Looks like a lot of guitar for the money, with some caveats (see below).
- It resonates and sustains like crazy. I really like the sound.
- I also love the growl of the humbuckers as an alternative to my Strat. The pups are quite hot and crude, but I'm happy with them.
- neck is straight and frets are level(ish). There are no dead frets. There are a few sharp ones on one side towards the 15th fret. Nothing too serious.
Cons
- Pickguard is horrible, both the cheap plastic, the sharp-edged finish and the way that the main screw holding it in place is not fully countersunk. Once I decided I was going to keep the guitar I removed it. It looks much nicer without it anyway.
- there were a few hums and buzzes when I first started playing it. There was some loose veneer or wood inside the top which I either removed or glued down. It's fine now.
- The dots on the side of the fretboard are slightly off centre. It's not something that bothers me.
- the seam in the middle of the flamed top is about 3mm off centre. Again, this doesn't bother me.
- the vintage burst is more orangey than I expected. It still looks nice hanging on the wall next to my tidepool (blue) Strat.
- the G string kept going flat one evening when I was practicing a solo with a lot of bends on it. I grated some pencil into the nut slot and it cured it for a while, but then the problem comes back and disappears from time to time for G and D strings. Apparently this is an issue with many 3/3 tuner headstocks. Maybe I'll change the nut.
- the inlays really look like mother-of-toilet-seat plastic. In retrospect, the dot inlays of the non-plussed version would look better. Come to think of it, I can live without the coil splits too, so maybe I should have gone for the black version. Ah, who cares?
- the pau ferro fingerboard is redder and lighter than expected and doesn't feel substantial. It feels like a veneer. Maybe it will improve with age.
In conclusion it's more than good enough for the money and is a useful new sound to my guitar collection.
- Looks like a lot of guitar for the money, with some caveats (see below).
- It resonates and sustains like crazy. I really like the sound.
- I also love the growl of the humbuckers as an alternative to my Strat. The pups are quite hot and crude, but I'm happy with them.
- neck is straight and frets are level(ish). There are no dead frets. There are a few sharp ones on one side towards the 15th fret. Nothing too serious.
Cons
- Pickguard is horrible, both the cheap plastic, the sharp-edged finish and the way that the main screw holding it in place is not fully countersunk. Once I decided I was going to keep the guitar I removed it. It looks much nicer without it anyway.
- there were a few hums and buzzes when I first started playing it. There was some loose veneer or wood inside the top which I either removed or glued down. It's fine now.
- The dots on the side of the fretboard are slightly off centre. It's not something that bothers me.
- the seam in the middle of the flamed top is about 3mm off centre. Again, this doesn't bother me.
- the vintage burst is more orangey than I expected. It still looks nice hanging on the wall next to my tidepool (blue) Strat.
- the G string kept going flat one evening when I was practicing a solo with a lot of bends on it. I grated some pencil into the nut slot and it cured it for a while, but then the problem comes back and disappears from time to time for G and D strings. Apparently this is an issue with many 3/3 tuner headstocks. Maybe I'll change the nut.
- the inlays really look like mother-of-toilet-seat plastic. In retrospect, the dot inlays of the non-plussed version would look better. Come to think of it, I can live without the coil splits too, so maybe I should have gone for the black version. Ah, who cares?
- the pau ferro fingerboard is redder and lighter than expected and doesn't feel substantial. It feels like a veneer. Maybe it will improve with age.
In conclusion it's more than good enough for the money and is a useful new sound to my guitar collection.
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A
Good and affordable guitar
Good and affordable guitar. But if you’re looking for above-average quality, don’t buy. High expectations can disappoint. I had minor issues with this guitar which I solved with luthier. But Thomann's customer service is poor. I expected more understanding from them. This way of doing business will only turn away customers.
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Mw
Excellent purchase of 335 model
Hard to fault even if it was 4x price.
The smaller things (fret smoothness) easy to rectify.
For experienced to starter musicians -- this is a really good buying decision.
The smaller things (fret smoothness) easy to rectify.
For experienced to starter musicians -- this is a really good buying decision.
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N
Changed Puckups love tje sound
Great build quality for price neck is exellent! I changed the pickups to hotter ones and I love the sound!
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C
Pleasantly Surprised
So this is my first "China" non US made guitar. Simply there is nothing to complain about... I read a lot of reviews some good, some no so good. However I am pleasantly surprised. No it did not come with my brand of strings, but neither did my Gibson's or Fender's... The flame maple top is not as pretty as I would like, but the quality is good. It plays good, it sounds good, and I paid 10% of the price of a 335... So I say nice job!
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s
QC on electronics not great, but excellent bones
My neck pickup arrived ungrounded and buzzed when touched. Instead of dealing with returns, I opted to completely rewire the guitar. The construction of the guitar is awesome overall. The only setup I really need to do was polish frets and oil the fretboard. Now that I have Seymour Duncan 59 neck and JB bridge, this thing is absurdly good. Just keep an eye out for crappy electronics wiring and be prepared to polish frets and give a proper setup.
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A
HB-35 plus
This Guitar was beyond my expectation, I don't regret buying it.
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s
Great guitar - you won't be disappointed
Overall, this is a great guitar, regardless of price. I couldn't give it the full 5 stars because it's clearly not a AAAA flamed top. You can barely even tell there's a flame on it. This is common if you read other reviews. Thomann or HB needs to change the description. I feel like they write AAAA and then make me pay extra for it.
The pickups are fine. I would replace them, but that's a daunting task on a hollow body. I gig in a cover band and it covers most songs with no problems.
The input jack gets loose too easily and needs to be watched. No other physical issues.
The pickups are fine. I would replace them, but that's a daunting task on a hollow body. I gig in a cover band and it covers most songs with no problems.
The input jack gets loose too easily and needs to be watched. No other physical issues.
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d
Nice sounding guitar let down by poor QC
I'll keep it as brief as possible.
In terms of fit and feel compared to my old HB-35 standard (black)
Weight feels the same, overall feel is very similar.
On this one there are a few QC issues.
Blackened strings
A mix of tight and slippy tuners
Fret ends poorly finished, some look badly cut, some have filling visible around the fret end and the binding
Binding has some cracks and may have been damaged in places during fret finishing.
Crack in the nut plus loads of little plastic cuttings from the nut cutting process.
I've had to return several damaged guitars recently and I added a note to my order asking for careful packing.
Instead, my guitar arrived with only one crumpled piece of the brown packing paper Thomann use. It's almost like someone didn't like me asking for careful packing and did the opposite.
Thomann customer service has been good generally, my buying experiences have been mixed over the last while. Overall I am satisfied with the guitar, I contacted Thomann and they gave me a discount to reflect the QC issues.
In terms of fit and feel compared to my old HB-35 standard (black)
Weight feels the same, overall feel is very similar.
On this one there are a few QC issues.
Blackened strings
A mix of tight and slippy tuners
Fret ends poorly finished, some look badly cut, some have filling visible around the fret end and the binding
Binding has some cracks and may have been damaged in places during fret finishing.
Crack in the nut plus loads of little plastic cuttings from the nut cutting process.
I've had to return several damaged guitars recently and I added a note to my order asking for careful packing.
Instead, my guitar arrived with only one crumpled piece of the brown packing paper Thomann use. It's almost like someone didn't like me asking for careful packing and did the opposite.
Thomann customer service has been good generally, my buying experiences have been mixed over the last while. Overall I am satisfied with the guitar, I contacted Thomann and they gave me a discount to reflect the QC issues.
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3
Really good guitar, but not excellent
I'm not a professional guitarist so my opunion may be ignored tbh, but anyway - I had cheap Ashtone SG for years which sucked alot - didn't even work at times (electronics) and get out of tune easily. So I wanted a guitar that would actually work properly and stay tuned. This HB works properly, but the tune... G string can survive just a few bends. Maybe that's normal and you need locking machine heads or something, because I also have SC-450Plus LD Vintage and it keeps tune even worse. Strings are default btw.
Besides that tuning thing I feel good about this guitar, it is beautiful indeed and sounds just nice.
Besides that tuning thing I feel good about this guitar, it is beautiful indeed and sounds just nice.
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