1997 Hohner Model No. HW700S Acoustic Guitar

Sweet 15-year old solid spruce top dreadnought, gorgeous mahogany on the back, made in Korea

This is the 3rd Hohner guitar that I've picked up in the last couple of months and it's been a complete trifecta, as there has been a 1970s electric, a 1980s classical and now this 1990s acoustic. All 3 have been quality guitars and nice players, with both the classical and acoustic being made in Korea.

After I put a new set of Martin SP XLs on this guitar, my fears about the original nut and saddle were validated, as this guitar amazingly has both high action and a little bit of a buzz. The nut definitely needs to be bigger, I had filed down a new bone saddle for this one, but the buzzing was even worse. I'll probably have to take this one in, because fitting for a nut is a bit trickier than a saddle and I really just want it done, so I can hear what this beauty really sounds like.

As it stands, the current setup really kills all of the tone, the G and high E strings are both hitting frets when struck, creating the buzz and the indentations on the saddle make the two highest strings sound really tinny. You can see in the photos that I've stuck some masking tape in between the nut and the strings, that cuts out the buzz, but also robs just as much tone.

This is a nice guitar though, it has Schaller/Grover style tuners and the hold tight. Finding an entry-level guitar with a solid top is always nice, when it's 15 years old and not made in China, even better. The solid mahogany back is the nicest feature to me. This one still looks great, the original owner played the hell out of it, but took good care of it.

Thanks for looking, more high-resolution photos here.