Post by bloomfield on Oct 19, 2017 19:11:27 GMT
Hi everyone!
After eyeing HB guitars from a distance for years, I finally pulled the trigger and bought an HB-35 Plus this week. It got here today. It seems right now there's two versions of the Lemon Drop available: one with RW fretboard and the old style (ugly) pickguard, and one with Blackwood fretboard and the (new?) Les Paul pickguard. I picked the latter because I like the look of this pickguard and I figured it must be new stock, who knows what kind of kinks they've worked out...
First impressions are generally positive: the guitar sounds great! Beautiful warm tone, a very full sound. The thing is heavier than I expected, but then again it's a pretty big guitar.
There do seem to be some (mostly visual) imperfections, and I'd like your opinion about them. Are these things standard for HB and/or this model, or should I contact Thomann about them?
1) The seam in the front is very visible, the nerves in the wood aren't aligned and the color is a little different on the two halves. The pictures shows it clearly. A little off putting. The finish/polish is perfect, however. The joints between body and neck seem to be fine too.
2) The fretboard has a different color near the lower frets. It doesn't really feel worn when running a finger over it, but it the effect to the eye is a slightly weird. Yet you can't really feel it.
3) The bridge seems to be mounted at an angle. Is this misaligned? Is it supposed to be this way? If you look at the angle it has compared to the bridge pickup you can't miss it. Will this be a problem, with intonation or anything else?
4) The frets feel rough. They don't exactly look silver/polished and new. Will playing smooth them out?
5) The block inlays are a little misaligned.
Action is nice and fret buzz seems to be minimal to non-existant. It plays a little different than my Stratocaster, but I really like the sound. It sounds a lot better over my amp than my (Fender, made in Mexico) Strat does! So the sound definity impresses me.
I'm looking forward to your insight regarding these first obversations.
Here's a photo of the guitar
After eyeing HB guitars from a distance for years, I finally pulled the trigger and bought an HB-35 Plus this week. It got here today. It seems right now there's two versions of the Lemon Drop available: one with RW fretboard and the old style (ugly) pickguard, and one with Blackwood fretboard and the (new?) Les Paul pickguard. I picked the latter because I like the look of this pickguard and I figured it must be new stock, who knows what kind of kinks they've worked out...
First impressions are generally positive: the guitar sounds great! Beautiful warm tone, a very full sound. The thing is heavier than I expected, but then again it's a pretty big guitar.
There do seem to be some (mostly visual) imperfections, and I'd like your opinion about them. Are these things standard for HB and/or this model, or should I contact Thomann about them?
1) The seam in the front is very visible, the nerves in the wood aren't aligned and the color is a little different on the two halves. The pictures shows it clearly. A little off putting. The finish/polish is perfect, however. The joints between body and neck seem to be fine too.
2) The fretboard has a different color near the lower frets. It doesn't really feel worn when running a finger over it, but it the effect to the eye is a slightly weird. Yet you can't really feel it.
3) The bridge seems to be mounted at an angle. Is this misaligned? Is it supposed to be this way? If you look at the angle it has compared to the bridge pickup you can't miss it. Will this be a problem, with intonation or anything else?
4) The frets feel rough. They don't exactly look silver/polished and new. Will playing smooth them out?
5) The block inlays are a little misaligned.
Action is nice and fret buzz seems to be minimal to non-existant. It plays a little different than my Stratocaster, but I really like the sound. It sounds a lot better over my amp than my (Fender, made in Mexico) Strat does! So the sound definity impresses me.
I'm looking forward to your insight regarding these first obversations.
Here's a photo of the guitar