Höfner Contemporary Series VerythinCT
146
&
Höfner Contemporary
Series Verythin-CT
Forget Höfner’s past glories and get back to
the future with the new Verythin
For: Antique looks fused with modern performance
Against: It’s very wide and unsuited to harder styles
W
e are not historians.
Nor are we antique
dealers. We are
guitarists with
gigs booked. And so, while we
doff our caps to Höfner’s 60s
pedigree, all we really want to
know is whether this updated
replica of the Verythin can cut
the mustard in a post-millennial
sweatbox while a gang of ASBOs
flick cigarettes at us.
The sizzle: Flat as a pancake
and wider than a barn door, the
modern Verythin apes the 60s
original aside from one minor
detail: it’s actually better. With
souped-up electronics and
bulletproof hardware bolstering
the 335-style semi-hollow
construction of yore, Höfner has
a point when it reminds us this is
“no yesterday’s collector model,
but designed for the tough live
performance of today’s guitarist”.
An antique you can thrash the
nuts off, in other words.
We say: With a meagre 40mm
rim depth and a feather-light
mass (countered by a huge
diameter), this is a curious
specimen, but no guitar gives
closer control of the fretboard,
and few cutaways offer such
generous access. The neck is
thrillingly playable for punchy
rock, blues and jazz, but Höfner
knows its audience so who cares
if it can’t shred for toffee?
The combo of central sustain
block and hollow wings gives
the Verythin a textbook semi-
hollow tone – bags of resonance
and a ‘woodier’ tonality than a
solid model. The maple lends a
naturally incisive tone, but that’s
offset by the thumping qualities
of those twin ’buckers, which
swing convincingly from mellow
jazz at the neck to white-hot
solos at the bridge. Obviously,
metallers should run a mile. For
anybody else, the Verythin is
verygood indeed.
Henry Yates
✮✮✮✮✮
SUMMARY
TG says… It’s the Höf-meister
No guitar
gives closer
control of the
fretboard and
few cutaways
o er such
generous
access
■ Humbuckers
These ‘full size’
’buckers deliver the
goods for anything
bar nosebleed metal
■ F-holes
The distinctive tone is
the result of a central
sustain block fused
with hollow wings
£390
At a glance
Hofner Contemporary
Series Verythin-CT
BODY: Maple, semi-hollow
NECK: Maple, set
FINGERBOARD: Rosewood,
with dot inlays
SCALE: 24 ¾”
PICKUPS: 2x full size
humbuckers
CONTROLS: 2x volume, 2x
tone, 3-way pickup selector
HARDWARE: Nickel-plated
FINISH: Red [pictured],
Black, Sunburst
C O N TA C T: Barnes and
Mullins 01691 652449
WEB: www.hofner.com
The Verythin-
CT updates a
classic design
■ Body
Incredibly shallow
but seriously wide,
like a 335 that’s been
stomped on by a giant
TGR186.gear_hofner 146 6/2/09 7:38:34 am