Guitar Jam

Guitar Tech: A Visit with Hohner USA

Part 1 of a 2 part series
By Jim Basara
Being a writer for such a widely read online guitar magazine sure has its advantages. When the invite came in to visit with the folks at Hohner USA, it only took a half a second to say yes. What follows is an interview with several of their guitar execs that provides interesting insight into guitar development, overseas manufacturing, and where Hohner intends to go in the future.

Founded in 1857 by Mattias Hohner, the company is one of the oldest and most respected brands in the music industry. While most famous for their harmonicas and accordions, Hohner has a thriving fretted instrument business with the promise of even better things to come. I had the pleasure of spending the afternoon with Rick Gagliano, Product Manager for Hohner Guitars and Laney Amps, Butch Sarma, VP of Marketing for Hohner USA, and Mike Blaylock, Hohner’s head guitar tech. 

The US branch of Hohner was launched in the early 1900’s in Brooklyn and now makes its home just outside of Richmond, Virginia. Many of us grew up surrounded by Hohner. In addition to being a market leader in the harmonica, accordion, and ukulele industries, they also produce instrument lines for kids, including Playful Harmonies, and they market the Rockwood line of guitars that are often the choice for young beginning players. More serious guitarists not yet familiar with Hohner guitars should certainly know their Laney Amp line. Laney was one of the first all tube, hand-wired amplifiers and now markets a full line of tube and solid state amps that are well respected in the industry.

Today, Hohner offers a diverse line of acoustic and electric guitars aimed at the entry market and mid-market ($600 price range). The acoustic range offers instruments to all player levels and price points.  Their electric lineup consists of four models:

•   The OSC model is a blend of concepts from a Les Paul and Telecaster. This guitar is designed for the rockabilly or jazz fusion player that normally would modify a Stratocaster or Telecaster to reach their preferred tone. The OSC line sports three pickup configurations consisting of Tesla single coil and humbucking pickups. Necks are maple with either maple or rosewood fingerboards.

•  The TB line is targeted for the rock and heavy metal player. Styled similar to a Les Paul double cutaway, the TB line is made from a mahogany body with a set neck. Pickups are Tesla double humbuckers. Necks are mahogany with a rosewood fretboard.

•  The HJ model is a beautiful semi-hollow body guitar made with a mahogany body and either mahogany, maple, or spruce tops. The HJ line also has set mahogany necks with rosewood fretboards.

•  The HS model is a jazz line that comes in a full-sized hollow body or a double cutaway semi-hollow body. The body is made of maple with a spruce top. The HS also comes standard with set mahogany necks and rosewood fretboards.

In addition, Hohner manufactures a line of Steinberg-licensed headless guitars.

Guitar Jam – Rick, where does the concept for a new Hohner guitar originate?
Rick – “The ideas for a new product can originate anywhere in the company. Everyone who is part of product development has some level of musical background and we empower our employees to think about concepts for new instruments and to bring those ideas forth. We try to take the best concepts of what’s available today and innovate from there to develop truly original instruments. Once an idea is conceived, by myself or someone else, it falls on me to develop.

GJ – How much work, then, goes into the development of the idea before it is considered for production?
Rick – A lot! First we give the idea careful consideration, regarding its market potential. We identify where it would fit in the market and the comparative sales in that segment. We do a very detailed competitive analysis to determine whether there is an opportunity to penetrate the market effectively. We do a complete workup of the financial investment necessary to launch the instrument, and we even do an initial marketing strategy workup. Only after all of that is complete and everyone feels comfortable will we pitch the plan to management.

GJ – That sounds like a very disciplined process. What happens once the green light is given to proceed?
Rick – The next step is to develop complete and detailed engineering specifications that we can send to our builders to prototype. As the guitar design goes thru the process, I am careful to keep an eye on the original target price. When people begin to contribute to the design there is always a risk of suffering from “creeping elegance” that can drive the cost of the guitar way out of the target market. The specs we develop at this stage are very exact, so that we can evaluate the builder’s attention to detail and ability to reproduce the instrument precisely. When we receive the prototype, we compare it to the spec and we begin market testing. We get it out to a variety of players, both professional and amateur, and we consider their feedback very carefully.

GJ – So based on the feedback of your testers, you might modify the spec slightly or even drastically?
Rick – That’s right. Feedback from the market is critical in everything we do. We’re always asking players and retailers about their thoughts on the quality of our instruments and how we can do things better. We strive to take a market-driven approach, responding to the needs of the consumer.

GJ – Once you have a spec you are happy with, how do you choose a builder?
Butch – “This is where the pricing game begins. We have guitar manufacturers in China, Korea, and Indonesia and our sister companies get first shot at building our guitars. There are a lot of advantages to using these companies because they’ve already been indoctrinated to German manufacturing standards and the constant quality assurance measurements. But, that said, we are not obligated in any way to utilize these builders. If we believe it’s the right thing for our customers, we can go outside of our current relationships and have the instrument built elsewhere.

GJ – After you’ve selected a builder, what happens next?
Butch – Once the order is placed, the marketing of the instrument begins. We reach out to the reps to get them on board, develop our point of purchase marketing materials, plan our advertising campaign, web site updates, guitar shows, talk to our artists about the instrument, etc. The goal is to have the entire retail marketing and sales chain fully ready to receive the product when it arrives.

Editor's Note: Part 2 of A Visit with Hohner will appear in Tuesday's edition.

GT At the Shows: The Chicago Guitar Show

By Jim Basara
Sometimes I feel like the luckiest guy on the planet. It’s hard not to feel that way when you get to take a guitar road trip for business. Too cool. 

Last week, I made my way from Virginia out to the Chicago Guitar Show. Of the more popular shows, Chicago is relatively small and low key, but there was still plenty going on to hold my interest and make the trip worthwhile. I’ll tell you all about my views on the show later in this article, but first I must address a question that I never, in my wildest dreams, would have imagined would ever be asked.

In a discussion with several of my guitar friends before departing, I was asked a very bizarre question – “Why do people go to guitar shows, anyway?” I have to admit that I was speechless at first. A kind of surreal feeling came over me, and I looked at them with a tilted head and squinted eyes, trying to determine if their bodies had been taken over by some type of alien being. What’s to question? A sports hall full of guitars – why  WOULDN’T you want to be there? 

On the flight out, I was haunted by their question and compelled to consider it more closely. In the end, I had to reluctantly admit that there was some legitimacy to it. Why SHOULD someone spend their time and money to attend one of these shows?  What is the value?

For people interested in becoming better and more knowledgeable guitarists, guitar shows are fantastic forums. I can’t overstate their value in terms of gaining knowledge that will serve a guitar player in a variety of ways.

The most obvious reason to attend a guitar show is if you are in the market to buy a guitar. Walking the floor, you will see thousands of instruments, and there’s nothing like a time-limited, competitive environment to get the best price on an instrument you love. On average, guitar shows offer the best pricing environment I’ve found, including eBay (stay tuned for an upcoming series on buying guitars on eBay). Normally the vendor would rather sell the guitar than pack it up and take it home, so you can really do some dealing at these shows.

But, in my opinion, the best thing guitar shows offer to the guitarist is “perspective”. By seeing so many different types of guitars, and by being able to play them, you can challenge your predispositions and opinions, which you should do on a continual basis. So many of us develop these predispositions based upon what we read and hear. 

•    “Vintage guitars sound better than new guitars”
•    “If it ain’t Fender or Gibson, it ain’t worth playing”
•    “You can’t find a great guitar under a thousand dollars”
•    The list goes on. 

At guitar shows, you’ll have a chance to see a huge variety of instruments, many that you may never have heard of, and you can take them all for a test drive.  As I said in my “Buying a Guitar” article, forget about the name on the headstock.  Play everything!  Ask yourself what you like and don’t like about the instrument in your hands, and keep trying different instruments.  In just a day, you’ll learn a huge amount about what you REALLY like in a guitar and you’ll likely surprise yourself and find some things you didn’t expect.  Bottom line is, if there is a show anywhere near your area….GO, spend the day and broaden your perspective. 

Now, on to my review of the Chicago Guitar Show. As I said earlier, it was relatively small, but it was a truly great day.  There were some large mid-west vendors there, such as Dave’s Guitar Shop out of La Crosse, Wisconsin and there were many smaller vendors as well. There was definitely something for everyone from the most sought after vintage instruments to the best of the modern era.  Of particular interest to me were the few boutiques that showed up. I found three boutique guitar manufacturers that I was particularly impressed with: 1) Jon Kammerer Guitars 2) Coen Guitars and  3) Cloe Guitars.  All three make great playing instruments at surprisingly affordable prices. I ordered guitars from each of these three and I’ll write detailed reviews on them when they arrive, as well as interesting interviews with the owners/luthiers.

A special surprise for me was that Ronny North attended the show in support of Turbotrem, one of his sponsors. It was an honor to meet up with Ronny. I’ve seen the best of the best play during my lifetime, and this guy is something special. One thing the show did that I liked is that they had an ongoing program of guitarists playing.  I thought it was really great that they gave some unknowns a chance to get some exposure, but I was disappointed that it was in an awkward, off-to-the-side area. I first saw Ronny playing at the Turbotrem booth where he was warming up for his show/clinic. The first thing that struck me was his speed and I was bewildered at how he could get that speed with a very unconventional picking technique. The second thing that struck me was that Ronnie understands three musical terms that fail most young shredders out there: half-note, whole-note, and rest. For all of his mind-numbing speed, Ronny is one of those guys that can actually play an entire piece without playing hypersonic. Lastly, Ronny is just a genuinely nice person. He’s a real open and funny guy and he’s one of those people that you want to see succeed because he doesn’t carry a bag full of attitude around with him.

Naturally, as a tech, I was analyzing everything about Ronny’s setup as I watched him play. Normally, that’s a time consuming thing for me, but with Ronny, it was easy. Guitar (Triton and Minarik) + cord + AMT Extreme III pedal + cord + amp. I was watching him play for about 10 minutes, admiring the amp tone and then he walked over and clicked off his AMT pedal. What was left was just the clean, unremarkable sound, of the amp without any EQ, gain, or effects. I don’t impress easily, but I could not believe that all of that sound and tone was coming from his pedal. That’s when he introduced me to the CEO of AMT pedals, Don Barnett. I spoke with Don at length about his company and pedal construction and I was very impressed. I’ll be doing a complete review on their pedal line in the future. During my days, I’ve played dozens of distortion and overdrive pedals and many expensive rack-mounted units. But hearing the AMT, I simply have never been more blown away by a pedal.  Period. The guys in the booth were jokingly calling it a “Marshall in a box”, but that really is the best way to describe it. If you haven’t tried one of these things yet, run, don’t walk, to your nearest dealer.

All of this is exactly why I advise people to go to guitar shows. In one day, I tried out more than 50 guitars, found three new boutique manufacturers that I really like, found a phenomenal new set of pedals, and got to meet an unbelievable guitarist.  Not a bad day at all.

Feel free to send questions, comments, and topic requests to [email protected]

Guitar Tech: Making a Guitar Purchase - Part II

Jim Basara
In the last issue, we talked about the bare essentials for making a guitar purchase, focusing on how to evaluate a guitar prior to buying it. I made the assertion that both inexpensive and expensive guitars can play equally great. Some of you asked for more information on that topic, particularly requesting advice regarding what level of investment to make on a new instrument.

The question of what guitar to buy, or how much to spend, is not something that anyone can make general comments on. It is a personal thing, not unlike purchasing a car. But after reading some of the comments and questions, I felt that I could at least offer my opinion on what that extra money can buy you.

First, back to my original claim that both inexpensive and expensive guitars can play great, the dynamics of a guitar are such a tech can take just about any reasonable instrument and make the appropriate adjustments and modifications to make the guitar play great. But, that doesn’t mean that more expensive guitars are not worth every penny that you pay for them. Just because the two guitars may play equally well, that doesn’t mean they are of the same value. 

There are tons of factors that dictate guitar pricing but let’s focus on the very basics. As the price tag of a new guitar (we’ll address used guitars later) increases, there should be three primary differences:  better components, better materials, and better craftsmanship. 

With acoustic guitars, evaluating the value of more expensive guitars is considerably easier because better wood and better craftsmanship should result in an instrument that provides better tone and playability. Therefore, if you shop for the acoustic guitar that provides the tone you’re looking for and it feels great in your hands, then the only question left is whether or not it is in your budget. My only advice here is related to acoustics that have built-in pickups. For these guitars, focus on evaluating the sound when they are NOT plugged in. The amplified sound can be controlled thru your amplifier and, if necessary, by swapping out the pickup for a better one. There’s not much you can reasonably do to affect the native acoustic sound, so make sure you are happy with the guitar “unplugged”.

With electric guitars, the differences aren’t necessarily as noticeable as everyone would like to believe, because the electronics have such a large impact on the sound. Each guitar is designed for a particular market segment and decisions are made when building it to allow the manufacturer to sell it in a target price range.  Things that drive up the price of electric guitars are the quality of the wood (back, neck, top and fingerboard), the quality of the electronics (pickups, switches, pots, etc.), and the quality of the assembly (assembly line versus hand made).  Your goal is to find the best blend of these parameters that fit your budget. Here are some considerations that may be helpful:

1. Playability – It is generally true that more expensive electric guitars play better than cheaper ones, but it is far from a rule. With mass production guitars, the gap between higher priced and economical guitars is closing rapidly as foreign manufacturers begin to produce truly fine instruments. For instance, I stopped in a guitar shop yesterday and tried out the Minarik Lotus that Ronny North mentioned in one of his earlier articles (What? A cool guitar that I haven’t tried? Where can I find one?). Priced in the range of an Epiphone, this guitar played as well as most Gibsons that I take off the rack (thanks Ronny!). So, if I were evaluating playability between the Lotus and an average Les Paul, I’d have to put them right about even. Remember not to let the price and reputation of the guitar sway your evaluation. It’s very difficult and takes practice to be “brand-neutral” when testing a new guitar, but it is absolutely essential that you develop this discipline. 

If after all of your tests, you find more than one guitar that you like, remember that you can almost always improve on the playability. If you find yourself saying “I really love this guitar, but if the action were just a little lower”, then you just need to make sure that you have some money left in your budget to do exactly that. If only a truss rod and bridge adjustment are needed, then the shop should do that for you at no cost. If not, it is a very simple mod and one that many techs will do for free or for a low price. If more severe work is necessary, such as leveling the finger board, then you need to budget several hundred dollars.

2. Sound – Really work the guitar out to evaluate its sound. If possible, test it using the same amp that you use at home, or find one that closely resembles it. Put the guitar through its paces. Run thru each pickup combination and evaluate the tone that you get up and down the neck. Make sure that it gives you the sound you are looking for. The pickups on less expensive guitars often sound thin or muddy. They may also hum more than better pickups. Turn the amp up loud to make the latter evaluation. Remember that this is the sound you are going to hear for as long as you own the instrument. It should sound great to you and it should make you want to play more often.

As with the playability, remember that you can radically change the sound of the guitar by changing its pickups after purchase. If you absolutely love every aspect of the guitar but it doesn’t have the “bite” that you want, or it doesn’t have the “blues tone” that you want, etc., then perhaps this is the guitar for you, but with different pickups. On average, new pickups can cost between $100 and $400, installed, depending upon the model you choose. 

3. Appearance – There’s no advice I can give to you on appearance, except to say that if the guitar is natural or translucent, more expensive woods look better because of the grain quality. If you compare a “AAAAA” or “Ten Top” to a standard guitar, it is easy to see. Similarly, if you compare an exotic wood to a standard maple topped guitar, you’ll notice a huge difference. The decision really is whether the appearance of the wood makes a difference to you or not. The rest of the guitar look, such as shape and color is completely arbitrary, except to the extent that shape can affect playability.  To that point, remember to put a strap on and play the guitar standing up, if that’s the way you normally play it. Some guitars feel fine sitting down but just don’t hang right on me and I find them awkward. You want to find this out before you take the instrument home.

4. Resale Value – Is this something you care about? Is part of your consideration for purchasing a guitar that it will be a good investment? If so, then my general advice is to stay in the higher price range and focus on quality materials, craftsmanship, and even better known brands. A Gibson Les Paul or Fender Stratocaster will hold value better than an unknown brand. More importantly, cheaper materials and craftsmanship will erode faster than their better counterparts. If you plan on holding on to the guitar for a long time and you care about the resale value, then this is a significant point. The cheaper guitars may have things come loose, fade, crackle, and pop much earlier, and the act of repairing or modifying them will often reduce the resale value.

5. Esteem / Brand Recognition – This is another point that is completely arbitrary but sometimes an important consideration. You have to ask yourself, very sincerely, how important it is to you that others recognize the guitar and how much motivation you get by knowing that you are playing a particular type of instrument. I realize this sounds like it shouldn’t be a consideration, but when you consider that the primary result of purchasing a new guitar should be that you have a desire to play more often, the psychology of the purchase becomes a legitimate thing to consider. If you are playing in a band, the image that you want to present as a guitarist becomes a valid concern. No matter what choice you make, you absolutely need to feel like you a playing a “cool” guitar, so don’t dismiss this as a factor that shouldn’t be part of the equation.

Once you consider each of these factors, you should prioritize them in your mind and keep them in focus as you evaluate various instruments. I recommend trying out as many guitars as you possibly can across a wide price range. Even if your budget is $500, try out some $1000+ guitars just to gain some perspective.  Something you like may pop out on the expensive guitar and then you can look for that feature on a cheaper model, or perhaps consider purchasing a used guitar. I also recommend never buying a new guitar the first time you play it. I have personally broken this rule more times than I care to admit but I always fight the urge to make a quick purchase. Often, a particular guitar will feel and sound good to you on a particular day, especially if you’ve tried out a dozen or two in an afternoon. But, when you go back the next day and take that guitar off the rack first, it may not excite you as much as it did the previously. You should want it just as badly the second time you play it as you did the first time. Otherwise, keep searching.

Again, these are only some basic considerations to make when choosing a guitar, but if you follow these guidelines, you should end up with an instrument that you enjoy for a long time.

As always, feel free to drop me any questions, comments, or subjects that you’d like to hear about.  You can email me at [email protected]

*NEW* Guitar Tech: Making a Guitar Purchase

By Jim Basara

This is the first article in a series to help you to better understand various aspects of guitar setup and repair. Although I’ll hopefully teach you things along the way, this is not meant to be an instructional series. There are plenty of great DVDs, books, and schools for that. What I really want to achieve is to provide players at all levels with the necessary understanding of setup and repair so that you can know your instrument better and be confident in your dealings with retailers, guitar techs, and other musicians. 

* In this article, I want to start with the absolute minimal information you need to know about guitar setup to make a smart purchase decision on a new guitar. This applies equally whether the guitar you are buying is $200 or $5000.

So you’ve been looking for a new guitar and one finally caught your eye. You take it off the rack, look at the front, look at the back….no scratches or dings.  You like the color. You plug it in (or not, if it’s an acoustic) and play it for a while. You like it and you think you want to buy it.

Now the buying pressure starts…hmmmm….is there something you’re not thinking of, something you should be checking, something you should be asking the salesperson? The answer is YES! There are lots of things you should pay attention to when buying a guitar.

I have a core belief that all guitars can play great. I don’t care whether the instrument is a Fender Custom Shop or a Fender knock-off. The latter can play just as well as the former. It may not be able to achieve the same tonal qualities because of the materials used to manufacture it, but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t feel good. It doesn’t mean you should have to compromise on playability. Both guitars should come alive in your hands. You should want to play more because the guitar is not limiting your ability or enjoyment.

So, you like the guitar you are holding, but now what?

Once you’ve selected a guitar, the responsibility becomes yours to make sure that the guitar is up to, at least, a minimum setup standard and to your liking. After all, you are making the purchase decision. 

Industry opinion varies about what the consumer should expect out of a guitar at purchase. We’re going to cover this in more depth in future articles, including talking with industry executives on the topic. But, no matter what the price, no matter what the guitar, new or used, I believe every guitar buyer has the right to expect three things: 

•   that everything on the guitar works.
•   that every note can be played clearly.
•   that the instrument can play in tune.

In addition to running through your favorite riffs, here’s a ritual that you should go through when trying out a guitar for purchase. 

1) Test every knob, switch, and jack on the instrument and make sure that everything “works”.  By “works”, I mean that even at the basic level, you should notice some difference in the sound.  Pickup switches should cycle through different pickup configurations, make sure you can hear the difference.  Make sure the sound doesn’t diminish drastically when you move from pickup to pickup.  Volume and tone knobs should work.  Make sure the tuning pegs all function smoothly.  Don’t be afraid to throw the guitar wildly out of tune to check out the tuning pegs. I’m about to give you a great reason for asking for a tuner anyway.

2) Make sure all of the notes play without buzzing.  .  .Test EVERY FRET ON EVERY STRING!!! That’s right -  one, two, three, four, one, two, three four, all the way up every fret on every string. Listen for buzzing. For you shredders out there, this isn’t a time to show off your speed. Play each note slowly and listen carefully for buzzing. The guitar should be able to make clear notes on all strings on all frets, whether you ever intend playing on that fret or not. Note that for electric guitars, this should be done through an amp. Guitars will often make acoustic buzzing noise that doesn’t not carry through to the amp.

3) Make sure the guitar plays in tune. Many of you reading this probably just scoffed at me, but you would be surprised at how many guitars don’t play in tune when they arrive at the store. To play in tune, the guitar must be set up such that the correct string length (the distance between the nut and the saddle) exists for each string. OK, so there are a lot of other factors, but I’m confident that the vast majority of manufacturers are pretty darn accurate at spacing frets and putting a generally acceptable guitar together so I don’t want to get too far into the ether here.

With regard to playing in tune, the setup part comes in making sure that the guitar nut and saddle have been properly adjusted. Here’s an easy procedure to follow when you make your purchase.  First, ask for a guitar tuner. If the salesperson offers to tune it for you, politely thank him but insist on the tuner, and make sure it is a good tuner that indicates if the note is slightly out of tune. Most tuners do this by showing an indication of the number of cents (1/100th of a half-tone) that the note is either sharp or flat.

First, tune the guitar as you normally would. Then, check the tuning at the first fret. What you will often find is that while the open note is in tune, the first fret note is sharp, and many times it isn’t even close. I’ve seen brand new, expensive guitars in stores where the first fret note is as much as 50 cents sharp. Folks, that’s half way to the next fret!

If you do find that the first fret is out of tune, it generally means that the nut has not been cut correctly and needs to be adjusted. If it is within 10 cents, that’s not a major issue, unless you are buying an expensive instrument. But, in any case, don’t get distressed if the guitar you’ve selected exhibits this problem. It is no big deal and should take a tech around 10 minutes to correct. Moreover, it does not mean that there are fundamental issues with the guitar or that it is somehow defective. It only needs an adjustment.

Also, check the intonation by making sure that the notes at the 12th fret and the 19th fret are in tune. You might try playing both harmonics and the fretted note for extra clarity. The majority of you who do check intonation may use the 12th fret and that’s fine, but most techs that I know are also using the 19th. As with the first fret, if these notes are out of tune, a tech can correct the issue with a simple saddle adjustment.

This entire ritual can be executed in less than 10 minutes, so there’s no reason not to make this effort before you hand over your hard-earned cash. If you do find an issue, you have every right to demand that it be fixed before purchase.  And if a retailer will not even make the effort to take this small step, I’d suggest that it is not a retailer that deserves your business.  Any reputable dealer will offer to have their tech take a look at the issue. Once the tech realizes that their customer noticed the problem, they will likely do a good job fixing it because they know they are dealing with an educated buyer. 

It is important to make these checks BEFORE purchasing your new guitar. Once the money is handed over, the store can always make the argument that the guitar was good enough for you to buy in the first place. Bad behavior, certainly, but why risk having to go through such a hassle?

Hopefully, many of you are now checking your most recent guitar purchases and, if so, many of you are probably disappointed right now because your guitars are not in tune at the first fret. Again, no big deal, it’s a minor adjustment. If you bought your guitar recently, the shop should still fix it.  But if not, you’re looking at a relatively inexpensive adjustment.  And if you have a number of guitars, you may want to invest in a set of nut files and an instructional tape and tackle this yourself, but for most people, it’s easier and cheaper to have a professional do it. 

As always, please drop me a line if you have any questions or would like me to cover a particular topic in the future.

[email protected]