Höfner Shorty R

The build quality of this guitar was terrible. There were gaps behind the nut where someone had started cutting the fretboard to short but reconsidered. The neck is at an extreme break angle which causes the bridge to ride at maximum elevation where the strings pull it crooked. The electronics are the usual cheap chinese junk. The only saving grace is that the fretwork is reasonable.

But. There is sustain like there is no tomorrow. And I keep reaching for it to work out fretting of a new song while sitting in my totally guitar unfriendly easy chair where my strat simply will not fit.

At some point I will re-route the neck pocket, do a fret job, replace the bridge and the pickups and make it stellar. But not just now, I am too busy using it.

This guitar is surprisingly well performing given it's price. It has a full size neck with 24 frets and a thick or fat profile. It is quite decent to play and it has a nice blues rock sound of the only pickup. The volume and tone knobs are placed a bit close together and needs getting used to.

Given the small body the balance is bad. It's heavy in the neck, so you need to compensate with your hand on the bridge both standing up using a strap and sitting down.

The small size makes it very good for traveling and it's great fun with a small portable or headphone amp and it looks good too.

If your in the market for full scale guitar small enough to bring with you at a low price, this guitar will be great fun even tough it has some quirks.