It's always good to welcome back an old name to the increasingly diverse UK guitar scene, especially one with as long a pedigree as Hofner. Back in the halycon days of the '60s Hofner were the biz, with endorsements by the Beatles really helping their status. However, times changed, and while many old names are lost forever — or worse, reincarnated by the nostalgic(?) Japs — Hofner remain, still producing excellent guitars in the '80s.

The model on review here — a single cutaway semi, the 457 — belies Hofner's current standing. This design harks back to the old days of Hofner's popularity while their current catalogue seems to somehow span the decades with some very fine solid bodies — the Alphas — firmly footed in the 80s. Of course Hofner still produce the legendary 'Violin' or 'Beatle' Bass as it's now called, made famous by a Mr P McCartney amongst others, which reinforces the apparent fact that people ain't too interested in the 'new' designs. In the same way that Gibson and Fender have had only limited success in breaking away from the famous '50s-designs Hofner too, despite consistent effort, seem to be condemned to the memories of the '60s and all its revivalist paraphernalia.

Hofner instruments are still made in W Germany and the design and construction of this instrument has apparently changed little from its '60s counterpart. The front is a pressed laminate with a Spruce face clean and clear through the plain natural lacquer. The back and sides are laminated Maple with a reddish hue and decent flame especially on the deep 80mm sides. A single cutaway provides access to the upper frets as well as contributing to the 'classic' appearance of the guitar. The two f-holes are cleanly bound with a single white binding while the edge of the body has a multiple black and white binding.

A quick gander inside the guitar reveals the two braces running up the front inside the lines of the f-holes contributing to the strength of the table and the transmission of the vibrations from the bridge. The internal linings are un-kerfed and essential in providing a larger gluing area for the back, sides and front. Both the neck and bottom block seem small in relation to the overall size of the instrument and appear to be left rather rough.

The fixed neck is Maple and unusually has no heel. While the neck to body joint seems very rigid it seems to be more similar to a bolt on neck join, without the bolts, as opposed to the typical semi-acoustic or cello construction. However, the shaping of the neck is also new, not at all like the bulky round profile of yesteryear. Instead we have a very comfortable shallow curve more in line with present trends and extremely playable.

A bound Rosewood board is fitted here with 20 small gauge frets nicely installed and polished. Standard pearl-like dots are used on the face, while the white binding means that the side has small black dots only extending to the 15th fret. The wide head stock has the familiar black facing with the Hofner logo and small inlay, some of which appears to be mother of pearl. A large bell shaped plastic cover plate covers the truss-rod access point behind the well cut white plastic (bone?) nut.

Bearing in mind the retail price, the woodworking and finish on this instrument is of a high standard. The timbers used seem attractive and more than adequate. The fingerboard, however, is left a little rough with quite a few scraper marks where the binding has been flushed with the face of the Rosewood. It is important to remember that the front and back, while being arched, are not carved but pressed into shape, hence the laminated construction. While this is a perfectly acceptable method of construction, £329 isn't a cheap price for such an instrument.

The fittings on the guitar are all of high quality with Schaller-type three-a-side machines which are smooth and accurate. A trapezoid, three bar tailpiece is plain but nicely chromed and the shape of the arched front ensures a good string break angle over the 'floating' bridge. The bridge is a rather old-fashioned affair even by Hofner's standards. It is held to the front purely by the pressure of the strings and has two adjustment wheels for overall height. Made from what looks like Ebony the unit has no intonation adjustment other than the overall placing and the compensated saddles. These saddles are simply pieces of fret wire inserted into cut grooves on the top of the bridge giving a preset compromised intonation. However with such a design as this the bridge is not out of place but don't expect perfect intonation all the way up the fingerboard, especially if you fit ultra light strings.

A semi-acoustic just wouldn't be complete without a pickguard, and the one fitted here is a black/white/black plastic laminate. As for the pickups themselves, the E2 of the model name refers to two pickup electric, and fitted here are Hofner's own humbuckers with chrome covers and a single row of adjustable poles. Mounted to the body via a black plastic surround each unit has the usual two screw height adjustment.

Controls are standard volume and tone for each pickup with a three position selector mounted on the upper bout close to the neck pickup. Each of the four controls has a black Gibson-type speed knob which looks a bit up-to-date and out-of-place. The output jack on this sample is mounted on the side of the guitar below the control area, so don't drop the guitar when you have a jack plug in it or you'll punch a lovely hole right into the side of the guitar! To keep your strap in place two adequate strap buttons are fitted, one where the heel should be and one at the base of the guitar. In my experience the lightweight of a semi-acoustic can make it very prone to slipping off an old strap. For anyone but the most conservative poser may I suggest a set of strap locks — they are certainly cheaper than repairing a busted guitar rib!

Despite the rather heavy gauge strings (wound G) that were fitted the Hofner was very slinky to play. The improved neck shape makes all the difference and gives this Hofner quite a bit more class over others that I've reviewed in the past. There was a bit of fret buzz at the 12th fret bottom 'E' which would indicate a high fret rather than any bow problems and the intonation wasn't perfect, but that's down to positioning of the bridge to obtain the best compromise.

The sounds that this Hofner can product are typically thick and middly, in fact the bass end was rather extreme so I screwed the bass end of the pickups down a bit to get a more matched overall response. It's quite a classic semi Jazz sound really with a body that makes single lead runs full without excess volume. I felt the overall tone to vere slightly towards the muddy though, especially on some more complicated chord voicings when clarity is a must. However, we're splitting hairs here I think; at sensible amp levels the guitar performed well, providing you like that full middly sound without too much bite. Feedback is an obvious problem which you must expect from such an instrument which is acoustic in its construction. The volume and tone controls worked well with the bridge pickup's controls nearest the bridge itself. The controls are wired so that turning one volume right off also cuts off the other pickup which can be handy or not as the case may be. For example this cut-off only occurs with both pickups on, so if you were on the bridge pickup but you had the neck full off, when you changed to both pickups 'on' you would be met with an embarrassing silence. Still there's nothing new about this and it is a more than accepted way of wiring up a twin pickup guitar.

The non-amplified sound is extremely pleasant, again with quite a middly overtone. It has a good volume and a sharp top end which I found missing from the amplified tone.

Now that Hofner guitars are once more available in the UK through Bob Anderson you can once more enjoy the quality that the name implies first hand. Certainly judging by this sample Hofner is as good a name as it ever was and I sense that it'll be these older models that people will prefer over the newer Hofner designs. This sample is well priced although certainly not cheap and undoubtedly holds its own against any other similarly priced semi-acoustics, improvements could be made in improved pickups with more clarity; they're also rather microphonic which doesn't help the feedback. Maybe a little more could be offered in the switching, ie coil-taps which could be incorporated into the tone control's function. A little more attention to detail on the fingerboard would bring this instrument into the near perfect class.

As it stands the 457 is an excellent full-bodied semi-acoustic full of natural sound and sustain. I only hope that this and the rest of the Hofner range remains easy to obtain here in the UK.

RRP: £329

The Hofner supplied for review came in a very smart and functional deluxe padded cover. Made from a sturdy brown leatherette material it is internally padded with what looks like the foam used for acoustic tiles. Whatever it is, the grey 'egg-box' foam does a beautiful job of protecting the guitar. All this is held together with a very robust single zip and we also have a handle and shoulder strap for maximum portability.

The padded cover is available from Hofner and at present they have most sizes of cover for all types of electric and acoustic guitars and basses. This is the first one that Bob Anderson has brought into the UK but depending on interest, which I suspect could be great, a stock situation may follow. It would seem that this case, being quite large, is the most expensive at £57 which is very good value. Why? Well have you ever tried getting a case or cover for a semi? Certainly this cover would do for most situations, especially when you're waiting for the bus; you could take the guitar out and jump in yourself, it looks quite warm!