A bad, cheap guitar can break the impoverished player, but a good one can launch your career. IN TUNE subjected five of the latest cheapies to a gruelling test. Hondo, Westone & Hohner - these were the makes slammed against the wall and grilled. 'O.K., punks!', we drawled, 'let's see what you're made of!'

There were five of them. Cool, sharp and threatening in the morning air, they haunted the city's dives, hustling young guitarists for their welfare checks. The Hondo twins, the Westone boys, one of the Hohner gang - they looked like they meant business, but would they deliver? 'Pull 'em in.' the station sergeant said 'Let's give 'em the third degree.'

I slid the car to a halt by the kerbside, lit up a Marlboro and leaned out of the window. They looked hard, mean, full of fight. 'O.K., punks,' (I remembered my Spillane like a bad debt and drew the Smith & Wesson as I spoke). 'The game's over. Let's see how big you look up against the wall...'

THE MODELS

Fighting hard at the low/mid end of the market are countless competing guitars and basses. We chose brand new contenders from HONDO (the H760-12MR/BR 12 string guitar at RRP £169, and the TH761ZBBW 6 string at RRP £159), WESTONE (the Spectrum GT Bass at RRP £245 & MX Guitar at RRP £175) and HOHNER (the Arbor Series SE604 RRP £110 - all prices include VAT, by the way) to see whether they were worth your money.

WESTONE SPECTRUM MX GUITAR

RRP £175

You can't get away from the fact that Westone make some great looking guitars, and (cheap though it is) the Spectrum MX is no exception. Finished in a glowing blue, the Westone follows the time-honoured 'Strat' tradition, with its bolt on maple neck, contoured body and 'Brand F'-like feel. Following current trends, however, it also boasts a humbucker at the bridge and two single coils in the mid and neck settings. Adding to the appeal of the bridge pickup, the Westone also sports a coloured maple fretboard, matching the shading on the guitar's body perfectly. The trem system used is the Westone 'TMA' type - not the world's most advanced (for this money? Don't be silly!) - which is broadly similar to Fender's original, but doesn't have the strings fastening through the body.

The trem. bridge functions well. The saddles are individually adjustable by the normal Strat-type process, and the whole assembly works perfectly easily. A pair of knobs handle master volume and tone (the latter having a 'pull for single coil' setting on the humbucker) and there's a 5-way pickup selector to enable you to mix 'n match your sound with ease.

Playing the Spectrum

A good (very Strat-like) profile gives the Westone's neck a healthily fast feel. This aids the overall fine balance of the guitar and rewards you with the feeling that, even for this little money, the Westone is a professional class guitar. The neck is slick too, the coloured and varnished fretboard making string bending easy. The enclosed machines work perfectly (the best we tried in this group test) and the whole guitar was well put together and perfectly set up, with a nice low action and surprisingly professional feel.

The trem system itself is pretty basic, and as such is no match for a top-of-the-line Kahler, Floyd Rose or whatever, but once the strings are stretched properly it works pretty well, no doubt helped by having a graphite nut. Don't expect miracles of this cheap but more than adequate trem. and you won't be disappointed. It works as well as most cheaper basic 'Strat copy' systems do, and you shouldn't expect any more at this price.

For only £175 the Spectrum plays at least £75's worth better than it should. The neck is fast, and it feels like a real guitar - not a toy. We liked it a lot.

The Sound

With its maple body and neck, the Spectrum MX is a hard, bright sounding guitar with a lot of edge and a great deal of attack. Sustain is very good, and although the bridge humbucker doesn't roar like a Kramer's, it doesn't lack balls, either. Add to the humbucker's extra output the combination obtainable from the 5-way selector, and you've got a good heavy Rock guitar with a lot of versatility for your money. The balance of levels between the three pickups seems to us to be closer than it is on the Hondo (also reviewed in this test), and the Westone has, to our ears, the classier sound.

The Verdict

Exceptionally well made and finished for a low priced instrument, the Westone Spectrum MX offers a lot of guitar for your money. Albeit some £50 or so above the cheapest 'superStrat' guitars currently on the market, it's worth every penny and maintains Westone's value for money reputation. We've heard hotter sounds and used better trems, but they all come from guitars costing a lot more. At this price we can't think of any guitar of its type that the Westone can't beat hands down.

HOHNER ARBOR SERIES SE604

RRP £110

Where the Westone Spectrum MX follows the 'superStrat' theme, the Hohner Arbor Series is a more a typical 'Strat copy'. Ours came finished in one of the many colour options - a vivid salmon pink - and, for all that it's a Korean-made guitar (the Westone's Japanese), there was nothing to choose between the finishing standards of the two.

Assuming that everyone knows what a Strat's like, we won't overburden you with unnecessary details about how the Hohner works. Nonetheless, it does need saying that, as cheap copies go, this was an extremely good one. The body is heavy (betokening good sustain) and the maple neck was strongly bolted via a four-way joint. The machines, although not the world's best, worked quite adequately, as did the fully adjustable brass saddles on the chromed bridgeplate. Following true Strat style, the Hohner has a five way selector and three rotary controls, but these latter are rubber grip ribbed for extra ease of handling; a nice touch, we felt. Our sample Arbor was well set-up with low strung, light gauge strings. Overall it looked like a well made guitar - nicely fretted, with an accurately cut and set nut, and very playable.

Playing the Hohner

With its substantial weight and good hardware, the Hohner feels like a good handful of decent quality guitar for a notably attractive price. The neck is pretty comparable in its dimensions with, most 'modern style' Strat copies. The neck camber is just about perfect and, save for the typical Korean weakness of having a 'rosewood' fingerboard which isn't as oily (and thus as slick and fast) as you will find on most Jap copies or, of course, the real thing, it plays indistinguishably from many guitars costing up to £50 or £60 more.

The Hohner's trem is acceptable in that it follows the basic copy pattern. It isn't a Floyd Rose - but you can hardly expect that from a guitar which costs less than most of the up-market trems alone! Complementing the trem action, the nut on our sample was well enough cut to prevent the strings sticking in the slots, and so they returned pretty reasonably to tune. We've felt smoother trem systems, even on copy types, but almost without exception only on considerably more costly guitars. For the price, the engineering of the Arbor's trem is more than acceptable.

The Sound

A very good average sound from a far better than average priced guitar - that was our review team's feeling about the Hohner's sound. It clanged and rasped when set on the bridge pickup, and had a high enough output to overdrive our test transistor combo. The 5-way selector also worked well, giving the required range of pickup options, and the guitar had plenty of ring and top attack. The Hohner also had a level of sustain which is exceptional from such a cheap instrument.

The Verdict

Given the inevitable limitations of what can be achieved for the money, the Hohner Arbor is a very capable guitar indeed, and would certainly serve a beginner very well. Better still, it's good enough even to serve much more advanced players looking for a cheap guitar of this type, either as a spare or for just occasional use as an alternative to their main instrument. The Hohner does have a few rivals (as do all cheap guitars these days); most notably the Japanese-made Craftsman, which we reviewed in Issue 3. Nonetheless, if the Hohner Arbor Series catches your eye and you like its potential, then you won't have a bad prospect in your hands, and you can go ahead and buy in complete confidence.

HONDO FAME SERIES H760-12MR/BR 12 STRING SOLID

RRP £169

It's a measure of Hondo's new found self-confidence that they feel capable of tackling a 12 string guitar these days. Because of the inherent tuning difficulties of this type of guitar, a maker has to be pretty sure that they have got their fundamental design right, and that they can maintain a level of quality control that will keep the individual samples stable enough to sell in quantity. Five years ago we might have doubted Hondo's abilities in either respect - but not now.

Fundamentally, the Hondo 12 is a Strat-like guitar, with three single coil pickups, a 5-way selector, two tone and one volume controls, and an overall Strat-like feel. Its differences from the typical 'copy' (apart from having 12 strings, that is!) lie mainly in the attractive pointed headstock, the separate bridge/tailpiece and one or two other smaller details.

The strings fasten into a conventional design black chromed tailpiece, before passing up and over a bridge provided with end mounted overall height adjusting screws. Individual height adjustment might seem like a good idea here, but Hondo are quite correct in leaving this feature off - start messing around like that on a 12 string and you're likely to cause endless problems for yourself! The sturdy bridge is matched by equally pleasant Grover machine heads, which are effective and seem well geared. A single bar holds the 12 strings properly in place behind the nut, before they fasten onto the machines.

The overall manufacturing quality of our sample model was exceptionally high for such a relatively low cost guitar, and the finishing (dark metallic red only, we're afraid) was equally impressive.

Playing the Hondo

Not only is this is a very well balanced guitar, but it also has a perfect neck width and depth. A 12 string has to have a wider neck than a 6, but the Hondo's was beautifully judged for a comfortable compromise: even players used to slinky necked Strats should find this easy to handle. Sensibly, the sample model was set with a light-ish string gauge, the action being medium-low, suiting it well to the type of Rock/Country chord playing which most purchasers would be likely to want this guitar for. Following the archetypal Strat pattern, all the controls fell easily to hand and they worked well. Even better, once tuned the Hondo stayed in tune - always a curse of 12 string guitars, even some expensive ones. Despite a lengthy playing test, our sample stayed in tune admirably and was really enjoyable to play.

The Sound

Fitted with single coil pickups, the Hondo's sound is bang-on what most players will want. It has a jangly, toppy, cutting edge with good sustain, and yet has a rare versatility courtesy of the 5-way selector switch which can deliver some very interesting variations on the typical 12 string ringing sound, especially when set in the second 'out of phase' position. We found it very hard to believe that such an original (and thoroughly professional) sound could be obtained from such a relatively low priced instrument.

The Verdict

A great guitar to play with a fine sound, the Hondo impressed us tremendously. 12 string solids are pretty hard to find these days, although we feel there's a strong potential demand for them from players who are looking for a modern but different sound. You don't have to use them for Byrds and George Harrison impressions, you know! In the hands of a creative player, the Hondo will be a really useful tool. It's certainly the best value for money 12 string electric that we've ever seen!

HONDO FAME SERIES H761ZBBW

RRP £159

This new Hondo (also in their 'Fame' series) lies very much in the contemporary fashion market, offering a Strat-like body and overall configuration but with the now obligatory humbucker set down at the bridge. A sharp ended headstock carries Grover machines (which worked satisfactorily) and the metalwork at the bridge end also does its duty very fairly, being fitted with a long and yet tough tremolo arm connected to a pretty reasonable mechanism. Individual string height and length (intonation) are easily adjustable, and the guitar felt workmanlike and more than sufficiently sturdy. In fact, on this last point, it's obviously got a body made of a dense hardwood, as the weight is on the high side, betokening a sustain which we certainly found borne out when we were playing it. Metal control knobs and a five way pickup selector complete the hardware picture.

Oddly, this Hondo is only available in a black and white Zebra striped pattern with a mirror scratch plate - which might determine whether you bothered to take it down from your local music shop's wall or not. Either way (and that will just be a matter of personal aesthetic taste) the guitar was well finished, and played accurately and in tune.

Playing the Hondo

The dimensions of the maple neck (fitted with a rosewood fingerboard) were very Strat-like, and that lends the guitar a feel which is likely to be familiar to most players. As one often finds with Korean-made guitars, the quality of the fingerboard wasn't as good (or at least, not as silky) as that on equivalent Japanese models, and it would take a few weeks' playing in to ease this. For all that, the intonation and fretting on our sample were perfect; the strings were of a light gauge and the instrument felt like it had been properly set up by someone who understood what most modern players want of their guitars.

Minus a locking nut (not that we're too sure about these devices anyway), the Hondo's tremolo action was smooth and reasonably effective. As wham bar systems go this isn't an especially advanced type, but it works as well as most basic brand 'F' copies do and will satisfy all but the obsessive Eddie Van Halen fans.

The Sound

Soundwise the Hondo works well, but in a way which needs some thought. The output from the humbucker is good and raunchy, and once again it's hard to believe that this is coming from a guitar selling for under £160. But some care needs to be taken in switching from the 'humbucker only' setting to the other four positions, as the output from the bridge twin coil is noticeably higher than those of the two single coil types. Switch from a searing solo (which you can certainly get, and with no difficulties, from the bridge pickup) to the other two, and your volume level drops markedly. Used with sense, this can be useful for moving from lead to rhythm levels, but it could equally be a nuisance if you wanted to go from, say, a hot overdrive solo to an out of phase section, and had to compensate for the volume drop via your amp. Still, given this level change factor, the Hondo is a nice sounding Rock guitar with a great sustain - well suited to the heavier player who wants a fashionable machine but doesn't have the money for the big name guitars.

The Verdict

Good though the Hondo is, there's no getting away from the fact that the Westone costs only £10 more, and (as far as our testers were concerned, at any rate) had an overall higher quality feel and, we felt, a better sound. That doesn't mean the Hondo is a bad guitar - very far from it, in fact - it's just that the Spectrum is exceptionally good value for money. If the Westone hadn't been around when we tested this this guitar, it would have probably romped home against the competition that we already knew about in this 'Strat-like with humbucker' league.

In its own right, the Hondo is a good guitar. It plays and sounds better than a £165 instrument should do and has an exciting, high quality sound. Buy one and you won't be disappointed - but try the Spectrum side by side, and we feel you might prefer it.

WESTONE SPECTRUM GT BASS

RRP £245

Another fine looking Westone product, the GT Bass (the only bass sampled in this multi-test) is every inch the typical modern Japanese production instrument. Featuring a bolt-on neck, the workmanship in our sample was flawless and the bass looked very handsome indeed in its Candy Red finish (Metallic Black being the only available option). A solid maple body with a four bolt jointed maple neck and a stained black rosewood fingerboard, plus a high overall standard of finishing, gives the Westone a quality image, but in reality it has nothing so very special in either its design or construction to offer. It's very much what it looks, a typical modern Japanese bass, but none the worse for that.

The matt black mini-machines work as well as Japanese machines always seem to, and the provision of a graphite nut helps make accurate and smooth tuning extremely easy, as does a 'frictionless' string guide for the D and G strings. All the hardware, by the way, is satin finished. The Westone's bridge is a solid affair which lets you choose either to fasten the ball ends through the back of the baseplate or down through the slots in its base - hence affording you the choice of two different string tensions. From there, the strings pass over adjustable saddles. Locked against side-to-side movement by raised edges, the Westone's bridge is sturdy and should provide good sustain and harmonic transference. It's simple but it works effectively.

The pickups comprise Westone's own designed Magnabass III and IV types, the neck one a humbucker, the bridge a split 'P-Bass' type. Controlling them are a master volume (with a push/pull arrangement for in/out of phase settings), two tone controls and a pickup selector. Overall, our sample looked fine and was perfectly set-up.

Playing the Westone

With a medium/light weight and a well contoured body, the Westone was a comfortable instrument to handle, even on those long sets when so many basses begin to feel like dead weights. The neck is very typical of the average modern Jap. bass - quite fast, quite comfortable and shallow, with a noticeably cambered profile. Not exceptional in any respect, no bass player should feel alienated by its shape, feel or long (34", 22 fret) scale.

The Sound

Both sustain and harmonic content from our sample were of a good average, but there was nothing about either aspect to indicate why this bass was a fair bit more expensive than some of the original Westones of a few years back, or even some of the newer low-cost competition. The pickups have a healthy output and there's a reasonable amount of sustain, the sort of note duration which would be excellent on a bass selling for below £200, but which is about par for the course on a bass of this price. Being able to alter the pickup phasing, however, provides a useful extra, and the pickups are each individual-sounding enough to deliver a very versatile range of sounds, suitable to more or less any style from slap and pop to heavy metal riffs. Versatility of tone, in fact, seems to be this Westone's major claim to fame. Without going to an active bass, it takes you through a lot of possible styles and effects, whilst retaining the 'natural wood' sound of a passive.

The Verdict

An easy bass to play, with well made hardware and a quality finish and feel, the Westone Spectrum GT bass is a bit of a case of a 'jack of all trades, master of none'.

It doesn't have a great deal of character, but it's perfectly acceptable in any role. Our views on its value for money rating were a bit ambiguous. There's nothing at all wrong with the Spectrum, but it does have a lot of competition and it's not exceptional in any respect. Probably the fairest conclusion would be that it represents an average in almost every department, including value.

OVERALL CONCLUSIONS

It's hard to make comparisons between such different types of guitars, let alone at such varying prices - but, if pressed, we'd probably serve IT readers best if we summarised these five newcomers as follows.

Undoubtedly, in terms of how much guitar you get in your hands for the money, the Hohner Arbor series SE604 is an outright winner. It has its limitations, but they're no different to those on guitars you'll find at significantly higher prices. For the player who's on a tight budget, and wants the distinctive 'brand F' looks with the appropriate sounds it's a gift.

Among the other instruments tested (based on all criteria - i.e. sound, build, playability and usefulness) our feeling is that both the Hondo H760-12MR/BR 12-string and the Westone Spectrum MX guitar offer outstanding value for money. These are very different instruments for very different purposes, but both impressed us immensely, and we'd be happy to buy either one with no qualms. The Hondo H761ZBBW 6 string rates next. It's well made and plays very nicely indeed, but doesn't have quite the quality feel or class of the Westone Spectrum guitar. The Hondo costs £159, the Westone £175, a fairly small price difference. Either would satisfy most players, but the Westone has the edge and is worth the extra if you can find it. On the other hand, if you can't, then the Hondo is most unlikely to leave you feeling that you've missed out.

The Westone Spectrum GT bass, on the other hand, trails in a little behind the field. It's certainly a very adequate bass, but it seems too ordinary to us to justify a price tag of some £245. It has a similar class of performance and finish to the Spectrum guitar, with the added bonus of a fair degree of tonal versatility, and would make a good workhorse for a younger player. The problem is that it's got some very strong competitors around at present, some of which sell for less money. Whereas, in one way or another, all the guitars in this test appeared to offer something to commend them, the Spectrum bass was much more an average of today's lower cost basses.

More details of HONDO from John Hornby Skewes & Co. Ltd., (Contact Details). WESTONE from FCN Ltd., (Contact Details). HOHNER from M. Hohner Ltd., (Contact Details).