HB-35Plus Lemon : Good, Playable, Value Guitar

My HB-35 Plus was a very good value for the price and was ready to play right out of the box with just a quick tuning.

Shipping from Germany to Virginia, USA was surprisingly inexpensive and fast. The boxes had some damage and the foam padding was damaged but I found no damage to the guitar.

Is there room for improvement? Yes, absolutely. However, for a student, beginner or someone on a budget, the fine tuning and pro setup can wait. I have spent a lot more money on brand new, name brand guitars that needed as much or more work than this.

Was fit and finish perfect out of the box? No.

When you look closely, there are flaws and imperfections in the finish and build. There is black overspray on the sides of the headstock and spots in the finish on the body. There are gaps between the binding and body where you can see the filler. The fingerboard has scratches, file marks and imperfection. But remember - this is a budget guitar and none of these things affect the playability or integrity of the guitar.

Was setup perfect? No. Fret ends are nicely finished. I found no high or low frets but they are a bit rough and could benefit from leveling and polishing. Truss rod adjustment and neck relief were spot on. The nut could use filing for better action. The trim ring around the neck pickup was installed backwards so the pickup is at a funky angle. The shape of the volume and tone knobs makes them hard to grab, especially to pull them up for coil taps.

None of these things are critical and can be addressed (or not) as time and budget allow.

I am in my 50s and have played guitar off and on since I was a child. I have had many guitars. Now I want one or two that visitors or I can pick up with no worries about damaging collector pieces. With a bit of fine-tuning, I think this is a winner.