Hils Next HN3 Ivory

First, some time ago I tried the Steinberger Gt-Pro Deluxe headless guitar. It looked interesting on photos, but it was a disaster to play. When using a strap, the whole neck was moved a dozen of centimeters to my left (because of the shape of the body and non-standard location of the strap buttons), so all the frets were not where I was expecting them to be. I had to constantly look at the neck to check the position of my fingers. The sound was horrible, certainly not suitable for playing crunch power chords; it was "nasal" or "boxy", lacking both depth and clarity. And the tuners were crap: some too stiff, some too loose.

After seeing many positive reviews I decided to try the HILS HN3. I can say only good things about this guitar:

- The body is a bit smaller than in a typical superstrat, but it just feels comfortable and familiar right from the start.

- It is VERY light, which is great! And at the same time it is well balanced, no nose diving etc.

- It uses standard strings, unlike the Steinbergers which use special double ball ones that are hard to get.

- The hardware (at least in my copy) works smooth. Easy to tune, no need to "fight" against it. I deliberately chose the hardtail version, as I am a bit tired of tremolo bridges.

- The output socket is located in the right place (unlike in the Steinberger and many other headless guitars). I use a cable with angled jack and recommend everyone to get one.

- The guitar can stand on its own rubber feet (pads), so it can be safely leaned against a wall, desk or amp. Unfortunatelly, in such a position even the angled cable won't fit, so it needs to be unplugged first.

- HN3 fits the Millenium GS-2001 E stand - then the cable doesn't need to be be unplugged, as there is enough space between the guitar body and the floor.

- The instrument sounds very nice. It has a little less low end than my other superstrat with humbuckers (I would say it is a couple of dB weaker around 100 Hz). At first it may seem to be a problem, but in reality I always EQ my guitars in the mix and cut the excessive lows around 100 Hz (otherwise they fight with bass and are muddy). So we can say that Hils HN3 sounds more "mix ready". One more thing: I have an impression that the output level is a tad less hot than on my other guitars. That would be a problem if playing with real amps, but I always record straight through an audio interface, so boosting the signal in the computer is not any problem to me.

Coil split just works. I won't say that the splitted signal sounds just like a real Stratocaster, but it is still very useful.

I would not hesitate to use this guitar in recordings destined for public release.

- The pickups in the current Gen3 look much better that those in Gen2. Now they have visible coils, which fit the overall style better than the previous pickups with plastic covers.

- The included bag is quite impressive. No need to get a hard case (which would be heavier than the guitar itself, anyway).

Whoever designed this guitar, it looks that he was very passionate, paid much attention to detail and listened to the users. I think this is going to be my main guitar now, as it is so easy to always have it at hand, even when I'm sitting at the desk.