1957 Hofner 450?

[friar dave]

Hi
Thanks. I appreciate all your insights. I will owe you some money for consulting soon!
I am trying to make the guitar as correct as possible as once I have it fully restored I will play it and pretend I'm amazing.

I really am grateful for your help and I am getting quite caught up in this really cool company and its history at Hofner!
I am now looking for an early model to resurrect as well. You've been brilliant, thanks for you time and knowledge.

Was the black plastic Framus bridge I have original?

[friar dave]

Do you have any insights on the value of various strings for these archtops? I see some people swear by flat wound or etc. Is there a consensus among guys who play these what sounds best.

[Hammertone]

It's not a Framus bridge, it's a Teller bridge.
Probably original - sadly, these appear on a variety of low-end Hofner archtops in the 1960s.
I have a box full of them - it's the first item I replace on any old German guitar I come across that sports one.

Strings are simple.
Just buy a set of each of the following, try them out and pick whichever you prefer. Then you can get deep into whichever specific version of that kind of string you prefer. Get similar gauges for each kind - I recommend sets starting with a .12 - so you can evaluate the actual acoustic sound of the guitar in some generally apples-to-apples manner:
- bronze/80-20/"acoustic guitar" strings - the kind put on steel-string flattop guitars;
- nickel-wapped roundwound electric guitar strings - some have a pure nickel wrap, some have nickel-plated steel wraps
- flatwound strings - most are steel-wrapped, some are nickel wrapped, one (Rotosound Top-Tapes) is monel-wrapped
These kinds of strings sound different enough from each other so that you should be able to figure out what you prefer.

[friar dave]

thanks for clarifying the bridge type!

[friar dave]

I got my teller bridge in the psot and its being fitted along with the neck and a fret redress! I cant wait!