50s Hofner 459

[Jehu]

Well now, look who showed up on my doorstep!

This lovely lady is an early 50s 459: 16", solid spruce top and laminated birdseye maple back and sides, and I am apparently only the third owner.




It's in great shape for a 65-year-old guitar, with absolutely no structural damage or repairs that I can see. (I will take a better peek at the interior soon.) The neck is straight with a bit of relief, and is not in need of a reset quite yet. The frets have plenty of life left in them, but will benefit from a recrown. You can see significant play wear on the back of the neck, suggesting that she hasn't had a lonely life. It plays very comfortably despite the current high action, and it seems like it will be a great sounding instrument... though with strings that might be as old as the guitar, it's hard to say!

But although it has good bones, it will need a little love. It is missing one of the original tuner buttons, and I wonder whether to hunt down a matching one or swap out the machines altogether for new ones. The bridge is obviously in the wrong spot, and unfortunately the lighter wood underneath suggests that it has been there for a very long time.

The fretboard inlays are lifting...

I don't have much in the way of restoration experience, so I'm open to suggestions as to the best way to approach this problem.

And the incredibly warped fingerrest is held in place with nails through the neck and bridge! I will be looking to either track down or make a replacement.


This bizarre, thumb-tack-esque strap button clearly needs to go...


Once those things are sorted, I think this will be a wonderful player instrument.

I'd like to express my deep appreciation to Hammertone, whose advice and expertise has been invaluable. And it will continue to be, as I inundate him with questions! I don't have a handsome, black chair, so I have had to make do...

[neatomic]

nice!!..the nailed pickguard and no strap button is in keeping with early hofners...

the tailpiece is not original, i'd think

clean it up and enjoy..nice wood too!!

congrats


cheers

ps- that pickguard looks original...they are prone to warping cause of the way they are mounted..also at one point that guitar had floating pickups attatched to the pickguard...try to save that pickguard!!...steam or heat and pressure

[Hammertone]

From day one to @2005, Hofner generally used a three-point pickguard mounting system:
- finishing nail to attach the pickguard to the side of the neck
- finishing nail to attach the pickguard to the base of the bridge
- bent metal bracket screwed to the rim with one small countersunk slothead oval-headscrew, friction-fit to the underside of the pickguard between the guard and some glued-up pickguard material

You can fancy it up with little pins if actual finishing nails offend your sensibilities. The finishing nail at the bridge on your new guitar seems a bit long - they usually don't protrude through the bridge base.

The tailpiece is indeed original and was used specifically on the Model 459 and Model 462 Hofner archtops. Sometimes one will have a small Karl Hofner badge soldered to it, between two of the bars. Sometimes not.

I recommend keeping the tuning machines on the guitar, and simply finding a correct or similar button. Or make one out of a similar plastic. These buttons are simply pressed into place and are attached using heat. You can find info about it around the net.
If you can't resist the urge to change them, use vintage style tuners that do not require boring out the holes in the headstock. Finding guitars of this quality that haven't been messed with is not common.

Mine:

[Jehu]

Thanks to both of you for the input. Neatomic, I may indeed take a shot at straightening that pickguard out. My initial thought is:
- place pickguard in flat bottomed pan
- cover with boiling water
- put something heavy and flat on top
- pray that the crack gods (why doesn't that sound right) are looking the other way
- wait to cool

HT -- interesting note about the finishing nails. They do offend my sensibilities so I may fancy it up, or at the very least not have one protruding out the back of the bridge! I think the tuning machines are still in good working order, so I will take your advice and try to find a matching button.

While I have your attention, would you happen to know if this case is original/worth saving? I think the guitar is safer out of it than in it.

[Jehu]

And while I'm at it, with regard to those fingerboard inlays, how does 2-part epoxy (mixing dust if there are gaps) and scraping flush sound?

[Hammertone]

That doesn't look like an original German case, but it looks ancient and interesting.
Someone with a vintage left-handed archtop guitar needs that case!
Finding a decent quality, good-fitting 16" archtop guitar case to better protect the Hofner should not be a big deal.

[neatomic]

jehu- here's some good info

The cure for bowing is to restore enough moisture to the wood cells to allow them to expand and make the wood pliable, and then to bend the board back into shape and hold it there until the wood dries more evenly. Wood tends to absorb moisture better when it's warm, so steaming the board for a prolonged period is a more effective way to get water into the cells than simply soaking it. Once it's pliable, you can straighten and hold it with clamps while it dries in a well-ventilated area out of direct sunlight.

The best method for steaming a board depends on its size. If it's too large to place over a pot of boiling water on the stove, you can steam it by building a fire under a 55-gallon drum filled with water. Once it's pliable, you need to clamp it to something rigid that won't interfere with the drying process and hold it straight while allowing the side against which they are clamped to breathe. The board should remain in a low-humidity environment until it dries.


agree about the tuning pegs..that type of 3 on a plank, bell end, open gear tuning peg is a rarity nowadays..there's a repro available but its pricey..just replace the knob..apply some pencil graphite to the open gears for smoother turning


cheers

[Jehu]

Thanks guys. I'll see what I can do about flattening the fingerrest. I took the inlay issue up on a luthiery forum, and consensus seems to be that they should be replaced. I think I will need to refret in order to do a good job of that, so I'll probably try to CA them down in the meantime.

[Jehu]

And HT -- yours is a beaut! My oh my.

[Hammertone]

I've been interested in old Hofner archtops since 1980 or so. The 459 is one of the very rare models - they really didn't make many of them. Early versions with carved tops are even more rare.

The other 16" Hofner model with similar soundholes is the fancier 464 - not quite as difficult to find but still an unusual bird. This style of soundhole was used by many German archtop makers in the 1950s, but Hofner's interpretation, as used on the 459 and 464, was the most elegant. Here are a few 464 models - a '53, '56 and '61:

[jbucklin]

Nice find Jehu! I've become a huge Hofner fan since buying my Jazzica a few weeks ago. Now after seeing yours (and Hammertone's) I want to start a collection of vintage Hofners!

[citizenk74]

Congratulations on a beautiful instrument. Restore it with care, and play it in good health!

[Jehu]

I had a dig around the interior today -- apologies for the grainy pics, it's a bit like the search for the Titanic.

The linings are all solid, which is kind of interesting. A couple of cleats at the tail end of each f-hole. From the top there is no evidence of splitting, and the same cleats appear on both holes, so I suspect they were preventative.


And cleats down the centre -- turns out I'm not the only one using Tone Pyramids!



The endblock appears to have been drilled, possibly for an endpin jack? If so, good news if I decide to add a pickup.


But what I was really hoping to find was a date, which is apparently sometimes printed between the treble f-hole and brace. No such luck... I looked high and low, but there was no evidence of anything written on the plate. I did, however spot what appeared to be torn paper:


And what's that over in the corner? Perhaps the remnants of a label?


Whatever it was, unfortunately it is no longer...

[Hammertone]

The paper is not from a label. It is from the newspaper that was stuffed into the body through the soundholes to prevent the sprayed-on finish from hitting the inside of the guitar.

The solid kerfing is normal for Hofner and many other European builders from the 50's right up to today.

The lack of a date is not a big deal - many old Hofner archtops lack a date. Your instrument is quite easy to date because of its features - the carved top, the wood-burned Hofner logo below the bridge, and the shape of the headstock. Take a look at the three different headstock shapes on the Model 464 guitars in the photo I posted above.

Without checking my files, my current guess is that your instrument was built between 1955 and 1957.

[Jehu]

Ah, newspaper from spraying, that makes total sense.

The headstock shape does look like the centre 464 and also like your own 459 (what year is yours?), though yours seems to have a wider centre strip. Mine also seems very similar to this 1952 model that you sent me in all features except for the heel cap:

Kield Andersson's 1952 Hofner 459 Archtop

[Hammertone]

The colour of the heelcap is less important than its size - Hofner slowly moved from a small heelcap to a wider heelcap, giving the heel less of an "ice-cream cone" shape. On very early instruments, there is no binding, jut purfling - what appears to be binding is actually paint.

Another interesting feature of very early 459 and 464 models is the detailed shape of the soundholes, which evolved a bit - compare yours and mine to Kield's, which has fewer compound curves. These are all very rare, very interesting instruments, and the earlier, carved-top versions can sound fabulous.

I, er, ah…forget what year for my 459. I'll have to visit the bunker and search for a date. To come...

[Jehu]

Righto, the old girl has returned to her funky, funky ways!

- fretboard inlays reseated and fretboard degunkified
- frets levelled and crowned
- moving parts lubed
- entire instrument thoroughly cleaned and lightly polished (I had to cease that immediately around the logo — man, that thing was barely on there!!)
- adjustable bridge is now adjustable, likely for the first time in decades
- flattened fingerrest, added brass rods to back to dissuade it from returning to Wavytown
- repaired holes in fingerrest as well as I could

Only things left are a classier (ebony?) neck strap pin to replace the Red Menace, and a replacement tuner button. I’ll continue to hunt locally, but those may need to wait for my next Stewmac/LMI order.

Thoughts:
What a sweet guitar! Very comfortable and nice playing neck. Thankfully it's not ready for a neck reset, and the string tension pulls the non-trussrodified neck into a nice natural relief. I have the strings down to 2.25mm on the bass side and 2mm on the treble; I will probably bump them up a smidge. (I forgot to check the fretboard radius, but it is definitely tighter than the bridge radius.) Right now I have 80/20s on there, and I’m not sure they’re quite right for this guitar, so I will probably try Monels for the next set.

Hammertone will be relieved to hear that I came to my senses and installed the fingerrest with a brand-new finishing nail. I don’t anchor my picking hand, so I left the bridge one off for now.

A few pics...






And a quick run through 'Nuages' to give an idea of what she sounds like. Dry, straight in through a cheap USB mic. Apologies for... well, I'm just sorry.

[QAman]

Jehu,
Congrats on new ( old ) guitar. You did a fine job cleaning it up and I love the bubble maple back. I don't know much about Hofners , but I'm impressed with the acoustic tone of this guitar - and I really enjoyed your fine playing.

Hammertone is a wealth of information and after hearing the tone on this guitar- I think it's time to talk with Hammertone and consider a Hofner.

These types of posts enable forum members to learn more about other great Archtop guitars ....- and really helps to expand our knowledge.

Thanks for sharing your new vintage guitar day - and wishing you many hours of enjoyment .

[Jehu]

Thanks, Steve, and glad to hear that my playing didn't turn you off of the brand! Hofner is definitely something to think about; Hammertone considers these old guitars every bit as good as their American (Gibson) equivalents, and although I'm obviously biased, I am inclined to agree.

Anyway, like many others I did not start this thread to brag, but to share with a group of people who are similarly passionate about these kinds of guitars -- and this guitar in particular is out of the norm for most people. I'm very happy that you got something out of this.

[neatomic]

turn off the volume...and watch this hofner build vid...one of my faves..

building a bass, but the hands on craft skills & hi-tech are all there...insane...go hofner!

cheers

[Jehu]

Wow, cool vid. Fun glue roller at ~6:00.

Clearly not the first day on the job for the fret slot guy!

[entresz]

What a beautiful guitar. That birdseye maple looks stunning.

[Hammertone]

Clearly not the first day on the job for the fret slot guy!

That's Dieter Fischer. He started at Hofner when was @14 and retired recently, @75.

If you really want to hurt your brain, watch this one, where Fischer wields his magic knife, specifically 00:38 to 00:52.

[Jehu]

Ay caramba! I like that man's style.

[citizenk74]