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Ol' Fret is in Germany. I'm in the future 51st state. But we probably share some similar geo-political perspectives regarding imperialist ambition. Easiest thing to do about pickguards is to pay someone to make them for you!
Originally Posted by Major Seventh
As far as the Musima goes, as mentioned, I've been on the road for awhile, but will post some thoughts once I've recovered.Last edited by Hammertone; 03-27-2025 at 12:32 PM.
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03-27-2025 11:05 AM
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Is that a laminated pg with a thick off - white centre lam or is the bevel carefully painted? Originally Posted by Hammertone
As an aside, I was searching for some solid white pearloid blanks (not the very thin stick on guards) on ebay. I eventually found one amongst all the many thousands of white black white laminates.
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Originally Posted by Hammertone
It's a laminated tortoise/white/tortoise sheet with a thick white centre layer. Originally Posted by garybaldy
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My apologies! There are many people south of the 48th Parallel who feel the same way. Originally Posted by Hammertone
Hope your travels were productive and/or enjoyable. I'll be looking forward to your comments sometime in the future.
Don
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I picked up my copy yesterday. I special ordered it from a local bookshop. Originally Posted by Mick Wright
So... despite being fairly expensive, I'm quite happy with it. lt's well reseached, with entries for all the main builders, both east and west. Many full page, full color photographs that were well shot. The texts are extensive and well written.
Also, as a physical object it's a nice book. The pages stay open to where they've been opened to; the paper feels nice; the print quality is very good; there is no dust jacket (which is a good thing).
I spent a couple hours reading thru it last night and my knowledge and understanding has increased a lot, this coming from someone who has scoured the webites already out there. Anyone who is a fan of the wonderful monstrosities that are these old German archtops should check it out.
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The book is on sale in the US on Amazon for $67.28, for those are interested. Release date is 6/16. Originally Posted by supersoul
Don
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I got an advance copy of the book, along with a nice credit in the acknowledgements. While the book focuses on the author's own collection, it's an indispensable resource for folks who are interested in German archtop guitars in general.
The industry started in the 1930s as an adjunct to the manufacture of orchestral stringed instruments and classical guitars. WWII and its consequences changed everything. The 1950s were the heyday for archtop guitar building in what were now two Germanys, and the book has lots of great information about both. Fascinating history. I strongly recommend it.
One important thing to remember is that, for every carved archtop guitar made in West Germany and East Germany, there were thousands of cheap laminated archtops produced. The good stuff represents a small fraction of the output of the guitar-building industries in both Germanys. Everyone go buy a copy or two of the book!Last edited by Hammertone; 06-12-2025 at 04:12 PM.
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I suppose this thread is as good as place as any to post this. My introduction to info about vintage German archtops was the website www.jazzgitarren.k-srever.org
I just learned that the site will be going dark on 6/30 - three days from now. Anyone who wants to save any photos or info from it should act now.
Don
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That is a pity. I have a faint notion I came across that site sometime ago.
I've been away (in Germany but unfortunately not chasing rare archtops) & missed the chance to check the site.
I usually have several different, slow moving & somewhat obscure projects underway, all requiring detailed, sometimes hard to find information. So nowadays, if finding an interesting page / photos / info etc. I tend to download photos there & then, send a link to the page to my email, or copy & paste relevant texts to my project files.
I find it more time efficient than trying to locate a page again later, usually not recalling what the website was & being unable to find it! I don't like to spend too much time repetitively trawling through the internet.
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This is a long and winding thread which I've read occasionally, but not all 308 comments. I've been fascinated with the cat's eye designs and deep carves. My only personal experience was a circa 1964 Höfner with the gilted C key emblem on the blade, dual pickups, MOP pickguard and controls similar to those on the Beatle basses. I sold it to a friend who later insisted on giving it back. When my son needed his first electric guitar and I was totally inactive, the guitar was lost as a trade-in. It later became a showpiece for a popular singer who tragically disappeared in the Tsunami in Thailand. No idea of its whereabouts since.
In my neck of the woods, few if any pro jazz guitarists I'm aware of used German archtops in the 1950s-1960s era. They were available, both East and West German, but Levin ruled, apart from the few who could source (and afford) an ES-175.
My question is: to which extent are vintage German archtops being used actively today? And in what capacity: for the looks or tone? I would imagine a role in an epoque orchestra, but at least Uli Hoffmeier from Max Raabe & Palast Orchester is wielding a D'Angelico. (You might say this is period-perfect, because D'As existed pre-WW II while the German archtop is largely a post-war phenomenon.)Last edited by Gitterbug; 07-03-2025 at 12:22 PM.
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Vintage German archtops are almost invisible in terms of active use today. The reasons are pretty simple. It has very little to do with the qualities of the instruments themselves - there were plenty of excellent, high-quality German archtops made during the 1950s and 1960s by German companies and individual makers, that are every bit equal to instruments from American companies and individual makers. The past 25 years has made access to these instruments easy. For the most part, they are mere novelty items used for their sometimes striking visual presence. Originally Posted by Gitterbug
IMO, it has to do with:
-an utter lack of understanding of or interest in consumer behaviour and marketing, by German manufacturers;
-financial issues;
-the marketing of ideas about American culture, and related paths of least resistance, by manufacturers, retailers, and media.
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"New" used, for sale in my area, apparently from the 70's?
Any info would be appreciated,
thx
S
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Same model, not even the seller knows what it is:
One-of-a-kind-german-handmade-flat-top-jazz-guitar-1970s - Reverb.com
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Hello everyone, I am new to this forum and the Vintage German Archtops thread, thrilled to be here with you all.
I am totally intrigued by the Goldklang guitar by Franz Hirsch. I own a guitar with an almost identical flower-inlaid headstock with the brand name “Goldentone”. It was sold to me as a pre-war Hirsch and indeed it has many of the Hirsch attributes: no zero fret, nut inserted rather than stuck on, a tone bar under the bridge…
What doesn’t match AT ALL is the headstock shape, which is decidedly un-Hirschian, resembling more the curved style of Scandi archtops like Levin, Crafton, Frii etc. Could this really be a Hirsch? I couldn‘t find any trace whatsoever of German-Bohemian guitars (or other instruments) branded „Goldentone“
Thanks to Alteklampfe we now know that Hirsch did supply Goldklang with guitars. My theory is this (and I would really love to hear your reactions): Perhaps F & R Enders of Goldklang commissioned Hirsch to produce a batch of archtops with Scandi-type headstocks for export? The „Goldentone“ branding then was simply the anglicised „Goldklang“. I think this is plausible: The font of „Goldentone“ on the headstock closely resembles that of „Goldklang“ on the other guitar. The Levin Deluxe was introduced in 1937, so was fresh on the market and doing well. Enders may well have wanted to jump on the bandwagon and follow the latest archtop design fad. The seller told me that he had obtained the guitar from a previous owner in Sweden, which adds plausibility to this hypothesis IMHO.
Finally, the headstock may not be so un-Hirschian as I initially thought. Many of his guitars have quite tailored headstocks, with a curve that I surmise might well match that of the treble side of my guitar. Then, in fact, the incongruent headstock on what in other respects is quite possibly a Hirsch guitar becomes a headstock where Franz Hirsch basically finished the bass side a little differently, more to the taste of the destined export market. I searched Swedish and Scandinavian sources high and low for more Goldentones, to no avail. But I think it is improbable that this was a one-off, so another example might still turn up somewhere, someday.
Some photos below. What do you Schlaggitarren experts out there make of all this?
Goldentone and Goldklang headstocks in comparison
Goldentone and Levin Royal headstocks in comparison
Goldentone and 1948/49 Roger headstocks in comparison the Roger, probably completed by Olga Adelmann using stock parts provided by Hirsch).Last edited by Lester_the_Nightfly; 10-14-2025 at 11:05 AM.
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Update: An archtop afficionado and Hirsch connaisseur on the British Isles pointed me to the PerlGold page on Stefan Lob’s Schlaggitarren.de („Perl Gold“ Kurt Gropp – Schlaggitarren)There one can see the tilted and cropped photo of a slim archtop with typical features of Vogtland-Gitarren (recurve, zero fret, typical GDR tailpiece) but a headstock that is almost a straight copy from a Levin De Luxe.
In addition, there is an image from a 1950s(?) PerlGold catalogue (presumably, it is not referenced) depicting a second guitar with the same Levin De Luxe headstock. This one has quite different appointments, notably an extravagant dogtooth binding around the plate. Inscribed next to it is the number 1318Z; possibly the model or order number.
Frustratingly, the accompanying, very short text mentions only “the guitar”, when there are clearly two different Vogtland Levin lookalikes. “The” guitar is attributed to Alfred Zapf, one of the luthiers working for Gropp/Perlgold, but it is left open which guitar is referenced and on what basis the attribution is made. Perhaps other Forum members know more?
In any case the Perlgold Levin-style guitar is proof that Levin’s success as a design innovator (curved headstock) and business venture was noted by the Vogtland instrument makers. Levin introduced the De Luxe in 1937 and, if my theory (in the post above) is correct, was copied in the Vogtland even before the start of World War 2. During the war, the neutral Swedes had a great run: while instrument making jn German virtually ceased, Levin’s Göteborg factory churned out 100.000 instruments between 1936 and 1948 (Vintage Guitars, SWEDEN - Levin history.. Probably less during the war but quite likely in the immediate aftermath, some De Luxe guitars will have made it to Germany and to the Gropp luthiers in Breitenfeld/Vogtland.
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Update: An archtop afficionado and Hirsch connaisseur on the British Isles pointed me to the PerlGold page on Stefan Lob’s Schlaggitarren.de („Perl Gold“ Kurt Gropp – Schlaggitarren)There one can see the tilted and cropped photo of a slim archtop with typical features of Vogtland-Gitarren (recurve, zero fret, typical GDR tailpiece) but a headstock that is almost a straight copy from a Levin De Luxe.
In addition, there is an image from a 1950s(?) PerlGold catalogue (presumably, it is not referenced) depicting a second guitar with the same Levin De Luxe headstock. This one has quite different appointments, notably an extravagant dogtooth binding around the plate. Inscribed next to it is the number 1318Z; possibly the model or order number.
Frustratingly, the accompanying, very short text mentions only “the guitar”, when there are clearly two different Vogtland Levin lookalikes. “The” guitar is attributed to Alfred Zapf, one of the luthiers working for Gropp/Perlgold, but it is left open which guitar is referenced and on what basis the attribution is made. Perhaps other Forum members know more?
In any case the Perlgold Levin-style guitar is proof that Levin’s success as a design innovator (curved headstock) and business venture was noted by the Vogtland instrument makers. Levin introduced the De Luxe in 1937 and, if my theory (in the post above) is correct, was copied in the Vogtland even before the start of World War 2. During the war, the neutral Swedes had a great run: while instrument making jn German virtually ceased, Levin’s Göteborg factory churned out 100.000 instruments between 1936 and 1948 (Vintage Guitars, SWEDEN - Levin history.. Probably less during the war but quite likely in the immediate aftermath, some De Luxe guitars will have made it to Germany and to the Gropp luthiers in Breitenfeld/Vogtland.
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Some more Lang fun. This one is a thinline, in need of some restoration, but it has all of the right stuff and has THE sound.
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Here's a 1961 Hoyer Solist "Starlet" - same as a Solist, but with tasteful fretboard inlays in the ebony fretboard and a different headstock overlay (sparkles!). 16 1/2" wide, 24 3/4" scale. This one was restored in Germany, sold by Arne into the US, and eventually ended up at Norm's, acquiring tuner bushings along the way. They really didn't know what to do with it - it wasn't even with the other archtops, but stashed in the junk corner along with a Martin solid-body guitar and various other embarrassing dreksticks.
Note the Van Gents, and the 12th fret inlay set into a rosewood panel. Soon to get a wooden saddle and the right strings.
The Hoyer Solist is the best value in the world for factory-built, carved top/carved back archtop guitars.
Last edited by Hammertone; 03-22-2026 at 12:08 PM.
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Hello everyone! My name is Sacha.
I own an unknown arctop and am trying to find out the name of the builder.
Maybe someone here can help me. The previous owner said it was a Hoyer, but I doubt it. I would be grateful for your help.
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Currently this is a very tough one even for the experts! Originally Posted by Sasha Robot
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Photo
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Photo 2
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Welcome. That's a cool guitar with very unique soundholes. Hopefully one of the experts here will help you identify the maker. It does not look like a Hoyer Herr im Frack to me, even though it's black and has three soundholes.
DonLast edited by Major Seventh; 04-13-2026 at 10:59 AM.
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I've seen pictures of a black Johann Wurm guitar that looks some what similar, but I'm no expert.
Last edited by GuyBoden; 04-14-2026 at 06:07 AM.
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Yes, this is definitely not Herr Im Freck. The previous owner is very old and can't remember the exact year he bought the guitar; he guessed it was 1951. He also couldn't remember the name. The headstock shape is similar to a Lang, but only in general. It also looks like a Wurm, but there's very little information online. Originally Posted by Major Seventh
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