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Originally Posted by QsDuesBlues
Here's one installed on a 16" Campellone - one can see the switch poking out from under the pickguard:
Last edited by Hammertone; 03-12-2022 at 02:17 PM.
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02-28-2020 02:08 PM
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Originally Posted by Hammertone;[URL="tel:1011207"
I might have wanted to see the neck bound, and am curious about pickguard possibilities, but that's pretty nice looking. I would definitely take one without ever having to pay for it.
Always want to hear more if the sort of floating minis, but not too many useful demos out there.
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Hofner has few if any useful demos, and plenty of incredibly bad demos. After working with them for over 20 years, I am less amused by their cluelessness that I used to be, but they are still capable of turning out nice instruments, even if they produce a mere handful of them yearly. [ed: as of the end of 2021, Hofner has deleted all European-made jazz and electric guitars from its catalogue. Well, it was fun while it lasted.]
One of our lovely members sent me a pickguard awhile back that seems to be a good match for the guitar, but I haven't modified it to fit and mounted it yet.Last edited by Hammertone; 03-04-2022 at 05:09 PM.
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Sometimes I think of them as a sort of German version of heritage: endlessly talented, but not particularly interested in, you know, being successful. They do what they do and that's it. I respect it, but as a guy on the wrong side of the world, it'll just never happen for me.
Not that I could ever even afford what I'd actually want from them to begin with. But they could at least make things easier on guys like us who stare at the monitor and sigh.
I should hate that pick guard more than I do. In a vacuum, maybe it shouldn't be. On that, works a lot better than it should. Not convinced that's the right choice, but you could do a lot worse. Is that a gibson pick guard?
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I agree - Hofner and Heritage are both capable of making lovely archtop guitars, have both been remarkably clueless in terms of their marketing, and have both made some really odd guitars. In the past 35 years, Heritage has made/makes MANY more guitars than Hofner.
That goofy pickguard started out life on a Gibson Legrand, and is just plain bizarre. I think a nice bound white pearloid guard would also work, but I don't have one handy.
Here are a few Hofner full body, single florentine cutaway guitars:
Hofner 477 E2 1980/81 | Stefan | Reverb
Hofner President 1966 Florentine Brunette | Nick B's | Reverb
Rare 1966 Hofner President Cherry Sunburst Vintage | Reverb
HOFNER 477 1980 Redburst | Bellaiche's Gear Garage | Reverb
And I have two of these old, finished thinline bodies in the bunker. One of these days, I'll set them up with Hofner necks and hardware and sell them.Last edited by Hammertone; 07-07-2020 at 10:53 AM.
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Originally Posted by arielcee
Told myself last year I wouldn't be buying yet more guitars ........but with over a dozen Attila Zoller albums/CD's in the rack and a languishing AZ-48 pickup in the cupboard..........I couldn't resist this charming old Hofner 477 ! I pick it up this weekend and shall post a few more better resolution pics then.........
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Originally Posted by QsDuesBlues
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Will show more pics when I collect it tomorrow (the photo isn't mine). That 'Beatle Bass' tailpiece simplification could be simply a manufacturing streamline. I'm actually more mystified as to why the change here to those shallow depth neck joints, as also seen on some Hagstrom acoustics and Italian-made archtops like my Goya Rangemaster 103R - was that a manufacturing 'streamline' too ? Surely there's no sonic advantage over a standard neck joint ? Or was it some sort of bolt-on - with hidden bolts ? I'd like to see an 'exploded view' graphic of what's actually in there.........
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Originally Posted by QsDuesBluesOriginally Posted by QsDuesBlues
Here are a couple of loose Hofner necks from the period when they were using the single hook approach - top is a 14th fret joint archtop neck, bottom is a 16th fret joint neck.
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Originally Posted by Hammertone
I collect the guitar tomorrow. Will give it a thorough clean up, new phosphor bronze strings to begin with, and see how it reacts to some string tension. It seems have last century's corroded strings on it, and has been stored away for years without a case, apparently - but still seems to be in OK condition from the photo. Will post up a few pics on Sunday after that initial cleaning session (I'm getting a sort of childhood pre-Christmas feeling here......!)
And here's that Goya bolt-on shallow-joint 103R model - customised !
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Collected the E-Bay Hofner 477 on Saturday after a nightmarish trek across a hugely over-populated and gridlocked East London - with markedly visible disparity between the poorer urban and city-rich inner areas - and the contrasting persons' demeanor therein - and all less than 2 miles apart. London's apartment blocks of 40 years go now have additional double-height blocks built on the once green spaces in between them.........glad I got out in 2000.
Spent most of Sunday taking all off the Hofner bar the machine heads, cleaning everything twice over and screwing it all back down again. There's a huge grey dust ball rolling around inside like some sort of alien life form - will remove it with a pair of my Sister's knitting needles! Layer of filth on fingerboard - lovely wood grain swirls underneath though, once the muck was removed. Body sadly has some dents, scratches & grazes around the tops' perimeter and on the sides - but back and rear of neck/headstock thankfully mostly unscathed -
- and all of it outshone by the totally bonkers 'in-your'-face' Hofner Redburst-into-yellow finish! (it's mega-mojo really...... but what on earth were they thinking of ? .........)
Acoustic tone is nice but not great, getting better with daily playing, and those Hofner necks - noticeably narrow in the upper reaches on so many models - take some getting used to. My last Hofner purchase was a 'President 66' with a 54mm end-of-fingerboard width - this one measures even less at 53mm - so string spacing on the bridge is limited to 50mm - 2mm shorter than a Tunamatic. Not my preference really - but, as with so many German makers in the 50's & 60's (e.g. the almost parallel-looking fingerboard of some early Framus 'Billy Lorento' thinlines) - that's how Hofner made 'em!
Which brings me to dating the guitar: One Hofner enthusiast website says the model 477 (with its huge 17 & 1/4"x 20 & 1/4" x 3 & 5/8" body dimensions (surely on of the biggest models after the Committee ?) was made from 1969 to 1994. I'd put this one at early 70's - but with no serial number and the inner label being just a brown smudge of dubious-looking organic matter - it's hard to tell. The Musikkeller-Dorsten website has an identical model pictured, but again no date.
The action is comfortably low for acoustic playing - but bridge adjustment has no further downward movement (other than removing the 2mm deep thumbscrews).
If I wanted a neck reset in future years, say for lower action flatwound playing with a floating pickup - and if this guitar turned out to be a very early model 477 with that short-width neck joint 'hook' mechanism described by Hammertone (with photos) earlier in this thread - would my luthier need precise surgical instructions from him in real time, so as not to go wildly astray or beyond the point of no return with an 'unfamiliar territory' neck reset.?.......or do I worry unneccessarily ?
The neck is pretty straight, and action still acceptably low after fitting with 11 - 52 phosphor bronze strings, tuned a whole tone down as the guitar hasn't been played it seems since last century - just shoved away in a cupboard to corrode in unhappy isolation. Welcome back to the world, Hofner 477 !
Some pics then - big, bold, and 'in-your-face!'
Last edited by QsDuesBlues; 03-12-2022 at 08:06 AM. Reason: accuracy
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Well - a week of playing, on-line research and physical familiarity with this big old Hofner 477 archtop (17 & 1/4" lower bout - though online specs say 17") has made quite a difference to my initial opinion.
Out of the case, I thought it was charming, a bit eccentric colour-wise, grubby and tarnished but retrievable, quirky, luckily crack-free and undamaged - and probably not easy to play in the upper regions with its' narrowish end-of-fingerboard width (53mm) - limiting the bridge string spacing to 50mm.
But .......you do get used to changes - and the guitar does have that 'certain something' that brings out the music, the enthusiasm, and the "no, I can't put it down just yet" feeling !
And after a whole days' thorough cleaning and adjusting when first acquired - followed by a weeks' playing - I've become a real fan of this guitar and appreciate its ever-improving tone and playability (plectrum playing really brings out those classic archtop sounds, not nearly so evident with my fingerstyle playing earlier in the week). So I've certainly revised my opinion of the tonal capabilities of this instrument - and its playability - from what I originally thought.....
The fingerboard - now the fret surfaces have shined up and smoother over - lends itself well to really agile, fast playing, and I finally see where Hofner were coming from with their typical 25 & 1/4" scale length and dimensions - though in a perfect world I'd still prefer that end-of-fingerboard width to be the more reassuring 55mm rather than 53mm..........
So - not just a quirky old Hofner with a slightly wacko finish - but a really nice, capable, quality instrument - in fact I'd quite like to track down another 477 in blonde, selling off a few less often used quitars to pay for it.
Sorry too that compilers of the excellent book 'Hofner Guitars - A History' - even for the later expanded edition - weren't able to track down either a Florentine 'President 66' or a '477' photo for their book.........no matter, here's one of my own.....
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You don't see this model very often - Hofner 'President 66' thinline florentine - (currently up on U.K. E-Bay for past few days at £850- o.b.o.) - and - wowee! - it seems quite well preserved - and appears to have a nice wide comfortable fingerboard too......any takers ?
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