Back now to the year 1989 and Hӧfner’s full-bodied
archtop range comprises of the prestigious (and expensive) Atilla Zoller
guitars, together with the old-faithful 457, 463, 470, and 477 models.
Early in the previous year, 1988, Hӧfner had replaced
the previous laminated spruce body top on the 470 model with a carved solid
spruce table. This desirable feature had not been seen on the 470 since the late
1950’s. The retail price of the 470/E2 immediately rose from DM2340 to DM2820
but this was still substantially cheaper than the DM3,107 then being asked for
the AZ Standard.
At the same time, Höfner put further thought into the
long-established models generally, and decided that a range of pickup options
should be offered for these which more closely corresponded with what jazz
guitarist of that period were now demanding. From May 1988 therefore, the
following pickup arrangements were offered on all of the four long-established
models:
|
E1 |
Single Shadow-made Atilla Zoller floating pickup
mounted on end of fingerboard. One volume and one tone rotary control,
body mounted. |
|
E1-plus |
As above, but with a Barcus-Berry piezoceramic
pickup integrated into the bridge. One volume and one tone control, body
mounted, plus 3–way selector switch. |
|
E2 |
Two Schaller-made “Hӧfner ’57 Classic”
humbucking pickups mounted directly onto the body top. Two volume and
two tone rotary controls plus 3-way pickup selector. |
The four remaining old-model archtops had been continually re-detailed
since the 1960’s of course, with the biggest change being the adoption of
single-piece necks to the 457, 463, and 477 models. The 477 had always had a
single-piece maple neck. The 457 had followed suit at around the time that the
477 had been introduced in the late 1960’s, and by the 1980’s even the 463 had a
one-piece mahogany neck which was a very unusual feature for Hӧfner. The 470
lost its incredible eleven-piece neck around 1973, although some five-piece
necks appeared just before that year. Headstock fascia designs were by now all
“double-diamond” with the exception of the 477 which continued to retain the old
bell-flower design.
Despite these changes, the remaining days of the four
were numbered, with the first to go being the 463 and 470 in 1994. The 477
struggled on until 1995, with the 457 being the last to leave Hӧfner’s price
list in 1996 after 45 years continuous production. A very sad day!
The Hӧfner Company have always attempted to be
innovative as well as traditional. Their traditional approach is well
demonstrated by their perseverance with the four models described above. The
innovative streak is hinted at by their adoption of the non-traditional
electrics fitted to the AZ models. Hӧfner were now about to really shatter all
the moulds with their next archtop guitar model!
Klaus Schöller and the Hӧfner family
in the shape of Christian and Gerhilda Benker, who continued to head up the
management team, must have finally come to the conclusion that it was no longer
possible to rely on such early-1950’s designs as the 457, 463, and 470 in order
to maintain their position as a respected archtop maker at the end of the 20th
Century. Yes, the AZ guitars were certainly capable of meeting the requirements
of the modern jazz guitarist, but they were expensive and hence had only a very
limited market. What was required was something fully up to date, but with a
retail price of something like half that of the AZ Standard. Klaus together with
Janez Janus, one of Hӧfner’s oldest serving luthiers, therefore began work in
1987 on the first archtop that Klaus had ever designed.
Janez had started work in Hӧfner’s then new Bubenreuth
workshops in March 1953. Having been born in Ljubliana, Yugoslavia, he found
himself in Germany following the upheaval of WWII. He learned his trade from the
old Schönbach luthiers “on the job”, and by 1987 was one of Hӧfner’s most
experienced and skilful guitar craftsmen. Today’s equivalent at Hӧfner, Hubert
Kaa, in turn learnt his trade from Janez, and in fact he continues to use the
same tool rack at his workbench at Hagenau that Janez made for himself many
years ago.
The result of Klaus and Janez’s efforts was un-veiled at the 1989 Frankfurt Trade Show. Hӧfner in their pre-show letter to prospective customers stated that “The model Jazzica certainly is the most elegant jazz guitar which we have ever built before”. That may be debatable amongst the many Hӧfner enthusiasts, but it has to be admitted that the revolutionary design still makes quite a statement.
Basically this was a fairly
compact archtop guitar with a laminated spruce table and what Hӧfner described
as a “curled maple” rim & back, although this was probably Anigre or African
Maple which Hӧfner had now begun to increasingly use as a replacement for
European Maple on their guitars.
A neck with a rosewood fingerboard that met
the body at the 16th
fret was fitted, and a single floating Zoller/Shadow pickup mounted on the end
of the fingerboard. However, the features that made the guitar really stand out
from the crowd were:
T
T
I
A
I
I
In 1991, an up-rated version of the Jazzica model
appeared which was called the Jazzica Special. This had a blonde (natural)
finish and an ebony fingerboard. Because this new version had a natural finish,
a lack of binding around the back of the body would have exposed the rim/back joint. Binding/purfling was
therefore added and the neck heel re-designed slightly. Finally, the headstock
fascia of the Special was given a figured anigre veneer varnished with clear
lacquer instead of the Jazzica’s plain black fascia. A raised plastic Hӧfner
logo, as last used by Hӧfner in the mid/late 1960’s, now replaced the decal
logo. These changes added around 5% to the retail price of the original Jazzica,
which however was still produced in parallel with the new Special.
A much more significant change was added to the
Special’s specification in 1997, when a solid carved spruce table was
substituted for the previously laminated body top. At this time, Hӧfner’s
archtop models were again being reviewed, with the “New President” model being
on Herr Schöller’s drawing board. This conventional new model was to have a
solid carved top, so perhaps it was felt that the Jazzica Special also warranted
such a feature as both models were being aimed at a similar price level and also
at the same jazz-playing market. Shortly afterwards in 1999, the highly
respected Zoller/Shadow pickup previously fitted to both the Standard and
Special Jazzicas was changed to a floating neck-mounted Hӧfner-badged/Kent
Armstrong designed/Schaller manufactured mini-humbucker (designated as the Hӧfner
514/FN-G). Again, this fitted in with the use of that same pickup by the new Hӧfner
archtops and semi’s that were now appearing. But, we will move onto those in the
next chapter!
In the Year 2000, after Boosey & Hawkes had taken over
the Hofner Company (see below) , B&H’s technical representative from the US, Rob
Olsen, came over to Hagenau to meet Klaus Schöller and to put forward his
suggestions for improving the image and sales in the US. Subsequently, both the
Standard and the Special Jazzicas were replaced by a single model - the Jazzica
Custom. The following main differences between this new model and the previous
Jazzica Special were apparent:
A
All these changes were intended
to bring the Jazzica into line with the new archtop and semi models referred to
above.
Initially, just natural/blonde finish was offered,
but by 2003 an Antique Brown Sunburst was also available.
From then on, this sunburst finish was
available on a rather spasmodic basis and this was made even more so by the
finishing of many Jazzica Customs in Violin Varnish from around 2005 onwards.
The Jazzica disappeared from the Hӧfner catalogue at the
end of 2008, although a few have been produced to special order since, including
at least two Jazzica custom models fitted with twin humbuckers. The Jazzica ended
up being one of Hӧfner’s best-sellers in recent times, and it was used by many
jazz artists including Booby Broom and Zane Carney who still play Jazzicas to
this day, together with David Gilmore, Robert Conti, Sid Jacobs, and many more.
Up to the end of 1999, only approximately 250 Jazzica and Jazzica Specials were
shipped, but in comparison a further 680 or so Jazzica Custom’s were shipped in
the similar time period from 2000 to 2011. The above contrast in the model’s
output before and after the year 2000 may possibly have been due to the
disruptive effect on production due to the closing of the Bubenreuth facility in
1997. However, what also should be considered is the boost to Hӧfner’s marketing
in the US that was given by the Boosey & Hawkes Company during the period
1999-2002.
By 1993, Christian and Gerhilde
Benker were in their 60s and were looking for a reduction in the responsibility
of running Hӧfner. Both had loyally served the family company for many turbulent
and demanding years, and retirement beckoned. They eventually decided to sell
the company to a long established major player in the music business - Boosey &
Hawkes. So, on 1st
January 1994, the firm started by Karl Hӧfner in 1887 left the family’s control
and joined the Boosey & Hawkes empire.
Immediate changes were instituted by B&H, not the least
being an amalgamation of Hӧfner with the Paesold orchestral stringed instrument
company also of Bubenreuth, and the Jacob Winter instrument case company of Nauheim. Jacob Winter joined Christian Benker as joint managing directors of
this amalgamation, and Gerhilde Benker decided to take a very well-earned
retirement.
Klaus Schöller, now promoted to the position of
Marketing Director as well as Product Manager for Guitars, worked both on
consolidating an improved range of acoustic and electric guitars, and also
producing a much more attractive and informative product catalogues than had
been the case in the past.
The conclusion was soon reached that running both Hӧfner’s
two workshops at Bubenreuth and Hagenau was un-economical for the current
quantity of production, and so on a sad day in October 1997, Hӧfner’s remaining
workforce based at the company’s historic home at Bubenreuth was moved over to
Hagenau. In fairness though, B&H did plough a considerable sum of money into
Hagenau in order to sufficiently modernise production there for the future.
Boosey and Hawkes had their roots in orchestral and wind
instruments used by bands. They had purchased Hӧfner because of that company’s
large orchestral stringed instrument production, which of course fitted in well
with B&H’s Paesold company. However, guitars were a new product to B&H as
well as to their sales people in the US, which of course was Hӧfner’s biggest
potential market. Nonetheless, B&H soon became aware of declining Hӧfner sales
in America, and launched the “Strap it On” sales campaign with the issue of a
new brochure under that name in 1998. The guitars described in the brochure were
the “N35” Nightingale, the “J5” Jazzica, the “P55” New President, the 500/1
Vintage 63 “Beatle Bass” and the 5000/1 “Deluxe Beatle Bass”. Also promoted in
the brochure was a selection of “Strap it On” tea-shirts, baseball caps, etc.”.
These efforts had only a lukewarm success, and there was
a time during this period when there was a distinct possibility that the
guitar-making part of Hӧfner could have been dis-continued. Luckily however, the
President of B&H in America, Jack Faas, was a bass player and he recognised the
potential of Hӧfner’s guitars and bass guitars. In 1999, B&H finally decided to
recruit someone who actually did know something about guitars into their
organisation. Enter Rob Olsen.
Rob
had 14 years’ experience in retail, but this was based on guitars used for rock
n’ roll. He was now asked to help invigorate a product line that was dominated
by instruments aimed at jazz and classical musicians. He had to learn quickly!
After first talking to many US dealers, players, and friends in the business, he
got onto a plane together with jazz guitarist Sid Jacobs and headed over to
Hagenau with a list of ideas and suggestions to put before Hӧfner’s management
over there. From that first visit sprung up a close working group consisting of
the Klaus Scholler (and later Martin Meckback) of Hӧfner Germany, Rob Olsen from
B&H in the US, and Graham Stockley from B&H in the UK. Martin Meckback worked
for Hofner as Guitar Products Manager from 2002 to 2006. These were the people
who chartered the path for all changes and additions to Hӧfner models for the
next ten years or so.
One person that Rob Olsen struck up a relationship with
in 1999, and has consulted with regards to Hӧfner archtops ever since, was
Stephen Candib in Canada. Stephen’s knowledge of all types of archtop guitars is
huge, and he has had an interest specifically in Hӧfner’s jazz guitars for many
years, acting as the Hӧfner Company’s agent in Canada from around 2010 onwards.
His “Die Hofnering” website, produced in the mid-1990s, was at that time the
definitive source of information on Hӧfner archtops.
Things were just settling down nicely when out of the
blue, Boosey & Hawkes made the decision to sell off their instrument
manufacturing division. Therefore, at the beginning of 2003, Hӧfner found itself
now under the ownership of a British investment company called The Music Group
(TMG). This state of affairs did not last for long however, and in 2004 TMG had
the company up for sale once again.
As it happened, Klaus Schöller and his partner, Ulrike
Schrmpff who had been Hӧfner’s finance director since 1995, decided to lead a
management buy-out of the company. In this, they were assisted by Graham
Stockley and Rob Olsen. Their bid was accepted and so from late 2004 Karl Hӧfner
GmbH was back in the hands of a local family again.
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