A HISTORY OF THE HÖFNER ARCHTOP GUITAR
By Steve Russell
The Text in this Section of the
Vintage Hofner Website is Copyright
© 2022 Steve Russell. All Rights Reserved
Photo courtesy of Guy Audoux
INDEX
CHAPTER 1: HOW DID IT ALL BEGIN?
·
Karl
Höfner and Schönbach
·
Josef
Sets the Company Rolling.
·
Walter
Höfner – the Practical Man.
·
A Time of
Change.
·
Do We
Really Need to Make Guitars?
CHAPTER 2 - THE PRE-WORLD WAR II YEARS (1932 to 1945)
·
Walter Hӧfner’s
First Archtop
·
The
Archtop Range Develops
·
So, where
are all these Höfner Primus Guitars then?
·
The
Archtop Guitar Develops.
·
The
Second World War.
CHAPTER 3 – DESTITUTION & RECOVERY (1946 TO 1950)
·
Josef’s
Story
·
Fred
Wilfer, the Entrepreneur
·
Walter
Höfner works for Framus.
·
The Break
from Framus and the Resurrection of the Hӧfner Company
CHAPTER
4A: FULL-BODIED ARCHTOPS – PROGRESS IN THE 1950’s (1951 to 1954)
·
The Move
to Bubenreuth
·
A Period
of Archtop Design
·
Body
Logos
·
Archtops
for Everyone
·
Höfner
Goes Electric
·
From
Solid Tops to Laminates
·
Who was “Gagliano”?
CHAPTER 5: CLUB-STYLE GUITARS (1954 to the early 1970’s)
·
The 125 &
126 Models
·
Entry of
the Deluxe Versions
·
Club-Style Rock n’ Roll
·
The Clubs
Run out of Steam
·
Selmer’s
Club 70
·
The
Amplified Club
CHAPTER 6: SELMER LONDON (1953 to mid-1970’s)
·
Ben
Davies’ Company
·
The First
Selmer-Distributed Hofners
·
A
Committee to Design the Committee?
·
From
Square Dance to Congress
·
Join the
Club?
·
The Very
Strange Colourama Model
·
Luxury….The Committee Deluxe and the Golden Hӧfner
·
Thinline
Bodies
·
The Very
Thin Verithin
·
Florentine Body Cutaways
·
The
Ambassador
·
Selmer-Branded Höfner
·
The
Decline of the Selmer London Höfners
CHAPTER 7: THE BOOM YEARS - THE BIG BODY MAKES WAY FOR THE THINLINE. (1959 to
the late 60’s)
·
The
Hofner Company’s Expansion
·
The Rise
of the Thin-Bodied Archtop
·
Thinline
versions of Hӧfner’s Traditional Archtops
·
Twin
Cutaways!
·
Hӧfner
Guitars – Made in Spain
·
Werner Pӧhlert
uses Hӧfner
·
So what’s
left of the Jazz Boxes?
CHAPTER 8: SEMI-ACOUSTICS & VERY THIN GUITARS (1960
into the 1970s)
·
The
Semi-Acoustic Principle
·
The Very
Thin Archtop Guitars
·
Very Thin
Guitars for all !
·
The
Carvin & Ovation Connections
·
A
Violin-shaped guitar for Beatles Fans.
·
Another
Club-Style Guitar?
CHAPTER 9: NEW ARCHTOPS FOR JAZZ (Mid-60’s and through the
1970s.)
·
A New
Guitar for the Working Player
·
…….and
one for the Showman.
·
Hӧfner’s
First Archtop with a Floating Pickup
CHAPTER 10: THE “PROFESSIONAL LINE” (1978 – Early-80’s)
·
A New
Catalogue!
·
The
Höfner A2L Archtop Guitar
·
The
Höfner A2HL Thinline Archtop Guitar
·
The
Höfner T2 Semi-Acoustics
·
The
Höfner T4 Semi-Acoustics
·
The
Höfner T6 S Semi-Acoustic
CHAPTER 11: ATILLA ZOLLER, KLAUS SCHÖLLER, & THE NIGHTINGALE (1981 to1999)
·
The
Attila Zoller Archtops
·
The
Arrival of Klaus Schӧller
·
The AZ
Fusion Semi-Acoustics
·
The Hӧfner
Nightingale
·
Bringing
the Old Timers Up to Date
·
The
Höfner Jazzica
·
The Winds
of Change
CHAPTER 13: INTO THE 21st
CENTURY (1997 – 2005)
·
The
Höfner New President and Hӧfner Vice President
·
Is it a
Höfner Verithin or Verythin?
·
The
Verythin Classic
·
The
Verythin Vintage
·
The
Verythin Standard
·
The
Verythin JS Signature
·
Violin
Varnish
CHAPTER
14: GUITARS FROM THE FAR EAST (2005 to Present Day)
·
Guitars
from China
·
The
Contemporary “CT” Verythin Models
·
The
Höfner CT Club Guitars
·
The Hӧfner
H-5 Archtop and the CT Archtops
·
The
Höfner “Icon” /”Ignition” Guitar Range
CHAPTER 15: HӦFNER BACK
UNDER FAMILY CONTROL (2005 to 2010)
·
People
for the 21st Century
·
The
Höfner Chancellor
·
The
Höfner Jimmy Bruno Model
·
The
Thinline President E2 takes off.
·
The Club
Re-Issues
CHAPTER
16: BRINGING THE STORY UP TO DATE (2010 to 2018)
·
The More
Affordable Höfner Verythins
·
The Höfner New Committee
·
The Gold
Label Range
·
The Return of the 457/12 Model
·
The
Eco-Friendly Verythin
·
Postscript - The Leader Arrives
APPENDIX 1: MODEL PRODUCTION
PERIOD CHARTS
APPENDIX 2: DATING YOUR
HÖFNER ARCHTOP
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
1959 Hofner Committee, courtesy of Matt Armstrong.
