Steve Rowley with a Hofner Super Solid 3 (red) taken in 1972.
"It was my first guitar, I was 17 and I
wore it everywhere - including the garden! I was into heavy bands like
Black Sabbath and Deep Purple at the time, hence the hairstyle. I didn't
really get very far with the Hofner, but that was probably more my fault than
the guitar. My next guitar was an Antoria 335 copy which had a much
slimmer neck and an altogether 'easier' feel to my inexperienced hands.
The Hofner was sold through the Melody Maker to someone in Northern Ireland, and
I remember the money had to come via a solicitor who acted as an
intermediary - doing business was hard in those days - not like ebay! I'd
like to get another Super Solid 3 one day, just for nostalgia's sake I
guess."
33 YEARS LATER.............
Steve Rowley with another (recently acquired) Hofner Super Solid 3 taken in 2005.
"Well here I am, 33 years later and proudly holding my 'new' Hofner Super Solid Three. I got it!! Isn't Ebay wonderful..... From what I can remember - and certainly from the old photo - it's pretty much identical to my old one; same colour even.
This latest one has an aluminium scratchplate but I'm not sure what the old one was. A couple of bonus points on the new one; the Hofner nameplate is on the headstock and the selector switch escutcheon plate is still there. Unfortunately the tremolo arm is missing on the new one - some you win, some you lose! Anyone got one? - even to borrow, I could get one made perhaps.
Incidentally, my dress sense has moved on from
'Status Quo' since '72! I thought it would be fun to ape myself in the other
photo as much as possible. And these days I can play 'Paranoid' AND the
solo to 'Alright Now', but not at the same time."