Dude...that guitar is actually a Hofner brand guitar. German made of varying quality...made mostly to take advantage of the guitar craze during the mid 50s to mid 60s whilst most of the world had protectionist trade practises prohibiting the importation of better made competition. Very common guitar in the UK and Europe...McCartney famously played a Hofner bass (the 'Beatle' bass) the majority of the time.lukewillasick wrote: ↑Sun Oct 31, 2021 9:05 am This lockdown has found me buying weird cheap stuff off trade me.
the latest a $50 archtop and a good old Peavy Rage (my first ever guitar amp) for $20
Not expecting a lot from the guitar, but something about cheap gear is just fun.
Many of them were made with steam-pressed, laminated tops, backs and sides and fancy pants bindings and inlays to make them attractive to the kids...who during post-war austerity, didn't really care they sounded boxy and thin, so long as they looked good like their hero's.
They did do pro level axes that were very well made, sounded ok and are very collectible (NZ$000s)...the Committee and President model names come to mind. Featured all spruce, carved, arch-tops (German carve based on their violin tradition: swoopier than US and thicker plates = loud, cutting sound compared to US brands), solid or laminated sides and backs (rosewoods, intensely birds-eyed maples and other crazy, flashy wood styles), sometimes laminated (often 5 band) necks with ebony fretboards with inlaid fret blocks and head-stocks.
Most didn't have truss rods, although obviously, that one has a cover. The necks are narrow as is the string spacing...you've got to have skinny fingers...and they have a zero fret/nut deal going on. Nothing bad...just particular.
All models had an overly complicated 2-way, cantilevered, neck join where the neck dovetailed into the body with a joined on extension over the soundboard and the fretboard glued on top of the two neck pieces. They often bend or break here as it's under a lot of tension. The action will tell you.
That one, friendo...looks slightly better! At least by that photo...the sound board looks heavily grained as if obviously solid. The tailpiece, to me, is a bit of a give away...a President I played in an Irish pub band was very easy to play, stable, held tune well and sounded pretty good had a tailpiece that looked exactly the same...6 staggered, brass fingers with curved in ends to retain the strings. The headstock on that one is simpler (older looking) than the Prez I played and doesn't have the fretboard binding that the Prez had.
The bridge looks off...the saddle pieces are typically Hofner (plastic ) but the bridge itself looks a lot clunkier than usual, even for a cheapy.
At 50 bucks...jump on it!!! If the neck joint is holding and it's otherwise playable/tuneable, you've scored dude. It's worth a lot more than 50, straight up! Hell, sell it to me for $55...you've made $5 and made me happy...two birds/one stone If it's a solid deck...kachinga! Your in the $00s right there!!!
Well spotted chief!