WONDERFUL OLD MID 1950S HOFNER MODEL 456 ACOUSTIC ARCHTOP GUITAR WITH HARD CARRY CASE
STUNNING VINTAGE 1950S HOFNER MODEL 456 ARCHTOP ACOUSTIC GUITAR WITH MAPLE TOP SUNBURST FINISH, SIDES AND BACK. APPEARS TO BE ALL ORIGINAL. BEAUTIFUL FAUX MOTHER OF PEARL PICKGUARD AND FRETBOARD INLAYS. A FAUX TORTOISESHELL INLAY HEADSTOCK.
VERY SIMILAR TO THE HOFNER MODEL 455 WITH MAPLE TOP AND BACK, BUT A BIT MORE ORNATE WITH MORE DECORATION AND BINDING AROUND FRETBOARD AND NECK. IT WAS ONE OF HOFNERS MID RANGE MODELS.
THIS HOFNER ARCHTOP GUITAR IS QUITE SIMILAR TO ONE OF GEORGE HARRISONS VERY EARLY GUITARS, THE 1958 HOFNER PRESIDENT HE PLAYED WITH JOHN LENNON AND PAUL MCCARTNEYS WITH THE QUARRYMEN BEFORE THE BEATLES. MUCH OF HOFNERS POPULARITY IS ALSO ATTRIBUTED TO THE BEATKLES SONGWRITER PAUL MCCARTNEYS USE OF THE HOFNER 500/1 ELECTRIC BASS QUITAR THROUGHOUT HIS CAREER.
THIS GUITAR COMES WITH A HARD CARRY CASE WITH SOME OLD TRAVEL STICKERS OF AMERICAN AIRLINE KLM STILL ON IT VISIBLE.
HOFNER (1887-present): Karl Höfner GmbH & Co. KG is a German (originally Austro-Bohemian) manufacturer of musical instruments. Karl Höfner (18641955), founded the Höfner company in the town of Schönbach in Austria-Hungary in 1887. He soon became the largest string instrument in the country. His sons, Josef and Walter, joined the company around 1920, and began spreading the brand's reputation worldwide. After the War the new Höfner factory opened in Bubenreuth 1950.In 1994, Höfner became part of the Boosey and Hawkes Group, and was able to expand and upgrade its facilities with the influx of cash. In 1997, the company moved from Bubenreuth to Hagenau.
After a near-bankruptcy in 2003 Boosey & Hawkes sold its musical instrument division to a company formed by rescue buyout specialists but in 2004 the company was sold to Klaus Schöller who had been the general manager of Höfner for many years. Klaus Schöller and Ulrike Schrimpff remain as the owners of the business today.
MODEL 456: When Hofner re-commenced production in Moehrendorf, Bavaria after WW2, the 456 was one of the archtop models offered. A very similar archtop had been produced with that model designation before the onset of the war when Hofner were based at Schoenbach in Bohemia.
The 456 was intended to be Hofners mid-range archtop, utilising nicely flamed maple for the body back and sides, with a maple top. A good standard of ornamentation was used on the guitar, with binding/multi-purfling around body top and back edges and soundholes, with the rosewood neck also bound. Pearloid strips were used for the fretmarkers, and on all but the very earliest guitars, a pearloid/tortoishell/pearloid celluloid fascia covered the front of the headstock.
Hofners approach to model numbers was simple - the higher the number (between 449 and 470) the fancier the guitar. So, theoretically, a 456 was fancier than a 455. If a guitar had a cut-away, the letter S was attached to the model name.
Most models had colours associated with them, usually sunburst variants, usually referred to as "brunet" - a reddish burst, a brownish burst, a honey burst and so forth.
Hofner developed a distinctive pickguard shape for its non-cutaway as well as its cutaway guitars, For the most part, pickguards were either thick one ply white mother-of-toilet-seat, or thick one- ply faux tortoiseshell.
CONDITION: HARD CARRY CASE HAS LOTS OF USED WEAR BUT LATCHES STILL IN WORKING CONDITION. TWO STEEL STRINGS NEEDS TO BE REPLACED. ONE TUNING KNOB MISSING. FINISH HAS SOME MINOR WEAR. THE FRETS MOTHER OF PEARL LIKE INLAYS AND PICKGUARD ARE IN GOOD CONDITION. IT SEEMS THERE IS AN OLD NECK REPAIR AT BACK (PLEASE SEE PHOTO).
EVEN WITH ONLY 4 STRINGS IT IS STIL A GREAT SOUNDING GUITAR.
SIZE: TOTAL LENGTH 105CM
LENGHT FROM NUT TO BRIDGE: 66 CM
BODY MAXIMUM WIDTH AT THE SHOULDERS: 32CM BODY MAXIMUM WIDTH AT THE BOTTOM: 41CM
PLEASE ALSO SEE MY OTHER ITEMS LISTED. COPY THE URL UNDERNEATH AND PASTE INTO GOOGLE AND IT WILL TAKE YOU DIRECTLY TO ALL MY LISTINGS THIS WEEK. NOTE ALL MY AUCTIONS END AT 22H30 SO IT IS ADVISABLE TO PUT IN AN AUTOMATIC BID (HIGHEST PRICE YOU ARE WILLING TO PAY) EARLY.
https://www.bidorbuy.co.za/seller/3685641/ErnRex1545
