Hofner Jazz Guitar Masterbuilders

[adamrhowe]

I'm being a little bit cheeky nosey here but i'd really like to know how many people/who built the jazz guitars (verythins, new president etc.)

Most of the inner labels say Thomas Stühlein and i've seen a few with Hubert Kaa, but if I understand correctly the signature on the label is just the person who did the final hardware installation and quality control? My New President says Thomas on the label but Dieter Fischer under the soundboard. So Dieter was the one to carve the top and I think he was the one to hand-carve all the necks in the 00s? Correct me if im wrong!

So does anybody know who/how many people built these guitars? and is the reason they don't really make them anymore because the main builders all retired?

Thanks!

[Hammertone]

Long, boring post to come from me, over the next couple of days ....

[cmajor9]

Looking forward to being bored, then….

[GuyBoden]

Here is a pic of my John Stowell model's label.

Thomas Stühlein

[tramline]

Waiting for Hammertone's response with bated breath....

My Verythin has Thomas Stühlein's name in it, my New President has Hubert Kaa, and my Vice President has no signature on the label.

[Hammertone]

Here’s a general summary of how modern Höfner jazz guitars (and other instruments in their catalogue) have been built over the past @25 years. It’s really not that different from how many other instrument building shops work.

- Wood is processed in one area of the factory. This includes resawing boards, some kiln drying, cutting and assembling blanks for necks, solid top plates and solid back plates.
- In a separate area, flitches of wood veneer from specialty suppliers are pressed into shape for archtop laminated back plates, for the flat laminated back plates of student classical guitars, and for laminated rims.
- Neck blanks, solid top and back plates are rough shaped on old copy carving machines. Solid wood for rims is thicknessed. These parts, along with laminated plates, neck blocks, end blocks, and any other fabricated wood items, are moved to a different area, where they are drawn upon for assembly.

All of this is done by skilled woodworkers who also prepare similar materials for orchestral stringed instruments, classical guitars, violin/Club basses and so forth.

Höfner has essentially stopped making archtop guitars, at least for now. Perhaps they will make more some day. The process would be as it has been in the past:
- Headstock overlays, fretboards, kerfing, bridges, tailpieces, pickups and other small parts come from specialty suppliers. Tuners, truss rods, pots, jacks and the like come from industry standard suppliers. Last time I visited, Höfner was installing frets in-house.
- Rims were bent, assembled, blocks and kerfing installed; tops and backs attached; and neck pockets trimmed. Binding/purfling channels were cut and binding/purfling installed. Necks were matched to bodies.

All of this work was done in a team environment. Once necks were glued up, the jazz guitars went to a separate department to be finished.

Once finished, final assembly of the jazz guitars was done by a small group of workers , including Dieter Fischer, Hubert Kaa, Thomas Stuhlein and several others. It just so happened that, over the past @25 years, those three folks were the ones who signed the labels of the jazz guitars, meaning that they were the folks who did the final assembly, setup and final fretwork on the guitars. Fischer retired a few years back after working at Höfner for over 50 years. Kaa recently retired after working at Höfner for over 40 years. Stuhlein has been signing the labels of the jazz guitars for the past 15-18 years. But, there are other folks involved in the shop as well.

Fischer did end up being the go-to guy for final neck carving on all of the jazz guitars. After he retired, the job went to someone else. He also cleaned up the top plates, and, after he retired, someone else did it. These were machine-carved items that he completed. Any signature he added to the underside of a top plate was something he did to amuse himself. Time for us to get into our Höfner carved archtops to see if he signed any more of them!

The reason Höfner is currently not building any archtop guitars in Germany is not because of the retirement of Fischer and Kaa, although that may be one consideration ("Masterbuilders" is a nice sentiment - these guys really did know what they were doing). The reason has to do with Höfner’s priorities as a company, their view of market conditions, and the priorities and opinions of some of the people who used to work there. I do hope for the eventual return of some of these instruments.

[m_d]

There's a store in my town that sells the Verythins. They are indeed "very thin"! Interesting and beautiful design. The quality looked very high.

[adamrhowe]

That's amazing - thank you Hammertone. That clears things up nicely!

[adamrhowe]

There's a store in my town that sells the Verythins. They are indeed "very thin"! Interesting and beautiful design. The quality looked very high.

If there are lots of them, they are most likely the Chinese ones? Great instruments but do not compare to a German one. I've never seen more than 1 or 2 German models in a shop at once these days.

[m_d]

If there are lots of them, they are most likely the Chinese ones? Great instruments but do not compare to a German one. I've never seen more than 1 or 2 German models in a shop at once these days.

They were under $1000, so not MIG for sure. But you could tell the QC is tight.

[jazzkenny]

And what about the Attila Zoller's ?

[Hammertone]

And what about the Attila Zoller's ?

The AZ was introduced in 1982. It was designed with input from Attila Zoller, and was Höfner's most expensive archtop at the time. It was produced in very limited quantities, and was gone by the early 1990s.

There were three versions - AZ Standard, AZ Special and AZ Award, essentially the same but with different finishes and levels of trim. These are all small-bodied, full-depth acoustic archtops with solid spruce tops, laminated flamed maple rims/backs, one-piece maple necks, traditional 14th fret neck/body joints, 20 fret necks, floating pickups and vol/tone controls mounted to the top (like the Jazzica). Nice guitars!

[QsDuesBlues]

Decades ago I (mistakenly) didn't give Hofner archtops any serious attention - but in recent years - and slowly learning more about the guitars and their history on this website and elsewhere (thanks Hammertone, 'Ol Fret, and others) - I've come under their spell quite a bit more.

I'd previously bought a non-electric blonde deep florentine body 'President 66', a non-electric 477 in 'blood and custardburst' (!) - and a few days ago on E-Bay I found a lovely old non-electric 457/S in a sort of tobacco-burst with a hint of reddish-mauve in the mix.

Here 'tis :-







Pictured above before cleaning, I found it on UK E-Bay at a bargain price - and no one else seemed to be buying (being all spent out after Christmas, no doubt).

I travelled over 200 miles by train (9.55am to 5.45pm!) to collect the guitar and was pleasantly surprised to find the lovely old original 3-on-a-strip tuners in great working condition, the headstock inlays looking like they might have been put in only yesterday, an immaculate original pickguard and a nice old ABM tailpiece, needing only a shine-up. The finish - aside from half a dozen tiny but vicious dings - is again wonderfully pristine for the most part all over - uncannily so, really.

The guitar needs only a fingerboard smooth-over and re-fret after its 50-plus years (1970-ish ?), and while it almost certainly has that 'Parrot's beak' hook and eye mechanism inside the shallow depth neck/body joint, there's no apparent neck shift and no need for a neck re-set, just needing a mm or two to be removed from the massive feet of the original ebony Hofner bridge (and why do the new Hofner bridges have NO string slots in the middle of those tiny metal string supports? an omission there, surely ?)

No label inside, so I can't date it accurately from any serial number, and the tiny metal string supports on top of the bridge are distorted beyond use - but that's about it for negatives.

All else is quite wonderful - so a big 'thank you' to any Hofner employee who may have contributed to the making of this delightful and well-preserved old archtop - Guys, you did a great job !

[daveg]

This passed briefly through my hands a long time ago. It is not obvious but it is a thin line Committee and was a great looker. It is not an early one because of the head shape, the pickups and controls but other than that I know little about it. If anyone knows any more then I would love to know.



DG

[QsDuesBlues]

And after spraying / buffing with a bit of Johnson's 'Pledge' wood polish..............with some tape around the tailpiece to prevent chafing........

the old Hofner 457/S has (re-) acquired its original lustre........!