Hofner new vs Hofner old

[GregD/oasysco]

i think Hofner is one of those brands who new offerings are more popular
and valuable than the old vintage ones. Perhapd thta is true of all makes?

In any case, I've been comparing the old, vintage Hofners to the new ones
on eBAY... you know, the old ones with fret marks that consume 50% of the
fretboard, some models with seemingly no truss rod.

I think if I was going to buy a Hofner, it'd be a new oen. I'm keeping my
eyes peeled, though i'm not real serious at this point.

Greg

[Darth Ai]

Post by GregD/oasysco
I think if I was going to buy a Hofner, it'd be a new oen. I'm keeping my
eyes peeled, though i'm not real serious at this point.

Greg

By a strange coincidence I was actually in a guitar store today and played a
very nice Hofner New President. Unfortunately, I do not subscribe to the
cult of old Hofner. I owned several semi and acoustic Hofners when I was
starting out in the 70s and frankly they were universally bad. Age has not
improved them in my humble opinion and most are best used as firewood. (I'll
probably be flamed to death now!)

However, I have to say each of the Hofner New Presidents I've played in the
last few years has been excellent - and I mean really, really excellent.
Best value for money archtop around imho. The one I played today had a very
convincing acoustic tone (for a laminated back) and a lovely plugged in
sound. The necks are superb and the design gives access to all the way up
and down the frets. Talking of frets they were beautifully finished and
crowned. Finish was the hand rubbed violin finish which is nothing short of
breathtaking although there were a couple of places where the finish was not
perfect. However, when you consider that the HNP is about half to one third
the price of an equivalent Gisbon/Heritage/D'Angelico jazzers, all in all, a
great package and at what I think is a very reasonable price.

Anyway, thought I give you my thoughts on new versus old. My only advice is
try to get one direct from Germany where the price is a lot more reasonable
than advertised prices I've seen in the US and UK

Regards

Darth

[GregD/oasysco]

Post by Darth Ai

Post by GregD/oasysco
I think if I was going to buy a Hofner, it'd be a new oen. I'm
keeping my eyes peeled, though i'm not real serious at this point.

Greg
By a strange coincidence I was actually in a guitar store today and
played a very nice Hofner New President. Unfortunately, I do not
subscribe to the cult of old Hofner. I owned several semi and acoustic
Hofners when I was starting out in the 70s and frankly they were
universally bad. Age has not improved them in my humble opinion and
most are best used as firewood. (I'll probably be flamed to death
now!)
However, I have to say each of the Hofner New Presidents I've played
in the last few years has been excellent - and I mean really, really
excellent. Best value for money archtop around imho. The one I played
today had a very convincing acoustic tone (for a laminated back) and a
lovely plugged in sound. The necks are superb and the design gives
access to all the way up and down the frets. Talking of frets they
were beautifully finished and crowned. Finish was the hand rubbed
violin finish which is nothing short of breathtaking although there
were a couple of places where the finish was not perfect. However,
when you consider that the HNP is about half to one third the price of
an equivalent Gisbon/Heritage/D'Angelico jazzers, all in all, a great
package and at what I think is a very reasonable price.
Anyway, thought I give you my thoughts on new versus old. My only
advice is try to get one direct from Germany where the price is a lot
more reasonable than advertised prices I've seen in the US and UK
Regards
Darth

Darth,

thanks for the advice.

greg

[Max Leggett]

Post by Darth Ai

Post by GregD/oasysco
I think if I was going to buy a Hofner, it'd be a new oen. I'm keeping my
eyes peeled, though i'm not real serious at this point.

Greg
By a strange coincidence I was actually in a guitar store today and played a
very nice Hofner New President. Unfortunately, I do not subscribe to the
cult of old Hofner. I owned several semi and acoustic Hofners when I was
starting out in the 70s and frankly they were universally bad. Age has not
improved them in my humble opinion and most are best used as firewood. (I'll
probably be flamed to death now!)
However, I have to say each of the Hofner New Presidents I've played in the
last few years has been excellent - and I mean really, really excellent.
Best value for money archtop around imho. The one I played today had a very
convincing acoustic tone (for a laminated back) and a lovely plugged in
sound. The necks are superb and the design gives access to all the way up
and down the frets. Talking of frets they were beautifully finished and
crowned. Finish was the hand rubbed violin finish which is nothing short of
breathtaking although there were a couple of places where the finish was not
perfect. However, when you consider that the HNP is about half to one third
the price of an equivalent Gisbon/Heritage/D'Angelico jazzers, all in all, a
great package and at what I think is a very reasonable price.

1/2 to 1/3 the cost of Heritage or D'Angelico? Really? What do they go
for? <$1600?

Post by Darth Ai
Anyway, thought I give you my thoughts on new versus old. My only advice is
try to get one direct from Germany where the price is a lot more reasonable
than advertised prices I've seen in the US and UK
Regards
Darth

=======================================
Jailhouse Baby Parker
the world's finest living Max Leggett-style guitarist
***@hotmail.com is a spam trap
m le gg e tt doing business with sprint in CAnada
=======================================

[Darth Ai]

Post by Max Leggett
1/2 to 1/3 the cost of Heritage or D'Angelico? Really? What do they go
for? <$1600?

Fair point.

Actually, a few months back before Sterling rose against the dollar, the
natural version of the New President could be obtained from German dealers
for about $1,600. Thanks to the appreciation of both Sterling and the Euro
you are now looking at closer to $1,900 for the natural blonde finish and
about $2,100 for the french polished version. They are not stock items and
have about a 2-month lead time. You also need to put down 1/3rd deposit to
get into the queue.

Because they are produced in Germany, they are a particularly good deal for
UK buyers (or anyone living in the EU) because there are no import duties.
If I were to import a Heritage or similar from the US to the UK I would have
to pay approximately 22% in duties on top of the shipping costs.

I'm not knocking other makers, just pointing out that Hofners are highly
competitive in terms of price and quality for EU buyers.

Regards

Darth

[Keith Freeman]

Post by Darth Ai
They are not stock items and
have about a 2-month lead time.

Things must be hotting up: when I bought my Jazzica a couple of years ago I
only had to wait a week or two (I asked a music shop in Koeln if they could
get one in for me on approval and they did!).

-Keith

Music samples, tips, Portable Changes at
http://home.wanadoo.nl/keith.freeman/

E-mail: keith DOT freeman AT wanadoo DOT nl

[Alan Smith]

Post by GregD/oasysco
i think Hofner is one of those brands who new offerings are more popular
and valuable than the old vintage ones. Perhapd thta is true of all makes?
In any case, I've been comparing the old, vintage Hofners to the new ones
on eBAY... you know, the old ones with fret marks that consume 50% of the
fretboard, some models with seemingly no truss rod.
I think if I was going to buy a Hofner, it'd be a new oen. I'm keeping my
eyes peeled, though i'm not real serious at this point.
Greg

Just an FYI for you, Greg, and anyone else. I am expecting my custom
Hamer Monaco SuperPro and will be selling my Verythin Classis. This is
the one that was Plekked a few months ago. Nothing wrong with it, but
I've always been a one guitar guy and love the Hamers. It's in perfect
shape and the neck is sweet.

I'll put up a "FS" note here when it's time.

alan

[gtrhack]

I have played some of the old ones and they are on par with the old Kay
archtops - some ok, some terrible.

I have had a Gibson 175 for 12 years and very recently acquired a
violin finish Jazzica. It can be viewed on Jeff Hale's website under
his "vintage guitar" tab. I have consigned the 175. It is not that it
is a bad guitar and it did provide extensive enjoyment. However, I also
have a Howard Roberts Fusion and the 175 seems somewhat redundant tone
wise and less versatile than the HR. For pure archtop sound, the
Jazzica is excellent and I will have no regrets with the decision
regarding the 175.

I did buy one of the very early Jazzica's (99 or 2000) and it had some
neck issues, but it was a second and not represented that way by the
dealer. The one recently acquired is superb and is great as an acoustic
or electric archtop. From an acoustic standpoint, it compares very
favorably to my '46 epi deluxe. Highly recommended.

[Jack Zucker]

The new hofners are certainly exceptionally well made instruments. Quality
is on par with an L5 costing 2.5x the price.
--
Experience a revolutionary way to approach the instrument.
Introducing Sheets of Sound for Guitar
"Let the music govern the way you play guitar instead of the guitar
governing the way you play music!"

Check it out at:
http://www.sheetsofsound.net

Post by gtrhack
I have played some of the old ones and they are on par with the old Kay
archtops - some ok, some terrible.
I have had a Gibson 175 for 12 years and very recently acquired a
violin finish Jazzica. It can be viewed on Jeff Hale's website under
his "vintage guitar" tab. I have consigned the 175. It is not that it
is a bad guitar and it did provide extensive enjoyment. However, I also
have a Howard Roberts Fusion and the 175 seems somewhat redundant tone
wise and less versatile than the HR. For pure archtop sound, the
Jazzica is excellent and I will have no regrets with the decision
regarding the 175.
I did buy one of the very early Jazzica's (99 or 2000) and it had some
neck issues, but it was a second and not represented that way by the
dealer. The one recently acquired is superb and is great as an acoustic
or electric archtop. From an acoustic standpoint, it compares very
favorably to my '46 epi deluxe. Highly recommended.

[BP]

Absolutely. I had basically written these instruments off after my
experience with the "second" that was misrepresented. I actually made
the drive to Jhale expecting to purchase one of his fine Heritage
guitars. I played a golden eagle, eagle classic and sweet 16. These
were all very nice guitars and had been beautifully set up by a top of
the line luthier. However, I kept coming back to the Jazzica and saved
some money on top of it.

[Nate Lamy]

Post by Darth Ai

Post by GregD/oasysco
I think if I was going to buy a Hofner, it'd be a new oen. I'm

keeping my

Post by Darth Ai

Post by GregD/oasysco
eyes peeled, though i'm not real serious at this point.
Greg

By a strange coincidence I was actually in a guitar store today and

played a

Post by Darth Ai
very nice Hofner New President. Unfortunately, I do not subscribe to

the

Post by Darth Ai
cult of old Hofner. I owned several semi and acoustic Hofners when I

was

Post by Darth Ai
starting out in the 70s and frankly they were universally bad. Age

has not

Post by Darth Ai
improved them in my humble opinion and most are best used as

firewood. (I'll

Post by Darth Ai
probably be flamed to death now!)
However, I have to say each of the Hofner New Presidents I've played

in the

Post by Darth Ai
last few years has been excellent - and I mean really, really

excellent.

Post by Darth Ai
Best value for money archtop around imho. ...[]...
Regards Darth

I've owned over 100 Hofner archtops, and handled several hundred of
them in the past 25 years. No flames needed - Hofner certainly made
its share of dreksticks, but thay also made some great guitars.
Education is the key - A good Committee is a great guitar, and a bad
Congress makes a good planter. There is no shortage of info about old
Hofners on the web these days.

The current Hofner lineup is pretty damned good, but don't discount
the higher-end old Hofners, including the President, the Committee,
and a bunch of the German numbered models, such as the 457, 459, 461,
462, 463, 464, 465, 468, 470, 471, 477, AZ10 and a few others. Most of
these instruments are all-laminated, but some had carved tops. the
guitars evolved considerably from the early '50's to now, but there's
really nice archtop stuff within each of the eras.

- Nate Lamy