First foray into archtops - 1958 Hofner 461
Posted: Tue Apr 20, 2021 10:02 am
As a regular browser of the Reverb app sometimes things catch my eye, this was definitely one of those times. I'd never played let alone owned an archtop before, but something about this guitar really called to me as I kept going back and looking at the listing. After a month or so I thought this was getting a bit ridiculous and sent an offer, and now here it is.
Its a 1958 Hofner 461 which has been converted to electric at some point in the past (the seller believed during the 60s and looking at the wiring harness inside I can believe that) with the addition of a DeArmond pickup over the central sound hole.
It has a massive neck that predates Hofner using truss-rods and a slightly narrower than a regular Fender nut, but its actually very comfortable for me (big hands) and the frets are like a modern jumbo despite being original with a 25.25" scale length. I have no other archtop experience to compare it to but the playability is fantastic. Its had a neck break and a neck reset, I got a bill of work done for it with the guitar. It was fixed by a shop in Denmark Street and cost the equivalent of £400 today when it was done in 1989, so someone must have really loved this thing.
I don't really know much more about it, there doesn't seem to be a huge amount of info online about this old Hofners that I can find at least, so if anyone knows more about these I'd love to know more. I imagine it was a fairly top of the line model with such ornate inlays and elaborate binding, even the nut is bound. Tons of old mother of toilet seat too!
I was most drawn to how it looks, very 50s but also kind of sinister looking, kind of Elvis meets Nick Cave vibe from this, but I'm glad that despite it being a really pot luck kind of thing to buy without any idea that it plays and sounds really great as well.
Its a 1958 Hofner 461 which has been converted to electric at some point in the past (the seller believed during the 60s and looking at the wiring harness inside I can believe that) with the addition of a DeArmond pickup over the central sound hole.
It has a massive neck that predates Hofner using truss-rods and a slightly narrower than a regular Fender nut, but its actually very comfortable for me (big hands) and the frets are like a modern jumbo despite being original with a 25.25" scale length. I have no other archtop experience to compare it to but the playability is fantastic. Its had a neck break and a neck reset, I got a bill of work done for it with the guitar. It was fixed by a shop in Denmark Street and cost the equivalent of £400 today when it was done in 1989, so someone must have really loved this thing.
I don't really know much more about it, there doesn't seem to be a huge amount of info online about this old Hofners that I can find at least, so if anyone knows more about these I'd love to know more. I imagine it was a fairly top of the line model with such ornate inlays and elaborate binding, even the nut is bound. Tons of old mother of toilet seat too!
I was most drawn to how it looks, very 50s but also kind of sinister looking, kind of Elvis meets Nick Cave vibe from this, but I'm glad that despite it being a really pot luck kind of thing to buy without any idea that it plays and sounds really great as well.
