Golden Hofner No 67
Register your own Golden Hofner or
Hofner
Deluxe HERE
The Golden Hofner is for
collectors the ultimate Hofner. Glamorous and rare, the values of
Goldens
on the vintage guitar market are rapidly increasing. So what is so
special about these Hofners?
The Golden Hofner was in the Selmer catalogues between 1959 and 1962, although
shipping doesn't seem to have commenced until 1960 and continued for a year or
two after 1962. Less than one hundred were produced, of which approximately seventy
were a mixture of
acoustic and electric standard body guitars, and up to twenty five or
so were electric
Thinline bodies.
Only a blonde finish was available of course, and all metalwork was gold plated. The guitars were a cocktail of exotic timbers, mother of pearl inlays, pearloid and veneer binding and purfling. The body size is the largest of any Hofner, with the lower bout measuring 18" across. Flame maple was used for the back and sides of the body, with the top usually (but not always!) being carved from solid spruce. The finger board was made from Grenadilla ebony, and this was seated upon an eleven piece (yes, 11 piece!) laminated neck. Although at first glance, the Golden looks similar to the Committee, the Committees at that time only had a 17.5" wide body, and the back and sides are almost always birdseye maple. Of course, the Committee doesn't boast gold plating, the eleven piece neck, and the massive amount of purfling of the Golden either! Generally white pearloid binding/purfling was used on the Golden, but occasional examples (such as Acoustic No 16) were fitted with a beautiful dark grey/brown pearloid and black binding/purfling.
All electric Goldens had two pickups, the type of which was dependent on when each particular guitar was assembled. The earliest Goldens had the Type 1 "Black Bar" single coil pickup", and the last ones made had the twin coil "Super" Type 511 units. Examples fitted with Type 2 "Toaster" pickups also exist. The Hofner rectangular control consul was fitted in all cases.
Production of the Golden was
commenced in late 1959, but despite this early date, all Goldens have
truss rods fitted. The pickups fitted to the two electric guitar
versions span four eras: the black bar pickups, the "toaster" type, the
Diamond-Logo Type 510s, and finally the "Super" Type
511 twin-coil units. The "Escutcheon" type tailpiece is ornately
engraved and gold plated of course. (At the time of Golden Hofner
production, the Committee was fitted with the "Lyre"
tailpiece, though in about 1963/64, this was changed to a chrome
"Escutcheon" type.) The machine heads of the Golden were a top quality
enclosed type throughout the whole production period. Finely detailed
buttons were fitted, but these are fragile and there is a tendency for
the extremities of the button to break off.
(Note: It would appear that two separate Serial Number Series were adopted for the Golden Hofner - one for standard body acoustic and electrics and one for Thinline body electrics. This is in keeping with the policy adopted for other Hofner models such as the President and Senator. It has not yet been ascertained whether the Thinline number series commenced at 1 or 10.........or somewhere in between!)
A: STANDARD BODY
- Golden Hofner Electric - Serial No. 3
- Golden Hofner Acoustic - Serial No. 5
- Golden Hofner Acoustic - Serial No. 6
- Golden Hofner Electric - Serial No. 7
- Golden Hofner Electric - Serial No. 12
- Golden Hofner Electric - Serial No. 14
- Golden Hofner Acoustic - Serial No. 16
- Golden Hofner Acoustic - Serial No. 25
- Golden Hofner Acoustic - Serial No. 26
- Golden Hofner Electric - Serial No. 42
- Golden Hofner Electric - Serial No. 43
- Golden Hofner Electric - Serial No. 46
- Golden Hofner Acoustic - Serial No. 52
- Golden Hofner Acoustic - Serial No. 53
- Golden Hofner Electric - Serial No. 60
- Golden Hofner Electric - Serial No. 61
- Golden Hofner Electric - Serial No. 67
B: THINLINE BODY
- Golden Hofner Thinline Electric - Serial No. 10
- Golden Hofner Thinline Electric - Serial No. 16
- Golden Hofner Thinline Electric - Serial No. 17
- Golden Hofner Thinline Electric - Serial No. 18
- Golden Hofner Thinline Electric - Serial No. 20
- Golden Hofner Thinline Electric - Serial No. 21
- Golden Hofner Thinline Electric - Serial No. 22
Golden Hofners Nos 6 & 7. The last time they met must have been back in 1960 at the Hofner Bubenreuth workshops!
For more detailed information on Golden Hofner constructional details related to Serial Numbers, click HERE
1958 Selmer Catalogue Scan, supplied by Peter Kane.
My guess is that Hofner
started off the serial numbers for the Deluxe at 100.
The highest number that I have found so far is 124. If my guess is
correct, that
would make the Deluxe a very rare and desirable guitar !
Hofner Deluxe No 117
There
is a mystery guitar that is associated with the British Rock-n-Roll
star of the 1950's, Tommy Steele. Tommy was often pictured with what at
first glance appears to be a Hofner Committee, but with an Escutcheon
type tailpiece, and....a single black bar pickup in the
bridge position which is almost certainly factory fitted. I can only
assume that this guitar is a
Deluxe with E1 type electrics. If anyone has further information about
the guitar, I should be grateful if they would make contact with me..
For more detailed information on
Hofner Deluxe constructional details related to Serial
Numbers, click HERE.
Hofner supplied the
Golden only to Selmer, and hence these guitars were made available only
on the UK market and, I suppose, the old British Commonwealth
countries, which were also within the Selmer sales area. For the rest
of the world, Hofner produced the Model 470 as their top-of-the-range
guitar. The 470 is basically a Golden, but with a Committee sized body,
a post 1963 headstock shape with a President style mother of pearl
inlay design, and Club 60 design fret markers. All rather a
hotch-potch! However, the eleven piece neck is there, together with the
gold plating and the Golden style body purfling.
This model had a very much longer production run than the Golden, being
available from the late 1950's (i.e the time when the Golden was
conceived) through to the
1980's. Hence the Hofner 470 is considerably more available on the
present day vintage guitar market. Not quite
in the same class as the Golden or Deluxe though!!
- 1958 Hofner Model 470/S/E2
- c1959/60 Hofner Model 470/S/E2
- Late 1960/Early 70's Hofner Model 470/S/E2
- c1980 Hofner Model 4700/S/E3 (Thinline version of the 470)
