By 1955, the 110 Model with its reduced-size fretboard had disappeared, leaving the 111 and 115 Models to have a very long production run, by Hofner standards! These two models remained in the price lists until finally being removed in 1992. Changes were made during the course of time, but these really amounted to little more than changes to pickup types, in line with Hofner's general pickup development.
The Hofner 111 Model, but called by Selmer the "Hawaiian Electric" model, appeared around about 1955/56 in the UK Selmer catalogue for the first time, although the Selmer Company were already offering two other lap steel models labelled as the Selmer "Novelectric" and "Proelectric" at that time. Click HERE to see a scan from the 1958 Selmer Catalogue showing the three "Hawaiian Electric Guitars" on offer at that time. (A nice example of a Selmer Novelectric can be see by clicking HERE.)
As can be seen from the
picture, the Hofner Hawaiian was
finished in brown sunburst and was fitted (initially) with a single Fuma pickup. The two
Selmer labelled lap steels in the 1958 catalogue were each fitted with a
"Selmer 6-in-1 pickup unit, Patent No 2660/45". Although Hofner did
make guitars such as the Triumph, Astra, and Diplomat models in the late 1960's for sale under the Selmer label, my guess
is that this was not the case with the Novelectric and Proelectric, as
they also would have been fitted with Fuma pickups. In any case, the Proelectric
is such a similar instrument to the Hofner Hawaiian model, and it would have
been illogical for Hofner to have made both guitars.
The 115 Model finally made it into the UK Selmer catalogue by 1963 - called the Hofner "Hawaiian Artist" by Selmer.
It was initially fitted with the same
Fuma "Star" pickup as the Model 111, but this was changed to a
standard Hofner Type 510 unit by late 1963. This guitar was more expensive than
the Model 111, (Selmer's "Hawaiian Standard"). The price for a Standard in 1963/64 was 21gns, whereas 28gns was
charged for the Artist.
A change from the Fuma pickup to the Type 510 on the Hawaiian Standard seems to have occurred at the same time as the Novolectric and Proelectric were dropped by Selmer. Click HERE to see a scan of the 1963/64 Selmer Catalogue, which by this time only showed the two Hofner Hawaiian guitars.
As stated above, manufacture of the Standard/Model 111 and Artist/Model 115 seems to have continued at least until 1991/92, although the supply of these instruments to Selmer would have dried up, together with the rest of the Hofner models, in the early 1970's. The Hofner Hawaiians were still there in the Selmer 1972 catalogue, but perhaps that was old stock in the UK being sold off. The only changes made to the two models was to up-rate the pickups. broadly in line with the rest of the Hofner range. Hence, examples of both guitars can be found with the "Super" and Twin Exposed Pole versions of the Type 511, as well as the Type 510, Type 513, and the early Fuma units previously mentioned.
Click HERE to see the Hofner Electric Hawaiian Guitars in the September 1965 Selmer Catalogue.
Examples of various versions of the two models can be found below:
- Mid 1960's HOFNER HAWAIIAN STANDARD fitted with Type 511 "Staple" Pickup
- 1963 HOFNER HAWAIIAN ARTIST fitted with Type 511 "Super" Pickup
- Mid 1960's HOFNER HAWAIIAN ARTIST fitted with Type 511 "Staple" Pickup
- Late 1960's HOFNER HAWAIIAN ARTIST fitted with Type 513 "Bar" Pickup
A rather unusual version of the Hawaiian 111 Model has been
discovered that does not seem to be in any of the catalogues. It has the same
body shape as the 111, but the top edge of the body is
bound. Any information on
this would be much appreciated.
- HOFNER HAWAIIAN GUITAR fitted with Type 510 "Diamond Logo" Pickup.
- HOFNER HAWAIIAN GUITAR similar to the one above, but fitted with a Fuma Pickup