Hofner initiated many changes to their full range of guitars distributed by Selmer in the UK. One major design alteration was to replace the solid tops on high-end models with laminated tops (usually of three or five ply construction but sometimes only two ply). This change occurred around late-1959 but did not appear to conform to any specific format. The catalogues continued to describe the Committee and President acoustic models as having hand carved pine tops.
Up to around 1959, it is possible to find Committee and President electric models having the carved pine tops, and conversely there will be some of the corresponding acoustics having laminated tops. After this time, I think it highly unlikely that many solid pine tops will be found, with of course the exception of Golden Hofners.
Neck construction went through several modifications over the years, as did headstocks, but in the main, many of the alterations were of a minor nature.
The pick-ups were upgraded several times, and there does seem to have been a serious attempt at improving performance. The single coil types used initially were slowly upgraded and modified, to be replaced with double coil and finally with humbuckers.
Note: Abbreviations contained in this part are as follows:
W - white
B - black
R - red
Br - brown MOP Mother-of-Pearl
© Ramsay McKinnon 2006.