Hofner Club 60

Now...

Amendment to previous review in this section, due to having worked on the guitar.

Suddenly this guitar sounds miles better. I've fitted a proper Hofner bridge and restrung with La Bella flatwound 11s

Action with new bridge (from Project Guitar parts) is now very good.

I'd gig her now, although the narrow neck is still a challenge for pudgy fingers!

I think I'll be doing more myself!

Now...

Made in Germany in 1960 (Serial No:929) 22 very chunky frets. Solid (Sitka?) Spruce arched top, no holes, Volume and Tone pots with standard Hofner layout on tortoiseshell panel, 3 slider switches: Rhythm and solo; Treble and Bass for two Hofner Diamond (501?) p/us (screws) at neck and bridge. Neck: totally unadjustable, glued at heel, with two dark stripes running parallel from heel to headstock,possibly sycamore. Body; sides- Flame Maple, back- arched bookmatched Flame Maple. Purfling and neck binding (Continued around Headstock) Ivory coloured composite material with fine 'coachlining' around edges. Finished with lacquer coating. Bodyshape like Les Paul, very petite, and being hollow, lightweight. Bridge, possibly not original, height adjustable only with completely straight plastic rod - have seen other variants - but completely useless both for tuning and intonation. Hofner trapeze tailpiece with small cast Hofner logo supported on three bronze rods between string fixing bar and a second bar accross the trapeze midway down. Open backed single Hofner Tuners with tendency to be inaccurate, with onyx effect plastic buttons (rounded rectangular) Neck quite thin and extremely narrow - less than 1.75" at zero fret. Headstock black-faced with inlaid 'mother of pearl' sans-serif Hofner name and elaborated S-shaped ivorex scroll bearing two leaves and two flowers in 'mother of pearl' ant two Ivorex dots. Fingerboard dark, possibly rosewood, but looks a little like ebony, inlaid with two ivorex bands and a three-part mother of pearl marking (Shaped like a pointy bow-tie) at frets 1;3;5;7;9;12;15 and 17. Was given the guitar in a very battered two piece hard case lined with gold crushed velvet. Guitar was overhauled and p/us fixed by Jim Cairnes. The guitar looks very sweet, petite and pretty.

The guitar is really not suitable for anything complicated; it might suit jazz chord comping providing you don't whizz up the neck towards the higher frets, it could be improved by adding a more adjustable floating bridge and possibly by stoning the frets down a little. A good mountain climber could use smaller protrusions as a handhold!

I've plugged it into several different amps, from a Selmer Little Giant through to huge Marshall stacks and a Roland DAC. Regardless of amplification it tends to sound chunky, with lots of noise (it could be improved with a little judicious rewiring and earthing) Due to the limited control offered at the output, there isn't a lot of variety available in the sound at the guitarist's fingertips. The guitar does not sustain well, although dependent upon the guage of strings used it can, with a little electronic help, generate both jazzy and bluesy sounds of a 1940s or 50s quality. In some ways it has the equivalent electric sound to a Macaferri, but the neck is really too narrow to play Django type runs on it.

When I got the beast (a present from a friend who had given up on it in frustration) it had an action rather like the Clifton suspension bridge. The pickups had died (The guitar was thirteeen years old when I got it)It needed a lot of work, some of which I did myself, and some of which Jim Cairnes did. I usually like Hofner necks, but this one combines being rather too narrow with frets you could use as a loft-ladder. I think the build quality was as high as Hofner put out on their more 'deluxe' models.

I would not dare play the guitar as it is to anyone who is not deaf. Nonetheless it has a very robust character for such a small and lightweight guitar. It's 46 years old. I'm pretty sure that the hardware is just about the same as it was 46 years ago, and the finish is pretty much what you could hope for for its age. I think the strap buttons have been replaced, but the ones fitted are fine and secure. It doesn't seem, like some guitars, to have good or bad days, being equally annoying every time I pick it up. It looks so pretty, I long for it to perform like a dream....

Contrary to popular belief, Hofner still make good guitars. I don't think they'd want to do anything with this baby other than put it in their museum and look at it. Hofner have a useful website, and despite their being German, there's an English version. Theres a list of serial numbers as well for those doing research.

I've been playing, on and off, for just over 40 years. I ought to be better at it by now. I have about twenty guitars including three other Hofners (2 basses and a Solid 3) A Watkins Rapier 33 with GK2A pickup(!) a Hagstrom Futurama II/Kent and various others. My daily guitar is a Godin ACS. I like to play anything melodic, with a focus lately on chord-melody jazz and Jobim. I don't have a Les Paul, but probably will one day, don't like Fender, Gretsch or Rickenbacker.

This little Club 60 is a blonde babe with all the looks and none of the performance. I'm sure she could be 'improved' but it would spoil her looks.

I bought mine in 1980 give or take a year, in a stall at the Tanelorn Rock Festival At Scone NSW. I paid 10 bucks AUD for it, all I had at the time! Had no Bridge no knobs and missing tuners, Did/Does Have white perloid Scratch Plate and chrome tailpiece.
I bought floating rosewood/schhaller bridge and cheap but really smooth Riviera Machine heads, also put chrome tele knobs, sorta retro lookin'
Original bridges available still, must get one, and a couple of knobs too
I guess it was made 1959-60, still natural, cherry sunburst, Good Condition but crazed, Flame/Tiger Back, Ply or Solid? I do not Know
Couldn't call the electronics a feature, more like an after-thought when they realised they forgot the f-holes in it, hehehe

I don't play it much, Not a good sounding guitar at all, tinny squealing pickups, microphonic someone told me???, but I Don't wanna butcher it to put bastard pickups in, Looks classic on the wall

Love the finish and detail, Beautiful neck inlays best described previously, Nice to play, neck is real straight, and it's light, so it don't break your your collar-bone.
I Hate the flimsy neck joint, the sound and crappy Pickups and tone switches

Yeh the neck issue, A clean break at least,It Is busted at the moment, I will add a third dowell, I think?

It was Hard enough to find out when it was made

A real showpiece, A good player Really light (hollow), shame about the sound, I would get another for ten bucks in a minute, I have seen one on ebay went for about 600-700 AUD, not all original and no scratchy, Could I get another one???

This was my first guitar, it was a 1959 club 60 and I bought it in 1966 from a friend at school in in Port Glasgow, Scotland for #15.
When I bought it it was in excellent condition although the first five frets were starting to show some wear. The woodwork was perfect, not a scratch and the herring bone effect on the back was beautiful.
I enjoyed the guitar in this condition for several years until it had a major accident.
My little sister accidently knocked it over and the neck snapped where it joined the body. I had it repaired at a local joiner shop but it was never quite the same.
As time went on I sprayed it black to look like a Les Paul and replaced it with a Hondo II Les Paul in 1978. At this point I sold it for #5. In hindsight I wish I had kept it and had it properly restored maybe some day I'll try and track it down if it still exists.

Lovely soft tone when played acoustically although not very loud.
When electric a good full sound but not a lot of variation probably due to the fairly basic pickups.

Original setup was good however after the repair I had to shave quite a bit off the bridge to achieve a playable action.
The only real complaint I had were the switches for the pickups that were really fiddly.

Apart from the accident with the neck. Durability was excellent when I disposed of it, it was then 19 years old and the hard ware was all still in excellent condition.

Wish I had tried !

I would love to have it back again and have it fully restored - not much hope!
My other guitars are a 1978 Hondo II Les Paul, an early seventies Eko Ranchero 12 string and my latest baby is a new Chrome Blue Fender American Strat that I hope will bring me as much pleasure as the others have over the years.

Neck is reaslly straight and fingerboard very hard wearing (ebony).
The finish on my guitar had been ruined by the previous owner who had sanded the top down to bare wood(!)The three tone switches are a bit dubious aswell -rusty / stiff etc. - but still work. The original volume control knobs were missing so i put on a pair of knobs off a Pye black box hifi (1960)

I play many different styles of music and this guitar copes well with that.I use no effects - apart from a home made spring reverb and play through a small selmer valve amp. Sounds fine to me. I do get some noise with the tone switches in a particular configuration, but i think it is just old wiring.

I have now had this guitar 25 years+ and i have never needed to adjust the action / truss rod / pick up heights.
Finish was a lovely sunburst.

This guitar has been well used in all sorts of situations and never let me down. the strap button in the bottom is getting a bit loose - not a problem.

Tried some years ago to contact the company to try and date the instrument - no reply.
I've since dated it from internet info and the book by Gordon Giltrap
i.e. serial no. / pick up type /

I've been playing since 1967
I also own an Epiphone FT150 accoustic jumbo (1974) and a Burns nusonic bass (found complete with hardcase in a dustbin)
All these guitars are totally different and seem to add up to a set that suits my needs.
When i bought the Club 60 i was attracted by the price - as a student i fancied an electric guitar and had very little money. i had no idea whether it was a good make or not. i certainly didn't realise it was "top of the Club range#"

This is a 1959 model: a cousin of the Beatle Bass. It has a beautiful cherry-yellow (maple?) top (ply) and a flame bookmatched spruce back.
About the same size as a Les Apaul, but softer cutaway, and balsa light. It is "semi acoustic" with NO sound holes. Has a superb floral inlay headstock (upto the most expensive Gibsons) and a "Bowtie" fingerboard marking: with alternating timber srtips in each fret position.
Has two "black plastic" lozenge covered single coils. And the well know 2 knob 4 switch control panel.
I have put new tuners on it, and it has a non-original"tune-o-matic"bridge.
Big, fat, painted (black) mahogany neck

This guitar sounds much bigger than it looks. Very good for blues, blues slide. and very "acoustic" rich rhythm tone, not really like anything I can call up ...maybe a full-bodied Gibson semi-acoustic?
Great to travel and write with (sounds nice unplugged) and very light. The tone controls are a bit of a mystery...I only use one or two sounds.
Nice with a fender style amp (I use a Classic 50 Peavey)... good with reverb for clean, twangy sounds, as well as bluesy.
A bit of distortion gets you into real blues territory.
It has more output than my other guitars (Gibson, fender) and can need turning back to sweeten up.

Well ....I think that you could pay 10 times more for "name" axe and not get anywhere near the quality of inlay, timber, etc, of this cheapie.
Likea fine old axe, it has a few flaws, but overall, it is mellow, toneful, easy to play, and worth a hell of a lot more if it said "Gibson"

Yes it would be fine live, although the single coils/acoustic nature means that feedback is easily generated.
Also, a bit ligtht and fragile for a full on show...great Club guitar (as it was intended!)

Just want to say that I have some real vintage Gibsons and Fenders ..and I love them... but there is more to life than these guys, and things like the Hofners are better finished than many other known brands, and play as well too!
Yopu can get a more unique tone, and save a bundle. This post is to get you to use your hands and ears to make decisions GO AND LISTEN TO THEM ALL!!!