Hofner Congress

Manufactured in germany 22 frets joined at the 14th. Laminated maple archtop body with slight flaming. Acoustic so no pickups although you can get addon pickups that attatch to the end of the fingerboard without affecting the acoustic properties of the guitar although these are rare enough to find (I am currently looking for one on ebay). I think the neck is maple and the fingerboard rosewood. The machine heads are original open style made of brass with the usual slight bend in a couple of them but they shined up nicely. It has a patented "compensator" tail piece with a height adjustable hardwood bridge without intonation adjustment. The neck is quite narrow with a fairly tight 7.25" radius but nicely playable as long as you don't have massive fingers.

This is a Jazz guitar and the sound is bright and kinda trebly but you can get a good bit of volume out of it if you give the strings a good ol lash. I have mine open tuned in D for slide and it has a nice grass roots delta vibe about it.

When I got my hands on her there was a crack in the heel of the neck and the action was pretty high but it has now been reset and is completely fine. The finish is nitrocellulose laquer and it shows some checking due to many years of changing temperatures expanding and contracting the wood. Hell the poor ol gal is 45 after all, she's bound to have a few wrinkles.

As far as gigging? I haven't gigged her and I'd say maybe a nice Jazz club with a polite quiet audience would suit this instrument. Having spent a considerable amout of time setting it up I would say it is once again a fairly reliable instrument. Having said that I wouldnt bring her to a rough sweaty venue.

Made in 1960 most support is from other Hofner owners there are a few good resources on the net from avid collectors of these instruments.

I have been playing about 20 years and have a 2000 martin dreadnought an 1993 epiphone les paul studio and an 1963 eko archtop acoustic cutaway that is awaiting a refret before she is playable. This guitar is no match for the martin in terms of resonance or playability that's for sure.

In terms of looks and history it is a very nice thing to own. In the early days of British rock and roll these were the number one guitar brand favoured by everyone from Steve Winwood to the Beatles(American guitars were very hard to come by in those days).

I just wish that it could talk and tell the story of where it has been.

I bought this guitar new from Bradley's Music 26 Lord Street, Liverpool on the 17.12. 1964.
It is a Hofner,I think East German Made, small archtop acoustic.
It is only 15 inches across the lower half and a full 3 inch in depth.
This makes it quite Chunky.It has 22,frets with the 14th meeting the body.It was the bottom base line instrument, for starters produced by Hofner. My guitar Has a truss rod in the neck but the key to adjust it is odd in that it is more of a wrench than a hex, key.It has a zero fret which I like, ebony or dark wood fretboard. The nut is excellent and copes with a wide range of string gauges. I have De-Add's, 12s tapewound, on at the moment. The machine heads are two, three in a row type, of which I have replaced several times.
They are not up to the job. Floating bridge held in place with strings, non adjustable for intonation, only for height. A compensator tailpiece which was chromed but is now wearing off.
Tortoise shell pic guard still as new. Hofner Logo on the Tuner Head over black plastic. Marker dots are a bit confusing there are two on each of the 5th, 7th, and 8th frets and one on the 12th. No other dots on the neck. Sunburst finish still as good as it was when I bought it. Some slight marks and dents show its vintage.
One thing I added was a single Pickup, Hofner made, and body controls. I did not attach the pickup to the neck but stuck it on the body to get the full vibration of the front of the guitar.
Body of guitar is ply front back and sides. Neck I haven't a clue.
Strap button only at the bottom of the instrument and it is left to you where you attach the other end of the strap. I have it attached to the heel of the neck with a washer and screw.

I got this guitar to take with me when I went to sea in the Merchant Navy. It travelled quite a bit with me, and I would never part with it for any reason.The sound of this guitar has to be heard. It is quit loud and has a beautiful tone and is great for jazz or band style playing. It produces a rich full sound acoustically or electrified. It is not a modern style instrument but I have other guitars for that. I own two De-Armonds, a starfire and a starfire special, a Fender Strat, mexican made,and a 1960's Colombus LP copy, (out of this world sounding instrument). I play all styles for my own pleasure and apart for a time mid 60 to 70's, have no desire to play live again.Feedback would be a big problem in any other place than the room. I find the 14th fret a problem for some jazz work.

Action was perfect when I bought it and it is no problem to keep it that way, just right for an Acoustic. Neck and frets were spot on.

Mechanically this instrument would stand up to live playing but would have feedback problems as it is. The hardware apart from the tuners is up to the job. Would not use it as a main instrument due to it's limitations on registery i.e. high chord playing.

Never Had to so I don't know. The instrument is not produced any more so I can look after it myself if needs be.I used to make guitars in my early days.I also make amplifiers now and again for myself. I can get tones, that no other amp can, out of instruments.

Been playing over the last 48 years but only about 6 years in public.
My other gear is as previously discribed but I use a Selmer Basemaster 50 ,a Marshal 30dfx, and my own hand made amp 30watter.
I would be sad if this instrument was stolen as it has memories for me but I have other instruments to console me if it happened.

Archtop acoustic made in West Germany in 1956/7. It has 22 frets with the neck joining the body at the 14th. It has a laminated maple top and sides, with a maple veneer back. It looks like it once had a pickup attached but it wasn't made with any. It has simple white binding around the top, but none on the neck, the back or the f-shaped soundholes. Originally it came with a tortoise-shell pickguard, but this was removed and replaced wih a home-made clear one when I bought it. I took it off because it looked ugly so now it has no pickguard at all. The neck has been repared at sme point and is made out of two pieces of maple with no truss rod. The fingerboard is supposedly rosewod, but doesn't look it. There are two dot markers at the 5th, 7th and 9th and one at the 12th, but they don't look like anything special. The front of the headstock is covered in a black plastic finish with three "pearl" inlay dots on it, and the original hofner decal is still on the body. The body itself if finished in tobacco sunburst, and still has the label stuck in the body, with the name and number of the guitar hand written on it. The tuners have become really worn out, and two had been replaced when I got it.

I like to play delta blues, and it fits well with this style. The tone of the guitar is very cler and bright, but not very rich or resonant on the higher strings. If played close to the bridge it can sound remarkably like a banjo. It is quite a quiet guitar, especially with light strings on it,. but still can be noisy when strummed.

Due to its previous owner not understanding the idea of intonation, the floating bridge was in completely the wrong place, but I was able to easily remedy this. The bridge itself looks really old and has worn down alot so the action is a bit lower than I'd have prefereed but this will vary from model to model.

Never tried gigging it, but I will sometime. It could certainly stand up for itself. I will probably have to replace the tuners soon, as they are almost falling off. The strap button doesn't fit any strap I've ever seen so I just use some string.

I think Hofner just make violins now.

I haven't ben playing for a long time, and as such I don't have many other guitars to play, but this guitar is everything I need to play the blues. If it were stolen I'd try to get something equally unusual, but no more expensive. It can stand up for itself perfectly well. It doesn't sound perfect, but that just means you have to play it well.