Höfner
Encyclopedia
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Musical instrument
A musical instrument is a device created or adapted for the purpose of making musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. The history of musical instruments dates back to the...
s, with one division that manufactures guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
s and basses
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, and another that manufactures other string instrument
String instrument
A string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones...
s.
Much of Höfner's popularity is attributed to Sir Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
's use of the Höfner 500/1 bass throughout his career. This violin-shaped model is commonly referred to as the "Beatle bass."
Company history
The Höfner company was founded by luthierLuthier
A luthier is someone who makes or repairs lutes and other string instruments. In the United States, the term is used interchangeably with a term for the specialty of each maker, such as violinmaker, guitar maker, lute maker, etc...
Karl Höfner in the city of Schönbach
Luby (Cheb District)
Luby is a town in the Czech Republic....
in 1887, at a time when the city, later to become Czech, was German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. He soon became the largest manufacturer of string instrument
String instrument
A string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones...
s in the country. His sons Josef and Walter joined the company around 1920, and began spreading the brand's reputation worldwide. The company suffered some upheavals during and after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, but survived and continued to thrive. The company built new factories in Bubenreuth
Bubenreuth
Bubenreuth is a municipality in the district of Erlangen-Höchstadt, in Bavaria, Germany....
, Western Germany in 1950.
Changes of ownership
In the 1950s and 1960s, Höfner instruments were distributed by SelmerThe Selmer Company
Henri Selmer Paris company is a French family-owned enterprise, manufacturer of musical instruments based in Paris, France in 1885. It is known for its high-quality woodwind and brass instruments, especially saxophones, clarinets and trumpets...
of London. They were considerably more
accessible to budding musicians than American-made guitars, which were expensive if obtainable at all, giving Höfners a place in history as the "starter" instruments of several well known 1960s musicians.
In 1994, Höfner became part of the Boosey & Hawkes Group
Boosey & Hawkes
Boosey & Hawkes is a British music publisher purported to be the largest specialist classical music publisher in the world. Until 2003, it was also a major manufacturer of brass, string and wind musical instruments....
, and was able to expand and upgrade its facilities with the influx of cash. In 1997, the company moved from Bubenreuth to Hagenau
Baiersdorf
Baiersdorf is a town in the district of Erlangen-Höchstadt, in northern Bavaria, Germany.-Location:The major part of Baiersdorf is idyllically situated on a terrace which preserves the town from being flooded by the close Regnitz river...
.
After a near-bankruptcy in 2003 Boosey & Hawkes sold its musical instrument division (including the Höfner and Buffet Crampon
Buffet Crampon
Buffet Crampon et Compagnie is a French manufacturer of woodwind musical instruments, including oboes, flutes, saxophones, and bassoons; however, the company is perhaps most famous for their clarinets, as Buffet is the brand of choice for many professionals....
companies) to The Music Group
The Music Group
The Music Group was a European parent company which owned several musical instrument manufacturers which were formerly part of the music division of the Boosey & Hawkes Group.* Besson * Buffet Crampon...
, a company formed by rescue buyout specialists Rutland Fund Management, for £33.2 million.
Höfner remained a part of this conglomerate until January 2005, when The Music Group sold the company to Klaus Schöller, who has been the General Manager of Höfner for many years.
In 2005, Höfner's USA distribution was picked up by Chicago firm Classic Musical Instruments (CMI).
Selected models
The names of these guitars were devised by the Selmer company for the UK market. Elsewhere, they wereknow by model numbers.
- The Ambassador. A thinline semi-acoustic with two florentine cutaways.
- The Chancellor. A high-end archtop guitarArchtop guitarAn archtop guitar is a steel-stringed acoustic or semi-acoustic guitar with a full body and a distinctive arched top, whose sound is particularly popular with blues and jazz players.Typically, an archtop guitar has:* 6 strings...
available in limited numbers. - Club 40, 50 and 60. Hollow bodied electric guitars without soundholes. Still manufactured, the current Clubs have Gibson Les PaulGibson Les PaulThe Gibson Les Paul was the result of a design collaboration between Gibson Guitar Corporation and the late jazz guitarist and electronics inventor Les Paul. In 1950, with the introduction of the Fender Telecaster to the musical market, electric guitars became a public craze. In reaction, Gibson...
style bodyshape. - The original Coloramas were inexpensive semi-solid body electric guitars with plywoodPlywoodPlywood is a type of manufactured timber made from thin sheets of wood veneer. It is one of the most widely used wood products. It is flexible, inexpensive, workable, re-usable, and can usually be locally manufactured...
construction. The current Chinese made ones are sold bodies with retro styling. - The Committee was the top-of-the-range archtop.
- The Congress, a non-cutaway archtop guitarArchtop guitarAn archtop guitar is a steel-stringed acoustic or semi-acoustic guitar with a full body and a distinctive arched top, whose sound is particularly popular with blues and jazz players.Typically, an archtop guitar has:* 6 strings...
. Early models had a 12th fret neck join. - J17. The current range of archtops.
- The President: a family of mid-range archtops, with a single cutaway. A version, the "New president" is still manufactured.
- The Senator: a family of archtops, with many variations.
- The Shorty. A relatively recent (1982) travel guitarTravel guitarTravel guitars are small guitars with a full or nearly full scale length, as opposed to normally proportioned half and three quarter scale length guitars intended for children.Examples include* Höfner Shorty* C. F. Martin Backpacker...
Now made in China. - The Verithin. A Gibson ES-335Gibson ES-335The Gibson ES-335 is the world's first commercial thinline arched-top semi-acoustic electric guitar. Released by the Gibson Guitar Corporation as part of its ES series in 1958, it is neither hollow nor solid; instead, a solid wood block runs through the center of its body...
style semi-acoustic guitarSemi-acoustic guitarA semi-acoustic guitar or hollow-body electric is a type of electric guitar with both a sound box and one or more electric pickups. This is not the same as an electric acoustic guitar, which is an acoustic guitar with the addition of pickups or other means of amplification, either added by the...
. with a body only 30mm deep. Chinese-made (CT-series) models are still available, renamed "verithin" for legal reasons. - Violin guitar. Introduced subsequently to the violin bass.
- The V2, V3 and V4 solid body electric guitars with a telecaster like body shape.
Paul McCartney
The company was made famous through its association with The BeatlesThe Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
and Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
, principally through their Höfner 500/1
Höfner 500/1
The Höfner 500/1 violin bass is a hollow-bodied bass guitar manufactured by Höfner under several varieties...
model hollow-body electric bass, first manufactured in 1956.
McCartney played two left-handed 500/1 basses during most of the group's career – a 1961 model with pickups mounted close together towards the neck, and a 1963 model, with the second pickup mounted closer to the bridge. McCartney used the 1961 bass until the recording of With the Beatles
With the Beatles
With The Beatles is the second studio album by the English rock group The Beatles. It was released on 22 November 1963 on Parlophone, and was recorded four months after the band's debut Please Please Me...
in late 1963, when he obtained his second 500/1. McCartney used his 1963 bass almost exclusively during The Beatles' touring career, using his 1961 bass (which was repaired and refinished in 1964) as a backup. Although by 1966 McCartney had begun using a Rickenbacker
Rickenbacker
Rickenbacker International Corporation, also known as Rickenbacker, is an electric and bass guitar manufacturer based in Santa Ana, California...
bass in-studio, he did break out his 1961 model for the "Revolution
Revolution (song)
"Revolution" is a song by The Beatles written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. The Beatles released two distinct arrangements of the song in 1968: a hard rock version as the B-side of the single "Hey Jude", and a slower version titled "Revolution 1" on the eponymous album The Beatles...
" promo film
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
in 1968 and for the documentary
Documentary
A documentary is a creative work of non-fiction, including:* Documentary film, including television* Radio documentary* Documentary photographyRelated terms include:...
Let It Be
Let It Be (film)
Let It Be is a 1970 documentary film about The Beatles rehearsing and recording songs for the album Let It Be in January 1969. The film features an unannounced rooftop concert by the group, their last performance in public...
the following year. During the shooting, however, the 1961 bass was stolen, and McCartney used his newer Höfner for the remainder of the film, including the famous rooftop performance. McCartney has continued to use his 1963 Höfner extensively throughout his solo career and continues to use it today.
Beatles guitarists George Harrison
George Harrison
George Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...
and John Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
also used Höfner electric guitars (Club 40 and President models) during the formative years of the group's career, and the band's former bassist Stuart Sutcliffe
Stuart Sutcliffe
Stuart Fergusson Victor Sutcliffe was a Scottish artist and musician, best known as the original bass player of The Beatles. Sutcliffe left the band to pursue a career as an artist, having previously attended the Liverpool College of Art...
also played a Höfner 333 Bass.
Other Violin Bass users
- Talking HeadsTalking HeadsTalking Heads were an American New Wave and avant-garde band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991. The band comprised David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth and Jerry Harrison...
bassist Tina WeymouthTina WeymouthMartina Michèle "Tina" Weymouth is an American musician, best known as a founding member and bassist of the New Wave group Talking Heads and its side project Tom Tom Club .-Profile:Weymouth is of French heritage on her mother's side. Weymouth was a cheerleader in high school...
has used a 500/2 bass, similar to the "Beatle Bass" apart from the far more conventionally guitar-shaped body. - Chris WoodChris Wood (jazz musician)Christopher Barry Wood is an American bass player, best known for playing with the avant-garde jazz-funk trio Medeski Martin & Wood .-Biography:...
, the bassist from Medeski Martin & WoodMedeski Martin & WoodMedeski Martin & Wood is an American jazz trio formed in 1991, consisting of John Medeski on keyboards and piano, Billy Martin on drums and percussion, and Chris Wood on double bass and bass guitar....
, plays a 500/1 as one of his four main basses. - Jim CreegganJim CreegganJames Raymond Creeggan, better known as Jim Creeggan , is the bassist for Canadian band Barenaked Ladies...
of Barenaked LadiesBarenaked LadiesBarenaked Ladies is a Canadian alternative rock band. The band is currently composed of Jim Creeggan, Kevin Hearn, Ed Robertson, and Tyler Stewart. Barenaked Ladies formed in 1988 in Scarborough, Ontario, then a suburban municipality outside the City of Toronto...
also played a 500/2 bass. - Robbie Shakespeare of reggae greats Sly and RobbieSly and RobbieSly and Robbie is the prolific Jamaican rhythm section and production team of drummer Sly Dunbar and bassist Robbie Shakespeare who joined in the mid 1970s after having established themselves separately in Jamaica as professional musicians...
used a 500/1 "Beatle bass." - Ken StringfellowKen StringfellowKenneth Stuart Stringfellow is an American musician, best known for his work with The Posies, R.E.M., and the re-formed Big Star.-Musical career:...
played a Höfner bass during hs first tour with Big StarBig StarBig Star was an American rock band formed in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1971 by Alex Chilton, Chris Bell, Jody Stephens and Andy Hummel. The group broke up in 1974, but reorganized with a new line-up nearly 20 years later...
. - Richard Brown of 1960s groups "The Triremes" and "The Beat Pedlars" played a 500/1. These bands often appeared in support of major acts of the day, including "The Naturals," "Manfred Mann," "Unit 4 +2" and "The Zombies." He says, "It had a great sound, but was neck heavy and would slip round with the satin covered straps available at that time."
Other users
- Bert WeedonBert WeedonHerbert Maurice William 'Bert' Weedon OBE is an English guitarist and composer whose style of guitar playing was popular and influential during the 1950s and 1960s. He was born in Burges Road, East Ham, Essex, now Greater London....
, now best known for hist tutorial works, had a variety of Höfners. - Hank MarvinHank MarvinHank Brian Marvin is an English guitarist, best known as the lead guitarist for The Shadows. The group, which primarily performed instrumentals, was formed as a backing band for vocalist Cliff Richard...
's first guitar was a Congress. - Eric ClaptonEric ClaptonEric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
learnt to play on a Höfner acoustic. - The young Richie Blackmore played a club 50.
- A Senator was Peter GreenPeter Green (musician)Peter Green is a British blues-rock guitarist and the founder of the band Fleetwood Mac...
's first real guitar. - Keith RichardsKeith RichardsKeith Richards is an English musician, songwriter, and founding member of the Rolling Stones. Rolling Stone magazine said Richards had created "rock's greatest single body of riffs", and placed him as the "10th greatest guitarist of all time." Fourteen songs written by Richards and songwriting...
of The Rolling StonesThe Rolling StonesThe Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
traded in a stack of records in order to purchase his first guitar, which was a hollow-body Höfner cut away. - Folk BaroqueFolk baroqueFolk baroque or baroque guitar is the name given to a distinctive and influential guitar fingerstyle developed in Britain in the 1960s, which combined elements of American folk, blues, jazz and ragtime with British traditional music to produce a new and elaborate form of accompaniment...
pioneer Davy Graham played a Congress. - Mark KnopflerMark KnopflerMark Freuder Knopfler, OBE is a Scottish-born British guitarist, singer, songwriter, record producer and film score composer. He is best known as the lead guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter for the British rock band Dire Straits, which he co-founded in 1977...
's first guitar was a V2 solid. - The Stone RosesThe Stone RosesThe Stone Roses are an English alternative rock band formed in Manchester in 1983. They were one of the pioneering groups of the Madchester movement that was active during the late 1980s and early 1990s...
' John SquireJohn SquireJohn Thomas Squire is an English musician, songwriter and artist.Squire is best known as the guitarist for The Stone Roses, a rock band in which he formed a songwriting partnership with lead singer Ian Brown. After leaving The Stone Roses he went on to found The Seahorses and has since released...
used a Höfner semi-acoustic guitar (featuring a self-applied Jackson PollockJackson PollockPaul Jackson Pollock , known as Jackson Pollock, was an influential American painter and a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement. During his lifetime, Pollock enjoyed considerable fame and notoriety. He was regarded as a mostly reclusive artist. He had a volatile personality, and...
-style paintjob). - The AuteursThe AuteursThe Auteurs were a British alternative rock band of the 1990s, and a vehicle for the songwriting talents of Luke Haines .-Career:...
' Luke HainesLuke HainesLuke Haines is an English musician, songwriter and author, who has recorded music under various names and with various bands, including The Auteurs, Baader Meinhof and Black Box Recorder.-'New Wave':...
uses a Committee. - Jamie Hince of The KillsThe KillsThe Kills is a rock band formed by American singer Alison Mosshart and British guitarist Jamie Hince . Their first three albums, Keep On Your Mean Side, No Wow, and Midnight Boom, have garnered much critical praise...