Hey GMC!!

I found my dad's old Hofner guitar, it's a beaty, but unfortunately, all the electronics are dead....

I've got some experience swapping pickups, so I know how to do that, but I don't know what to connect to what on this particular guitar! I've made some pictures for you guys!

Click it for a bigger image, isn't she a beauty?

This is the wire from the bridge pickup. Seems one-conductor It's just a fine wire haha. The other wire, unfortunately, has been cut of, so it's only about 10 cm long, I need to make it a bit longer... Can I just solder it so a new piece of wire? Maybe I should just buy a new neck pickup haha








These are all three pictures of the pots. I'm not sure whetehr they're both volume pots, or one tone one volume.... There's no pickup switch, so 2 volume knobs would make sense..

Can anyone tell me what I should solder to what? It's a real fun project and if I get it to work, I'll promise to make some samples

Thanks guys,

sean

Hi Sean, I can't unfortunately help you with this as I'm really bad at electronics
Actually I'm absolute beginner and working on improving the skills.
But, guitar looks awesome!
I think it would be interesting to get completely new electronics for it (both pickups and preamp section/tone/volume pots etc).
Maybe it would be easier to integrate.

I like the look of it and it will for sure be a rewarding project.
Hope someone with more electronics experience will hop in and answer your questions

This post has been edited by Bogdan Radovic: May 15 2011, 11:34 PM

I bet when your done it will sound as good as it looks.

I can answer only one question, from looking at it most of the wires are a single strand with say 2 wires total. It has one as a wire then how it has the red plastic more than likely thats another wire from there since there is a white coating over that. Going back to a full restore would be nice. I don't have any experience in electronic wiring I just know from watching my dad fix a seat of my headphones because the dog chewed the wire and it had that kind of wire in it.

Wiring Schematics: http://www.vintagehofner.co.uk/wire/livewire1.html (I have no clue how to read them tho.)
Hofner Board: http://www.hofner.co.uk/index.php

I think doing like Bogdan mentioned it would be way easier upgrading to a more modern setup but maybe you could keep that vintage look.

- Travis S.

Hey, now that's a cool looking oldschool guitar!

There are two types of restoration you can do on this particular guitar:

1. Complete restoration: This involves restoring the guitar into it's original state, restoring frets, wood, pickups, possibly new paint, and restoring electronics. In other words - restorting it as close as it were to original new factory state. Considering age, value and current condition of the guitar, that would require big budget and quite a few working hours.

2. Nostalgic restoration: This type of restoration is what you could do. It requires doing that much work as it would be necessary for guitar to work and not to "fall apart". It conserves the vintage look.


Since there is no pickup selector/switch, I can only guess that those two pots are volume pots. However, with one pickup visible (I guess there is only one?), I suspect on Les Paul Junior type Wiring. Check it out:



This particular setup involves a soapbar pup with volume and tone controls.


This is just a guess tho. It would be great if you could provide some additional information, like what are the pots for, or if you have the neck pickup as well.

This post has been edited by Ivan Milenkovic: May 16 2011, 06:58 PM

Sorry for not being clear, there are two pickups! Bridge and Neck! I found out online that it's two-conductor wire, with one conductor in the core and one in the shielding.

Sean