Hohner Telecaster Serial Numbers

Hey Larry.I'm back. Rockin Gramps here. Been a couple years since I first scored my HG-912 and posted some info and pics on your 'Any Hohner love.' Thread So figured I should drop by the Hohner Owners forum you set up. Nice work by the way! Since my last visit I have acquired 5 other Hohner 6 string acoustics.

1. Hohner Guitar Serial Numbers

Hofner Serial Numbers 1986 to Current. Instruments built in Germany. From 1986 up to 1999 The Hofner instruments received new serial numbers with six digits.

1. Filterzips97’s diary. Hohner Guitar Serial Numbers. Incoming search terms for this page: vintage hohner guitars; Hohner Guitar Serial Numbers.
2. Jan 11, 2012 A couple of years ago, I started a thread about Hohner guitars. Since I have been a long time owner of a Hohner G-940 acoustic, when I started that.

Sold my Gibson LC-2 Sonoma acoustic because I love these old Hohners. My most recent p/u was a second HG 310 Limited Edition via Craigslist (on left) next to my other HG 310 Limited Edition via Goodwill (on right) These are both HG 310 Limited Editions but note there a differences with headstock font, left has no binding around headstock but right one does, truss rod access/adjustment left ones at the headstock and the 'Hank Williams Jr.'

Version on right is inside sound hole. Both are stamped Made In Japan on support braces in addition to being printed on the paper labels inside the sound hole. The bridge wood is slightly red colored on left and more black on right.

All in lay work is identical, pick guards are the red w/reflective sparkle molded in(pic shows them as black which they are not), woods are same except the top on the guitar left has a much tighter and straighter grain (amazing piece of wood) Left HG 310 LE Right Hank Williams Jr. HG 310 LE I wrote Hohner USA w/serial numbers and pics hoping to date these and get answers as to why there was production differences. They replied quickly which was great, but because no records were maintained and no fore thought was made by the company to there being a vintage market one day they have no clue or answers. My belief is the guitar on left is one of the first HG 310 LE's ever produced,(aged look of wood, amount of dust when blowing out inside, lower serial #, etc.,) then after they updated the style and got Hank signed on they ran the other production up until the supposed Martin vs Hohner lawsuit I've read a little about for copying the D-28. Both are incredible playing and sounding guitars.

After cleaning both I added a bone nut and saddle to each guitar which livens them up even more. Sorry to get long winded here, be glad to 'share the Hohner love' of a couple other of my Hohner acquisitions if there's an interest. One's a HG -35M all Maple top, sides, back, gold tuners a real beauty! Keep on rockin' in the free world! A couple of years ago, I started a thread about Hohner guitars. Since I have been a long time owner of a Hohner G-940 acoustic, when I started that thread I was thinking of acoustics, and so I placed that thread in the 'Acoustic Heaven' section. But since the name of the thread was 'Any Hohner love out there in TDPRI land?'

Periodically TDPRI members would post about their Hohner (and Steinberger) electrics. So every now and then I would think about starting a Hohner club thread, and placing it in the Guitar Owners Clubs section. But I wasn't sure the interest was there, and so I never got around to it. Well today something else occurred to me. At times I've caught myself thinking of my Hohner thread like a club thread. But since it's not, posting to it after long periods of dormancy could raise 'zombie' accusations.

So, I'm officially starting a 'Hohner Owners' (say that five times real fast ) club thread. Acoustic and electrics are both welcome. I'll post pics and descriptions of mine a little later on, when time permits.

But I just wanted to get this started. If any other of you Hohner owners beat me to the punch, well, that's just fine with me. Okay, I'm back.

What I found when I searched was descriptions of this model for sales purposes, as in eBay, CL listings, that kind of thing. But in most cases, the listing in question had been taken down long before, probably because the guitar sold. So the links were dead. The only info gleaned from that was the little tease of info underneath the link on the Google search page.

In each case, that little tantalizing blurb indicated that the G599TS model was made in Korea in the late 70s or early 80s. My best discovery-still not much, but something-came from a fairly recent online sale of a G599TS by Goodwill in Spokane.

Because the auction of this guitar ended on May 8th, the pics and blurb were still online. The Goodwill people admit 'We are not guitar experts' and so the info isn't much from a player's perspective. The refer to the 'number inked inside' (I assume by this they mean the serial #) as reading 101501.

They refer to the guitar measuring 41' in total length, and the scale as 25 1/2', and that it has 20 frets. They go on to describe the condition of the guitar, but that information is not pertinent to our purposes of finding out about the model itself. The guitar sold for $42.03.

Perhaps the most helpful thing from this source is the pictures it provides of the guitar. Here they are. It's a bit difficult to see, but the label does confirm that the guitar was made in Korea. Since this is a sunburst, I'm assuming that the 'TS' termination of the model # indicates the sunburst finish. Not much more to tell, from this source, anyway. It would be guesswork at this point to say what the tonewoods are.

I wish that I could have turned up a web page showing catalog pics and descriptions, but no such luck. How about you? Do you have pics of yours that you can post? Oh, I neglected to mention that in addition to searching the Internet, I did consult another source: Fjestad's Blue Book of Acoustic Guitars.

Hohner Guitar Serial Numbers

I have the 11th edition in hard copy (hardbound, Limited Edition #40, Copyright © 2007), and the 12th edition on CD-ROM. I checked both for a listing of the G599TS, but to no avail, it is not included in that resource. But while I'm speaking of Fjestad's Blue Book of Acoustic Guitars, let me just formally put it out there right now: if anyone wants me to look up.well, any make and model of acoustic guitar, really, but for our purposes here, any Hohner acoustic.all you have to do is ask. Oh, and I also have on that same CD-ROM the 12th edition of the Blue Book of Electric Guitars, so you can ask about Hohner (and other) electrics as well. Of course, these Fjestad resources won't have everything listed, so any request will just be the luck of the draw, but, hey, it doesn't hurt to ask, now does it?

I'm just saying that I'll be glad to do it. I just picked up a sweet Hohner HG 310 Rosewood Limited Edition. It's one of the nicest guitars I've EVER played. Definately my new favorite. I've been sniffing around on the net and I've drawn a blank on a couple of things. Firstly, can anyone tell me whether or not these guitars have solid rosewood sides and backs?

I'm no luthier or wood expert so I really can't tell. It's not nearly as hefty as various laminates I've compared it to. Weight is more comparable to a Martin D-18. ( Mahogany vs Rosewood??

) I've also tried comparing the inside grain to the outside grain to determine if it's the same. Looks very close to me, but again.

Just wondering if anyone has the inside track and knows for sure. Secondly, a mystery, and I hope this doesn't sound really stupid, but the guitar has the label and serial number right where it's supposed to be. ( 793-something ) So I look inside and on the neckblock there's another number stenciled there. ( 601 - no memory or pen ) I know without seeing it, it's impossible to say, but based on the fact that there's 2 numbers in 2 spots, one being the neckblock, does anyone think the neck might have been replaced? Or is this second number common? Not that it matters, because if it was replaced there's absolutely no sign of it other than the extra number and it plays like a dream. Here's a pic as well.

A couple of years ago, I started a thread about Hohner guitars. Since I have been a long time owner of a Hohner G-940 acoustic, when I started that thread I was thinking of acoustics, and so I placed that thread in the 'Acoustic Heaven' section. But since the name of the thread was 'Any Hohner love out there in TDPRI land?' Periodically TDPRI members would post about their Hohner (and Steinberger) electrics. So every now and then I would think about starting a Hohner club thread, and placing it in the Guitar Owners Clubs section. But I wasn't sure the interest was there, and so I never got around to it. Well today something else occurred to me.

At times I've caught myself thinking of my Hohner thread like a club thread. But since it's not, posting to it after long periods of dormancy could raise 'zombie' accusations. So, I'm officially starting a 'Hohner Owners' (say that five times real fast ) club thread. Acoustic and electrics are both welcome. I'll post pics and descriptions of mine a little later on, when time permits. But I just wanted to get this started. If any other of you Hohner owners beat me to the punch, well, that's just fine with me.

Okay, I'll post about my Hohners now. Or begin to, at least. I have two and I'll probably comment on them in separate posts.

As I said back 2009, many if not most references to Hohners I had read to that point were either apologetic or outright derogatory in nature. I started 'Any Hohner love out there in TDPRI land?'

As a means of correcting that problem. I wanted people to know that there are some nice Hohners out there. And I don't just mean nice entry level guitars, although that's certainly true as well. I mean nice, really nice, quality guitars on the higher end of the spectrum. My Hohner G-940 case in point. I've had her now for 28+ years, she's just great. She's a part of that 900 Arbor series that David (bridgepinSr.) just mentioned.

All solid woods, aged woods. These guitars were made in Japan from 1979 to 1985, IIRC. Bought mine in 1983 for $600, which is equivalent to $1,300 + today.

I'll put her up against anything Martin or Taylor has in that price range today. The (my) 940 has an 'aged close grain solid spruce' top, solid select mahogany back & sides, solid Honduran mahogany neck and an ebony fretboard. The bridge is rosewood, the body is bound with maple, top and back. The neck and headstock are also bound in maple. Position markers are inlaid maple, as is the name on the headstock.

The nut and saddle are bone. The only plastic on this guitar is the pickguard.

Here are some pics of what I’m talking about. The Hohner is on the right in the picture (in my left hand). The other acoustic is my Breedlove AD25/SM acoustic/electric, and my Logan Custom mahogany Tele is in the middle. An older pic, of me playing the Hohner for my grandson Corbin (he's 10 now). My Hohner in action. That neck still plays like butter, and she has balanced tones and great projection, no doubt due to all the solid woods and the dreadnaught size. I don't take her out of the house much anymore, but she's the centerpiece of my meager collection of 7 guitars (4 acoustics, 3 Logan Custom Teles).

I'll never part with her. My son inherits her when I'm gone. Here's the story on my second Hohner.

Back on September 1st, I pulled the trigger on a later (albeit discontinued) model Hohner, the DR550. All solid woods: solid cedar top, solid rosewood back & sides, 1 piece mahogany neck, ebony fingerboard, ebony bridge. Here's a stock photo from the Hohner website.

I wanted to the get the DR550CE, the cutaway version with the Fishman electronics, but I couldn't find one. The DR5500 is the (strictly) acoustic version.

Here's my review. This guitar is built of all solid woods.

The top is a solid cedar top, the back & sides, solid rosewood. The neck is a 1 piece mahogany, and the fretboard is striped ebony, with a striped ebony bridge. The body and neck are bound in maple, and the top has some nice purfling. The fretboard abalone inlays are understated but attractive, as is the gold hardware. Speaking of which, the Grover 18:1 high ratio tuners are nice; they operate smoothly and efficiently.

I de-tuned to double-drop D, then to an open G, then back up again to standard. Like I said, smooth and efficient.

The workmanship is very, very good. No sloppy glue residue inside or out, sanded well, etc. The matte finish is attractive.

The frets are a little sharp, but not too bad. There is one flaw on the top of the guitar, a very small and shallow ding on the treble side of the soundhole. You have to look hard to find it.

It could very easily have been done in the music store, not the factory. Really no big deal. All in all, this is a really beautiful instrument. And as for sound, this baby is a cannon.

She's plenty loud, and projects very well, good for strumming. At the same time, she has a nice string to string articulation, does a nice job of handling both fingerstyle and flatpicking. Man, just pluck a harmonic, set her down and walk off and get yourself a cup of coffee! This baby rings for days! The action was just a little high for my tastes (I'm spoiled to my G-940), but definitely playable. I've used this guitar for experimenting with slide playing (something I've never done that much of). If I choose not to play it for slide, I'll probably get a tech to do a setup on this guitar to optimize playability.

The street price for these guitars was around $600 when they were in production. As I understand it, they are now discontinued, and the music store from which I purchased this guitar bought up a lot of units of this and other discontinued models. Like I said before, I wanted the DR550CE model, w/ cutaway and Fishman electronics, but they sold out before I was ready. Definitely worth the money.

More pics to follow. Ok, for a sense of context I own four guitars and this is probably the worst of the four. There's the Hohner, a Pacifica 604 (essentially a fat strat), a PRS SE Soapbar and a Schecter Ultra. I don't own a tele (oopsy!) but am working towards getting one.

Advantages-wise - the construction is neck-through which is what it is. The guitar is 100% maple but is pretty light because of the design. The pickups have individual toggle switches wired in parallel (I think) so you can get some interesting variation.

Downsides - strings cost more because they need to be double ball ended. The pickups are not really any better than ok - They sound better through the line 6 software I used than my amps but the amps I own aren't really as high gain as the modelling software can go. The big downside (on mine only, maybe) is that the saddles are held still by string tension and the g saddle migrates towards the nut while playing. Tried to glue it in with nail polish but it has only worked as a temporary fix.

I have some quite varied guitars in terms of pickups, fret size, neck size, radius, string gauge etc. But the Hohner feels harder to play than the others, even over the Schecter strung with 12s. That said, Would I sell it? Would I gig it? I saw Bowie playing on the Brit Awards with Placebo in about 1998 with the Steinberger that this copies, and thought it was one of the coolest things I'd ever seen. Mine has a very, very faint blemish in the finishing (on the back too) so I got it in 2004 for about £230. It was a deal I just couldn't turn down.

Look on youtube for 'Hohner G3T' and you'll find that they have quite a unique honky tone unlike any other guitar I've heard. Cheers for the post Steincaster. I just picked it up for a fiddle and the saddle screws are raised 1-2mm already. What's happened is that they (all of them to a small extent, but the g massively so) move towards the nut and the base of the screw carves into the metal. On the g it's more pronounced for whatever reason so it moves more easily as there's less resistance from the base plate. I tried clear nail polish knowing it can be removed easily but I googled recently and saw epoxy suggested by someone with a similar issue.

Obviously, being able to re-set the saddles at a later date is desirable should I want to change gauges/tuning. Got a pic off the interwebs so you can see what I mean by the baseplate bit.