Super Rare and Near Mint 1962 Hofner 461S Archtop with
Two 'Seal-Shaped' 'F' Holes and an Oval Sound Hole - But with a 'Story'

A very interesting guitar… This near mint 16 1/4-inch-wide and 3 inch deep guitar weighs just 4.60 lbs. Two-piece maple back and sides. Two-piece carved spruce top with two single-bound 'seal-shaped' 'f' holes and also a 2 1/2 x 1 1/2 inch single-bound oval sound-hole. The top and the back have eleven-ply, white over black binding. Three-piece maple neck with a beech center-strip. a wonderful wide nut width of just over 1 11/16 inches and a huge, very thick 'baseball-bat' profile. Triple-bound rosewood fretboard with three-ply white and black nut, 'zero' and 22 original medium frets and inlaid, seven-piece, mother-of-pearl, tortoiseshell, and black and white strip position markers. '461' style black and white celluloid faced headstock with two-layer black over white plastic bell-shaped truss-rod cover, secured by three screws. Open-back 'Waverly' strip tuners with rectangular white plastic buttons with rounded edges. Specific shaped five layer black over white plastic pickguard. Pre-compensated rosewood bridge on height-adjustable rosewood base. Höfner 'Harp' style tailpiece with "Pöhlert" engraved on the top. Inside the bass 'seal-shaped' 'f' hole is the Hofner rectangular white label printed in brown with decorative border. Hofner / Model "Special 461/S." Serial No. "McSherry / '0'" / Made in West Germany / "1 Only" / "Phone 38052 Burton-On-Trent  12/3/86". The underside of the top by the bass 'seal-shaped' 'f' hole is dated in pencil "19/3.62".

"When Hofner closed their Bubenreuth factory in 1984 and moved to new works at Hagenau, they sold all their old stock of bodies, necks and parts, mostly to Peter  Kesller in Canada who went on to make some very nice Hofners. A large quantity was also acquired by Music Ground in the UK who also went on to make Hofner replicas and to sell parts to enthusiasts who wished to make their own Hofners.   Some bodies and parts  are still available from a German restorer. Music Ground also had a large supply of unused Hofner labels which they used and sold." (Alan Cramp, The Just Jazz Guitars Collection). Our guitar has the following anomalies: 1. The Pöhlert tailpiece was not used on Hofner guitars until 1969: 2. The 461 had an ebony bridge - our guitar has a correct period rosewood bridge: 3. The pickguard is the correct shape but from 1954-1964 it would have been pearloid plastic and not black as on our guitar: 4. The truss-rod cover is from the 1980s. It would therefore appear that the label writing on the original Hofner label suggests that the tailpiece, bridge, pickguard and truss-rod cover were replaced (with parts from Music Ground) in 1986. Whatever the story - this is an original Hofner 461-S that was made before March 19th, 1962. Also inside the bass 'seal-shped' 'f' hole is a lilac wire that is connected to the tailpiece. This wire has a paper tag on the end which reads " Earth Wire to Tail Unit. Pulloff if not required". Possibly it was finally assembled in 1986 - but this seems unlikely - but the four aforementioned parts were certainly supplied in 1986. This is a superb looking, playing and sounding guitar - the only one of these that we have ever seen… (DJB).