German achtops guitars
 

Hello everyone. Although I only play acoustic guitar, I have always wanted to have an archtop guitar, but I don't want to spend a lot of money because I don't know if I'm going to put it to good use.

The guitars made in Germany in the 50s/60s, for example the Höfner and the Framus, attract my attention. The problem is that I won't be able to try them before buying them. What do you think of these two manufacturers?

What scares me the most is having to do a neck reset on the guitar since those necks lacked a truss-rod.

Truss rod or not, most will be from the 1950s - 1970s and most steel string guitars of that age will have had, or need work on the neck joint (at least).

I've had/seen quite a lot of Hofners which I think might be a better option, but all German made of that time will be heavily built and some have very strange neck profiles.

another option to consider are the US made "Harmony" options which whilst mass produced and primitive compared to modern offerings , goos once can be found - I say that because I have one which is fine (but not for sale).

Good luck!

I have a Hofner archtop (black, with cateye sound holes) from that era. It has no truss rod but the neck is perfect and it is a very playable instrument. It's very light in weight. One of my favorite guitars. Sorry, no pix.

I'm after a 1959 456S.

https://i51.servimg.com/u/f51/19/61/75/10/1210.png

And what about the Godin 5th Avenue Kingpin P-90?

I was under the impression that German guitars had a bolt on neck arrangement accessed from the heel. Some of the offerings from the old East Germany were of the highest quality with a style of their own