1960 Hofner 470 SE2 Hollowbody Electric Guitar
What an absolute beaut, right? This 470 SE2 is almost a "Golden Hofner," though the headstock shape and board inlay is different. The owner dated this to '60 and I concur -- the Hofner-branded Franz Pix pickups of this style were only made in '60 and '61 so that fits.
It arrived here almost ready to go and quite clean -- I only had to give it a level/dress of the frets and a setup and it's now playing spot-on. I did string it with roundwounds (with a wound G) rather than the flats that were on it so that folks would have a baseline as far as its sound in the video.
But what can I say, really, other than to ogle it? It's a big old jazzbox with a tone similar to the DeArmond-pickup-supplied US boxes of the '50s and early '60s. You can dial in your damped "jazz tone" through adjusting your amp or playing with the settings on the quirky control panel, but "straight-up" it's a bright-ish, clean, chipper-sounding instrument that takes to "acoustic-style" handling like a champ.
Also, let's not forget its biggest perk -- it's gorgeous. The top is ply spruce with a ridiculous amount of purfling and binding, the fretboard has classy markers, and the back, sides, and neck are full to the brim with flamed maple peeking-out of every crevice. Add to that some slick inlaid wood patterning on the back and you've just got icing on that looks-cake.
Repairs included: a fret level/dress and setup work.
Body wood: ply-flamed-maple back/sides, ply-spruce top
Bridge: rosewood with adjustable saddle-frets and adjustable height
Fretboard: ebony
Neck wood: multi-piece flamed maple
Pickups: 2x original Franz Pix-made single coils
Neck shape: medium-fatter C/D
Board radius: 9 1/2"
Truss rod: non-adjustable
Neck relief: straight
Fret style: wide/medium-height
Scale length: 25 1/4"
Nut width: 1 11/16"
Body width: 17 1/4"
Body depth: 3" + arching
Weight: 6 lbs 2 oz
Condition notes: it's in very good, all-original condition minus its pickguard. There's a lot of weather-checking to the finish throughout but this box pretty-much glows. There's some mild wear and tear to the finish here and there -- light scratching and scuffing and discoloration a bit on the sides where the player's body meets the guitar -- but it's all pretty subdued. The thick celluloid binding has gotten fine-line hairline cracks in it throughout the curvy parts of the body edges but is in no danger of falling-off and looks great.
It comes with: a non-original hard case.
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