1960s Gagliano (Hofner 457-12) Hollowbody Electric 12-String Guitar

Friend of the shop, Gary, left this instrument here ages ago. It had the most completely-destroyed Hofner tenon neck joint that I've seen and a tremendous ski-jump (from the neck caving into the body) at the end of the fretboard. Oh, and right -- this says Gagliano at the headstock but it's a rebadged Hofner 457 12-string. The pickups are replacement Japanese repros and the wiring harness has been replaced as well, though the bridge is original.

Suffice to say, this took a lot of work to make into a practical instrument. To solve the ski jump problem, I cut a couple slices under the extension's foot so that the area was flexible-enough to move down in line with the board again and then sunk a couple of hidden screws to suck it down. The repair on the tenon/neck reset just involved a bunch of cleaning, shimming, and epoxy. I did also add a couple of screws that fit into it through the back that are there for extra stability. Oh well! Inside the body I fit a 1/2" wood dowel that runs from the endblock (hidden under the tailpiece) and is butted to the neck block. This takes undue tension off the neck joint/body joint area so the instrument remains more stable (more like a solid body) as it's tensioned-up. The final work was to level/dress the frets, grind some compensation into the saddles for better string-to-string intonation, and set it up.

After work it now plays like a dream and has a great, mids-forward, brushy, warmer 12-string thing going on. It would be great paired with a bright amp for jangle or kept at the neck position for thumpy, moody blues.