This is the tale of my first electric guitar, bought for a £10 when I was sixteen, some thirty years ago. It lay in my attic for many years, safe enough, but getting tattier as time went by. And it was tatty to start with.

But it was a Hofner, not a "fashionable" mark, like Fender, but I knew it was (had been) quite a good guitar in its day. Paul McCartney has a Hofner, Mark Knopfler had one. It always had a nice slim neck and good action, and was quite easy to play (and I need easy).  I'd always intended to get it back into decent playing condition.

A bit of research into Hofners revealed it was a Hofner V2, serial number 278, made in 1961 and sold originally by Selmers of London. The V2 was based on the model 172 sold in Europe. There did not seem to be many around, so it was quite rare.

Not "valuable" rare, but possibly worth restoring, rather than just rebuilding. Steve Russell (Mr. Hofner, in my book) and his website are a valuable source of information, and some words from Steve convinced me to go down the restoration route. If  you want to know about Hofner guitars, start there.

 

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