Woody's HOFNER GALAXIE (Model 176) - series GUITAR PAGE
The Hofner Galaxie series (Model
176) electric guitar was built in Germany apparently from 1963 through
1983.
The Hofner
web page spells Galaxy with an "ie" (Galaxie).
Hofner guitars rose to fame internationally and
within the USA with the famous 500/1-series "violin" style
bass guitar
used by Beatle Paul McCartney.
Click on the picture to see a
youtube video of Paul
McCartney playing his Hofner
500/1 violin bass
on the US-based Ed Sullivan TV Show Feb 1964.
Unknown to most musicians outside
of Europe,
Hofner
made a vast line of guitars besides the Violin-series basses of the day.
Our family owns two of the
six-string electric Galaxie Model 176 series guitars.
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During this earlier era of
Rock-n-Roll, designs often favored exotic and artistic designs with lots of
switches, buttons and pickups.
Hagstrom, Sears, Montgomery Wards, and even Heathkit, offered
guitars with lots of frills and adornments.
In the case of Hofner, they followed that era's industry styling for their
guitar designs. It sold.
There is a switch or dial for everything, perhaps to the excess. There are three massive
pickups.
Never thought of as expensive or overly desirable guitar,
Hofner guitars do
represent the earlier years of rock in the United States, the Americas and Europe.
According to a book
listed on the Internet, Beatle Paul McCartney did not buy his Hofner violin
bass due to quality or reputation
but rather due to it's asymmetrical design
(he is left handed and could just flip it over) and,
more importantly as a
struggling musician, he could afford it (with ten payments) totaling about
us$45 (early 1960s).
He had commented that he could not afford the more expensive Fender-brand bass.
While the quality and tone of
these guitars are not as respected as say a Gibson or Fender, they did represent the look of early rock-n-roll.
To that end,
they maintain a certain collectible appeal.
Electric guitars were a
comparatively new musical sensation when this guitar was first marketed in 1963.
The Hofner Galaxie loosely followed the design of Leo Fender's Mustang or Strat
series guitars.
Three individually selectable pickups with separate volume and
tone controls were quite novel.
They followed the designs offered by Leo
Fender's early Strats.
Perhaps they might have been considered a poor man's Strat.
From a Bass
Emporium webpage we read:
Founded in Schonbach in 1887 by master
luthier Karl Hofner, the company became the largest manufacturer of stringed and
fretted instruments in Germany.
Craft skills and business initiative laid the foundation for a reputation that,
even before World War I, extended far beyond the borders of Germany.
His two sons, Josef and Walter, joined their father's company in 1919 and 1921
respectively.
They successfully expanded Hofner's worldwide market, enabling them to survive
the years of recovery, which marked the phase after World War II and the related
resettlement from the "Sudetenland" to Bavaria.
In 1950, new production facilities were built in Bubenreuth.
To date, more than two million stringed and fretted instruments - from student
to master models - have been produced, 75% of which have been exported
worldwide,
emphasizing the outstanding position enjoyed by Karl Hofner GmbH in the world
market.
The product range of Hofner is extensive and not only confined to stringed
instruments and classical guitars.
In 1955, Walter Hofner, a creative businessman as well as a violin and guitar
maker, invented an electrically amplified semi-acoustic bass.
The distinctive 500/1 bass was launched at the 1956 Frankfurt Music Fair and
subsequently rose to fame under a different name.
In 1961, Paul McCartney bought his first Hofner bass in a shop in Hamburg and
used it on many of the Beatles' most famous songs.
Paul still plays his "Beatle Bass" live on stage today.
A new chapter in Hofner's history opened in 1994 when the company joined the
internationally successful Boosey & Hawkes Group.
Since then millions of Deutschmarks have been invested in new production
technology.
In 1997, the company moved from its premises in Bubenreuth to the neighbouring
village of Hagenau
This is our 1975 Hofner
The tremelo
("whammy") vibrato bar was a simple spring contraption.
Since it's use could
easily drive the guitar out of tune during a stage performance,
many times they
might have been removed and abandoned, as was the case with this guitar.
For some time we owned two of these vintage guitars, having sold one of them in 2009.
The body construction is
semi-solid plywood.
The necks are made of an excellent quality maple.
While the
finishes on these guitars are showing their ages the sunburst colors are still
highly attractive.
Other Features from various models
According to Hofner (below), the
Galaxie series guitar was built with two styles of necks:
* Earlier as a top selling guitar, it came with celluloid inlays on the
fretboard and raised Hofner lettering on the peghead (pictured below) and
* As sales of the Galaxy began to wane, a slimmer neck with dot inlays
(as we have, above).
Hofner had apparently run out of stock of the fancier celluloid necks and,
with sales
of the guitars declining, they used the simpler and skinnier
dotted necks for the balance of production.
It appears that, for at least two
years (1975 and 1976) besides the loss of the celluloid fret design on their
necks, Hofner also cut costs by not issuing serial numbers on their
products. Neither of our two guitars have any numeric tracking numbers.
Only
(possible) initials written on the base of the necks.
Does anyone have any related facts on this that they could share with us?
Correspondence from the Hofner
Guitar Company November 2008:
Dear Woody, Thanks for request, your
Galaxies are from ca. 1975/76, at the time when there were no serial numbers.
The Galaxie´s had been made from 1963 up to 1983, but when the necks with the
celluloid inlays were out,
Hofner built new necks, which were slimmer and had
dot inlays.
At that time the Glaxie was no more the topseller, so that it doesn´t
pay to manufacture the old necks.
With best regards / Mit freundlichen Gruessen
Michael Naglav
Vintage Hofner Guitars +49 (0)9133 7758-0 Tel. +49 (0)9133
7758-58 Fax
mailto: michael.naglav@hofner.com
Karl Höfner GmbH & Co. KG 91083
Hagenau, Germany www.hofner.com
Do you have a photo of you with your Hofner Galaxie 176 series guitar you could send us?
Hofner Guitar Related Web Pages
Vintage Hofner Information (UK)
Hofner Blue Notes (Music Group)
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All personal comments, pictures copyright 1996-2010 - R. Linwood (4L RANCH)
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