Top of the regular range of Hofner archtops, the Committee was designed to impress. Introduced as a UK-only model around 1953/54, the Committee sported the over-large "frondose" headstock complete with the impressive "tulip" style mother of pearl inlays in the facia. Birds eye maple veneer back and sides, with carved solid spruce body top, with the single Venetian (rounded) body cutaway. The 17” wide lower bout, combined with 3” deep body gives these early Committees a really big sound across the frequencies.
This 1957 blonde version is in great condition - We think Hofner saved the best Birds-eye Maple for the blondes - the back and sides on this guitar are really stunning and our amateur photography really does not reflect how beautiful these are – The top does have a few marks on it to show for its near 70 years of play (see last 4 pictures). The Frets and Ebony fretboard are in great shape with no real visible wear. As with all our vintage Hofner guitars we have reset the neck, so the guitar is great shape to continue for another 60+ years and beyond - it arrived into the shop with a pretty rudimentary neck reset which we had to undo and complete properly - there is a historical plug on the heal of the neck which covered up the large screw that someone had used as part of that previous neck reset.
The guitar does have its original tail piece and tuners the electrics are not original to the guitar. This Committee has started out as an acoustic model with pickups and control panel added later – the electric version of the Committee in 1957 would have had an oval control panel and black bar pickups. The rectangular control panel is a modern one, however the pickups are the fantastic 1960s Hofner Diamond Logo Type 510 pickups. The tuner buttons have also been changed to a modern version of the original buttons which are prone to breaking and the floating bridge is also a modern Hofner bridge.
The guitar has been setup with a set of Thomastik flat wound 12s and the guitar comes complete with a hard case.
Shipping within mainland UK using fully insured 24-hour courier service @ £35.00.
Shipping to US/Canada, using UPS, is £185.00. Shipping to EU is £65.00
Customers outside of UK/EU/US/Canada should contact Vintage Rare & Retro Guitars for a shipping quotation. Free pick-up is always available at our Gullane shop.
