I love the total lack of surprise when finding the remnants of all the drilling under the pickup, but then the immediate "WHAT!?" after discovering the pickups were MIJ.
S'funny - when it's general joinery, it's plywood, when it's guitars it's 'laminated' When it'a shaped like a $500 dining table and chairs, it's only maple, when it's in the shape of a guitar, it's a 'tonewood' and costs $1000. Humans are crazy
Man...for an acoustic folk guitar player (me) this guitar's pick ups installation is a contraption, it is a mess @9:28. And "it smells like the swamp thing" haha. Awesome work 🎶🎶🎶
OK...I didn't want to blow hot air up anyone's lower orifice, so I tried this out first with a 335 style guitar with the F-holes: I inserted a full size alpha pot with a long shaft [ minus washers and nuts ] into the F-hole at the widest part by first inserting the shaft, with the rounded side [ side without the connectors ] up. It went in without much effort. I then used my little finger to push the pot shaft FIRST into the opening, and then rotated the pot out of the F-hole. That worked fine, for me at least. Just saying. Also: Buy a 12" [ 36 cm ] piece of surgical tubing with a 3/16" or 4 mm ID [ NOT OD ]. Use that through the F-holes to grab the pot shaft, and pull out the pot. Easy -Peazy. It works fine. Use a smaller piece of tubing for the selector switch, and same the technique. As usual. nice intro music, and another excellent video.
When I built a 335 copy years ago I designed the f- holes to take a full size pot. I took the pattern of the pot holes and duplicated it on a thick piece of cardboard and put the pots in the cardboard sheet did the wiring so every thing fitted so when I dragged it through the f-hole everything lined up perfectly. 🤗
I repaired an exact same model Hofner back in the early 80s but it was a sunburst 1963. I replaced all the wiring just like you but I was lucky that all the pots came out through the bass side 'F' hole. Interestingly they would not fit through the treble 'F' hole which measured just under 1 mm smaller at the widest point. These guitars were all hand made back in the day and varied quite a lot if you measured everything. The model I worked on had single coil pickups similar to P90s with plastic mounting rings with a lined detail and were painted gold on the reverse side. These guitars were all we could get here in the 60s, so we hadn't witnessed what American pickups sounded like and accepted the rather weak pickups as normal. I also had to replace the zero fret which had come loose in its slot but I was pleasantly surprised once it was back together that it played really well and had a good range of tones. Great video - keep it up.
Plastic tubing for fish tanks works well for pulling pots thru...you can even slide the nut and washer down it if you match the diameter to the pot shaft.
@@AdamFisher the pickup tubing from Allparts works great for 6mm pots, haven't tried them on 1/4" but it worked like a charm (replaced all 5 pots on a Chinese Gretsch)
Great videos thank you. I think Selmer was a brass wind instrument manufacturer mainly. There was a shop in London "Lew Davis" which sold so much Selmer, they were allowed to use the name for the shop. "Selmers" Peter Green and Jeff Beck bought Les Pauls there. John McLaughlin worked there. Paul Kossoff worked there. Tony Hatch worked there. Eric Clapton bought his 335 there. Jimmy Page bought his first Les Paul there. (credit Tony Bacon) Bernie Marsden from Whitesnake, mentions in his autobiography, that he bought his first good guitar there. They went on to develop Selmer valve (tube) guitar amps and P.A.s also under the name "Selmer". These pre dated Marshall amps. In fact, Jim Marshall used to bring his drum students there to buy drums until the manager suggested he should open his own shop. He got an agency for Premier drums, and that was the start of Marshall. The Davis brothers who owned the shop developed several other product lines under the Selmer name. ..... 🙂
I own a prototype Höfner Thin President Only 2 were made in the color of the guitar I own. One went to California and one went to Milwaukee,Wisconsin ( the one I bought) it’s in a peppermint color…a real light green-very beautiful with a Bigsby vibrato tailpiece. I’ve only seen one picture online of this model-not sure if mine or the California one - it’s hanging in the Höfner factory in Germany being sprayed with its finish coat. I love it- very nice sounding guitar .
As to why someone might have wanted to swap pus on this one: At some point I had a Verithin and a 173. Both had pu issues. Hofner pus were wound using very thin wire and resin solder. As a result the wire tends to break. Rewound pus tend to not match with the originals, what with the difference in impedance due to the fact that you won't be able to wind as many turns onto the bobbin with thicker wire. My recommendation is to carefully unwind the coil and see whether you can find the end of the coil that you then can resolder. I was lucky with mine and was able to do just that. Not only is this cheaper then having it rewound, also there won't be a noticeable difference in sound even if the coil wire has been shortened for a couple of meters.
I use Tygon 1/4" fuel line to install pots. It stretches over the knurls to firmly hold them while snaking them in a hollow body and the OD is thin enough to slide the washers and nuts over to install before removing the tubing.
with the string/floss trick you can put the washer and nut 'through' the string and they drop right in place as you hold the string taught. I still end up putting my finger in there when tightening, but it takes away one of the awkward moments ;) Ive learned a 100 things from you so forgive me for allowing myself to give you one mini tip :)
Good Sir, I've been subscribed to your blog for sometime now. I was once a finish carpenter and l enjoy watching your work. Don't even know your name, no matter. I appreciate how you give others credit for a trade trick that saves time and money. Your a good honest man. You should be proud of yourself. Very refreshing. PEACE
These types of guitars have a very unique sound, kinda trebley, the strings played so high off the faceplate, all steel on steel, sorta,,,, I too appreciate hearing the instrument after each repair, it allows the Luthier to stand upon their repair!!!!
I am deeply impressed by your knowledge of guitars. you ae one of my best YT channels. and thank you for not shouting "subscribe", "like" and " hit the bell button" ;)
Cool guitar. Doesn't matter now on this one, but for anyone else fighting this issue of pots through the F-hole, the pots can be disassembled. There are tabs on them you can lift and the backs will come off, thereby allowing them to come out. Another good video.
i done just that with vintage 1969 short shafts and used modern long shaft cts wipers, thus transforming them for my 89 gibson studio ...love the thick carbon they used back then, compared to modern printed carbon, even cts are crap today
When I do the wiring harness on an arch top-style guitar, run the washer and nut for the pots down the string or wire I used to pull them. That way, if for some reason the pot falls back into the guitar, I don't have to pull the whole wiring harness out again. I learned this the hard way on a semi-solid where the f-holes were the only way to access, and there wasn't much room to maneuver.
Wonderful video, though the playing at the end with the entire weight of the guitar resting on the cable plug (and the precariously mounted jack) made me wince.
Sometimes I watch your videos and think to myself “I would really love to learn guitar repair. I think I’d be good at it!” Videos like this quickly dissuade me from that thinking
Great video packed with valuable info !!!!? The last bit of playing that you did at the end ,,,that sound ,, with a bit of " twang " to it , is what I've always associated with California style of sound of music back in the 50s and 60s !!!! Thank You for all that you do !!!
Pretty wood with some nice aging. And the 3 dot fret position markers are cool. Looks like it would make a good rockabilly guitar. I do some repair work myself and I've had some older vintage guitars and it's a challenge to keep them in playing shape with out changing their originality whatever that might be. They all come with a story and each is unique if they aren't mass produced models. I really enjoy watching your videos and listening to your take on how another tech looks at a repair. And you work on interesting stuff to boot.
Love the idea of the bonus clip. It adds just a little extra refresh to the monotony of working on a single guitar the whole video.... Not always going to be there given the various workloads you have, but should be something to take advantage of if given the opportunity. Something else that you could try instead of the string or straw method is vinyl tubing. It stretches and holds pretty good onto textured metal (I use it to connect the motor to the 5mm leadscrew on my 3D printer). Once you get the tube through the hole, you can put the washer and nut on, then pull the pot up, and you'll have the nut ready to go onto the pot. Just a thought though.
ADDENDUM: After a while, I got to thinking about the mildew/mold situation in the guitar. A couple of years ago, our septic system went belly-up. We had to essentially live without it for 8 months, as the elaborate process for a new system crawled through the county bureaucracy. We discovered the collapse because both bathrooms, the long hallway, and two bedrooms were flooded with sewage. It began the worst 4 days of my life, and I'm a Vietnam combat veteran [Air Cav]. OK...Shop vac, Oxyclean, etc. For four days, and sleeping in the garage because...well, the smell. However, after the cleaning process, I used 3 gallons of white vinegar to spray down every rug, carpet, baseboard, and anywhere the disgusting mess had oozed. White vinegar is a mold/mildew killer on contact. Instantly. Also a deodorizer. We have had no issues with mold/mildew, or any residual odors since then. If you use a flashlight, you can just make out the 'shoreline' of where the nasty fluid stopped. New carpet in the future...maybe. Anyway...just spray some white vinegar into that guitar, and I believe the odor will be gone. P.S. we have a new aerobic system, like a sewage processing plant. Only $20,000.00 -- :(
@@polkusin Spraying a mist into the guitar will not hurt anything except the mold and mildew. Filling up the guitar with white vinegar might be a problem...
Neat guitar and sounds incredible. I agree on the Maxon/Electra pickups. Looking at the missing binding at the bottom edge of the Fhole tells me that's where the pots were forced in and took a piece of the binding with them. People scoff but I upgrade with new harness and mini-pots in these types of situations. Keep up the good work, I enjoy your videos!
I'm like ninety-five percent sure those are Maxon Magnaflux pickups. Maxon supplied pickups for all of those old Japanese import brands. I recognized them right off the bat.
Did the string trick on my Harmony Rocket H59 with 3 gold foils and 6 pots all in a line. They had to go in/out through the pickup switch hole. The large pots/harness was so heavy I had to pull all of them through at once. I used clothes pins to hold the other shafts in place as I installed each washer/nut. Would have been nice to have a third arm!
Here in the UK Hofner guitars were used by many early 1960s beat groups as they were easily obtained and, more importantly, less than 25% of the price of a “real” USA guitar, of course as soon as we could get someone to sign the credit agreement we ditched the Hofner and bought a good American guitar. Although they never sounded quite like the the USA built instruments they resembled they were well made from good quality materials. I owned a couple of Hofner semi acoustics and a solid or two, the solid guitars were very reliable , the semi acoustics tended to be a bit frail at the neck/body joint. Good to watch your excellent video, it brought back many memories .
When putting new pots in on a hollow body guitar, I use the string method too (using buttonhole thread). Once through, I cut the thread so that it's about 6 inches long, then thread through the hole of the washer and nut, dropping them in place while I hold tension on the string. Once the nut is threaded on, then I cut the thread off.
The bridge pickup sound was juicy! Fantastic work and so educative! Love it. I can understand after the mess already found under that pickup it didn’t cause any bigger harm to cut that hole in the top, but if the top had been “clean” I guess you would have had to find a way to get the pots through the f hole.
Hi Ted :) You can add shrink tubing on top of the string that's knotted to the pot. So the string faces upwards and the pot doesn't bind in the hole. As the knurling is slotted, it can easily be cut off afterwards to attach the nut. I reworked my framus through the f-holes that way, which is similar to that Hofner. Best wishes from Germany.
Selmer not only distributed Hofner guitars ...my friend Dave bought a second hand Hofner Committee electro - acoustic. I also had a Selmer 50 watt bass amp and speaker cabinet which was a monster volume wise.....Dave "borrowed it", I've never seen it since !
Judging from those two piece square pole pieces and the brown glue on the bottom, I’d say those are Maxon pickups. Same company that makes the TubeScreamer. I had those in a Sekova Les Paul copy. You also see them in old Ibanez guitars.
Very nice video and terrific improvements. Love the little bit at the end where we can hear the new version too! PS. Hotels use little ozone generators to eliminate the smell of cigarette smoke or mildew in a guest room… I’m wondering if this instrument wouldn’t benefit from a 5min visit to such treatment and get rid of the musty smell.
Not just electrical tape, masking tape does it too. Solid core insulated wire makes nice wire ties, as does tie wraps or small sections of heat shrink tubing. Ooh nice Jr!
13:10: "...this 1957 Les Paul Junior..." 13:13: God, Ted, how do you get so lucky?! ? Thanks as always for sharing, Ted! I have never worked on any semi-acoustics due to the "fishing" problem, so always enjoy watching someone who knows what they're doing.
A thing I saw for archtop/semiholobodies and pots is to use that cheap clear vynyl tubing you can get at the hardware store. It should be able to fit snugly over the knob knurling but thin enough to allow you to get the pot nut to slide down the tubing and onto the threads. Seems much easier than the string method.
I own President No 358 which was built in 1960, the date is usually inside near the top sound hole and can be seen using a dental mirror or such. The one you have there is probably from 1965 onward, as you suggested, as the earlier ones had two pickups but only a single set of knobs and a slide selector switch (Rhythm and Lead!) all mounted on a plastic plate; the change to 4 knobs was made in 1965. Also the 'Lyre' style tailpiece is later than the 'Compensator' one I have. The fret spacing on Hofners was always 'idiosyncratic' with the 15th to 16th fret spaced further apart than the 14th to 15th, (as yours does) presumably to crudely bring the upper register nearer to pitch - looked wierd but sounded Ok. A fun guitar to play!
The body shape reminds me of the Gibson ES 275 you worked on, the one with the weird rubber grommet. Your patience while working on these f-hole guitar has to be applauded. Great job and another enjoyable video. Thanks.
Sir: if you use the string method to position the pots, run the string through the nut on the top side prior to the whole operation. Hold the pot in position with the string, then drop the nut and thread it on. I like your videos an awful lot, and admire your skill and craftsmanship. Thank you!
Guten Tag, Sir! Thank you for all of your wonderful videos. Best wishes and stay safe from Bavaria Germany 🇩🇪 Btw. I love your "Djangoesque" intro music😊
With split control shafts it is far easier to use a "G" guitar string pushed into the split. This then gives a way to pull the controls back up through the top. I also use an old 1/4" phone plug with an "E" string soldered to the tip terminal. The phone plug can be plugged into the jack and pulled through the side of the guitar. Easy easy work without tying anything.
One suggestion. Place the washers, nuts, whatever on the line you are using to fish the pots through the whole. This way when you fish it through the nuts and washers are waiting to slide down the dental floss onto the pots.
Very nice sounding guitar. Glad you were able to get its hum taken care of. Though I wish it had nicer looking pickup rings. The orange golden top is a beautiful color. Thanks
Hi Mr. Ted. I live your work. Your videos are really inspiring and helpful! Maybe next time - if you’re ever using the string technique again - make sure the nuts and washers are already on the string so you can easily pull the string to keep the pot in place and slide the washer and nut right over top👌🏾
Hey Ted, were I to do it, I'd slide the washer and nut over the dental floss. That way you can hold the pot up in place when you start threading the nut. Less worry of dropping it into the body. (it's how I fish BX wire or flex conduit into a box doing remodel work).
Selmer - I have two Selmer amps here awaiting recapping and general servicing. A Selmer Treble'n'Bass 50 head and a Selmer Truvoice Concord 8 combo. They're waiting 'cos I'm waiting for an eye op. Binocular vision is a must for tidy soldering ...
Andre and Henri Selmer, both clarinetists, got their start in France making clarinet reeds and mouthpieces. Andre played in American orchestras and established a store in NYC for their products. In the 1920s they bought out Adolph Saxe,'s Paris-based business.
@@neilmacke4039, After watching "Stuart UKguitarampguy" repair a Selmer amp on TH-cam, I did a little research into the company; Hilton Valentine, the guitarist for the Animals (may he R.I.P.) said he used a Selmer amp, and not a Vox, on House of the Rising Sun.
I have ALWAYS thought about cutting out backs or installing a ZIPPER around the binding... kinda of zip-lock binding!! I think your's is a fine option. (I use fishing line instead of thread, and heat-shrink with drinking straws. Fishing line because, well, if I get soooo angry with the re-insertion madness, I can always use the whole rig as either a weight or bait.)
I love the total lack of surprise when finding the remnants of all the drilling under the pickup, but then the immediate "WHAT!?" after discovering the pickups were MIJ.
"The mahogany was rebellious". That one comment is worth the price of admission.
This is a Maxon Magnaflux pickup found on various MIJ guitars most notably the Electra’s.
Nice. Thanks!
The bridge sounded fantastic!
Yes indeed. In 1977 I purchased a new Elektra and one of these pickups was in the bridge position.
I was thinking Maxon also but wasn't positive.
I purchased a Shaftsbury Telecaster with one of these grafted in. Sound pretty good.
I will sleep soundly tonight knowing that somewhere in the world competence still reigns
S'funny - when it's general joinery, it's plywood, when it's guitars it's 'laminated'
When it'a shaped like a $500 dining table and chairs, it's only maple, when it's in the shape of a guitar, it's a 'tonewood' and costs $1000. Humans are crazy
Man...for an acoustic folk guitar player (me) this guitar's pick ups installation is a contraption, it is a mess @9:28. And "it smells like the swamp thing" haha. Awesome work 🎶🎶🎶
I love the trick where you heat the pot shaft and mush the knob on... brilliant.
OK...I didn't want to blow hot air up anyone's lower orifice, so I tried this out first with a 335 style guitar with the F-holes:
I inserted a full size alpha pot with a long shaft [ minus washers and nuts ] into the F-hole at the widest part by first inserting the shaft, with the rounded side [ side without the connectors ] up. It went in without much effort. I then used my little finger to push the pot shaft FIRST into the opening, and then rotated the pot out of the F-hole. That worked fine, for me at least. Just saying.
Also: Buy a 12" [ 36 cm ] piece of surgical tubing with a 3/16" or 4 mm ID [ NOT OD ]. Use that through the F-holes to grab the pot shaft, and pull out the pot. Easy -Peazy. It works fine. Use a smaller piece of tubing for the selector switch, and same the technique.
As usual. nice intro music, and another excellent video.
When I built a 335 copy years ago I designed the f- holes to take a full size pot. I took the pattern of the pot holes and duplicated it on a thick piece of cardboard and put the pots in the cardboard sheet did the wiring so every thing fitted so when I dragged it through the f-hole everything lined up perfectly. 🤗
That thing sounds incredible! Surfs up, baby
I always learn something by watching your video's. Thanks for sharing.
That new harness was a thing of beauty
i really appreciate you playing after your repairs, not only can we hear how the instrument sounds but we get to witness your talent, cheers
Ted I love that your little riffing clips are always appropriate to the instrument in question. Man oh man am I sick of blues noodles!!
Enjoyed that immensely especially the les Paul Jr.aside.
Reading "Hey there gang" on the page beside the guitar at 1:59 is equally as awesome as hearing it! Thanks for another fantastic video!
I repaired an exact same model Hofner back in the early 80s but it was a sunburst 1963. I replaced all the wiring just like you but I was lucky that all the pots came out through the bass side 'F' hole. Interestingly they would not fit through the treble 'F' hole which measured just under 1 mm smaller at the widest point. These guitars were all hand made back in the day and varied quite a lot if you measured everything. The model I worked on had single coil pickups similar to P90s with plastic mounting rings with a lined detail and were painted gold on the reverse side. These guitars were all we could get here in the 60s, so we hadn't witnessed what American pickups sounded like and accepted the rather weak pickups as normal. I also had to replace the zero fret which had come loose in its slot but I was pleasantly surprised once it was back together that it played really well and had a good range of tones. Great video - keep it up.
The contempt when you say 'the commonwealth' made me giggle as a British person.
@@garymitchell5899 you must do it quite often then.
I find, when replying to a comment, its best to read it in context and not just find some out of context way to insult someone. @jack, right with you.
you'd think with the Queen still on their money that they'd have grown comfortable of the idea by now
@@garymitchell5899 o my god im just shi... my self.
Make it an N30.
Contempt is what Brits are known for.
Plastic tubing for fish tanks works well for pulling pots thru...you can even slide the nut and washer down it if you match the diameter to the pot shaft.
This is an incredible idea how have I never heard of this until now? I’m never using string or fishing line again!
@@AdamFisher the pickup tubing from Allparts works great for 6mm pots, haven't tried them on 1/4" but it worked like a charm (replaced all 5 pots on a Chinese Gretsch)
Great videos thank you. I think Selmer was a brass wind instrument manufacturer mainly. There was a shop in London "Lew Davis" which sold so much Selmer, they were allowed to use the name for the shop. "Selmers" Peter Green and Jeff Beck bought Les Pauls there. John McLaughlin worked there. Paul Kossoff worked there. Tony Hatch worked there. Eric Clapton bought his 335 there. Jimmy Page bought his first Les Paul there. (credit Tony Bacon) Bernie Marsden from Whitesnake, mentions in his autobiography, that he bought his first good guitar there. They went on to develop Selmer valve (tube) guitar amps and P.A.s also under the name "Selmer". These pre dated Marshall amps. In fact, Jim Marshall used to bring his drum students there to buy drums until the manager suggested he should open his own shop. He got an agency for Premier drums, and that was the start of Marshall. The Davis brothers who owned the shop developed several other product lines under the Selmer name. ..... 🙂
Erudite luthier in apron playing power chords. What a wonderful world.
I stand by my theory that he communes with the guitar and asks what it wants him to play.
Ain't it? You nailed it
@@talyrath They do that on the excellent planet he is from.
What a wonderful comment.
@@freto_cognito9001 Two.
I own a prototype Höfner Thin President
Only 2 were made in the color of the guitar I own. One went to California and one went to Milwaukee,Wisconsin ( the one I bought) it’s in a peppermint color…a real light green-very beautiful with a Bigsby vibrato tailpiece. I’ve only seen one picture online of this model-not sure if mine or the California one - it’s hanging in the Höfner factory in Germany being sprayed with its finish coat. I love it- very nice sounding guitar .
Now I really wanna see a picture of that!
Those pickup's are accessories, the witch has been sold in the Nordic mail order in the 70s and 80s. At least exactly the same look..
Dental floss: Frank Zappa would have been proud.
Nice and minty to kill the swamp smell
Genuine Montana dental floss
Bought from the dental floss tycoon.
Frank is laughing his ass off right now
As to why someone might have wanted to swap pus on this one: At some point I had a Verithin and a 173. Both had pu issues. Hofner pus were wound using very thin wire and resin solder. As a result the wire tends to break. Rewound pus tend to not match with the originals, what with the difference in impedance due to the fact that you won't be able to wind as many turns onto the bobbin with thicker wire. My recommendation is to carefully unwind the coil and see whether you can find the end of the coil that you then can resolder. I was lucky with mine and was able to do just that. Not only is this cheaper then having it rewound, also there won't be a noticeable difference in sound even if the coil wire has been shortened for a couple of meters.
I use Tygon 1/4" fuel line to install pots. It stretches over the knurls to firmly hold them while snaking them in a hollow body and the OD is thin enough to slide the washers and nuts over to install before removing the tubing.
Great tip. Thanks!
Tygon is cool. I use it in all my chainsaws and line trimmers. They sound great.
with the string/floss trick you can put the washer and nut 'through' the string and they drop right in place as you hold the string taught. I still end up putting my finger in there when tightening, but it takes away one of the awkward moments ;) Ive learned a 100 things from you so forgive me for allowing myself to give you one mini tip :)
Good Sir,
I've been subscribed to your blog for sometime now. I was once a finish carpenter and l enjoy watching your work. Don't even know your name, no matter. I appreciate how you give others credit for a trade trick that saves time and money.
Your a good honest man. You should be proud of yourself. Very refreshing.
PEACE
Really neat guitar. I especially like the sound of the bridge pickup with a touch of echo. Fun project to watch.
These types of guitars have a very unique sound, kinda trebley, the strings played so high off the faceplate, all steel on steel, sorta,,,,
I too appreciate hearing the instrument after each repair, it allows the Luthier to stand upon their repair!!!!
I am deeply impressed by your knowledge of guitars. you ae one of my best YT channels.
and thank you for not shouting "subscribe", "like" and " hit the bell button" ;)
If you pass the string through the washer and nut before pulling the pot through you can hold it in place with the string whilst starting the nut.
Cool guitar. Doesn't matter now on this one, but for anyone else fighting this issue of pots through the F-hole, the pots can be disassembled. There are tabs on them you can lift and the backs will come off, thereby allowing them to come out. Another good video.
i done just that with vintage 1969 short shafts and used modern long shaft cts wipers, thus transforming them for my 89 gibson studio ...love the thick carbon they used back then, compared to modern printed carbon, even cts are crap today
Brad clearly isn't aware that a significant number of Ted's viewers are here to get away from his toxic arrogance.
When I do the wiring harness on an arch top-style guitar, run the washer and nut for the pots down the string or wire I used to pull them. That way, if for some reason the pot falls back into the guitar, I don't have to pull the whole wiring harness out again. I learned this the hard way on a semi-solid where the f-holes were the only way to access, and there wasn't much room to maneuver.
finally!
He fixes a guitar that fits woodford's sasquatch frame! What a guy!
Thank you for sharing my friend :)
I’m glad to see the chord or floss method to get the whole electronic back..
I bout fell off my couch when that JR appeared.😍🥰🥰
Great video, very professional work, thanks for sharing.
Wonderful video, though the playing at the end with the entire weight of the guitar resting on the cable plug (and the precariously mounted jack) made me wince.
So, I find if you put the washer and nut over the end of the string ad send it down to the shaft. You can tighten while holding the pot shaft.
That Honer is a really cool sounding guitar! I learn so much about guitars and lutherie from your videos- thank you!
Sometimes I watch your videos and think to myself “I would really love to learn guitar repair. I think I’d be good at it!” Videos like this quickly dissuade me from that thinking
Great video packed with valuable info !!!!?
The last bit of playing that you did at the end ,,,that sound ,, with a bit of " twang " to it , is what I've always associated with California style of sound of music back in the 50s and 60s !!!!
Thank You for all that you do !!!
Pretty wood with some nice aging. And the 3 dot fret position markers are cool. Looks like it would make a good rockabilly guitar. I do some repair work myself and I've had some older vintage guitars and it's a challenge to keep them in playing shape with out changing their originality whatever that might be. They all come with a story and each is unique if they aren't mass produced models. I really enjoy watching your videos and listening to your take on how another tech looks at a repair. And you work on interesting stuff to boot.
Love the idea of the bonus clip. It adds just a little extra refresh to the monotony of working on a single guitar the whole video.... Not always going to be there given the various workloads you have, but should be something to take advantage of if given the opportunity. Something else that you could try instead of the string or straw method is vinyl tubing. It stretches and holds pretty good onto textured metal (I use it to connect the motor to the 5mm leadscrew on my 3D printer). Once you get the tube through the hole, you can put the washer and nut on, then pull the pot up, and you'll have the nut ready to go onto the pot. Just a thought though.
Never gets old watching your vids!
ADDENDUM: After a while, I got to thinking about the mildew/mold situation in the guitar.
A couple of years ago, our septic system went belly-up. We had to essentially live without it for 8 months, as the elaborate process for a new system crawled through the county bureaucracy. We discovered the collapse because both bathrooms, the long hallway, and two bedrooms were flooded with sewage. It began the worst 4 days of my life, and I'm a Vietnam combat veteran [Air Cav].
OK...Shop vac, Oxyclean, etc. For four days, and sleeping in the garage because...well, the smell.
However, after the cleaning process, I used 3 gallons of white vinegar to spray down every rug, carpet, baseboard, and anywhere the disgusting mess had oozed.
White vinegar is a mold/mildew killer on contact. Instantly. Also a deodorizer. We have had no issues with mold/mildew, or any residual odors since then. If you use a flashlight, you can just make out the 'shoreline' of where the nasty fluid stopped. New carpet in the future...maybe.
Anyway...just spray some white vinegar into that guitar, and I believe the odor will be gone.
P.S. we have a new aerobic system, like a sewage processing plant. Only $20,000.00 -- :(
I seem to remember vinegar can be used to dissolve some glues (at least modern PVAc?) so this might be a bit risky?
@@polkusin Spraying a mist into the guitar will not hurt anything except the mold and mildew. Filling up the guitar with white vinegar might be a problem...
@@perihelion7798 exactly, just need to be careful with the stuff
I didn't start hating electrical tape until I used a few times on my electric guitars. Now I seeth at the site of a black roll of tape.
Neat guitar and sounds incredible. I agree on the Maxon/Electra pickups. Looking at the missing binding at the bottom edge of the Fhole tells me that's where the pots were forced in and took a piece of the binding with them. People scoff but I upgrade with new harness and mini-pots in these types of situations. Keep up the good work, I enjoy your videos!
I'm like ninety-five percent sure those are Maxon Magnaflux pickups. Maxon supplied pickups for all of those old Japanese import brands. I recognized them right off the bat.
Did the string trick on my Harmony Rocket H59 with 3 gold foils and 6 pots all in a line. They had to go in/out through the pickup switch hole. The large pots/harness was so heavy I had to pull all of them through at once. I used clothes pins to hold the other shafts in place as I installed each washer/nut. Would have been nice to have a third arm!
...in the 70ies I had a lawsuit Ibanez Les Paul copy with a bridge pickup like that.
Had one of those too. 👍
Here in the UK Hofner guitars were used by many early 1960s beat groups as they were easily obtained and, more importantly, less than 25% of the price of a “real” USA guitar, of course as soon as we could get someone to sign the credit agreement we ditched the Hofner and bought a good American guitar. Although they never sounded quite like the the USA built instruments they resembled they were well made from good quality materials. I owned a couple of Hofner semi acoustics and a solid or two, the solid guitars were very reliable , the semi acoustics tended to be a bit frail at the neck/body joint. Good to watch your excellent video, it brought back many memories .
Great watching you work. Thanks
I'm actually a quite smitten with this Frankenhofner. Good sound, dripping with character, and I love the overall style
Pretty good tone from the Hofner!
When putting new pots in on a hollow body guitar, I use the string method too (using buttonhole thread). Once through, I cut the thread so that it's about 6 inches long, then thread through the hole of the washer and nut, dropping them in place while I hold tension on the string. Once the nut is threaded on, then I cut the thread off.
I remember Selmer Amplifiers and Guitars ... (I'm in the UK).
The bridge pickup sound was juicy! Fantastic work and so educative! Love it. I can understand after the mess already found under that pickup it didn’t cause any bigger harm to cut that hole in the top, but if the top had been “clean” I guess you would have had to find a way to get the pots through the f hole.
Really cool watching you work.
Hi Ted :)
You can add shrink tubing on top of the string that's knotted to the pot. So the string faces upwards and the pot doesn't bind in the hole.
As the knurling is slotted, it can easily be cut off afterwards to attach the nut.
I reworked my framus through the f-holes that way, which is similar to that Hofner.
Best wishes from Germany.
Selmer not only distributed Hofner guitars ...my friend Dave bought a second hand Hofner Committee electro - acoustic. I also had a Selmer 50 watt bass amp and speaker cabinet which was a monster volume wise.....Dave "borrowed it", I've never seen it since !
Judging from those two piece square pole pieces and the brown glue on the bottom, I’d say those are Maxon pickups. Same company that makes the TubeScreamer. I had those in a Sekova Les Paul copy. You also see them in old Ibanez guitars.
Good call. Someone else positively identified them as Maxon
Nice playing, like your guitar knowledge , you adapt amazingly well to every guitar . Thank you for posting 🇨🇦😊🇨🇦
Very nice video and terrific improvements. Love the little bit at the end where we can hear the new version too!
PS. Hotels use little ozone generators to eliminate the smell of cigarette smoke or mildew in a guest room… I’m wondering if this instrument wouldn’t benefit from a 5min visit to such treatment and get rid of the musty smell.
Your videos always make me happy, thank you
I got one of them-'62 Hofner President blonde! All original.
Not just electrical tape, masking tape does it too. Solid core insulated wire makes nice wire ties, as does tie wraps or small sections of heat shrink tubing.
Ooh nice Jr!
Love that twangy grove you had at the end. CCR ish! Keep up the great content!.!
I've seen those pickups in old Greco Les Paul clones before
That exactly what I was thinking.
The pickups look like Maxon's from Japan which went in Ibanez, Greco and other brands.
13:10: "...this 1957 Les Paul Junior..."
13:13: God, Ted, how do you get so lucky?! ?
Thanks as always for sharing, Ted! I have never worked on any semi-acoustics due to the "fishing" problem, so always enjoy watching someone who knows what they're doing.
A thing I saw for archtop/semiholobodies and pots is to use that cheap clear vynyl tubing you can get at the hardware store. It should be able to fit snugly over the knob knurling but thin enough to allow you to get the pot nut to slide down the tubing and onto the threads. Seems much easier than the string method.
I had orginal staple pick ups and they really work nice on line check... I just to find guitar to put them in.... and GREAT WORK!!!
The surf tone is killer!
I own President No 358 which was built in 1960, the date is usually inside near the top sound hole and can be seen using a dental mirror or such. The one you have there is probably from 1965 onward, as you suggested, as the earlier ones had two pickups but only a single set of knobs and a slide selector switch (Rhythm and Lead!) all mounted on a plastic plate; the change to 4 knobs was made in 1965. Also the 'Lyre' style tailpiece is later than the 'Compensator' one I have. The fret spacing on Hofners was always 'idiosyncratic' with the 15th to 16th fret spaced further apart than the 14th to 15th, (as yours does) presumably to crudely bring the upper register nearer to pitch - looked wierd but sounded Ok. A fun guitar to play!
The idea is to put washer and nut on the string before attaching to the pot !.
I see the Maxon pickup's from a mile away. Those sound pretty damn good too.
I love it! What a cool and funky guitar.
12:47 - Spruce Bringsteen
Wow that's a lovely one. Sounds great too.
Learning so much from your videos dude, thank you for sharing 🙏
The body shape reminds me of the Gibson ES 275 you worked on, the one with the weird rubber grommet. Your patience while working on these f-hole guitar has to be applauded. Great job and another enjoyable video. Thanks.
Sir: if you use the string method to position the pots, run the string through the nut on the top side prior to the whole operation. Hold the pot in position with the string, then drop the nut and thread it on.
I like your videos an awful lot, and admire your skill and craftsmanship. Thank you!
Guten Tag, Sir!
Thank you for all of your wonderful videos.
Best wishes and stay safe from Bavaria Germany 🇩🇪
Btw. I love your "Djangoesque" intro music😊
What I do for semi-hollow wiring, I use a violin sound post setter which makes it much easier to hold them in place. ;)
With split control shafts it is far easier to use a "G" guitar string pushed into the split. This then gives a way to pull the controls back up through the top. I also use an old 1/4" phone plug with an "E" string soldered to the tip terminal. The phone plug can be plugged into the jack and pulled through the side of the guitar. Easy easy work without tying anything.
Smooth playing. Bravo.
Love those last licks.
Playing swamp music, on the "swamp thing".
One suggestion. Place the washers, nuts, whatever on the line you are using to fish the pots through the whole. This way when you fish it through the nuts and washers are waiting to slide down the dental floss onto the pots.
I just used the suction cup technique while decorating to fill fine cracks with a glue and paint mix. It's looking good.
Put the washer then nut on the string ready to drop on when you pull the pot through the hole ?
Very nice sounding guitar. Glad you were able to get its hum taken care of. Though I wish it had nicer looking pickup rings. The orange golden top is a beautiful color. Thanks
Hi Mr. Ted. I live your work. Your videos are really inspiring and helpful!
Maybe next time - if you’re ever using the string technique again - make sure the nuts and washers are already on the string so you can easily pull the string to keep the pot in place and slide the washer and nut right over top👌🏾
*love😒
That jr is gorgeous ❤️
Hey Ted, were I to do it, I'd slide the washer and nut over the dental floss. That way you can hold the pot up in place when you start threading the nut. Less worry of dropping it into the body. (it's how I fish BX wire or flex conduit into a box doing remodel work).
Selmer - I have two Selmer amps here awaiting recapping and general servicing.
A Selmer Treble'n'Bass 50 head and a Selmer Truvoice Concord 8 combo.
They're waiting 'cos I'm waiting for an eye op.
Binocular vision is a must for tidy soldering ...
Selmer had a store in NY I owned a Selmer Clarinet and also bought sheet music there.
When he mentioned Selmer my first thought was brass and wind instruments too. I played a Selmer baritone in middle school band.
True! Selmer is very famous for their saxophones. 👍
Andre and Henri Selmer, both clarinetists, got their start in France making clarinet reeds and mouthpieces. Andre played in American orchestras and established a store in NYC for their products. In the 1920s they bought out Adolph Saxe,'s Paris-based business.
I'm sure I remember Selmer PA amps n speakers in the 70's
@@neilmacke4039, After watching "Stuart UKguitarampguy" repair a Selmer amp on TH-cam, I did a little research into the company; Hilton Valentine, the guitarist for the Animals (may he R.I.P.) said he used a Selmer amp, and not a Vox, on House of the Rising Sun.
Always educational and entertaining!
I have ALWAYS thought about cutting out backs or installing a ZIPPER around the binding... kinda of zip-lock binding!! I think your's is a fine option. (I use fishing line instead of thread, and heat-shrink with drinking straws. Fishing line because, well, if I get soooo angry with the re-insertion madness, I can always use the whole rig as either a weight or bait.)