Hofner mandolin

[John Rosett]

I saw an old Hofner mandolin for sale today. It's kinda like the 545 models, but had regular shaped bound F holes, rather that the "cat's eye" sound holes. It had a fine-grained spruce top-I couldn't tell if it was solid or not, and curly maple back and sides-again, not sure if they were solid. It had a slotted peghead, but without the decorative carving, a zero fret, and a radiused rosewood fretboard. It has a poorly repaired heel crack, and no bridge, so it's a big gamble if the neck repair would hold once it was strung up. They wanted $150 as-is. Any opinions or info on this model? Thanks.

[wdkirkland]

Interesting to me. I have a Hofner Mandolin (with the "F" style sound holes and not the "cats eye" shaped ones. I have no idea how old it is and would love to find out more about it. Do you have any more info on these Hofner Mandolins?

[Dragonflyeye]

A year ago, I bought my first mandolin, a (new) bright red Hohner A-style, bound F-hole cheapie - a laminate top, accoustic/electric. Fretboard isn't radiused. I think I paid all of $200. Since then, I've gotten a solid-top Eastman 605A (oval hole), but still think that Hohner sounds surprisingly nice. So did my 2 teachers. It has a dryer, woodier sound than the Eastman, and even though it's an F-hole, is somewhat quieter than the Eastman. I was told by sales staff that Hohner only recently started making mandolins, guitars, etc., and don't even see mandolins listed on their site, so maybe it was short-lived.

[Bill Snyder]

Dragonflyeye, you do see that this thread is about Hofner mandolins and not Hohner don't you. Hohner is still in business (good harmonicas) and their stringed instruments are made in China or Korea. I am pretty sure Hofners were mass produced in Germany.

[sjors]

Also Hofner is still in business, making quality guitars (classical and electric) and violins.

[Dragonflyeye]

My bad, Bill (and others). That's what I get for using my old, not-so-great glasses while my new ones are being repaired!