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.
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 🎶🎶🎶
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)
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.
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. 🤗
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 :)
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.
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 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.
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.
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...
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.
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
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!!!!
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
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.
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" ;)
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 !!!
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.
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.
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!
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!
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.
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 !
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.
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.
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!
(Forgive me, I know nothing of playing, just love your videos hehe) The last setting while you were playing had me slammed into the movie From Dusk till Dawn bar heh. Awesome video
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.
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.
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 UA-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.
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.
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!
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👌🏾
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.
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.
I was surprised you couldn't get those old pots out and then decided to cut a hole. I might have tried crushing the pot with some pliers or cutting off the post to make it small enough to fit. I usually work only on my own guitars so I'm willing to cowboy stuff. Also I'm just learning, and I'm learning a lot from your videos. Thanks
Hey Febreze makes these clip-on things for in your car, I have installed those inside stinky guitars and since Febreze has an antimicrobial agent in it it really gets rid of the smell pretty quickly
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).
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
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.
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 🎶🎶🎶
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.
"The mahogany was rebellious". That one comment is worth the price of admission.
I will sleep soundly tonight knowing that somewhere in the world competence still reigns
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
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.
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.
That new harness was a thing of beauty
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)
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!!
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.
Enjoyed that immensely especially the les Paul Jr.aside.
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
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 love the trick where you heat the pot shaft and mush the knob on... brilliant.
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 :)
I always learn something by watching your video's. Thanks for sharing.
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.
That thing sounds incredible! Surfs up, baby
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!
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!
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..
"Awkward Physicality" is definitely my next band's name
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 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.
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.
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
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.
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.
That Honer is a really cool sounding guitar! I learn so much about guitars and lutherie from your videos- thank you!
finally!
He fixes a guitar that fits woodford's sasquatch frame! What a guy!
Thank you for sharing my friend :)
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've seen those pickups in old Greco Les Paul clones before
That exactly what I was thinking.
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
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.
Great video, very professional work, thanks for sharing.
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" ;)
I’m glad to see the chord or floss method to get the whole electronic back..
I remember Selmer Amplifiers and Guitars ... (I'm in the UK).
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 !!!
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.
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.
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.
Really neat guitar. I especially like the sound of the bridge pickup with a touch of echo. Fun project to watch.
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!
Pretty good tone from the Hofner!
The surf tone is killer!
Never gets old watching your vids!
Always educational and entertaining!
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.
Man that junior was awesome!
Definetely!
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!
I got one of them-'62 Hofner President blonde! All original.
That jr is gorgeous ❤️
Love those last licks.
Playing swamp music, on the "swamp thing".
Great watching you work. Thanks
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.
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 !
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.
Love that twangy grove you had at the end. CCR ish! Keep up the great content!.!
Really cool watching you work.
I love it! What a cool and funky guitar.
OMG I wasn't expecting this when I pressed play!!!!
The pickups look like Maxon's from Japan which went in Ibanez, Greco and other brands.
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.
Learning so much from your videos dude, thank you for sharing 🙏
Man, groovy pickin' Ted!
Your videos always make me happy, thank you
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 .
You know he had to be thinking "oh thank God I get to cut a hole into it" 😂
That Hofner sounds great!
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.
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!
Loved those "SWAMP BLUES".....Nice Job!
(Forgive me, I know nothing of playing, just love your videos hehe)
The last setting while you were playing had me slammed into the movie From Dusk till Dawn bar heh.
Awesome video
RE: crack -- "If there's ever any doubt? There is no doubt" - Robert Deniro in Ronin.
TV Jones sells plastic tubing to R&R the pots. Great job Ted.
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.
Wow that's a lovely one. Sounds great too.
Smooth playing. Bravo.
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
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 UA-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.
Splendid !
Good to see you rescue that nice old Guitar ... 😁
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.
Guten Tag, Meister! 😉 Greetings from Germany and thanks for all the extremely informative videos. I learn so much every time. 👍
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!
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😒
sounds so sweet
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.
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.
I was surprised you couldn't get those old pots out and then decided to cut a hole. I might have tried crushing the pot with some pliers or cutting off the post to make it small enough to fit. I usually work only on my own guitars so I'm willing to cowboy stuff. Also I'm just learning, and I'm learning a lot from your videos. Thanks
Hey Febreze makes these clip-on things for in your car, I have installed those inside stinky guitars and since Febreze has an antimicrobial agent in it it really gets rid of the smell pretty quickly
👍 Great as always.👍
I charge an extra $100 “arch top fee” for having to deal with this...I feel your pain!
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).
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
Love that junior!