Hofner

Allan Holdsworth (Beat Instrumental 1979)

"After that first guitar I got a Hofner Cello guitar and put a pickup on it. That all came from seeing this guitarist in a pub who’d really impressed me with the idea of electric guitars.

In the meantime, however, there had been problems with gear. Having run out of bread Allan had had to sell his Gibson and had foolishly let a friend accept responsibility for keeping up the payments on the Strat. When Allan sold his Gibson he was guitarless as the ‘friend’ had not kept his promise and the Fender had been repossessed!

Unlikely though it may sound the next guitar was a Hofner Colorama with a bent neck and a broken truss rod! But perhaps we should skip that and join him again when he’s playing with Hiseman.

"After the Hofner I was able to get another S.G. but that one was made when Gibson were going through a rough patch and although it sounded nice it was rather badly made, a narrow nut and a pretty bad joint on the neck.

Allan Holdsworth (Guitar Player 1980)

Allan’s second guitar was a Hofner f-hole acoustic, which he played through a 15-watt amp. In a year’s time he progressed beyond that guitar’s capabilities and talked his parents into buying him a Fender Stratocaster. Within six months he sold the Strat and bought a cherry Gibson SG Standard, which he later replaced with a SG custom played through a Vox AC-30.

Allan Holdsworth (steveadelson.com 2000)

TCG: Tell us about your guitar evolution.

AH: I started out with a regular steel string flat top at a young age. Then I got a Hofner. I think it was called a "President." Later I put a pickup on it. My father’s friend built me my first amplifier. I used to love going to his place and watch him solder and such. This got me started in my interest in electronics. When someone lent me a Stratocaster, that was it. I couldn’t believe it. It sounded like the Shadows, or Hank Marvin who was a huge hero to me. I bought a Strat and used it enthusiastically for about six months till I tried a Gibson SG. It changed me again. I sold my Strat and played SGs for about a decade. Later, I did experiment with Strats again but with humbucker replacement pickups. I liked that sound. In 1972, I recorded with a trio called Tempest using an ES-335. I later used the SG with Tony Williams’ Lifetime Band.

The Reluctant Virtuoso (Guitar World 1981)

Having exhausted the always intriguing topic of Holdsworth’s technique - a subject, by the way, that bores him to tears - we move on hurriedly to the area of guitars and related equipment. This also induces instant boredom for our protagonist and, skipping the genealogy of his guitars (which includes a Hofner acoustic, Gibson SG Standard, Gibson SG Custom and Fender Strat in roughly that order), we jump to the latest.

"I have two working Fender Strats and one that’s just being finished off. They’re all made from various combinations of necks and bodies which I can’t remember at the moment, although one’s made from all DiMarzio parts and pickups. I use DiMarzio PAF’s on everything, in fact they just sent me some nice black ones, because I have a white guitar and the cream-colored ones didn’t match. All my fingerboards are ebony [he has them flattened also] except for this last one which has a maple fingerboard. It’s different but I’m gettin’ used to it. I’ve been experimenting with different body woods and I’ve formed some definite theories about how they affect the sound but I want to check them out before I embarrass myself. I’m still using the same amps - [Norlin Lab Series for chording and Hartley-Thompson for soloing-the latter only available in U.K.] and the same basic effects [MXR Noise Gate/Line Driver, various volume pedals, discrete echo from the studio board]. It’s just that everything sounds so much better no w and I get so frustrated because I want to put some of these noises on tape."

Mike Pachelli Show (video transcript 1991)

MP: Let’s talk about some of your instruments, basically. What was your first guitar then?

AH: First guitar was this old, it was kind of like an old classical guitar, but it did have steel strings on it, and then after that my Dad got me an f-hole guitar which is a guitar I played a year or so - it was a Hofner, and then I put a pickup on it and I spent it my Dad who was into building amplifiers just started getting interested in amplifiers then. He built that, then I saw this guy who had this Fender Stratocaster which I fell in love with so I tried this Fender Strat, my Dad got it – well signed for it – so I could make the payments on it. And then about 2 months later I saw, I played an SG and that was it from then on, I was completely in love with this SG. I got this SG Standard, later I traded it for an SG Custom. I basically stayed with that guitar right the way through until…Tony Williams.

Allan Holdsworth - Jazz/Fusion Guitarist (Musicguy247 2017)

R.V.B. - The technical manuals are about 2" thick. I can understand that coming from a musician. Let the recording techs work it. What was your first real good guitar?

A.H. - The first real guitar I got was a Hofner President. It was an acoustic guitar. Then I got cello style jazz guitar. I got a pickup for it... that my dad put on. After I shortly got fed up with that, I got a Fender Strat. It was really a great blue Fender Stratocaster. I saw to this out of town musician, who was a really good musician, but I never really knew who he was. He played an SG, and I really liked the sound he was getting. So I sold my Strat and got an SG. I played an SG for years, and years, and years.

R.V.B. - Did you find that the thin neck on the SG was easier to play that the Strat.

A.H. - The Gibson I had was an SG custom. I had an SG standard at first, but I later traded it up for an SG custom. No - the neck was like a baseball bat - it was huge. There was nothing skinny about that neck. I had it re-fretted with big frets. I ended going back to a Strat style guitar because I liked the longer scaling... 25 1/2.