Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I found this at a local store today. Any one know what model this is?

It looks like it is a Hofner 4578 VTZ

Kind of like a Gibson Trini Lopez, very cool!

jps wrote:Kind of like a Gibson Trini Lopez, very cool!

Thanks! Yeah,that is why I got it it. I like those florentine(?) style cutaways. Here is some more info I found about this guitar Hofner 4578(Link)

Here is a vid of a similar Hofner 4578 so you can hear some of the sounds(Fuzz at 1:20).This one has built-in Wah-Wah too!

It looks a lot bigger in the vid than in the photos, which make it look LP/Yamaha sized.

There are so many cool off-brands from the '50s and '60s. We can thank the Invasion for that, too!

They came from Mars?

That photo gives me guitar inspiration...

jingle_jangle wrote:That photo gives me guitar inspiration...

Haha,I can't wait to see



This photo shows the size of the Hofner

It looks like the bigshot of the group.

How is the build quality of the Höfner?

I think It is pretty a well made guitar.This one has survived 40 Minnesota winters unscathed except for some finish checking.It has a beautiful spruce laminate top and maple laminate back.It play's well with low action and all the electronic and effects work perfectly. The only things it is missing is a tremolo spring and a truss rod cover. Musikkeller in Germany is sending me a new old stock spring. The truss rod cover is harder to find but a friend sent me a template for a Hofner TRC so I will get one made. Here is the 1967 catalog. It sold for $475 in 1967. I paid $599 for it(with the Guild case). Dang inflation. Oh wait a hardshell case was 64.50 extra in '67 so it would have been 539.50 altogether.

What is the plate on the back for? That's not the jackplate, is it, up on that part of the body?

jps wrote:What is the plate on the back for? That's not the jackplate, is it, up on that part of the body?

It's the cover for the battery compartment(for the active electronics).

Cool, antique active electronics! Telefunken, Siemens? How many tubes are in it?

My first cool guitar was a Höfner 459 - the guitar version of the Beatle Bass - which had the same effects built in. Kinda cool.