1972 Hofner adjustable neck

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Steven Wilson
Posts: 103
Joined: Sun Jan 08, 2012 3:11 pm
Location: Eastern Shore Maryland

1972 Hofner adjustable neck

Post by Steven Wilson »

I have an old Hofner flat top in the shop and am trying to understand the adjustable neck. Any help would be great. It's just a friend's old beater but I would like to make it playable.

Thanks
Steven
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hofner 003.jpg
Keith Howell
Posts: 52
Joined: Sat Apr 07, 2012 3:54 am
Location: Cape Town South Africa

Re: 1972 Hofner adjustable neck

Post by Keith Howell »

The hardware is a really horrible system. Tightening the screw that you see through the metal feral pivots a hook system which hooks onto a flat plate screwed to the underside of the neck joint. This pulls down on the plate and holds the neck into the mortise.

Usually what happens is the neck moves and the owner tightens the screw some more which buckles the plate causing more movement which encourages more tightening and so on until something breaks.

I repaired a friends guitar as follows:

Unscrew the the bolt in the feral and unhook the neck. Look into the mortise and you will see what is best described as a piece pipe with the pivoting hook thing inside.

Carefully cut a slot either side of the pipe down to a bit below the feral. I then drilled a few small holes in under the pipe and chiseled it out. I then made up a template and routed a mortise in the neck block. The neck block was really huge allowing a fairly substantial mortise to be routed.

I then removed the plate from the neck and made up a tenon with some scrap maple which I biscuit joined, using the slot already in the underside of the neck, to the neck.

I then installed a bolt on system as described by William Cumpiano.

I then glued a piece of maple on the outside of the joint to cover the tenon and shaped and stained it to match the neck. A few shots of clear lacquer over everything and bolted it all back together.

The guitar immediately had an improved tone and tuning stability and went from a beater to a real player.

Unfortunately I never took any photo's of the process but I hope my description makes sense.
Steve Senseney
Posts: 673
Joined: Fri Jan 06, 2012 2:45 pm

Re: 1972 Hofner adjustable neck

Post by Steve Senseney »

If you have photos of this joint disassembled, please post.

I am curious as to how this was supposed to work!
Keith Howell
Posts: 52
Joined: Sat Apr 07, 2012 3:54 am
Location: Cape Town South Africa

Re: 1972 Hofner adjustable neck

Post by Keith Howell »

Never took any Photo's myself but have a look here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/harvesterw ... otostream/ and Here:http://lint.org/index.php/articles/71-h ... neck-reset

It is supposed to work by the hook thingy engaging with the metal plate. The hook is pivoted in the piece of pipe and swings forward as the screw in the ferrule tightens.

A really horrible arrangement. When I contacted Hofner about it they said to remove the contraption and devise a bolt in system, possibly use some screws through the fret board into the massive neck blocks and covered up by position dots!

It would work better than the hook thingy but was somewhat inelegant which is why I went with the Cumpiano bolt in system.
Steven Wilson
Posts: 103
Joined: Sun Jan 08, 2012 3:11 pm
Location: Eastern Shore Maryland

Re: 1972 Hofner adjustable neck

Post by Steven Wilson »

Thanks for the links Keith. I was able to find disciptions on the web Which I couldn't get my head around. The pics really help. Now I can't wait to get this apart.

Thanks
Steven
Steve Senseney
Posts: 673
Joined: Fri Jan 06, 2012 2:45 pm

Re: 1972 Hofner adjustable neck

Post by Steve Senseney »

Thanks...

This was not really a joint that was meant to be adjustable. It was a joint that was easy to disassemble.
Steven Wilson
Posts: 103
Joined: Sun Jan 08, 2012 3:11 pm
Location: Eastern Shore Maryland

Re: 1972 Hofner adjustable neck

Post by Steven Wilson »

Ok, that was easy. I think it's been astablished this is a bad neck joint, but short of adding shims I am wondering about the logic of such a easily disassembled joint. It's almost a colapsable guitar. I didn't think carry on luggage was that big of a concern in the 70's. I think I'm going to do some bolt-on conversion so my qustion is-Do I plug the hole or leave the ferrel and bolt in to confound the next guy?
Steven Wilson
Posts: 103
Joined: Sun Jan 08, 2012 3:11 pm
Location: Eastern Shore Maryland

Re: 1972 Hofner adjustable neck

Post by Steven Wilson »

Forgot to add this pic. It was signed by someone but I cant tell which way is upsidedown.
Attachments
hofnerneck 002.jpg
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