Höfner Serial Numbers Lookup

DATING HÖFNER GUITARS BY REFERENCE OF SERIAL NUMBERS

Prior to the early 1970s, Höfner instruments were not assigned serial numbers. However, some instruments manufactured before that time may have a stamped or written date of production on the back of the headstock. These particular guitars were sold by the English company Selmer and the Dutch company Van Wouw.

Where to find the serial number

To find the necessary information, examine the back or the top edge of the guitar’s headstock. For semi-hollow and acoustic models, check the label located within the upper f-hole.

To determine the production year of your Höfner guitar, you can use Höfner Serial Numbers Decoder or refer to the explanation of the dating system PROVIDED BELOW.

DECODER coming soon… see tables

All decoders:

Höfner history in short

Karl Höfner was born in 1864 in Schönbach, Bohemia, which was then a part of Austria. After completing his studies with Anton Schaller in 1887, he founded his company as a luthier in Schönbach, where his high-quality instruments quickly gained popularity across Europe. In 1919, Karl’s sons, Josef and Walter, joined the company, and exports rapidly expanded, solidifying Höfner’s reputation worldwide as a premier producer of fine stringed instruments.

In addition to violins, cellos, and double basses, Höfner began manufacturing guitars in the 1930s, with the first models featuring curved tops and bottoms and steel strings. Following World War II, the company relocated first to Möhrendorf in Bavaria in 1948, and then to Bubenreuth, where it opened in 1950. Höfner quickly regained its place in the global market, with its product line expanding to include models like the President, Committee, and the now-famous Beatle Bass (500/1), all of which were designed and developed by Walter.

The rising popularity of rock ‘n’ roll music in the 1960s led to increased demand for Höfner guitars, which became the company’s primary export product. In addition to archtop models, Höfner began producing semi-acoustic, solid body, and various bass guitar models. Due to space constraints in Bubenreuth and increased demand, a second factory was built in Hagenau.

Höfner’s market share suffered from competition with American guitar manufacturers, leading to the closure of its English distributor, Selmer. Gerhilde Höfner, Walter’s daughter, and her husband Christian Benker ran the company from the 1970s to the 1990s, a time during which competition from Japan and China posed significant challenges for Höfner’s independence. As a result, Höfner was sold to the British company Boosey & Hawkes on January 1, 1994.

Boosey & Hawkes also owned Roderich Paesold, a bow manufacturer in Bubenreuth, which was merged with Höfner in 1995 as part of its “Instrument Division.” However, both companies remained independent in terms of production and sales. In 1997, Höfner moved from Bubenreuth to its second factory in Haguenau, which had more modern production facilities, and a new building was added.

In 2003, “Instrument Division” was sold to the British investment consortium “The Music Group” (TMG), and at the end of 2004, Höfner (as part of “Instrument Division”) was sold to Klaus Schöller and his wife Ulrike Schrimpff. Klaus, who had worked at Höfner since 1989, became General Manager, and Ulrike became Chief Financial Officer.

In 2009, Höfner opened a branch in Beijing, which it owns entirely. As one of the few companies, the Chinese government granted Höfner an export license. Instruments produced in Beijing have equivalent quality to those produced in Germany, thanks to the constant exchange of personnel between the two locations.

Serial numbers

Between 1953 and 1971 Höfner produced a series of guitars for the British distributor Selmer Company. These models were often similar to the Höfner standard range but usually had small differences in detail.

The ‘Selmer’ guitars were given serial numbers, usually stamped on the back of the headstock, or typed on a label that is visible in the F-hole.

Henri Selmer, founder Selmer Entreprise, Paris – Ben Davis, founder Selmer Company, Londen Henri Selmer Ben Davis Guitars distributed for Europe, the US and other countries did not have a serial number until 1976.

The Dutch distributor Van Wouw also used a serial number system which deviates from that of Selmer.
This can lead to confusion when a Van Wouw appears where Selmer guitars have been distributed.

Van Wouw serial numbers were stamped in the workshop on the top edge of the headstock. The list below is therefore not by definition the year of manufacture, the numbers were stamped after the instrument was imported.

Import year	Serial numbers
1960	1921, 2116, 2224, 2531
1961	3204, 3215, 3267, 3351, 3596, 3894, 3959, 4072
1962	4506, 4748, 5253, 5284, 5390, 5486
1964	7095
1965	7598
1966	8573

Some Höfner dealers placed their own label on the back of the head with numbers. These are not ‘Selmer’ serial numbers.

Selmer serial numbers

The tables below with Selmer serial numbers are incomplete and not accurate. The series are based on delivery documents that have been preserved.
These documents may have been inaccurate.

You can consult the tables(*) to determine the production date of a Höfner guitar, but you also have to take other things into consideration, such as the pick-ups and pot meters.
Also on these elements are manufacturing data that can lead you approximately to the production date of the guitar.

As you can see in the tables, there are many overlaps (duplicates) of the serial numbers. The different models can therefore carry the same serial number.

* Information is obtained from authentic Höfner documents.

Archtops and Semi Acoustic Guitars

YEAR	Committee	Committee Electric	Committee Thinline	Ambassador
1958	2564 – 2950
1959	2564 – 3270
1960	3271 – 3677		1100 – 1175
1961	3721 – 3744	1182 – 1257	1176 -1237
1962	3745 – 3792	1258 – 1326	1238 – 1305
1963	3793 – 3954		1355 – 1411
1964	3965 – 4108	1327	1420 – 1517
1965	4109 – 4177		1518 – 1653	50 – 177
1966	4178 – 4189	1617		178 – 273
1967	4190 – 4247			274-360
1968	4248 – 4258
1969	4259 – 4264

YEAR	President	President Thinline	President 66	President 66 Thinline
1958	3480 – 5100
1959	5101 – 6319
1960	6320 – 7967	600 – 681
1961	7968 – 8002
1962	8003 – 8125	682-787
1963	8126 – 8308	788-962
1964	8355 – 8727	963 – 1059
1965	8728 – 8976	1135		1 – 143
1966	8977 – 8986			144 – 273
1967	8987 – 8996		1 – 124	274 – 360
1968	8997 – 8999		125 – 280
1969	9000 – 9002
1970	9003 – 9026
1971	9027

YEAR	Senator	Senator Thinline	Senator 66	Senator 66 Thinline
1958	4404 – 7800
1959	7801 – 9301
1960	9302 – 11400	1088
1961	11401 – 11702	1089 – 1227
1962	11703 – 12079	1228 – 1309
1963	12080 – 12680	1310 – 1404
1964	12726 – 13516
1965	13517 – 13674		100 – 194	1 – 90
1966	13675 – 13768	1660	195 – 325	91 – 151
1967			326 – 405	152 – 189
1968			406 – 459	190 – 191
1969			460 – 468	192
1970			469 – 485
1971			486 – 569	193

YEAR	Club 40	Club 50	Club 60	Club 70
1958	255 – 420	479 – 650	1 – 180
1959	421 – 820	651 – 1158	181 – 588
1960	821 – 1534	1159 – 1779	589 – 1296
1961	1535 – 1674	1780	1297 – 1607
1962	1675		1608
1967	4190 – 4247			1 – 147
1968	4248 – 4258			148
1969	4259 – 4264			149 – 154

YEAR	Congress	Verithin	Verithin 66	Violin Guitar 459
1958	5809 -7800
1959	7801 – 8800
1960	8801 – 9917	– 350
1961	9918 – 10958	351 – 699
1962	10959 – 12278	700 – 1238
1963	12279 – 13371	1239 – 2223
1964	13422 – 14331	2260 – 3313
1965	14332 – 14891	3314	1000 – 1190
1966	14892 – 15141		1191 – 1293	1 – 170
1967	15142 – 15366		1294 – 1388	171 – 200
1968	15367 – 15456		1389 – 1398
1969	15457 – 15471		1399 – 1404
1970	15472 – 15517		1405 – 1408
1971	15518 – 15523		1409 – 1411

Acoustic Guitars

YEAR	Vienna	Flamenco
1958	468 – 700	4527 – 5100
1960	– 849	– 5433
1961	850 –	5434 – 5688
1962	981 –	5689 – 6270
1963	1189 – 1556	6271 – 7074
1964		7111 –
1965	1763 – 2014	7567 – 7888
1966	– 2289	– 8338
1967	– 2414	– 8463
1968		– 8511
1969		– 8556
1970	– 2424	– 8571
1971		– 8575

Also a way to find out the estimated production year, (in the case of an electrical model) is to look at the potentiometers.
Unscrew the plate worth the potentiometers on its mounted loose, and turn it over. There are a variety of numbers on the bottom of the potentiometers. 128KΩ of 250KΩ with a number.

With the potentiometer decoder you can decipher the manufacture date of the potentiometer.

Solid Body Guitars

YEAR	Galaxie	Galaxie	Colorama I	Colorama II
1961			– 499	– 891
1962			1154 – 1299	892 – 1700
1963	– 3147	824 – 1156	1300	2154 – 2902
1964	3318 – 4437	1157 – 1348	944 – 963	2953 – 3638
1965	4438 – 4537	1349	964 – 979	3639
1966	4538 – 4637		980 – 1001
1967	4638 – 4737		1002 – 1012
1968	4738 – 4759
1969	4760 – 4858
1970	4859

YEAR	Super Solid II	Super Solid III	V3
1961	– 650	– 1209
1962	651 – 773	1210 – 1838
1963	774	1839	2039

Bass Guitars

YEAR	Committee Bass	President Bass	Senator Bass	Verithin Bass
1959			1 – 199
1960			200 – 601
1961			602 – 643
1962			644 – 822
1963	– 272	– 168	823 – 947	– 256
1964	281 – 321	179 – 430	968 – 1868	309 – 540
1965	322 – 353	431 – 514	1869 – 2058	541 – 658
1966		515 – 538	2059 – 2294	659 – 664
1967			2295 – 2351	665 – 670
1968			2352 – 2375	671 – 672
1969			2376 – 2388	673 – 674
1970			2389 – 2397	675 – 679
1971				680 – 681

YEAR	Artist Bass	Solid Bass	500/1	500/2
1960				– 1020
1962	329 – 1160	231 – 617		1021
1963	1161 – 1949	618	– 311
1964	1950 – 2250		352 – 1830
1965	2251 – 2275		1831 – 2511
1966	2276 – 2301		2512 – 3064
1967	2302 – 2306		3065 – 3170
1968	2307 – 2309		3171 – 3263
1969	2310 – 2311		3264 – 3347
1970	2312 – 2313		3348 – 3429
1971			3430 – 3463

YEAR	Bass 6 500/10
1960	1 – 204
1961	205

1975 – 1984

From	To	Serial numbers
12-05-1975	19-09-1979	401600 – 403600
27-11-1979	08-10-1980	208624 – 210510
08-10-1980	19-05-1981	210511 – 211740
19-05-1981	14-10-1981	211741 – 212358
14-10-1981	23-03-1982	212359 – 213188
23-03-1982	17-12-1982	213189 – 214283
17-12-1982	05-03-1984	214284 – 215676

1986 – 1999

During this period, the Hofner instruments received a new six-digit serial number.
The first digit stands for the year of construction, the second and third for the month, the fourth and fifth for the day of the month.
The last digit is the sequence number of the guitar that was made this day.
This means that a serial number starting with eg 8 in 1988 or 1998 has been built.
Example: 805107
8051007 is the 7th instrument built on 10 May, 1988 or 1998.

2000 to present

In the year 2000 the first digit was replaced by a letter.
A=2000 B=2001 C=2002 D=2003 E=2004 F=2005 G=2006 H=2007
J=2008 K=2009 L=2010 M=2011 N=2012 P=2013 Q=2014 R=2015
S=2016 T=2017 U=2018.

This system can therefore continue until 2023 (Z).
The letters I and O have been skipped to prevent confusion with 1 and 0.
Examle: M06085
M06085 is the 5th instrument built on 8 June, 2011.

The production date of instruments from the 50s, 60s and 70s are usually older than the serial number indicates.
After it came from its own storage or from Höfner, the serial number was placed by the distributor/dealer.
For example, an instrument with a serial number that was stamped in January 1960 was already produced in 1959.

FAQ

How can I tell what year my Höfner guitar was made?

Prior to the early 1970s, Höfner instruments were not assigned serial numbers. However, some instruments manufactured before that time may have a stamped or written date of production on the back of the headstock. These particular guitars were sold by the English company Selmer and the Dutch company Van Wouw. To determine the production year of your Höfner guitar, you can use the serial number decoder or refer to the explanation of the dating system.
How do I find Höfner guitar serial number?

To find Höfner serial number, examine the back or the top edge of the guitar’s headstock. For semi-hollow and acoustic models, check the label located within the upper f-hole.

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Höfner Serial Numbers