1959 HOFNER Model 457/E3 Cherry Sunburst, Excellent, Original Hard

Super Rare 1959 Hofner 457 a.k.a. President With Three Pickups
1959 Hofner Model 457/E3
This super rare 16-inch wide, 2/14 inch deep electric archtop weighs just 4.80 lbs. Two-piece book-matched, spruce top with "Höfner" decal in gold with black trim on bass side. Two-piece, book-matched, highly flamed maple back. Maple sides finished in black. Six-ply binding on the top, six-ply-ply binding on the back and single-bound f-holes. Two-piece maple neck with mahogany center strip (neck finished in black), a nut width of between 1 5/8 and 1 11/16 inches, a scale length of 25.50 inches and a wonderful thick profile. Headstock with mother-of-pearl and tortoiseshell face, separated by two sets of black and white lines. Three-in-a-line open back strip tuners tuners with round edge rectangular bone buttons. Silver and red metal label "Ahlfors Musik / Malmo" on back of headstock, secured by two small pins. Two-layer, black over white plastic, 'bullet-shaped' truss-rod cover secured by three screws. Two-layer pearloid over black plastic heel-cap with original white plastic strap button on neck heel. Single-bound rosewood fretboard with 22 original medium jumbo frets and inlaid pearl block position markers. Specific-shaped, single-layer mother-of-pearl pickguard with black edging, secured by a single bracket and two pins. Three Hofner, height-adjustable single-coil white bakelite covered '101' pickups with outputs of 6.36k, 6.33k, and 6.47k. Standard Hofner control panel with single volume control and three two-way 'slider' switches for "Rhythm/Solo", "Bass" and "Treble". Hofner 'teacup' control knobs with ribbed sides and gold inserts on tops. In addition there are three two-way pickup selector switches between the control panel and the tailpiece. Six individual metal (fret-wire) saddles on height-adjustable ebony base and Hofner specific 'trapeze' style tailpiece with metal "KH" emblem in center and white plastic strap button. On the underside of the top, written in pencil, is the date of manufacture "25/11.59". This rare and unusual late fifties Hofner thinline electric was in a private collection of some twenty-three fifties and sixties guitars that we purchased earlier this year. When we first examined the guitar we noticed that the top binding was severely damaged due to the not uncommon disintegration of the multi-layer celluloid binding. We sent the guitar to Don Butler who is a renowned expert and restoration specialist of early Hofner's. He has successfully restored the binding using original materials from the late fifties that he specially acquired from the Hofner factory Germany. The result is quite astonishing with just a few very small surface cracks being visible in the lower binding. There are a few small and very minor surface marks / indentations on the body sides and a couple of insignificant surface marks on the top. Housed in the original Selmer (Hofner) four-latch, shaped tan tweed hardshell case with green felt lining (8.75). The action is low and the guitar plays effortlessly with a not dissimilar sound to a Stratocaster. (#1851)