Part 7 Dating Hofners.

There is no information available for Hohner product dating in my references for electric guitars. My references tell me that Hohner did start manufacturing in Japan in the 70's so your deduction of a manufacturing date of 1970 based upon the serial number starting with 70 may very well be valid.

Matthias Hohner, founded the company in 1857 to mass produce harmonicas. In 1893 the accordion was produced. In 1986 a US Division was created which included guitars (probably imported from Asia Source: Active Musician Dating Hohner Guitars See HohnerUSA website. A seven-digit serial number beginning with six, for example, indicates 1996; a seven-digit number beginning with seven denotes 1997; an eight-digit number beginning with 98 denotes 1998, etc. A “KC” prefix was introduced on Korean-made instruments in 1997, designating instrument made in. Hohner bass serial numbers?? Is there a web site? I bought one used a while ago; Headless Fretless 2 emg PU's active. I refinished the synthetic board (round would damage) and put flat wounds on. Missing battery door but hey. If you own a vintage Hohner accordion, or are interested in buying or selling one, you’ll no doubt be interested in establishing its precise age and provenance. Since 1930, every accordion which left our factory bears a serial number and we maintain an extensive library, documenting shipping date and destination of every single instrument.

As stated in Part 4, there are numerous guitars about containing serial numbers that predate those prior to 1958 which are still available in Hofner’s own records. The only satisfactory way to establish the year of production during this early period is by an internal examination as described in Part 4. This can be a very rewarding exercise as not only the year of production can be found but also the actual day and month.

Detailed below are some serial number and corresponding dates as extracted from my own guitars.

Model	Serial Number	Body Date
Committee	2129	31/08/54
Committee	2536	31/10/57
Committee	3745	20/03/61
Committee	3932	12/08/63*
Committee	3950	25/06/63*
President	2277	24/09/55
President	5549	18/03/59
President	7293	22/03/60

* It can be seen from the Committee numbers, anomalies occur even in the simple task of co-ordinating serial numbers and dates.

In the following tables I have used a little initiative to arrive at the probable serial numbers that are shown against the years before 1958. These are relatively accurate but would have to be verified by physical inspection.

Model	First Serial Number	Last Serial Number	Year	Remarks
Committee	2000	2141	1954
2142	2282	1955	Pre truss-rod models
2283	2325	1956
2326	2564	1957
2565	2950	1958
2951	3313	1959
3314	3677	1960	Truss Rods Introduced
3678	3745	1961
3746

Hohner Serial Number Lookup