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1964 Hofner 164 II

Year: 1964
Brand: Hofner
Model: 164 II
Class: Guitar
Scale: 24
Owner: Jeff Hewitt
Status: In Studio.

This was yet another ebay guitar. It was being sold for parts, but I thought was salvageable. The finish on the body was severely cracked from what I can guess was heat/climate damage.
IMPORTANT: Do not store you're guitars in an uncontrolled climate (garage, shed, attic, etc).

Fortunately the neck seems to have escaped this fate.

After stripping the tuner hardware and a good cleaning, the neck was looking good.

Then I cleaned and rebuilt the original open back tuners. I prefer to keep original parts where ever I can. They may be old, but they still get the job done.

The headstock logo's silver finish had worn off to a cream plastic color. It was refinished to the stock silver.

The major decisions on this project would be what to do with the body.

I thought about a total refinish in another color, but the neck has the same finish. This would mean matching paint with the neck or refinishing the neck as well. I decided on repairing the stock finish as best as I can. I glued anywhere the finish had chipped off or started coming loose. I wet sanded the guitar with 800 paper until the cracking in the finish was smooth. Then the body was clear coated and sanded between coats. This preserved the original look of the guitar and smoothed out the finish.

As for the electronics, they were completely stock and intact. After a bit of cleaning, everything but the neck pickup worked fine.

After looking further at the neck pickup, it was apparent by the multiple coil breaks it just need to be rewound.

Since the electronics were untouched, I figured I should do a wiring diagram from it.