Hoyer Special Thinline 1960's

The Hoyer company was founded in 1874 and is known for their high-quality instruments. During the 1950s and 1960s they produced a wide variety of archtop models, of which the Special was the top model with its hand-carved solid spruce top, maple sides and hand-carved maple back.

The Hoyer Special is an 18 inch archtop like Gibson's Super 400, but this particular guitar is shallower than the average Special, comparable in depth to a Gibson Byrdland. The fact that this guitar is slightly shallower naturally makes it significantly easier to handle than a full-depth guitar. The guitar is equipped with two single coil pickups with a three-way switch and volume and tone controls per pickup. In the two outer positions, only the neck pickup is activated, but with two different sounds. The middle position activates the bridge pickup in addition to the neck pickup for a brighter sound, and the guitar is also equipped with a vibrato tailpiece for even more tonal variation.

This Hoyer was built in the early 1960s and is in very good condition. The guitar has suffered some playwear over the years, including two repaired cracks on the inside of the top. Furthermore, the paint shows crackle here and there, and there are some dings and paint chips on the binding. However, the guitar is still very good considering its age, and with its considerable size and striking design, it is certainly not an everyday appearance!

photos of: Actual Instrument