Hofner Files for Bankruptcy

[pjmuck]

Another iconic manufacturer on the outs. But don't worry, I'm sure Gibson will step in and make it all better...not!

https://guitar.com/news/industry-news/h ... ankruptcy/

[Matt R.]

They are still going to produce instruments. They are not going out of business at this point

[ch willie]

Voodoo economics, bad financial decisions, bad times, over-producing, under-producing? I don't know why they've busted, but I can't imagine Höfner going out of biz. Macca is an icon, and he and that Höfner are images burned in our brain. That brand can be gold again if they listen to someone who knows the modern market and keeps the quality.

Mine is a beast of a bass, so much more versatile than I ever thought it could be.

[Jeroen]

You can only sell so many violin basses. Not sure how big and relevant they were as a manufacturer of violins and classical guitars, but as far as their electrics go the violin bass really is their backbone. Their Verythin models and Club Bass for example, not so much. And their solidbody offerings from the 1960's were supercool but they don't sell any cool reissues of those, let alone anything properly new.

[ch willie]

Jeroen, 100% correct.

Their marketing is terrible because they have no one with any idea of getting their name out there. Hofner's answer has been the cheaper basses. They're great sounding basses, but not Macca sounding, at least not to my ears.

They've lost opportunity with other players, Tina Weymouth and Curt Smith (Tears for Fears). Both still have pop music cache.

Can you imagine, if they were smart, what they could do with this image of Stu Suitcliffe, with his James Dean hair and sporting that huge bass like a boss.

And yung'uns would play Hofners if the company had the sense to make some modern models--and getting the damned word out through social media and guitar site ads.

[Agent00Soul]

Would they even have stayed in business this long without the Beatles connection? According to a book a read about 20 years ago, even Rickenbacker might not have lasted through the 60s with out it.