What's this guitar ?

[ecca]

I love the old cello guitars, I cut my teeth on one.

[davec]

OK. Looks as though the body/neck/headstock were made by Hofner (or the same factory Hofner were using) and the tailpiece, headstock trim and pickguard were brand additions for Lux. I still think the Hofner pickup is a later addition.

It weren't arf complicated back in the '50s

DaveC

[ecca]

Yep the pick-up was added later.
There is indeed a great similarity between all the old German guitars.

[scmitche]

Hi Ecca,
It's definitely East German and these are really difficult to identify because the shared workshops they were made in were not allowed to put labels or the craftsman's name inside because of the Communist rules of the time. They typically used European woods because that's all they had but luckily there are worse woods than pine and maple.

I have a similar jazz guitar which I got in 1962 second hand, the neck is similar and of the same headstock shape but instead of the contrasting colour it has a simple rosewood veneer with a lozenge shaped inlay marked Ambassador and on the back of the headstock it is stamped "Foreign". The body of mine is solid close grained pine with similar German carve and the sides and back are solid flamed maple with a cutaway. When I got the guitar it had the same Hofner pickup but with an inbuilt sliding volume control, I believe these pickups were offered by Rose Morris as an add on. I took the guitar to Music Ground 20 years ago and they gave me to believe it could be a Hoyer guitar but I've never been able to prove it. I believe the person who invented the carve profile went to work for Rickenbacker. All in all it's hard work trying to pin these guitars down but the plus side of mine is the wonderful sound the down side is that I have smallish hands and the neck has a deep profile.

Regards,
Steve