I found this instrument recently and have done some work to clean it up. It plays really well. I have been over the entire instrument and here are my comments...

1. I dressed the fretwires and most of the fine lines on the wires are gone...exception is the fretwire adjacent to the nut.

2. The fretboard - including the fretmarkers, are in near perfect condition. Neck has a seam down the middle that your thumb can feel.

3. The tuners are in really nice shape, the guitar restrings and tunes like a modern guitar.

4. I am not a big fan of built in "effects", but apart from a feedback problem at full volume, the effects are working.

5. I do NOT know the actual manufacture date of the guitar, these instruments had Serial Number stickers (mine is gone)

6. Guitar is marked "West Germany" on the headstock and on the tailpiece.

7. When I found the instrument, the neck pickup had problems. (Not sure if it has a broken wire or a worn out magnet.) I have a buddy who has a cache of New Old Stock Hofner parts. (he bought a bunch of Hofner parts from Kapa guitars in the early 1970's) Pickup is not a perfect fit (it is about 5mm narrower then the stock pickup surround), but it is NOS German made by Hofner and was and old catalogs suggest it was an option for custom orders. Original pickup is included if you want to try to get it repaired.

8. Latches and Hinges for hard case are good, interior is good. This period hard case is hard to find.

9. Guitar weights SUB 5lbs