Hofner Neck Resets

I have reset a lot of Guitar Necks... a common vintage guitar that shows up a lot for neck resets is Hofners. I love vintage Hofners! They use a simple neck joint that is prone to slipping, this isn't actually a bad thing as it makes it easy to fix. They also used hide glue on their older instruments, so a bit of steam and the necks come off (fairly easily), unfortunately there is always complications that can make them a pain...

Now the biggest problem I encounter with Hofner necks is unfortunately botch jobs... people notice the necks are slipping and decide to just fire screws into the joint. I've seen various examples of this. There is a couple examples bellow. Sometimes the screws actually don't achieve anything and some people like to hide them... so I am trying to steam a neck off and can't get it to budge just to find a hidden screw somewhere... it is a nightmare! Please if you are reading this, put down the screws and the screwdriver and phone your local luthier.

Now what I do, in contrast, is only use hide glue (this is best for repairs, if needed at a later date). I make sure the joint is solid and at the correct angle, quite often have to rework the joint and the angle to make sure it is correct. I never ever use screws or anything other than wood and a good glue joint.

Here is a collection of photos of Hofners that I have worked on and reset the necks on. There is various photos, some before the reset some after...