NGD: Hoyer 50603

GAD

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From https://letstalkguild.com/ltg/index.php?threads/hoyer-50603.209281/

IMG_1076.jpeg

I've wanted one for years and this is the first one I've ever seen for sale. Got it from Germany. Someone's disconnectd the tone switch so I'll take a look at that in a bit, but it's a pretty cool guitar. Very well-made while also being quite quirky. Can't wait to open it up and see what's what inside.
 

Rambozo96

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From https://letstalkguild.com/ltg/index.php?threads/hoyer-50603.209281/

IMG_1076.jpeg

I've wanted one for years and this is the first one I've ever seen for sale. Got it from Germany. Someone's disconnectd the tone switch so I'll take a look at that in a bit, but it's a pretty cool guitar. Very well-made while also being quite quirky. Can't wait to open it up and see what's what inside.
Wouldn’t surprise me that it’s a very well made guitar. We are talking with of world experience and build here. Wasn’t this the Hoyer that’s been said to have inspired the S-300? That would beg the question how on earth did one of these end up in the states for a designer at Guild to have been inspired by it?
 

GAD

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Wouldn’t surprise me that it’s a very well made guitar. We are talking with of world experience and build here. Wasn’t this the Hoyer that’s been said to have inspired the S-300? That would beg the question how on earth did one of these end up in the states for a designer at Guild to have been inspired by it?

Correct.

No idea - maybe the designer was German, or went to Germany, or knew someone who had one.
 

HeyMikey

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Sweet. Congratulations! Really looking forward to the review.
 

jp

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Congrats, Gary! I'm glad it finally came through. Looks like quality craftsmanship. I'm a sucker for ebony fretboards.
 
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GGJaguar

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Congrats! Glad it arrived safely! Quirky guitars can be fun... or maddening. Hope it's the former. :)
 

SFIV1967

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Someone's disconnectd the tone switch so I'll take a look at that in a bit,
Interesting, so your one has a Treble/Rhythm switch (3 way?) and a Tone Selector switch (3 way?). Both common Hoyer used parts also on other Hoyer models.

1634809133273.png 1634809054220.png

By the way, both the guitar and the case look to be in great shape! Congratulations!

Some other 50603 I saw in pictures had a 5 way rotating selector with stove knob, also visible in a bass catalog picture.

1634809534603.png 1634809668855.png

And they had a rotating "Balance" knob on the horn as well:

1634809751813.png 1634809713571.png

So there were obviously differences maybe in time of the builts.

Some 5042 basses with the same body shape had an additional "Balance on-off" switch and some didn't...:

1634810695696.png

1634811046405.png 1634811231470.png

Ralf
 
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GAD

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The way it was explained to me was that there were 2-3 guys building electrics who pretty much built what they felt like so there’s little consistency even within the same model. Thus figuring out what is “correct” can be a challenge as there is a wide variety of appointments.

It also adds to the quirkiness which is kind of fun.
 

Nuuska

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Plus it leaves you free to explore your own ideas to your hearts content without having to worry about originality.
 

SFIV1967

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That's interesting, I'm going to ask him.

The seller also has another rare Hoyer:

Ralf
 
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Nuuska

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That's funny, I'm going to ask him.

The seller also has another rare Hoyer:

Ralf

I especially like him writing : "old wood" - these days that is something.
 
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From https://letstalkguild.com/ltg/index.php?threads/hoyer-50603.209281/

IMG_1076.jpeg

I've wanted one for years and this is the first one I've ever seen for sale. Got it from Germany. Someone's disconnectd the tone switch so I'll take a look at that in a bit, but it's a pretty cool guitar. Very well-made while also being quite quirky. Can't wait to open it up and see what's what inside.
Hi GAD!

I have the same guitar. Bought it in 1987/88. It was used and came with the original Hoyer case with orange plush lining. It also has the original Hoyer humbuckers. As a young and fairly ignorant guitar player, I did the mistake of replacing the humbuckers with newer pickups around 1992. Those are still on the guitar, but I regret not having the originals on it. From what I can see, your guitar and mine are more or less identical. The volume knobs on mine cracked and fell off a few years ago.

430F632D-D8F1-4228-A902-2C5A1AA7E239.jpeg
 
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SFIV1967

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I have the same guitar. Bought it in 1987/88. It was used and came with the original Hoyer case with orange plush lining. It also has the original Hoyer humbuckers. As a young and fairly ignorant guitar player, I did the mistake of replacing the humbuckers with newer pickups around 1992. Those are still on the guitar, but I regret not having the originals on it. From what I can see, your guitar and mine are more or less identical. The volume knobs on mine cracked and fell off a few years ago.
Welcome to LTG! It's always great finding an owner of one, as they are pretty rare to find. I have seen a few and all are somehow different... Are you in the US or in Europe?
The case is a real Hoyer case but Hoyer never made a fitting case for that model, so they simply sold some that were close enough.

Great looking piece of wood used for the body of your 50603!

Both GAD's and yours are definitelly from the same vintage, probably just a few serial numbers appart. They are from the first run of those guitars and I'd date them around 1975.
EDIT: Looking at your guitar, your guitar is slightly younger than GAD's one. GAD's one has no pickguard yet, they came a bit later as far as I found out, still might be from the same year or maybe 1976 or so.

Oh, and yes, the Hoyer knobs had a great tendency of cracking, I was also looking to find some black knobs, but no chance...And I'm in Bavaria... (that's not my guitar below, I have no Hoyer currently, just an example picture)

1642889646269.png

And one aditional hint: Be extremely careful with the two switches, the plastic levers of them also break very easily and are totally impossible to replace. But that shape of them is like a signature feature of those Hoyer models...

1642890054899.png

One more question regarding the pickups.
Do you have any recollection how they looked like? I'd assume like this:

1642890339345.png

Not like those, this was the 1976/1977 split design, where a rotating switch was used to split the 3 bass from the 3 trebble pole pieces and recombining them between the bridge and neck pickup to get more possible tones out.

1642890403318.png

Ralf
 
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