The Steel Guitar Forum

Hi guys,
im a non lap player but my friend brought aroud a lap steel the other day it was a hoffner 6 string ..it had a vol pot and tone pot at the very end of the guitar and a weired input hole it was yellow sunburst in color the tuning pegs are white ivory..and the strings are flat wound ...could sombody please shed some light on the steel and tell me the value of it....

kindest regards
mark dole

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Höfner lap steels were made in Germany by the same company who is more famous for their harmonicas and guitars. The only ones I've seen here in the USA seem to have been bought in Germany by GI's and brought home.
In a different thread on the Bar Chatter forum, we determined that John Lennon played a Höfner lap steel on the Beatles song "For You Blue".
It's impossible to give even a guess on the value of such an instrument without more information (what's the condition? what model is it? does it come with a case?). I haven't seen enough of these guitars here in the USA to be able to guess how much it would be worth.
You could contact someone like Gruhn Guitars and have the guitar appraised.

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Brad's Page of Steel:
www.well.com/~wellvis/steel.html
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars

Hofners aren't quite so rare in this part of Canada as Brad suggests they are in the States. One turns up every few months in Toronto. All the ones I've played have had a 24" scale and either yellow pearloid or sunburst finish; they usually come with a rather basic soft shell case. No one could confuse the sound with that of a Rickenbacker or Fender, but they do have a nice light, "springy" tone. I believe Stephen Miller used one on his version of Magnetic Rag on his "Dobrology" CD. In this area, they sell for prices similar to mid-range Valcos, say $200-$300 U.S.