Höfner Pickups

A short guide to dates

This is a simple guide to the dates that various pickups were originally used on Höfner guitars. Some pickups were used for years on certain models, even when a new standard pickup had been introduced. Therefore the dates here are a general guide for the years when a particular pickup was mostly in use.

H517 "Black Bar" plastic. Used from 1957 up into early 1960. (Previously the bar type had a rosewood case and these are not now available.)
H518 "Toaster" type. Used from early to late 1960.
H510 "Cavern" type. Used in 1961 on the 500/1 Violin bass of that year.
H514 "Diamond Logo". Used in 1962 and into 1963. (Possibly as early as 1961.)
H511 "Staple" (no tab). Used from 1963 to 1965,
H511 tab "Staple". Used 1965 to 1967. These used a bigger pickup surround to accomodate the tabs. Guitars and basses were routed to take this type.
H513 "Blade". Used from 1967 into the 1990s.

Other pickups were used, often in small quantities, generally in the 1970s and 80s. We no longer have any stock of these and no plans to re-manufacture them.

All of the pickups we stock are used now on current or recent models and will also fit vintage models.