TRYING TO SOLVE A 40 YEAR OLD MYSTERY VIA THE INTERNET

The guitar I purchased in 1964 was DEFINITELY listed in the shop window as as GALAXIE. The bright red colour and long top horn as in the images above are just as how I remember it. However, I don't for the life of me recall there being all those slide switches or thumbwheel controls. The tremolo arm was not like the thin elegant arm as shown, but a heavy chromed bar. I seldom used the tremolo and as it was such a eyesore, I removed it.

Now look at the photos below. This shows a Pre-Galaxie (1963) model called the Hofner Super Solid 3. There's that bloody awful looking tremolo arm I mentioned above! I now recall that my Galaxie had a lot of knobs and the pickup selector switch moving in an arc looks familiar also. The other feature I remember for certain was the tremolo cover was just like as in the images below with a curved plate and not angled off as in the Galaxie shown above.

This brings me to two possible conclusions? Either:

(1) The Hofner guitar I owned was a hybrid between the two models shown albeit LABELLED AS A GALAXIE in the shop window. If so, it is probably as rare as 'Rocking Horse Shit' and now worth a fortune and reading below what I eventually done to it makes want to scream or:

(2) The music shop ripped me off by selling me a 'Hofner Galaxie' that was in fact a Hofner Super Solid 3.

When I moved over to playing the bass in 1968, the Galaxie (if it was) seldom got used. After 4 years of constant use the paint finish had started to deteriorate and was down to bare wood in some places. I then changed the body shape (trying to 'TELECASTER' it) by stripping it down to just the bare body and rounding off the top horn. I then rubbed it down and painted it white.

I made another scratch plate to match the new body shape and painted that blue. This custom guitar was fitted with two of the original Hofner pickups, had a volume and tone control and a lever type pickup selector switch.

I gave it to friend to look after when I came to the Canary Islands in 1986 and she passed it to her eldest son who was learning to play the guitar. Its not worth a monkey's toss now!

What more can I say...  Can someone please kick my arse for doing such a stupid thing :-(

Many thanks to Steve Russell and his Vintage Hofner website. Now I'll NEVER KNOW what I really owned...