Polish This Turd Vol 1: Hofner Shorty

[Alex Kenivel]

So I have this Hofner Shorty I bought a few years ago as a travel guitar. My intention was to take it on Hawaii trips but I ended up using it a lot more than fly vacations because of its convenient size - that's about the only thing this guitar has going on, besides it's lovely Chunky Boi neck. I take it to work every now and then, to parks, road trips, etc. It isn't a joy to play but it's nice to be able to have a guitar to take places, so why not try and make it more playable?

Pic of when it was new:

I had to wipe layers and layers of dye off the fretboard when it arrived. It has neck dive, the tuners aren't consistent as you twist them, the pickup is bright and thin, the bridge and other hardware look a step up from plastic, intonation is horrible, and there's nowhere to anchor your hand except on the bridge.

After finding a pretty cool blog about somebody upgrading their own Shorty, I decide to give it my own shot.

I had already moved the bridge further back away from the nut by using the long screws on either side of the bridge to help get this guitar to Gibson scale and help intonation.

Today I pulled the tuners apart and added Teflon tape to make them more sturdy. They were pretty loose, same as blog dude and he said Teflon tape around the tuning shafts helped tuning stability.

After that I swapped out the pickup for the G&B Bridge pickup that came stock in my PRS S2 Standard. Blog dude said there wasn't a hole drilled for a ground wire to the bridge but there is one in mine.

For grins I decided to set some aluminum foil in the cavity of the guitar and rest the pickup and electronics inside while plugged into an amp. Blog dude did this to his and I was in the fence about it until I tried a little experiment. I had plugged my Spark Go into the guitar to verify that I had wired it up correctly (first try, yay!) but was getting a high pitched hum from my helping hands/LED magnifying viewer so I decided to grab the foil and I'll be damned if it didn't dull the noise considerably.

I used tacky glue to adhere the foil to the wood.

 

[Alex Kenivel]

Strung up with some NYXL 10-52. I had a set of nickel wound 9-46 on the guitar previously but they didn't provide enough tension for this scale. So far the tension is nice with this set but I'll have to readjust in a few days after it settles.

Now time for an anchor block. Blog dude used foam of some sort but I want to use wood to hopefully add a little more weight to the body of the guitar to alleviate some of the neck dive.

Need to cut it, which I do with hand saws and then sand by hand, then I drilled some holes for those bridge set screws to fall into.

It was a happy accident that the set screws fit in snug enough in the holes I've drilled to keep the block in place.

I need to sand and shape it some more but it feels pretty comfy while playing. It doesn't really help the neck dive.

Thats all for tonight.

 

[FuzzyAce]

I need to sand and shape it some more but it feels pretty comfy while playing. It doesn't really help the neck dive.

Yeah, Douglas Fir is pretty light. You could always try a heavy hardwood like red or white oak, or Ipe even?

 

[Alex Kenivel]

Yeah, Douglas Fir is pretty light. You could always try a heavy hardwood like red or white oak, or Ipe even?

You obviously know your wood better than I do x10000. I'm just using scraps from my pile. Should we play a game of name that grain? This hand rest adding weight would have just been a slight add on bonus. Maybe sticking some old unused hardware inside to weigh it down?

I noticed that I mounted the pickup into the pickup ring backwards so I switched it back around this morning before heading out to work. The bridge is starting to tilt forward like blog dudes was..

 

[Achilles]

GREAT STUFF AK!

My China companion in the 2000s.

 

[Sascha Franck]

Fwiw, I have a Shorty, too. For me, the biggest downsides are:

a) The distance between bridge and end of body. Makes the bridge "slip" way to the right, so the picking hand position is not exactly comfortable.
b) The lack of any arm rest.

Hence, I was always thinking about building some kinda attachable frame (think Yamaha Silent Guitar) but haven't found a solution.
The guitar itself is actually sounding fantastic, very round and thick, so I may have to think about it again instead of having it collect dust for another 1-2 decades.

 

[FuzzyAce]

You obviously know your wood better than I do x10000. I'm just using scraps from my pile. Should we play a game of name that grain? This hand rest adding weight would have just been a slight add on bonus. Maybe sticking some old unused hardware inside to weigh it down?

I noticed that I mounted the pickup into the pickup ring backwards so I switched it back around this morning before heading out to work. The bridge is starting to tilt forward like blog dudes was..
View attachment 24270

Epoxy some fishing weights in the wood block?

 

[Alex Kenivel]

Did a truss rod adjustment and readjusted the bridge height today, also worked on shaping the hand rest a little more with a hand file and sander.

The hand rest is stuck on with some blue tack for now. Was planning on velcro but I might just stick with blue tack (Har Har).

These tuners are crap. Under tension they are tough to make small moves and almost seem notched similar to tuning a classical instrument with wood tuners, tension and friction.

picking hand position/arm rest

100% main offenders right here. Right behind the neck dive and awkward sitting position if trying to sit standard (non classical). I'm weird and kind of like wrap around one piece bridges on non contoured bodies. Reminds me of an LP Jr. I had for a little while but my hands are huge and need somewhere to go!

GREAT STUFF AK!

My China companion in the 2000s.

View attachment 24271

And I'm still kind of kicking myself for not getting one of these instead. Headless guitars are really starting to grow on me, especially for this application. Do you still have it?



I'm hoping to at least have this guitar be good enough to carry as a backup for a jam if needed.

 

[Achilles]

Do you still have it?

 

[KHAAAAAAANNNNNNN!!!!!!!!]

GREAT STUFF AK!

My China companion in the 2000s.

View attachment 24271

Classic Holdsworth chord pose...

 

[Achilles]

Classic Holdsworth chord pose...

It's part of a warm-up routine that stretches the shit out of your fingers. Still use it today.

etc.

 

[Alex Kenivel]

A little more shaping of the hand rest and time for some paint. Used a can of spray I had laying around. I have a lighter blue I might hit parts of it with or some black, depending on how I like the color against the guitar when it dries.

First coat:

Second:

 

[Alex Kenivel]

I wasn't a fan of the clashing blues so I decided on some more paint on the handrest, some lighter blue and some metallic aluminum.

I didn't match the paint exactly but got it closer, added a few coats of sealer to finish it off.

I decided on stitching some fabric into the gig bag for a little extra protection but it makes the guitar fit a little too snug, a good time for a haircut!

Yes, I'm lazy and didn't take apart the guitar. It survived.

 

[Alex Kenivel]

Bottom liner sewed into the gig bag. I'm using fabric from the two soft/thick robes on which I was resting the guitar whilst working. The hood part is double thick and will cover over the headstock

Then my wife comes by with her superior sewing knowledge and scoffs at my single stitch, hooks me up with some better thread and a new technique for my top layer. Will work on that after a Cheerio break

 

[Alex Kenivel]

Top layer halfway on:

Top layer complete:

I spent $0 modifying this and it plays and sounds much better than it did. The pickup, wood, fabric, Teflon tape, etc were all stuff I had laying around. I don't understand people who throw $250 in parts into a $150 guitar.

Further issues I'd actually want to throw money at:
The tone pot causes the signal to crackle when turned down no matter how much contact cleaner I bathe it in. (this actually went away after a little while)

The tuners are still jerky under tension but they work well enough.

Minor niggles that I might want to address:
The neck dive still exists but it isn't dramatic. I wonder if I could find some lighter tuners and if it would help.
Some tonal variation would be cool so maybe a switch for coil split.
The notes around the 12th fret make contact the higher frets a little more than I'd like

 

[Alex Kenivel]

Trip #1 is over. Really wanted to change these tuners so I ordered a set of Wilkinson Ez-Lok that arrived home before we did, so I swapped them on today.

They're a little heavier, causing the neck dive to go from minor to significant, but tuning is a breeze. They seem much stronger, too, without so much peg wobble.

Still using the same strings because I'm cheap and they weren't.

 

[Alex Kenivel]

The tone pot causes the signal to crackle when turned down no matter how much contact cleaner I bathe it in. (this actually went away after a little while)

I've more or less figured this out: the crackle is only heard when using my travel rig, namely the Lekato WS-70. I brought a regular cable and no crackle with that.