What is it?

[alan cannell]

A friend of mine has cleared out his cupboard and came across this. He bought it secondhand in 1970 and just wanted to know more about it. Any ideas most welcome , at first I thought Hofner but the serial number doesn’t tie up and there’s no name.Here’s some pics...

[alan cannell]

Mystery solved by one of our friends over the pond. It’s a Selmer and sold for 18gns back in the late 50s early 60s , that was a lot of money in those days.

[Tony Russell Davis]

It's virtually identical to the late 50s Hofner Hawaiian Standard. Both companies seem to have produced guitars for each other's catalogues, I used to avidly read every Bell's catalogue that came out (annually?) and remember these listed as Hofner and as Selmer from time to time.
The p/ups, control knobs position and the bridge plate changed from time to time, some had the plate extended and the p/up mounted on it, but the body and headstocks were always the same shape. I think they called yours a Fuma p/up?
The additional p/up is Hofner, I'm sure, as having one in my parts box. The "tabs" are supposed to go along the sides of an archtop fingerboard (not on top) to make a floating neck p/up.

[alan cannell]

Thanks Tony , my friend is getting it all sorted by a Professional Luthier to restore it to its former glory. He has told me I can give it a play when done , so I’ll look forward to giving it a good test run. I know what you mean about the Bell catalogues , in fact I still have one with pound , shillings and pence pricing , ah those were the days....

[Tony Russell Davis]

Pounds, shillings and pence Alan? Yours was 18 guineas in the contemporary Bell's bible!