Höfner guitars with active electronics

Already in the year of 1955 Höfner began to supply guitars with active electronics. They were solid state preamps fed by a battery of 1,5 volts.

As a new electronic circuit was offered an electronic tremolo with a controllable frequency from 8 to 15 Hz, and an equipment for reproduction in stereo was offered, which means two pickups with control panel and stereo cable.
This equipment could be built into every type of jazz guitar. In addiotion, you could buy a stereo amplifier with 2x6 watts.

Since the year of 1967 new and improved electronic circuits have been built into the guitars. They were made by the factory of Pix.
When semi-acoustic instruments were no longer in demand, these electronics vanished.

The next generation of guitar electronics was more complicated.
In some instruments an acoustic filter was built in, which retained the frequencies above 1800 Hz and reduced the lowers.
All controls and the output plugs were 100% screened by the principal of the Faraday collector.

New electronics were developed for the Reference Pro and Reference Special models.

(abridged taken from M. Naglav: Höfner-Guitars - Made in Germany, p. 153)