A 1950s Hopf 320 Super Deluxe archtop guitar in natural finish. Owned and played by Randy Bachman, who has sold 40 million records worldwide as a member of The Guess Who, Bachman-Turner Overdrive, and as a solo artist. A beloved instrument out of Randy’s meticulously-assembled collection of mid-century German archtop guitars. To quote Randy, “This is a high-end, super duper guitar.”

The Hopf company produced archtop guitars like this one through the 1950s and 1960s, some of which were built by Dieter Hopf himself while others were crafted by a number of other luthiers. There are no markings on this one to help us determine which the case may be.

Regardless of the true maker, the body shape itself is distinctively Hopf: a wide 18.5 inch lower bout and the upper coming in at 17 inches, with a sharp cutaway that begins at the 17th fret and really gets going at the end of the fretboard. This gives it supreme upper fret access as well as an instantly-identifiable look. This wasn’t simply a visual motif, as Randy notes.

“Talk about hips –– the bigger the hips, the shallower you can make the guitar and have it still sound loud.” And loud it is.

The headstock overlay is black with engraved white “Hopf Original” branding and six tuners with plastic buttons. A bound 21-fret rosewood fretboard with pearloid inlays (with a red one at the 12th) on a five-piece maple neck. A carved spruce top with flamed maple back and sides. Laminated rope binding on the front with an outer layer of faux tortoise shell, one strip of faux shell on the side, and only tortoise shell on the back. Adjustable ebony bridge with six individual saddles (one missing) roughly intonatable by re-positioning the fret material in one of four slots. Fine-tuner tailpiece. Faux shell pickguard.

Includes hardshell case.

PROVENANCE From The Collection of Randy Bachman

Guitars & Instruments, Randy Bachman