My Rockwood LX90 rehabilitation project

  • Just got a used Hohner Rockwood LX90 from Goodwill auctions today. My first electric guitar.
    • Black body, white scratch guard plate
    • Some dings on the bottom of the body
    • Not sure whether neck plate and backplate are original (no branding)
    • Neck is in good shape, including frets. Think the neck/fretboard wood is maple.
  • Overall looks and feels good, BUT
    • 1/4 inch input jack wire was loose. the socket was inside and I had to unscrew to put it back; fortunately the hardware was there but one wire was detached.

Questions:

  1. Could solder the wire on. Looks like I would have to do soldering with a new jack anyway. Any recommendations: solder current part or get a new one?
  2. Could get a new prewired pickguard plate as a pull out - drop and screw in solution. But would intrinsic value decrease with replacement electronics? (Obviously haven’t heard it with amplification, but seems to work, holds strings in tune, has tremolo bar. Looks like it was used for a while and probably sat in a closet for a while. Tone knobs were sticky, volume knob only one ever used?)
  3. Where to look for a serial number, if it has one? (I may have figured this out soon - just got it delivered today, unpacked, tuned the existing strings, discovered the loose plug socket, put it in the closet to deal with later.)

About me: I am an elderly guy with essential tremors just getting back with guitars, doubt I will ever get past beginner/student stage skill-wise. Part of the fun is rehabbing an inexpensive guitar. I once repaired a classical guitar (from Goodwill) which had been strung with steel strings, and the bridge had come loose and previously repaired with nuts and bolts to hold it in place. I replaced the tuning pegs, added an electronic preamp and piezo under bridge pickup, and glued a new bridge on it. Gave it to a family member. In the end, it had a nice acoustic sound. Don’t expect the Hohner LX90 to require that much work.

Hey RJK, welcome to the my.hohner forum.

The LX90 is an inexpensive model, I saw one on EBay today for EUR90. These appear to have been manufactured from the mid 1990s onwards, and the list I have gives the price as DM420 in 1998, so I don’t think you should worry about its intrinsic value decreasing if you need to replace any parts. If you’re handy with a soldering iron, best just fix the loose wire yourself.

I’m not sure where the serial no. is located, but they’re generally visible. If you can locate it and post it here, we may be able to date the instrument more precisely,

cheers
Steve

Thanks, Steve,

I will look for the serial number and my soldering stuff this weekend.

I only paid about $50 USD plus tax, so it is a good value. The “Buy Now” auction price was around $130 USD. Will post photos once I get it operational and clean off some of the dust.