{{Short description|German guitar manufacturer}} [[File:Gordon Tobing (c. 1960) crop.jpg|thumb|Indonesian artist Gordon Tobing using a ''Hoyer Special'' in the 1960s]] '''Hoyer Guitars''' is a German manufacturer of guitars.
==History== thumb|Arnold Hoyer "herr im frack", 1950's Established in 1874 by Franz Hoyer in his workshop in Schönbach (now Luby in the Czech Republic).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hoyer Guitars {{!}} Bringing the past to the future |url=https://www.hoyerguitars.com/about/#h |access-date=2025-03-27 |website=www.hoyerguitars.com}}</ref> Hoyer began by making lutes and zithers, and then changed to classic and folk guitars. The company was continued by his son Joseph Hoyer. In 1945, the family left Schönbach and settled in Tennenlohe near Erlangen in Bavaria, Germany. Joseph Hoyer's son Arnold reorganised the Hoyer company and the brand soon became known for its good quality. Among the most notable users of the Hoyer guitar was English guitarist Eric Clapton, who received an acoustic Hoyer guitar for his thirteenth birthday, but the inexpensive steel-stringed instrument was difficult to play and he briefly lost interest.<ref name=GUI>Bob Gulla (2008) [https://books.google.com/books?id=DL3I9qQWdeAC&dq=eric+clapton+hoyer&pg=PA40 Guitar Gods: The 25 Players Who Made Rock History] pgs. 40–41.</ref> Two years later Clapton picked it up again and started playing consistently.<ref name=GUI/> Following Arnold Hoyer's death in 1967, his son Walter took over the Hoyer company and focused more on electric and folk guitars.
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == *{{official|https://www.hoyerguitars.com/}}
Category:Guitar manufacturing companies Category:Companies established in 1874 Category:German brands Category:1874 establishments in Austria-Hungary Category:Musical instrument manufacturing companies of Germany Category:Companies based in Bavaria