So what d'you think holds a double bass neck in its mortise? Hide glue can be very strong indeed, depending on how it's made and applied. As it happens, the hide glue used by Hofner can fail - which I've seen at first hand as I have a lovely 1950s Hofner President 6 string guitar - but it is readily repaired; and many stringed instruments built the traditional way have some glue joints intentionally made with a weaker glue so that they can be taken apart for maintenance.
As for "budget model" - 1950s and '60s Hofners were beautifully made instruments - far better constructed in my opinion than most of the contemporary "big two" American brands. They acquired the "budget" label because in post-war Europe, when Germany was getting back on its feet, they were all that could be obtained at anything like an affordable price. US imports were rare, and attracted huge import taxes. Then, in the '70s, '80s and '90s used prices of German guitars (in Britain at least) were very low (but to put it in perspective I now kick myself for not buying up those £100 US Telecasters and LP Juniors...).
For those interested in some German pornography, I recommend Gordon Giltrap's book on Hofners. I actually own the sunburst mid-50s President pictured in the book (signed by GG himself) - and it is a lovely guitar, much better-made than my contemporary ES125, which is a plain, plywood box.
With apologies, firstly for taking the thread (slightly) off topic, and secondly for going on about those six-stringed things!
