The Hoyer company began in 1874 when Franz Hoyer, son of  a German luthiery family, opened his own workshop in Schönbach/Egerland, Germany. He started making lutes and zithers but soon added classic and folk guitars to the line up. His son Joseph Hoyer carried on the company. Following the war the Hoyer family found themselves now within the Czechoslovakia (after the borders had been redrawn). Along with many ethnic German instrument makers the family left Schönbach and moved to Tennelohe near Erlangen in Germany.

Arnold Hoyer, Joseph Hoyer’s son, reorganised the HOYER company and soon the brand was gaining a reputation for quality. In the late 1940s Hoyer launched their iconic ‘Herr im Frack’ and ‘Solist’ archtops to great acclaim. The 1950s saw Hoyer introduce electric guitars - first hollow bodied and then solid body. The 1960s saw an increasing emphasis on steel stringed folk guitars and electric guitars. In 1967 Walter Hoyer took over the company following the death of his father Arnold Hoyer.

Walter Hoyer left in the 1970s but Hoyer carried on with new owners until eventually production was stopped in 1987.

The brand was revived in the 1990s by a German musical instrument wholesaler, who made the high end models in Germany alongside more affordable and far Eastern made Hoyer instruments. Hoyer was sold again in 2005 and again in 2009 and is now owned by a UK Company, Ritter Brands Ltd.

Source: Hoyer website