The company became involved in production for the German army in World War II producing wooden crates and soles for boots.

The company initially moved to an ex-work camp at Möhrendorf in 1948, but soon became involved in the development of a new township and factories in Bubenreuth.

The daughter of Walter Höfner, Gerhilde, began working for the company in the mid-1950s taking an active part in all aspects of management.

The exceptions to this have been: EMMC based in NJ was the distributor for bass guitars for many years until Boosey & Hawkes bought Höfner in 1994.

In 2005, Höfner's United States distribution was picked up by Classic Musical Instruments (CMI) in Kenosha, WI.

He designed or co-designed, with Klaus Schoeller and Graham Stockley, many key Höfner models, managed overall quality, and increased visibility of the company (especially from 1998 to 2012).

He was responsible for negotiations and creation of the Ed Sullivan Series basses, Guitar Hero and Beatles Rockband connections.

Rob Olsen along with Graham Stockley in the U.K. (and later based in Germany at the Höfner workshop) were the key players in exposing and bringing the brand to desired status by creating quality features and models, artist- relations and signings of visible artists (officially with Paul McCartney), Cheap Trick, Bon Jovi, Tesla, Wilco and many others.

They also achieved rapid dealer growth and the creation of the ad campaigns during the USA Höfner brand launch years.

[3] The company is most famous through its association with Beatles songwriter, singer, and instrumentalist Paul McCartney, who is a longtime user of the Höfner 500/1 model hollow-body electric bass, first manufactured in 1956.

By 1965 McCartney had begun using a Rickenbacker bass in the studio—but he did bring out his 1961 model for the "Revolution" promo film in 1968, and for the documentary Let It Be the following year.