hofner basses anyone?!

fingerstyle · #1 07-03-2005, 05:30 AM

I'm currently hiring my double bass from school, but I have less than three months to go until I complete high school and go onto music school in Melbourne. When I leave I will be double-bass-less (but i have electric basses in abundance!) and I have found 'Hofner' basses for sale cheaply at many places.

I realsie this is obvioulsy a cheaper company, and the basses are made in China. But, does anyone know anything about them thatwould be helpful to me?? Good or bad points, anything at all!

Thanks!

JimmyM · #2 07-03-2005, 06:04 AM

Paul McCartney plays a Hofner electric bass. I know nothing of their DB's, but I thought all Hofners were made in Germany.

Aaron Saunders · #3 07-03-2005, 01:03 PM

Older Hofners were made in Germany...I haven't played a recent one, but I just came into possession of a 1950's one. I don't know anything about the newer basses, though. You can find plenty of info on the one I have in my "Finally, (soon) my own DB!" topic.

fingerstyle · #4 07-03-2005, 10:55 PM

thanks guys. yeah i knew the older ones were made in germany, and the brand itself is a german owned brand, but these ones are made in china.

is there anything wrong with chinese made double basses?

Aaron Saunders · #5 07-04-2005, 08:13 AM

Hmm...is there anything wrong with chinese basses in general? Probably not. However, cheap chinese plys DO have a pretty bad rep around here, and generally for a good reason -- it can take hundreds of dollars in order to get them playable, and after all that, you could have just gotten one of the cheaper Strunals or a bass from Bob Gollihur that sounds better and is well constructed for approx the same cost.

That said, Hofner is worlds away from Cremona and their ilk, so the complaints most people have with the regular chinese plys might not apply at all to the newer Hofners.

mav · #6 07-05-2005, 06:38 AM

A friend of mine has a hofner DB, made in china, he bought it and got it set up by Ben Puglisi here in Melbourne, Ben can make any bass sound and play great. I played it, sounded fine, i think it has a spruce top.
Ben's got a good website, you can see a hofner DB there i think there around the $2k mark with setup/Strings.
Cheers