60's Hofner Club Bass

[Steve 1100]

My 60's Hofner Club bass has a few issues:

the pickups do not have proper output

pick guard is missing

original control plate (electronics) are shot (but I made a substitute V-toggle-tone control plate)

and worst of all, the neck is a bit twisted and coming loose from the body.

It looks like Allparts has replacment electronics and pickups (pickups look like they would work, although they dont list any size specs, and they have an extra mounting tab), so I could freshen up the electronics for around $100.

My real concern is re-setting the neck. Over the years, the truss rod has been maxed out, to compensate for the string height due to the neck coming loose. This probably helped put the wave in the neck.

Long story short, is there a point to trying to re-set a neck that already has issues on this bass?

[JLS]

Depends on how twisted the neck is; if--and that's a big IF--that could be dealt with during a refret, it might be worthwhile, but you're looking at multi-hundreds of dollars, and the bass has other issues. Think about this, before you spend money on parts for a possible piece of wall art.

[Bassamatic]

I had the same problem with mine. later I found out that this is most likely caused by using strings that are too heavy.

The thin Hofner necks are designed for low tension strings, such as the TI Jazz flats, etc.

Anyway, I put mine in the closet un-strung for 20 years, and took it out again and - - - the neck was perfect! Maybe letting it sit for a while will help it relax? One repair shop said that he could put it in a vise to do a reverse twist over a period of time.

Good luck with it - it is worth saving.

[Pilgrim]

Try light gauge strings and see if the neck will correct FIRST. If it does, then worry about the other stuff. Nothing else matters if it's not playable due to a bad neck.