Höfner Galaxie Bass?

DWLANG · #1 03-20-2013, 10:08 AM

I've recently fallen in love with the Höfner CT 500/7 Verythin bass, and really like the playablity of the short scale.

I'm tempted by the Höfner Galaxie bass...the mint blue is so ugly and kitch that it looks cool:

http://www.hofner-guitars.com/electr...e-bass-ct.html

It's also very affordable!

Anybody out there in TB land have some insight?

(And while we're talking Höfner...are their pedals (tuner) any good?)

Rob Martinez · #2 03-20-2013, 10:10 AM

I have no info, but like you, REALLY love short scale basses. And Hofners too!!

And that blue is not ugly, IMO. It think it is retro cool!

DWLANG · #3 03-20-2013, 10:23 AM

"retro cool"

Nicely worded sir!

I'm assuming that for the price point ($399), it has the Ignition pups, not the decent German ones?

Rob Martinez · #4 03-20-2013, 10:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DWLANG

"retro cool"

Nicely worded sir!

I'm assuming that for the price point ($399), it has the Ignition pups, not the decent German ones?

Probably. I own two Icon basses and they sound great. Nice warm tone.

DWLANG · #5 03-20-2013, 11:08 AM

Hmmm...tempting (and affordable)

xUptheIronsx · #6 03-20-2013, 11:11 AM

that is actually the first Hofner that has made me not cringe...

DWLANG · #7 03-20-2013, 11:19 AM

How so ?

xUptheIronsx · #8 03-20-2013, 11:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DWLANG

How so ?

I just never got into the look/feel/sound of them. The feel and sound especially.

That one however looks like it would be more ..."substantial"...for lack of a better term. Hofners always seem like toys to me. Sort of like Danelectros, but I habe also met some Danelectros that I liked too...

Javaral · #9 03-20-2013, 12:39 PM

I have one and I love it. It's light, small (I usually go to band practice by subway so it REALLY matters), not as frail as those hollow and semi-hollow Hofner beauties and nails that classic Hofner sound (flatwounds required, of course). The way they balance whem I'm standing its just perfect. Tha fact that they are dirty cheap is just amazing: the neck is to die for, especially if compared with my 90s Peavey Milestone II (first bass) that I probably paid more for. Very very slim, though. If you love those huge Precision bass necks you will probably hate it.

My only problem with this bass so far is that both pickups keep sinking into the pickguard when I play with a little more agression. So once in a while I have to bring my screwdriver to practice. I think is an easy fix, but its kind of stupid as a design flaw.

**mjac28** · #10 03-20-2013, 12:54 PM

I have one and also love it I have some Labella Quarter rounds on it and to me it nails that vintage 60's sound if you are looking for that Hofner violin sound this is not it even with flats . I think the neck is not as thick as a P but not as thin as a J neck either great buy unfortunately they don't make the model with the pickup selector switches they don't even have the parts for that assembly so that's something to keep in mind when you look for one.

DWLANG · #11 03-20-2013, 01:03 PM

Javaral: You are so NOT helping my GAS problems...

Bongolation · #12 03-20-2013, 05:22 PM

Hello had these some time back for under $200, I think $169, but I'm not positive.

There were different production runs from China and Indonesia and nobody could tell me which these were.

Even Rob Olsen at Höfner couldn't give me any info on this lot, and nobody had actually seen them. Hello didn't have them yet.

I ordered one in blue essentially for a video prop, but the ones I saw pictures of on Google had guitar machines instead of bass machines on them, which is just unacceptable -- Danelectro BS. Even though I wasn't planning to use it as a primary instrument, I was getting cold feet over that and Hello was just useless about giving me a delivery time or any info at all, so I just blew it off. I just didn't have any room for marginal Chinese basses, if that's what this was.

Bongolation · #13 03-20-2013, 05:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DWLANG

I'm assuming that for the price point ($399), it has the Ignition pups, not the decent German ones?

I believe this was what Rob told me, another reason I blew it off.

Some cheap Höfner instruments actually do have the German pickups, and others have Asian cheapies. It's not clear which is which.

I bagged a couple of Chinese-built Höfner Colorama guitars a few years ago when they were blown out. There were two versions at the same price, a P-90 and a mini-humbucker. The mini-humbuckers were real German diamonds, but the P-90s were generic Korean.

**mjac28** · #14 03-20-2013, 05:37 PM

Mine has bass tuners? I think some of the vintage ones have the smaller machines. There were two different versions of the HCT one had the pickup selector switches and one that does not and they discontinued the first version with the selector switches and lowered the prices. I love the bass fit and finish on mine was above my expectations and it played very nicely right out of the box I put quarter rounds on mine because I like the way they sound and the bass doesn't have a lot of high end on tap which is not a bad thing overall a great bass and even bigger value with the price drop.

Bongolation · #15 03-20-2013, 05:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mjac28

Mine has bass tuners? I think some of the vintage ones have the smaller machines.

The new Chinese production ones also had them in the pictures I saw, tiny guitar gears like the old Beatle basses, but because I couldn't get straight answers on this about the sale lot, I passed.

If it had been Indonesian with actual bass machines, I would have gone for it, but nobody could tell me anything. The other problem was that they were short-scale, which meant $40+ for a set of flats, on a $169 instrument.

**mjac28** · #16 03-20-2013, 07:41 PM

Something is wrong because they should all be long scale? Mine is that's weird I have never seen one of the new ones in short scale?

Avalon · #17 03-20-2013, 09:28 PM

Are you sure you have the Galaxy and not the 185/ Artist?

I see the 185 marketed as the Galaxy all the time but I always assumed that this was an error on the part of the seller.

Bongolation · #18 03-20-2013, 09:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mjac28

Something is wrong because they should all be long scale? Mine is that's weird I have never seen one of the new ones in short scale?

From the original link, top:

===============
Fingerboard
Wood: Rosewood
Scale: 30"/76cm
Nut Width: 43mm
Number Of Frets: 22
===============

These were the specs on the Hello sale page, too.

~34" is standard scale.

I have no idea what these actually were, though.

Bongolation · #19 03-20-2013, 09:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Avalon

Are you sure you have the Galaxy and not the 185/ Artist?

I suspect this is the case, because what he's describing is completely different from any Galaxie CT I've seen, heard of or read about.

**mjac28** · #20 03-21-2013, 03:44 AM

My bad yeah I have the 185 something completely different I was way off base

I may have to take a look at that Galaxy