Hi bassists!
So, there is this Höfner bass a customer of mine asked me to setup with flatwound strings, amongst other things.
He bought it from someone who rarely played it, and thinks it might be old. It’s in pretty good condition appart from a weird oxidation I had never seen before, located around the upper right part of the table (frets, pickup, screws and pickguard tab).
The varnish looks way too good to be very old, the tuners have obviously been changed, but the pickups are the first versions of the staple pickups, with no height adjustment screws and the neck, especially, seems old. The wood of the fretboard seems to have shrunk, causing the fret ends to push the binding out.
All bindings have yellowed, but that’s no proof of age appart from the nut, which is white inside and quite colored outside. The varnish on the nut is cracked.
The pickguard is held with screws, no pin.
finally, the headstock says “genuine hofner original - made in Germany” and the serial number is 400949.
I tried to date it with the serial but couldn’t find anything from this page. [This invalid link has been removed]
also, might be of importance, the ground wire has its own hole at the bottom of the body, which leads to newest instruments.
To me, the instrument isn’t a relic and might be from the 90’s but I’d like some opinions from the specialists out there.
And as a bonus question: there is a rubber spacer between the pickguard and the top on the screw near the bridge pickup. Should there also be a spacer on the screw near the neck? It’s currently missing.
Thanks!
Florent.
Invalid Link Removed
So, there is this Höfner bass a customer of mine asked me to setup with flatwound strings, amongst other things.
He bought it from someone who rarely played it, and thinks it might be old. It’s in pretty good condition appart from a weird oxidation I had never seen before, located around the upper right part of the table (frets, pickup, screws and pickguard tab).
The varnish looks way too good to be very old, the tuners have obviously been changed, but the pickups are the first versions of the staple pickups, with no height adjustment screws and the neck, especially, seems old. The wood of the fretboard seems to have shrunk, causing the fret ends to push the binding out.
All bindings have yellowed, but that’s no proof of age appart from the nut, which is white inside and quite colored outside. The varnish on the nut is cracked.
The pickguard is held with screws, no pin.
finally, the headstock says “genuine hofner original - made in Germany” and the serial number is 400949.
I tried to date it with the serial but couldn’t find anything from this page. [This invalid link has been removed]
also, might be of importance, the ground wire has its own hole at the bottom of the body, which leads to newest instruments.
To me, the instrument isn’t a relic and might be from the 90’s but I’d like some opinions from the specialists out there.
And as a bonus question: there is a rubber spacer between the pickguard and the top on the screw near the bridge pickup. Should there also be a spacer on the screw near the neck? It’s currently missing.
Thanks!
Florent.
Invalid Link Removed
