Hofner Artist Bass??!!

[Kaden Daniels]

Ive been looking online and found a very intersting bass its a Hofner Artist Bass from the mid 60s Has 511 pickups in it but is solid body. I found them for relatively cheap. They have awesome fret markers. (Uploaded pic)

does anyone have any experince with them. I look for the British Invasion 1960s early 70s sound would this bass provide it

 

[FranF]

Yep, quite common actually. I have a '63 in red, identical to the top one. Sounds and plays excellent. Got it for $125 about 5 years ago.

 

[FranF]

Sound-wise, it's actually almost Fender-ish. A lot of the Brit Invasion sound, at least initially, from '63 to '69 was provided by hollowbody basses like the Hofner 500/1, Framus Star and most predominantly, the Epiphone Rivoli.

 

[bholder]

I like the fretless. The fret markers are the same as on their Verithin models. But 511 pickups seems like just a few too many!

 

[Treadstone71]

If I remember correctly, the Hofner 185s were reproduced to replace the contemporary-series remakes of the Hofner Galaxie, which is very similar (but didn't sell well).

These are cool, and for those who remember Canadian 90s rock, the bass player from Sloan plays one with flats on some tracks. The only problem (for me at least) is the lower frets are quite long compared to a Fender model.

 

[stacker]

My first bass was a Hofner HS185 like the top one except I had the two throw switches. I can still recall the amazing smell of the guitar and the quilted velvet of the Selmer Slim-line case.