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There have been over 100 different Hofner clones out there ... I own the Rogue VB100 ... here is a cool list (with photos) of most of these clones ... most made soon after Sir Paul's time with the Beatles...
THIS IS A REALLY COOL GALLERY violin bass gallery
THIS IS A REALLY COOL GALLERY violin bass gallery
Geeze is that the Golden Gate or the Brooklyn?
Thanks for the link! Mysterious V-basses abound.
Spanish Hofners were a licensed issue aggreement between Hofner Germany and a German national Enrique Keller who moved to Spain to start Keller instruments. Some of the parts Keller put on his Hofners ended up on the German models eventually like the pyramid spring tuners. AFIK the two companies are still in business together today but since the deal was back in the '60's for Keller to produce only 500 units of Hofners all that was produced in the period that the Beatles were gaining popularity is all that was made.
These were called by Keller, T-21 (500/1). Some were 21 frets others 22.
Notice the tailpiece string paths are holes drilled into the bar not channels like normally seen. These seem more secure and added sustain IMO over the channel versions.
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I guess you have never seen a Chinese made bass. They will put anything on the headstock.
Yes however Hofner has licensed China made Hofners. The trick is knowing which is real and which is fake. Fake even applies to guitar strings. Nothing is sacred.
Every guitar company has faced this issue, "lawsuit" knock-offs which is partly why they want to chip everyone so that intellectual property theft will be easier to manage. But that's the least of the worries of being chipped.
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