Hofner basses.....not worth it?

[Roger Ford]

The link is Building the Hofner Violin Beatles Bass - YouTube, Building the Hofner Violin Beatle Bass.

 

[Roger Ford]

It would seem, that the German bass is laminated as well. I imagine that its much thinner ply than the Asian version. I've had my Ignition Club for a couple of months now and like it more every day. I bought a 500/1 new in '66 for $435, and another, used, in '70 for $150. They were both great, but, I got rid of them because they felt so fragile. I don't have that feeling with my Club, and I sure wouldn't pay twice as much for something that wasn't what I expect to be acoustic, but is mostly solid wood.

 

[Buslady7803]

When I was trying out basses when I first started, there was a used Hof....it felt like a child's toy. They wanted a few grand for a thin light plastic looking toy bass? It sounded fine tho lol

Edit: watched the video- that's pretty cool its all hand made. But I bet they cost a lot

 

[Roger Ford]

Between 2 and 3 grand. Mostly due, I understand to the difference between the dollar and what ever currency is in use in Germany. Given all of that, I'm very happy with my Ignition Club bass.

 

[El Pelusa]

Thanks for backing me up Monkey. The Hofner works great for those kinds of tone, especially w/ a sans amp bass di driver. Some idiots just cant eq properly I guess.

Exactly. The SABDDI works amazingly well with a hofner bass! I use it with mine and love it

 

[FFTT]

I own an original German built '66 Hofner 501
My mom bought it for my 14th birthday, in 1967.
The price with gig bag was 400DM or $99.00 brand new.

When McCartney broke the bass he had borrowed from Stu Sutcliffe by trying to string it with piano strings, the band pitched in together
and bought his '63 for $60.00

A Hofner is strictly a specialty bass and a good one records and intonates and plays just fine.
That being said, today you could use one of the new semi hollow body basses like the Gretsch or Epiphone, string it with flat wounds or Black Nylon Wraps
and get close enough to the Hofner sound and have a much better playing bass.

Also what many people miss is that Paul was running his Rick 4001 with flat wounds, so some of those tracks that may sound like a Hofner, may actually
be his Rick.

 

[El Pelusa]

I recently bought a Douglas Violin bass from jackajesusfreak^. I'd always wanted to try a Hofner style bass. First thing I did was remove the flatwounds and grooved the bridge saddles so the strings wouldn't jump around. Then I put on a set of roundwounds and filed the nut to get the action lower. First off, you can intonate these basses very good if you know what your doing, secondly, they sound great with roundwounds (I like macca but that's not my tone), thirdly, the expression on my musician housemates face when he saw me slapping away on it made it all worth it.

Tone is in the hands for sure. The low end punch of this design makes my Pbass hide in the corner.

BOOOOOOM!!

 

[El Pelusa]

Well, their a hofner, the only reason Paul got one, is because it was VERY cheap. read the interview in "the bassplayers book" or whatever the name of that book was that that mag put out.they are VERY light, i agree with the fact they do feel a little.... flimsy. Over-priced indeed. VERY overpriced. They sell them as great basses in the adds, but an mim jazz bass play's ten times better than a hofner, in my opinion. I mean, their a bass, it does the job, but no need to pay that much money for what it's worth.

Does it? My Hofner is 10x better than my MIM Jazz bass. I love mine.

 

[GIBrat51]

To me? Sad to say; NO, they aren't worth it. I already have 2 violin basses; an older Korean Rogue VB-100, and a Chinese Starfire (from the same factory that seems to build most of them); both bought when the only Hofners available were German ones. So, the place in my herd for "violin/Beatle bass" is filled. I have played Icon, CT, and German versions; they're... nice... but not enough nicer, or better, than what I have to justify buying one. Both of mine play and feel just fine, and sound plenty Beatle-y enough to suit me. So, unless I happen across a '60s pristine lefty 500/1 for $300+/-, no Hofners for moi...

 

[Shawn Luckman]

Can't offer an opinion on the reissues but I can on the originals. I have owned an original 1964 500/1 Violin bass for the past 27 years, which I paid £175 for it back in Nov '88 & for the first 10 years was my main gigging bass. The neck has never been reset or had the truss rod looked at, & it has had both flats and roundwound strings on it. I still think Hofner is a good company that makes good reissues of their most famous instrument IMO.

 

[tomersg]

two weeks ago i was at show of one of the major acts here in israel, of a big rock/pop/ethnic/reggea star. in a large arena. and the bass player played with hofner beatle bass for the whole show. i dont know which model exactly. i was far away. but the sound was excelent! big and fat and warm. of course after the FOH processing and mixing. but i was impresed. the bass player use his hofner for other major act he have. who is the largest star here. kind of local bruce springsteen..and he is very good bass player.