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Hofner basses.....not worth it?

#61
Used to have Hofner Bass - changed to Jazz when the Hofner broke. Someone must have wanted the Hofner might big becasue they were a fraction of the price of a Jazz. I recon a Hofner would have been about £80 and the Jazz about £150 in the mid sixties. That's $120 and $230 for you guys that broke away from the British empire a while back in Boston. (It's a joke guys - don't beat me up!)
 
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#62
i recently played a gig with a guitarist and he was playing aa very nice hollow body single cut away Hofner jazz guitar. it looked as if it was well built and it sounded great. I would think a semi acoustic 6 string bass made with the same quality would be in order.

because the 500/1 is built like a violin ,it has that thick bass sound.. I am playing my g 500/1 , the flamed maple vameer blode violin bass. The truss rod still works and although the bronze tortis shell (imitation) trim is reminiscent of a toilet seat cover ,it is a beautiful looking bass.The string spacing isn't too bad ,and it has a great tone that is unmistakably Hofner.I am just playing it acoustically. The open 'jaco " armonics really sound full because of the hollow , enclosed body.I wonder if they have plans to make a 21st century version of this bass. if the new Hofners have improved any ( more glue/) they might be worth the price.
 
#63
Everyone has said it - the Beatles bought what they could afford in their early days. If you want the vibe, go buy ANY short-scale hollowbody bass, put on flat-wound string, and you have the "Hofner" sound.

After being in England in '96, and trying several Hofner's - new and old - for up to $2K. I bought an Epiphone copy for $250, and the sound - and playability- is about the same.
 
#64
FWIW - The Beatles' Rain and Paperback Writer were recorded with Macca playing his Rickenbacker bass not his Hofner. These tunes are well-known for marking the "changing of the gaurd" in Sir Paul's arsenal - up until Let It Be and Abbey Road, when the Hofner made it's comeback.
 
#65
Originally posted by ERMAL
FWIW - The Beatles' Rain and Paperback Writer were recorded with Macca playing his Rickenbacker bass not his Hofner. These tunes are well-known for marking the "changing of the gaurd" in Sir Paul's arsenal - up until Let It Be and Abbey Road, when the Hofner made it's comeback.
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yeah ,yeah-page 74, 'The Beatles -recording sessions" -it was the first time Paul recorded with the Rickenbacker,Aprril 14th 1966 . But 1966 was the peak Hofner year. Apparently tunes like "Got To Get You Into My Life" were recorded with the Hofner. The whole reason,from what i can gather,is that John Lennon demanded to know why Wilson Pickett could get such a prominent bass sound and the Beatles couldn't. wht English studios couldn't get the sound American studios were getting. i would imagine that all the bass on "Rubber Soul' is a Hofner."Think For Yourself' with the two bass lines.Hofner with fuzz bass. Paul had a Fender jazz Bass at the studio during the 'Abbey road" sessions.
 
#66
I can't relate to the comments here about value for the money - is it not obvious that a Hofner, with its carved hollow body and set neck, is a lot harder to make than say a P or J bass ? Yet you can get a new one made by the original company for about $1200, only about 200 more than the Ric 4003, which is made on CNC routers.
They are an old and specialized design, so their relative fragility and 'dated' sound go with the territory. However, a good Hofner with a good set of rounds through the right amp sounds incredible, and you most certainly cannot get that sound from any other bass by rolling off the treble. Hofner, being a smallish company from Germany, obviously has always had a lower profile in much of the world, but they've been around for a long time and have made a lot of great instruments and innovative designs. They were putting onboard active preamps in basses in the 60s.
I find the ultra light weight and the fat but complex sound extremely attractive, I hope to pick up a new Club bass unless I find a good deal on an old President hollowbody bass first (they have a full sized cutaway archtop body like a guitar). Until then my Kustom K200 hollowbody bass with DeArmonds and flatwounds is filling that sonic niche reasonably well for me.
 
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#67
Originally posted by teleharmonium
I find the ultra light weight and the fat but complex sound extremely attractive, I hope to pick up a new Club bass unless I find a good deal on an old President hollowbody bass first (they have a full sized cutaway archtop body like a guitar). Until then my Kustom K200 hollowbody bass with DeArmonds and flatwounds is filling that sonic niche reasonably well for me.
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Their are a few club basses on ebay right now that are starting at good prices.
 
#68
Originally posted by teleharmonium
I can't relate to the comments here about value for the money - is it not obvious that a Hofner, with its carved hollow body and set neck, is a lot harder to make than say a P or J bass ? Yet you can get a new one made by the original company for about $1200, only about 200 more than the Ric 4003, which is made on CNC routers.
They are an old and specialized design, so their relative fragility and 'dated' sound go with the territory. However, a good Hofner with a good set of rounds through the right amp sounds incredible, and you most certainly cannot get that sound from any other bass by rolling off the treble. Hofner, being a smallish company from Germany, obviously has always had a lower profile in much of the world, but they've been around for a long time and have made a lot of great instruments and innovative designs. They were putting onboard active preamps in basses in the 60s.
I find the ultra light weight and the fat but complex sound extremely attractive, I hope to pick up a new Club bass unless I find a good deal on an old President hollowbody bass first (they have a full sized cutaway archtop body like a guitar). Until then my Kustom K200 hollowbody bass with DeArmonds and flatwounds is filling that sonic niche reasonably well for me.
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Yeah- round wounds sound great on the g 500/1 and the low end is solid. You are right about the on boaed electronics. i found a schematic sent to me from Hofner in the early 70's for the Fuzz and treble boost circut. Hofner isn't the only company to make hollow body bass ,but as you mentioned ,they have been around for years. I bought my Hofners in the 60's and early 70's.They weren't expensive then. If i were looking for the best hollow body bass in the 500/1 or 500/2 ( the Les Paul shaped version of the Beatle bass) catagory i would look at all the options. I realize that Hofner is a name i know,and how would that influence me now ? . Like Vox,or Fender or those we've known for years,how much of the interest is nostalgic ?

I don't underdstand the "fixed neck" thing. if it is referring to a truss rod ,my 1968 bass has one.Do you mean 'bolt on" or in this case screwed and glued ?
 
#69
Ninestring wrote: "I don't underdstand the "fixed nexk" thing. if it is referring to a truss rod ,my 1968 bass has one.Do you mean 'bolt on" or in this case screwed and glued ?"

I was referring to the neck joint, since a mortise and tenon joint (which is normally glued in place, and I guess in this case also screwed in - I didn't know that) in a hollowbody is a lot more complicated to build than just routing out some solid wood, drilling 4 holes and bolting it to the neck. I'm seeing more value for the money in terms of labor in a new Hofner than in most basses.

Nostalgia is definitely an important part of the appeal, but as with P basses I argue that we wouldn't be nostalgic for them if they didn't sound good in the first place. Some of the Hofner copies are pretty good if price is critical to the decision, I like the Tokai ones, although the Hofner pickups are better sounding. Maybe a Tokai with real Hofner pickups would be a good compromise.
 
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#70
Good point- it was definitly a different approach for electric bass construction. I haven't heard any Hofner bass pick ups since about 1989. have they changed or improved?

Tokia sounds interesting. Do they have an adjustable bridge ? I know Hofners do ,but they are "low tech" i can't remember how many times those pieces of fret wire they used for bridge sadddles would pop out from the wooden slots.
 
#71
The current Hofner bass pickups sound real good to me, I'm not sure how they compare historically though. Voxtalks.com has a board with lots of Hofner bass players (as well as Vox and Rickenbacker fanatics, of which I am both), I'm sure you could find an excruciatingly detailed thread about the pickups there.

Here's an ebay auction with a Tokai copy of a Hofner, I can't quite tell from the pic whether the saddles are metal or are topped with a piece of fret wire but it looks like they are at least adjustable like on a Hofner, and since it is a floating bridge it would be possible to change it out without making any new holes in the top if you find another archtop bass bridge you like better that works with their string spacing. I like how that bass has Gotoh tuners instead of the vintage style ones and has an unbound neck too. The finish actually looks better than the recent Hofners.
 
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#74
The points about weight are correct; this is a light bass and the price in the 60's was affordable. The other point you guys in the USA may not appreciate was that USA basses were very difficult to get - we had to buy what was avaiable in the shop. Imagine, no choice of color - if you did you might be waiting months, often no choice of model. I knew a load of guys who were playing equipement that was available rather than what they wanted, and it wasn't just expensive it was bloody expensive! In 1964 I was in a pretty good band and wanted a USA built guitar - it was £159. I was earning as a 17 year-old £7 a week in a government job - that's 22 weeks money. That's why guys used Hofners - like I had. I didn't replace it because it was good. It sounded cheap and literally started to come apart and the neck joint came unstuck. I don't know what Paul McCartney's motives are to use this bass [or even whether it's a standard production model like all the rest - wink wink, know what I mean mate?]. My own experiences of Hofner all those years ago was not good. But I accept things can change and in Hofners case if they hadn't they would be around now.
 
#75
Originally posted by Jacob Bartfield
I'm sorry if someone said this already, but:

While it's true that Paul Mcartney bought the Hofner because of it's price and weight, he played it through his entire career in the Beatles and still uses it today. Something tells me he's got a little more money than he did in 1959.
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Jacob, good point, but I respond thusly:

In the July/August 1995 Bass Player, McCartney stated, "I was known for the violin shape. It's like Charlie Chaplin, you know? The little walking cane, mustache, and a bowler hat, and he's Charlie. If he comes on with a bandana and he's shaved and he's on a bike, it's like, 'Who's that?' So I think there may have been an element of the Hofner being a stage trademark. Also, it was very light and I'd always played it live, so I might have been playing it safe a bit, just using the instrument I'd always used."

I also heard him once state that people expected him to play bass in his concerts and play the Hofner, just because of the Beatle thing.

I interpret that as, while the bass may not be what he would necessarily choose today, it is considered a trademark that McCartney feels he needs, to some degree, to market on. Understandable.

I played a stock '65 500/1 for a few years, and although it was comfortable, it just doen't sound that great, unless you're trying to capture a certain (Beatle) vibe.

Sorry for the ramble, and if I've repeated someone. I haven't looked at this thread for quite some time.
 
#76
Ninestring wrote: "Thanks, have you heard the Tokai and do you know about the pick ups ?"

I've played one acoustically, it seemed very sturdy. It didn't have the Gotoh tuners, it had the old fashioned type. Japanese pickups generally leave a lot to be desired so I would not expect to be knocked out by them, but you never know I guess.
 
#79
Originally posted by DWBass
Link Removed A Univox 'Hofner Beatle Bass' copy in a green burst similar to this one.
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Greenburst on a violin bass looks really great, their kind of hard to find. The sad thing about these basses and i have lerned a number of times is it cant be your sole giging bass, i would feel very uncomfortable now only going out with one of these copys. A Hofner if set up right will be great in an acoustic gig
 

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