20 years ago I was in Germany on business and took a day out to travel to the Hofner factory in Hagenau to witness all aspects of their production.
It was a great day!
TD
It was a great day!
TD
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Hofner-(not just Beatle Basses)-Group Part 2
- Thread starter Bryan R. Tyler
- Start date
I received my first Hofner today! Thanks to @SJLee for the great sale! 
So beautiful!I received my first Hofner today! Thanks to @SJLee for the great sale!
I had made arrangements with Rob Olson of CME, he contacted the factory to let them know when I'd be stopping by. I spent the day with Klaus Clement who was in charge of their classical instrument production at that time. Back then Hofner was owned by Boosey & Hawkes.
TD
Correction, Rob was with CMI (Classic Musical Instruments) at the time and not CME as I posted above caused by a brain fart. CMI were the North American Hofner distributors back then.
TD
Could anyone recommend some stick on side dots that you've used on your Hofners? I've been curious about glow in the dark side dots if that's available in stick on form.
Many thanks!
Many thanks!
I just cut out a 1inch by 3/4 inch piece of black workout mat foam and stuck it in the middle of the pick guard. works perfectly.
Never had or used a Hofner viola before or any type of Hofner for that matter . Picked up a beautiful Contemporary 2 months ago. Replaced the original control panel with an ordered German one with tea cups. I'm loving this thing. This is a rabbit hole but its a lotta fun. I have MIA Fenders and Rickenbackers ...until I grabbed this off the wall as a point of interest and plugged it into a WD 800..I get it now Mr. McCartney.
When I got my first Hofner bass that didn't have side markers, I just bought a silver Sharpie pen and added the dots until I got used to it. It took a few reapplications of the silver ink to make the dots visible. Eventually, I took a cloth with alcohol and just wiped the silver ink off. If you do it very carefully, centering the dots exactly, it might be acceptable to you.
Or, 1/8
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I haven't tried myself but they are flexible polyester laminated photoluminescent film dot stickers that glow in the dark. I'd ask how bright they are in the light.
GLOW IN THE DARK fret position marker dots for stringed Instruments | Reverb
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Major Metal:
I received my first Hofner today! Thanks to @SJLee for the great sale!
How's the tone of this new beauty? Are you getting the deep rich Hofner sounds out of it? How would you rate having 2 Tone and Volume controls on it?
Major Metal:
How is the tone on your new beauty? How do you like having 2 tone and 2 volume controls? Is it the sound you expected? I would guess that it's fabulous with your Aguilar rig. Do tell.
It looks to have Thomastik Infeld Jazz flats on it- how are they playing and sounding? I know they're the favored choice of our FranF, who has many Hofner basses.
How is the tone on your new beauty? How do you like having 2 tone and 2 volume controls? Is it the sound you expected? I would guess that it's fabulous with your Aguilar rig. Do tell.
It looks to have Thomastik Infeld Jazz flats on it- how are they playing and sounding? I know they're the favored choice of our FranF, who has many Hofner basses.
I know what you mean. I was resistant to it for many years after playing a violin bass that was so neck heavy. I mean the whole thing was light but it dove to the point of being unplayable. But my Contemporary Club is just perfect! I had a Warwick Starbass and felt like it never really got the right tone. This nails it and it is so much fun to play. Takes some getting used to the neck, especially up high where it is super skinny. But the way it gets close to an upright tone is pretty amazing and if you want to channel Sir Paul, this is the axe to do it. Love mine and now starting to think about a German one.
I put LaBella Beatle Bass strings on right away and the difference was dramatic. I've had TI flats before on other basses but the LaBellas are fantastic.
Regarding the control layout, I bought and installed the teacup knobs and love the upgrade. Is there a tonal difference to a full German control panel or is it just aesthetic?
Enjoy your new baby!
It is a really lovely instrument! The Aguilar is the DB751, it's an incredible difference hearing a Hofner between solid state and tube amplification. Every time I pick it up I'm reminded of it's classical instrument roots!
Having 2 tone controls on one of these is quite interesting. I'm easily able to dial in a brighter more brittle high end.
The TI jazz flats feel a lot easier in terms of texture than the Hofner / Pyramid strings. And of course everyone knows about the low pressure magic of them!
I've been playing 5 string basses with a string spacing of 19 MM for about 20 years now, and I couldn't believe how easy the transition to 17 MM string spacing has been. It's even inspired me to work on my flat pick technique.
I received my first Hofner today! Thanks to @SJLee for the great sale!
Any chance you could post some pics directly to TB? Would love to see it in it's new environment.
For some reason can't see the pics you where you host from.To answer the later part of your question as this was my bass prior to selling it to MAJOR METAL, those are TI's. To my ears they are wonderful sounding strings on the Hofner and you can't beat the low tension and ease on the neck. The strings MAJOR METAL currently has are not yet been broken in, so if he has any issue with them, I would recommend giving them a few months as they only improve with age. If not, please send them back to me!
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I put the flat LaBellas on as well .Huge difference.
Check out "BackBeat Vintage" on YouTube . I learned A LOT from that dude about Hofners . The new control I got isn't original 60's. It's the upgraded version but still German made by Hofner. The caps aren't the old paper and oil types from way back . ( although I'm sure that's part of that sound)The originals are rare and VERY, expensive.You are right these basses sound like stand ups ..nice, woody and deep with that special midrange .
