A few months ago, I bought a Hofner HCT Contemporary Violin Bass with the semi-hollow body. I discovered the balance is very good due to the large wooden bracing inside (no neck dive). And I like the more modern sound from the factory roundwound strings. I prefer the clarity, along with the natural deep tone.
I straightened the neck, leveled and crowned the frets (didn't need much work), and then sanded the bridge on the body over a sheet of paper and a medium grit sandpaper for a tight fit to the body.
After the strings were back on, I adjusted the neck for about .012 inch of relief, set the intonation height, and had to move the G string bridge piece back two slots. The intonation turned out pretty accurate, with the upper D and G string octave frets and above being a priority.
The zero fret was a bit too high, and a small round file brought the strings back down to about .020 inch above the first fret.
For my finger playing style, I needed a thumb rest somewhere between the two pickups, so I decided to make a tall rest from two rosewood rests glued together. With the Hofner strings being so far above the body, a regular thumb rest was not tall enough.
I glued, shaped and finish sanded the rosewood to get the final design right, then sanded the bottom over a protective paper sheet and sandpaper to match the body contour. Several longer stainless screws hold it snug to the body, and fret board oil rubbed into the wood makes it match the bridge.
The custom leather strap took many days to engineer, and now it hangs properly upright instead of wanting to fall forward from the neck strap button. The HCT allows a strap under the neck, so my wrap around design worked perfectly. I used a long leather strip to tie the custom wrap piece to a D'Addario black leather adjustable strap. Works great. Feel free to reproduce it for sale if you like.
The teacup knobs from AllParts PK-3280-000 were the final items added to give it a more authentic look.
This Hofner Bass sounds really good and our soundman prefers it over my Music Man or Yamaha basses for a full yet very clear tone in the house mix.
Jefro.
