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Hofner-(not just Beatle Basses)-Group Part 2

#1,521
Hofner Ignition Club, neck pickup, La Bella BB strings, Ampeg H410HLF cabinet:

This is going to be one of those "best kept secrets" because everyone thinks Hofners are necessarily thumpy, and that usually means a big blob of something obscuring low E (to me that's what "thump" means on a P or J), but,

out of my various different kinds of basses, my Hofner Ignition Club puts out the clearest, purest low E, even with the La Bella flats. And I don't mean a fake psychoacoustic low E; I mean a legit 41Hz.

Need to roll that off? Fine, we know how to do that. Just reporting what I found.
 
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#1,524
Doctor Intrepid said:
I forgot to mention that their are shops where you can buy the wrench to adjust the truss rod. The Violin Shop in North America and Thomann in Europe.
Click to expand...

The Violin Bass store is closing its doors but the remaining inventory is still available on Reverb:

VIOLINBASSSTORE ANNOUNCEMENT - Copy.png


From their website.
SCAN0046_600x600.jpg

SCAN0047_480x480.jpg
 
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#1,526
RichardPjazz said:
@DavesnothereCA
My apologies for the delay. I measured it at once, but then forgot to post it! :rolleyes:

Zero fret to end of ball end: 845mm
—> So from zero fret to the beginning of the ball end would be 840mm (approximately because the ball end fits into the tailpiece).

View attachment 4305361
Click to expand...
~
No, no, no, MY apologies for the delay !!! :jawdrop: :facepalm: :bag:

Your post to which I'm replying was made LAST YEAR ! :eek: :D

So at 840 or 845 mm, that would be slightly more than 33 inches.

Anyway, for any of youse folks who may not know why I originally asked for the measurements, it was to learn whether all Hofner Violin and Club basses have the same requirement for the wrapped portion of the string [which is always SOME amount longer than the scale length, for every bass].

The answer is that they do NOT !!!

As per my earlier post, after measuring, I ordered and managed to get regular short scale LaBella strings to fit my Hofner Ignition Club bass, because their 32.25" of wrapped length ended at about 1/4" past the nut, and the silks began there.

LaBella short scale strings would NOT fit on your bass, because it needs slightly longer than 33" for that span.

You would need either Labella 'Beatle bass length' [funny enough] strings with their published 34.0" of wrap, or possibly could choose from the wider variety of Labella's regular medium scale sets with 34.25" of wrap, depending upon the distance from the balls to the tuning peg posts on your bass.

However, those two options might well be too long at the tuning pegs for my Ignition Club.

Whether the difference in string wrapped length requirement between our two basses is due to a variance in the lengths of the bodies of the club and violin basses, or that our individual basses have tail pieces of different lengths [or partly for both reasons], the moral of the story is :

MEASURE the required length of the wrapped portion of the strings on your bass, before ordering more strings - This applies to ALL basses, not just Hofners.

Cheers ! :)
~
 
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#1,529
I don't know if this is a question to be asked here... I have a couple of Ignition Club basses without truss rod covers, where can I locate a couple of them from sellers in the USA? The ones I've seen on eBay are imported and probably take a month or more for delivery.
 
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#1,534
I just picked up a sunburst Club. A local dealer had a bunch of scratch-and-dent Ignition Pros (factory teacup knobs and flats) at great prices.

Not only was the Club more comfortable, it was much louder acoustically. I actually wanted a Contemporary, but wasn’t feeling the price difference.

One of the reasons I went with a blem was that I wasn’t sure if it was a keeper- intonation was impossible on all of them, and I wanted to see what it would take to make it play right.

Fitting the bridge to the top stopped it from rocking side-to-side, and improved tuning stability. However, I still couldn’t intonate it. If it was in tune at the 12th fret, it was wildly off lower down the neck, and vice-versa.

The tailpiece was solid and the nut was at the correct height, so they weren’t the problem. Thankfully, I had a spare .045 D’Addario nickel round G in the bin. To my immense relief, it sustained and intonated perfectly.

I couldn’t find any LaBellas locally, but I did find a set of DR Legend flats across town. I can’t wait to hear it with quality strings and a .105 E!
 
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#1,535
steve_rolfeca said:
I just picked up a sunburst Club. A local dealer had a bunch of scratch-and-dent Ignition Pros (factory teacup knobs and flats) at great prices.

Not only was the Club more comfortable, it was much louder acoustically. I actually wanted a Contemporary, but wasn’t feeling the price difference.

One of the reasons I went with a blem was that I wasn’t sure if it was a keeper- intonation was impossible on all of them, and I wanted to see what it would take to make it play right.

Fitting the bridge to the top stopped it from rocking side-to-side, and improved tuning stability. However, I still couldn’t intonate it. If it was in tune at the 12th fret, it was wildly off lower down the neck, and vice-versa.

The tailpiece was solid and the nut was at the correct height, so they weren’t the problem. Thankfully, I had a spare .045 D’Addario nickel round G in the bin. To my immense relief, it sustained and intonated perfectly.

I couldn’t find any LaBellas locally, but I did find a set of DR Legend flats across town. I can’t wait to hear it with quality strings and a .105 E!
Click to expand...
Yeah the stock strings are junk, I am not surprised they wouldn't intonate.
Be careful with the DR flats, those necks are very thin and they often don't take well to anything high tension so keep a close eye on the neck relief
 
#1,536
steve_rolfeca said:
I just picked up a sunburst Club. A local dealer had a bunch of scratch-and-dent Ignition Pros (factory teacup knobs and flats) at great prices.

Not only was the Club more comfortable, it was much louder acoustically. I actually wanted a Contemporary, but wasn’t feeling the price difference.

One of the reasons I went with a blem was that I wasn’t sure if it was a keeper- intonation was impossible on all of them, and I wanted to see what it would take to make it play right.

Fitting the bridge to the top stopped it from rocking side-to-side, and improved tuning stability. However, I still couldn’t intonate it. If it was in tune at the 12th fret, it was wildly off lower down the neck, and vice-versa.

The tailpiece was solid and the nut was at the correct height, so they weren’t the problem. Thankfully, I had a spare .045 D’Addario nickel round G in the bin. To my immense relief, it sustained and intonated perfectly.

I couldn’t find any LaBellas locally, but I did find a set of DR Legend flats across town. I can’t wait to hear it with quality strings and a .105 E!
Click to expand...
I’d love to see pix!
 
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#1,537
steve_rolfeca said:
I just picked up a sunburst Club. A local dealer had a bunch of scratch-and-dent Ignition Pros (factory teacup knobs and flats) at great prices.

Not only was the Club more comfortable, it was much louder acoustically. I actually wanted a Contemporary, but wasn’t feeling the price difference.

One of the reasons I went with a blem was that I wasn’t sure if it was a keeper- intonation was impossible on all of them, and I wanted to see what it would take to make it play right.

Fitting the bridge to the top stopped it from rocking side-to-side, and improved tuning stability. However, I still couldn’t intonate it. If it was in tune at the 12th fret, it was wildly off lower down the neck, and vice-versa.

The tailpiece was solid and the nut was at the correct height, so they weren’t the problem. Thankfully, I had a spare .045 D’Addario nickel round G in the bin. To my immense relief, it sustained and intonated perfectly.

I couldn’t find any LaBellas locally, but I did find a set of DR Legend flats across town. I can’t wait to hear it with quality strings and a .105 E!
Click to expand...
~
So Pro = Knobs and flats ?

Was that dealer called JJ ?

IIRC they advertise on Kijiji, and have also mentioned the Hofner shorty basses.

My used Ignition Club had DR short/medium scale rounds [33.5 or 33.75" of wrap, 45-105 gauges] on it when I got it privately, and I played it for a few gigs, without noticing tuning/intonation issues, nor relief problem.

Then I bought Labella LT Flats [42-100] in short scale, which have 33.25" of wrap like other LaBella short scale strings, and they fit with 1/4" to spare at the nut [I measured before ordering].

I did not need to adjust the truss rod, just some of the bridge saddles slightly, to trim the intonation.
~
 
#1,538
DavesnothereCA said:
~
So Pro = Knobs and flats ?

Was that dealer called JJ ?

IIRC they advertise on Kijiji, and have also mentioned the Hofner shorty basses.

My used Ignition Club had DR short/medium scale rounds [33.5 or 33.75" of wrap, 45-105 gauges] on it when I got it privately, and I played it for a few gigs, without noticing tuning/intonation issues, nor relief problem.

Then I bought Labella LT Flats [42-100] in short scale, which have 33.25" of wrap like other LaBella short scale strings, and they fit with 1/4" to spare at the nut [I measured before ordering].

I did not need to adjust the truss rod, just some of the bridge saddles slightly, to trim the intonation.
~
Click to expand...
Yes, JJ Music Sales, on Adelaide. Nice people, and the owner took the time to make adjustments for me as I was sampling the different blems he had on hand. Seems to be a competent technician, and willing to take care of problems like fret sprout.

I can’t remember the last time I got that sort of service! I also like that he’s a Hofner dealer, and can order parts.

I can’t seem to find much info on all the different variations, but yes, flats and knobs.

Mind you, this Club has what appears to have spruce veneer on the top, and a crisper-looking flame veneer on the back. The others (all violins) had plain maple tops, but some of them also had different model designators on the truss rod covers as well.

I suspect that these must have been a batch of end-of-line models that he picked up. Most of them have some fret sprout, which suggests that they’ve been around a while. Aside from cosmetic differences, that was perhaps the most obvious place where I saw price cutting VS the Contemporary. The frets are pretty crude on the ignitions, even if it doesn’t affect playability.

One of the things I had him do, was run the truss rod through it’s paces before I bought it. It had too much relief out of the box, but the adjuster worked smoothly, and was capable of completely flattening the neck out with room to spare. I find that promising.
 
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#1,539
~
I should also mention something here which I noticed a few days ago, while interacting with folks in the Medium Scale Bass Club thread, after some had lamented LaBella recently discontinuing most versions of their official medium scale DT Flats.

They still make other flatwound strings which, while not intended for that application, still may fit.

And some of those strings may also fit Hofner's Beatle and Club basses.

In particular, I am referring to the DT Flats set which is made for the string thru body models of Mustang basses.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

They are published to be 34" from the ball to where the headstock silks begin [same as the sets made for Beatle basses], however also have a 1.75" tapered portion near the ball, included in that 34", to let them not break from passing thru the body of Mustang and similar short scale basses.

While I said not far upthread that regular short scale LaBella bass strings do happen to fit my Ignition Club bass, it seems that some other Hofner models/versions need more wrap length than mine did.

This is the post : Hofner-(not just Beatle Basses)-Group Part 2

With that in mind, the main reasons for considering the Mustang set are :

1) It allows an alternate choice of LaBella DT Flats gauges [43-104] for the Hofner crowd, who so far only have 39-96 or 50-100 sets in those strings;

2) The silks start at the same distance from the balls as on Beatle bass sets, and the tapered portion near the balls should be behind the bridge saddles, so would be of no consequence to the speaking portion of the strings.

Of course, always measure your bass [to confirm what I just said might fit] before ordering any strings.

Cheers !
~
 
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