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

[DavesnothereCA]

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The burst and the bindings look wonderful !

That said, I am NOT a fan of 'relic-ing'.

If they made the same grade and finish of bass without that 'feature', I would show more interest in owning one, IF of course I could justify spending whatever it costed.

And is there a chance that you would post one more pic - a full frontal - as there is something which I can only verify in such a view.

Has anyone else noticed what I think I have ?
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Yeah, I have generally not been a fan and it put me off at first, but I couldn’t put it down.

You mean this sort of full frontal?

View attachment 4705581

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Yes, thank you.

Nobody asked me what I saw, hmmm....

I observed it in the fret markers in first pic of the first bunch, but needed to look at the whole bass all at once to confirm.

It seems that these have 22 frets, and I had not noticed it before.

So I looked at the photos of my Silver Sparkle Ignition Club [in my TB media gallery, BTW], and lo and behold, it has 22 as well !

Not that I ever play that high, but still, it had escaped me until now.

I suppose that Beatle basses have 22 frets too ?

Anyway, the relicing is not as obvious in the full frontal pic, and burst finishes are something which Hofner appears to have mastered in general, compared to other brands.

Very fetching !
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[DavesnothereCA]

So what is it that you noticed?

Funny. - I despise Fender Road Worn basses, even though every one I've ever picked up has played, sounded and felt exceptional. I can't get past the turnoff of knowing that they all have the same rub marks in the same places.

But dayum, that Hofner makes me want to whip out my credit card. I think it's the finish more than the flaking plating on the neck pickup, which I could actually do without. Does it play and feel like it looks?

Yeah, I honestly have avoided relic basses up until this point, but it played so well I had to look past it. It is pretty tasteful, and from the few pictures I've seen of other examples, I don't think they are all the same. It both plays and feels great.

Yes, each one is unique. I think the finish is applied by hand. So that makes each one unique. I think it is the same finish they use for the string instruments.

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Yes, Hofner's way of relicing is not as obtuse and insistent as Fender's.

And if they are not all identical, that would be a plus as well.

But still, I too could live without anybody artificially aging the hardware - just limit it to the finish of the body if doing it at all.

And I'd like to see that particular burst [not relic'd] on one of their less expensive lines of Club basses, so that I could sleep after dropping the wad on one.

Mayhaps a Contemporary series Club might justify its inclusion.

Like I posted just above, "the relicing is not as obvious in the full frontal pic, and burst finishes are something which Hofner appears to have mastered in general, compared to other brands."
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[DavesnothereCA]

I gigged the Ignition Club last night.

TBH, it was a bit underwhelming. The string-to-string response was uneven, with the A string seeming to resonate more than the others, and the E string a little weak.

I had trouble cutting through the mix, which is fine if you’d rather lay down a less distinct, punchy bottom end. But I didn’t find it particularly punchy either. The dynamic range wasn’t very satisfying, especially after I pushed my Diamond compressor a little harder to try and even out the response.

IME, you can’t tune out these sorts of shortcomings with surgical EQ. The instrument either has it, or it doesn’t.

Ironically, it plays in tune now, and sounds pretty much spot on for Beatles tones. Trouble is, I don’t want to go through life playing tracks off Revolver!

The last Epiphone Viola project bass I put together, actually worked better for me, and that wasn’t a keeper either.

Happily, a good friend whose ears I trust, was on a business trip to Ottawa last week, and checked out a D’Angelico EX at a consignment shop. It was a 2016, pretty much mint, and had been set up and Plekked by a good shop. The EX is a thinline, fully hollow body instrument, and was discontinued along with the other D’Angelico basses.

According to my buddy, the EX sustained longer than the Hofner, felt great, and had a surprisingly wide range of P through J tones with a nice hollow-body bloom. The 32.25” scale gave it better string tension, to boot.

He has been jonesing for an Epiphone Jack Casady, and said that the D’Angelico wiped the floor with all the Casadys he has tried. Right around 7lb even, which is considerably lighter than most Epiphone and Ibanez semi-hollows.

After a bit of haggling, I managed to get it shipped with the TKL hard shell case for considerably less than a new 500CT.

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Interesting post.

Now, ah'm a-gonna have to pull out my own Ignition Club, to see whether I observe any of what you just lamented [and I had not during perhaps 20 gigs with it].

As for the D’Angelico EX, that sounds worthy of attention - I must investigate those - please direct us Hofner folks to wherever you post about it, when the time comes.

The medium scale aspect is something which alone could make it worth a look, and I recently have been leaning toward this, now owning two.

Methinks that medium scale might well be 'the Goldilocks dimension' [patent pending], and I will post more about that in the Medium Scale Club thread, once I get either of them to a gig, which might be as early as later this month.

That said, I so far have not been unhappy with the strings which I put onto my Ignition Club, which are LaBella Low Tension Flats [42-100], short scale.

They just fit at the nut, and yes, I measured the bass before ordering them.
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[steve_rolfeca]

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…As for the D’Angelico EX, that sounds worthy of attention - I must investigate those - please direct us Hofner folks to wherever you post about it, when the time comes.

The medium scale aspect is something which alone could make it worth a look, and I recently have been leaning toward this, now owning two.
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Unfortunately, D’Angelico seem to have only made small runs of three electric bass models:

• The 32.5” EXcel EX-Bass hollow
• The Excel SD chambered solid (same scale, I believe).
• The Premier (not sure if it was full hollow, or semi), 35” scale.

There was also an ABG, called the Mott. All Korean, and apparently nicely-made.

They got some press coverage, there are a few YouTube demo videos, there was talk of a 5-string model coming the following year…

…And then nothing.

The SD and Premier show in the discontinued pages on the D’Angelico website. The EX doesn’t appear anywhere on their site.

From what I have found so far, both Excels were sold in North America in small numbers. It looks as though the Premier might not have made it into the retail supply chain over here. There’s one for sale on eBay at the moment- in Italy.

I’m trying to find out more about pricing, and how many were sold.

 

[DavesnothereCA]

Unfortunately, D’Angelico seem to have only made small runs of three electric bass models:

• The 32.5” EXcel EX-Bass hollow
• The Excel SD chambered solid (same scale, I believe).
• The Premier (not sure if it was full hollow, or semi), 35” scale.

There was also an ABG, called the Mott. All Korean, and apparently nicely-made.

They got some press coverage, there are a few YouTube demo videos, there was talk of a 5-string model coming the following year…

…And then nothing.

The SD and Premier show in the discontinued pages on the D’Angelico website. The EX doesn’t appear anywhere on their site.

From what I have found so far, both Excels were sold in North America in small numbers. It looks as though the Premier might not have made it into the retail supply chain over here. There’s one for sale on eBay at the moment- in Italy.

I’m trying to find out more about pricing, and how many were sold.

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I was poking around, and found a couple of EXes on Reverb in the US.

They may only have made those few models, but there seem to have been quite a lot of colour choices for the EX.

7 were mentioned in this fairly detailed review : Bass Lab – D’Angelico EX-Bass | Bass Gear Magazine

Also check out the internal pic.

And apparently their nut is quite wide, something which I am known to enjoy.

I regard the EX as a medium scale bass at 32.25" [as per that review], though my Ric 4001 is not a lot longer at 33.25", and most folks see those as long scale.
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[J. Brooks]

Hey can someone comment on the difference in sound between cavern spacing and standard spacing? I've only tried the standard spacing. I'm thinking of ordering a nice club bass and wanted to check on if the cavern spacing is better. Thanks

 

[DrSteve]

I have an HCT 500/1 cavern and regular. Same pickups as the German model but with the sound block.
The standard is hotter and brighter. So much so that I hardly ever use the bridge pickup. So the cavern isn’t quite as loud or bright, but I get what I think is more variation in usable tone. If you like bright however, your opinion my differ.
Hope this helps

 

[FlyingPigSound]

Hey can someone comment on the difference in sound between cavern spacing and standard spacing? I've only tried the standard spacing. I'm thinking of ordering a nice club bass and wanted to check on if the cavern spacing is better. Thanks

I can’t speak as to the difference in tone, as I don’t find it very noticeable between standard spacing and cavern spacing of the pups.
Personally, I find the cavern spacing to be perfect for me to place my right hand on the lower / bridge pup.

 

[steve_rolfeca]

Hey can someone comment on the difference in sound between cavern spacing and standard spacing? I've only tried the standard spacing. I'm thinking of ordering a nice club bass and wanted to check on if the cavern spacing is better. Thanks

I went back and forth between an HCT Cavern and the regular Ignition Club.

I ended up going for the Club because I preferred the louder unplugged tone, the ergonomics and the chubbier neck of the Ignition series. Still, I definitely would have preferred a Cavern Club, if there had been any available locally. The "bridge" (back) pickup placement on the Cavern makes it more mid-forward, and a little bit like a P-bass.

I only use the bridge pickup blended with the neck on a regular Hofner, but the bridge pickup can stand alone on the Cavern. I'm finding the same thing with my new-to-me D'Angelico, and have experienced it with the Epiphone Rumblekat, which also has a larger than normal spacing between the bridge and the back pickup.

I gigged the D'Angelico this weekend, and ended up spending a fair amount of time with the bridge pickup solo'd- something I would never do on a bass with the bridge pickup slammed up against the bridge like my standard Club, an Epiphone Viola, or a Gibson EB-3. More nasal-sounding than the back pickup on a Hofner Cavern, and maybe a shade closer to a Music Man rather than a P-bass...

 

[Stempelloos]

I have a rewound Höfner blade Pickup combined with a rewound Crucianelli toaster humbucker
on the Dynacord in the middle. The blade pickup sounds great on it's own.
It needs to be set on a lower volume if you want it to blend in nicely with the neck humbucker.

 

[LetItGrowTone]

@Stempelloos, really nice photo. I thought "Dutch Masters" before I saw where you're from.
Oh, very flavorful basses too.

 

[oddeotek]

Has anyone ever tried to stuff a Hofner Club into the Violin bass gig bag?

I don't really want a hardshell case for my Ignition, but I can't find any Club-specific, or even Club-proportioned bags out there. Everything is either too wide, too short, or both.

I use a Hofner violin gig bag for my Club and It fits great and it’s a very nice bag. Sadly, they are a bit hard to find right now.

 

[steve_rolfeca]

I use a Hofner violin gig bag for my Club and It fits great and it’s a very nice bag. Sadly, they are a bit hard to find right now.View attachment 4727268View attachment 4727277

Perfect!

Thank you, that's exactly what I wanted to know.

 

[Stempelloos]

@Stempelloos, really nice photo. I thought "Dutch Masters" before I saw where you're from.
Oh, very flavorful basses too.

Thank you. It could be the so called "Dutch light" (Hollands licht).

 

[J. Brooks]

Thank you guys for the responses. I ended up finding and ordering this beauty, which has the standard pickup spacing. The cavern spacing did sound appealing but this bass was already built and I'm sure it'll be amazing.

 

[fermata]

So, I came across a used German Hofner 500/2 Club Bass at Guitar Center locally. Played it, fell in love with it, and brought it home against my better financial judgment. With that said, I figured I'd post it here and see what everyone thinks of this model.

Gorgeous! Here's a great bass line for you:



Speaking of French songs featuring Hofners...

Hey can someone comment on the difference in sound between cavern spacing and standard spacing? I've only tried the standard spacing.

Standard spacing:


Cavern spacing:

Thank you guys for the responses. I ended up finding and ordering this beauty, which has the standard pickup spacing. The cavern spacing did sound appealing but this bass was already built and I'm sure it'll be amazing.

Looks fabulous! In which case, the top video is for you, too.

 

[LetItGrowTone]

Gorgeous! Here's a great bass line for you

With both pickups on and in the mix,
I think standard spacing has a bit of plaintiveness or poignancy that worked perfectly for that song.
I think the cavern spacing is more straight-ahead or assertive in comparison.

Both great. Thank you very much!

 

[Pet Sounds]

Thank you guys for the responses. I ended up finding and ordering this beauty, which has the standard pickup spacing. The cavern spacing did sound appealing but this bass was already built and I'm sure it'll be amazing.

FWIW, I once A/Bd my Gold Label with standard spacing and staples against a Gold Label with Cavern spacing and toasters. Somewhat to my surprise, I much preferred my bass, and I passed on buying the Cavern.

 

[DavesnothereCA]

I went back and forth between an HCT Cavern and the regular Ignition Club.

I ended up going for the Club because I preferred the louder unplugged tone, the ergonomics and the chubbier neck of the Ignition series. Still, I definitely would have preferred a Cavern Club, if there had been any available locally. The "bridge" (back) pickup placement on the Cavern makes it more mid-forward, and a little bit like a P-bass.

I only use the bridge pickup blended with the neck on a regular Hofner, but the bridge pickup can stand alone on the Cavern. I'm finding the same thing with my new-to-me D'Angelico, and have experienced it with the Epiphone Rumblekat, which also has a larger than normal spacing between the bridge and the back pickup.

I gigged the D'Angelico this weekend, and ended up spending a fair amount of time with the bridge pickup solo'd- something I would never do on a bass with the bridge pickup slammed up against the bridge like my standard Club, an Epiphone Viola, or a Gibson EB-3. More nasal-sounding than the back pickup on a Hofner Cavern, and maybe a shade closer to a Music Man rather than a P-bass...

View attachment 4726130

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I may have 'missed the bus' or something, but I was not aware that Hofner had ever made a Cavern version of their Club bass.

That is a very attractive burst and wood grain match on your D'Angelico , and BTW, the location of both of its pickups is very similar to where they are on a Ric 4001/4003, so I can appreciate why the 'bridge' pup might sound decent when soloed, from my own 4001, especially before I did my mods to it [Now Franken-Ric ].

And I have eyed Rumblekats a number of times, but never pulled the trigger.

And speaking of Epiphone, I noticed only just recently that their Viola bass has a Zero Fret - K00L !

Someone had offered one on Kijiji, and the pics showing this were very clear.
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[DavesnothereCA]

I use a Hofner violin gig bag for my Club and It fits great and it’s a very nice bag. Sadly, they are a bit hard to find right now.View attachment 4727268View attachment 4727277

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And yet another gorgeous 'burst !
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