Hohner Professional J Bass - Info??

[apa]

Right I have this Hohner Professional J Bass which I bought in the Mid '90s new (In the UK, North Wales to be precise). I dont remember having any paperwork with it. I bought it and walked out the shop!! Ive googled and searched but nothing is comming up about this specific model. The only other one Ive found is on here but it was the fretless version from a guy in Australia I think!! So the question is - Does anyone know anything about it? Where its made (Im assuming Far East). Are they rated as any good? Does anyone else have one? Is it a sleeping classic that will pay for my old age (Dream on lol). I think its a realy nice player although the pups arent up to much realy. I also think it looks realy nice. Oh and finally, It does say 'J' on the head doesnt it!!!

Await the floods of secret Hohner owners



A

 

[GeoffByrne]

I had one which was pretty decent. It had a stained maple body & I changed the 'P' width neck for a proper J width.

Pups are EMZ Selects, which. although the least expensive of the EMG lines and passive, aren't half bad! The 2 band EQ is pretty effective & the ability to go active/passive is handy too.

The older ones (mine) were made by Cort (like so many other decent brands) in their now defunct Korean factory. I'm not sure where the more recent ones are made, but I'd assume production was transferred to the new Indonesian factory when everything moved there.

In short, a decent Jazz clone built to reasonably high Cort quality control from decent bits of wood.

Mine certainly compared with the latest batch of Squier or MIM basses.

 

[apa]

Thanks for that GeoffByrne (Me duck - born in Leicester )

This one is passive and has a proper Jazz shape / width neck so may not be the same thing. So they were made by Cort and they are EMG's - cool. When I say the pups arent up to much I mean the change in volume / tone isnt consistent when you twiddle the nobs!!
When you say "older ones (mine)" how old are you talking about?

All in all I havent had a days trouble with it

A

 

[DaLoCo]

I don't have exactly the same one, mine is a P/J config. It has a plywood body, but still make some very decent sound (comparing it to my Rockbass Corvette $$ and my BTB455) but does not overshadow anything I have. I feel that it takes too much work to get it to sound right, my other basses are quite effortless (I love hot p/ups)

I have since pulled the frets...but all in all it is a confortable bass. Too bad it is a 4-string, so I am actually in the process of finding a beginner to "loan" it too....you, know, if he works hard at it I might "forget" he has it. Sort of push someone to his bass destiny.

 

[GeoffByrne]

The magic word here is 'Professional'.

Mine was a Hohner Professional JJ Bass.

I eventually put a Mighty Mite Ebanol Fretless neck on it and parted with it when I found my Westone Thunder IIIB Fretless.

There's a bloke on http://www.basschat.co.uk whose handle is 'Bassassin' (Jon, lives in Edinburgh) who is a bit of an expert in these things & Japcrap too. Sign in there & shoot him a PM & he'll get back to you - he's a nice bloke.

 

[Joe Nerve]

I like hohner basses .

 

[Shawn Luckman]

I had one (Hohner Pro JJ FL) up till this April,& it went as a part ex for a Musicman SUB. They were made by Cort as has been mentioned,mine had the maple body all in all a well made bass. A question to the thread starter where in North Wales did you get yours from,as all the time I lived there I never saw one in the guitar shops.

 

[apa]

Thanks all for your responses but no ones got THAT bass!! And thanks Geoff

Shawn - Its a long time ago but Im pretty sure it was Mold. Cant for the life of me remember the name. All I remember is it was a small place I didnt visit again and was not some were I usualy went. I lived close to Wrexham and I had to travel to get it. It definetly wasnt Chester i.e. Dawsons or Colt or EastGate. As an aside, the stand its on in the pic was a special from Colt. That was a cool shop! Oooh you got a MM. Thats next on the list for me too but Im not giving up Blondie for no one!!

A

 

[Shawn Luckman]

apa I lived in Rhyl I bought my 1964 Hofner Violin bass from Rays Underground in Wrexham back in 1988. I know the shop where you got 'Blondie' from but can't remember the name at the moment.

The build quality of the Hohner Pro basses was very good, I had a Hohner Jack Bass which I wish I still had.

 

[apa]

OMG Rays Underground!!!! That takes me back LMAO. Who was that big guy in there, Dave or Andy I think. Had a fantastic voice. To be honest I never rated Rays. Never got on with him or Andy/Dave. Bit cocky and the Laney combo bass amp I got from him was a pile of crap but we digress...............

Yep build quality is very good on Hohner Pro's. A wolf in sheeps clothing so to speak. Did you go and see many gigs at the Pier?

Andrew

 

[Shawn Luckman]

No I was only in Wrexham because I went to a music college there,& every dinner time we all used to go into Rays. They did not always know what they had,when I got the Hofner he said it was a '70's model & I agreed until I was leaving with it and told him it was an early '60's.

 

[MadAxe59]

I have a Hohner Professional PJ Bass Fl with Bassline pickups and Chromes.Link Removed

 

[lindseyp]

My Hohner Professional Jazz from the late '90s:
Hohner B Bass FL fretless jazz pictures by lindseyp - Photobucket

 

[Stondis]

Right I have this Hohner Professional J Bass which I bought in the Mid '90s new (In the UK, North Wales to be precise). I dont remember having any paperwork with it. I bought it and walked out the shop!! Ive googled and searched but nothing is comming up about this specific model. The only other one Ive found is on here but it was the fretless version from a guy in Australia I think!! So the question is - Does anyone know anything about it? Where its made (Im assuming Far East). Are they rated as any good? Does anyone else have one? Is it a sleeping classic that will pay for my old age (Dream on lol). I think its a realy nice player although the pups arent up to much realy. I also think it looks realy nice. Oh and finally, It does say 'J' on the head doesnt it!!!

Await the floods of secret Hohner owners



A

View attachment 185952

View attachment 185953

Hello!
I have the exact same bass! My dad bought it for me as an Xmas present in '94 from a little shop in Sheffield (no idea of the name)
I absolutely love mine, I strayed from it for a while with my Epiphone Thunderbird, but this is the bass for me. It's so playable, the neck is really nice and the pickups are LOUD and sound great (they're passive).
There is still a little sticker on the back of the headstock that says "made in Korea"
I can't tell from your photo if yours is "Foam Green" like mine - to be honest that was what attracted me to it in the first place!

EDIT - I should have said, this bass was christened "The Green Bomber" by one of my bandmates...

 

[apa]

Hello!
I have the exact same bass! My dad bought it for me as an Xmas present in '94 from a little shop in Sheffield (no idea of the name)
I absolutely love mine, I strayed from it for a while with my Epiphone Thunderbird, but this is the bass for me. It's so playable, the neck is really nice and the pickups are LOUD and sound great (they're passive).
There is still a little sticker on the back of the headstock that says "made in Korea"
I can't tell from your photo if yours is "Foam Green" like mine - to be honest that was what attracted me to it in the first place!

EDIT - I should have said, this bass was christened "The Green Bomber" by one of my bandmates...

Good Grief!! This thread still alive?? Hi Stondis we're 99% there. Mine was originally a cream but has now mellowed to a nice off yellow. Yep their good aint they. Ive since realised that the neck is a bit wider and flatter than a J but its still nice and thin. She still gets played regularly. Strung with cromes now and I love the deep rich sound I get. I put quit a bit of treble on too which gives it a very detailed sound (For want of a better term!)

Oh and thier made by CORT. The neck plate should be cast with a stamped serial number beginning with 'C'?

EDIT: Mines called BLONDIE

A

 

[Stondis]

Hmm, I thought I'd subscribed to this thread but obviously not as I just found your reply...
Yes, it's the flatness of the neck that makes it the bass for me, wasn't sure how to describe that aspect of it.
Ah, interesting to know about the Cort business, mine is c210344 which is now my email address! Nobody can remember it though...

 

[RickenAria]

I have a 1988 (that's when I got it) Hohner PJ Series bass!

It's my very first bass, so it holds a special place for me.

I've been looking all over for someone else who might know about it.

I'm trying to restore mine and make it into a fretless.

Unfortunately, I stripped the nut for the truss rod.

Do any of you know where I could get a replacement nut/screw for it? I tried putting a Fender Bullet on it, but it didn't fit. I've been looking all over for someone who would be able to help me.

Any help with this would be GREATLY appreciated!

Cheers!

 

[mb94952]

I have a 1988 (that's when I got it) Hohner PJ Series bass!

It's my very first bass, so it holds a special place for me.

I've been looking all over for someone else who might know about it.

I'm trying to restore mine and make it into a fretless.

Unfortunately, I stripped the nut for the truss rod.

Do any of you know where I could get a replacement nut/screw for it? I tried putting a Fender Bullet on it, but it didn't fit. I've been looking all over for someone who would be able to help me.

Any help with this would be GREATLY appreciated!

Cheers!

Personally, I don't know where to get a new one, BUT I would suggest if you love the bass, then take it to your local repair shop that does everything.

Have your guy take out the old truss rod completely and install a new graphite truss rod !! It will be a lighter bass and a stronger, more accurate neck ! It is like redoing the chasis on a classic car to new car standards.

Your Hohner would be the best on the block and you'd be happier ! For the price of about $200 (I'm guessing) you'd get WAY more than that worth in personal value. To quote my buddy Jim, "Some people know the price of everything and the value of nothing."

 

[RickenAria]

Thanks! When I scrounge up some money I'm definitely going to do that.

I have 3 other basses, so it's no rush whatsoever. But, I always thought Hohners were pretty damn good for "beginner" basses.

I just wish I had taken better care of it.

 

[Esoge]

Does anyone have any info on dating these?

I was given a Hohner Professional PJ exactly like the one pictured in DaLoCo's post (same color and everything) by my uncle to fix up and then he just gave it to me. I'm in the process of fixing the severely up bowed neck with a little help from a C Clamp and time. Luckily these come with a built in hex screw to shim the neck behind the neckplate which should help correct the action if I need further adjustment.

My serial number is 8931893 so it doesn't begin with a C as stated by apa. Not sure if that means much of anything as Hohner's website will not load on any of my computers or my phone (clearly they're doing a bang up job in the web development realm) though I doubt they'll have any info to help anyway.

Any help would be immensely appreciated, as I always like to know more about my instruments.