Hoyer Violin Bass Guitars

[TX Bassgirl]

Hey all,

I have an old Hoyer Violin Bass Guitar and it doesn't work. I am not very knowledgable on the inner workings of electric instruments so I don't know where to start or exactly is wrong. Does anyone know about that particular brand and style? I think someone told me it was from about mid to late 60s.....I got it for free from my church when I was a teen. I want to get it fixed but don't know if they even make the parts for it anymore. I googled it and looked around but couldn't find much. Any help and advice is welcomed. I can still play on it and hear thanks to the sound holes.

 

[GlennW]

Many times basses stop working because the nuts which secure the pots have come loose. This allows the pot to rotate in the hole while someone is turning the knob. If the person turning the knob doesn't realize what's going on he keeps turning the knob. This puts a strain on the wires connected to the pots and often breaks the connection.

If you can get a peek at the controls see if something is obviously disconnected, like the end of a wire that isn't attached anywhere.

 

[The Golden Boy]

"Hoyer" or "Hofner?"

 

[Bobster]

FYI

http://www.hoyer-guitars.com/

 

[mongo2]

Interesting instruments...a search resulted in quite a bit of info on Hoyer. I found this picture of a bass, is it like this one?

I'd take it to a tech rather than attempt to troubleshoot it yourself.

 

[Thornton Davis]

Hey all,

I have an old Hoyer Violin Bass Guitar and it doesn't work. Any help and advice is welcomed. I can still play on it and hear thanks to the sound holes.

Does your Hoyer have one or two pickups?

Eitherway, it's most likely a Hoyer London Bass Model 43. They made two versions of it. One was a single pickup version and the other was a two pickup version.

There are also two versions of the body, the first having 2 sound holes and the second without the sound holes.

If you PM me, i'll send you photos of both versions so you can compare them to your bass. BTW, Hoyer guitars were made in the small village of Erlangen which is located close to Nurenberg in the Bavaria area of South Germany.

TD

 

[Thornton Davis]

Interesting instruments...a search resulted in quite a bit of info on Hoyer. I found this picture of a bass, is it like this one?

I'd take it to a tech rather than attempt to troubleshoot it yourself.

This is Hoyer's London Bass Model 43. It would be approx 66-67.

TD

 

[Jnagol]

Here is a photo of my 60's Hoyer. Smaller scale than say a Fender. But Wow what tone ! (2 pickups model. Bought brand new from my Guitar teacher in the mid 1960's)

 

[bholder]

The you go, another one for the GAS list...

 

[GIBrat51]

While there were (and are) some basses that had unique pickups and controls, and all kinds of strange stuff inside, your Hoyer isn't one of them. It will have "normal" potientiometers ( the volume and tone controls), switches, and pickup (or pickups). Other than a wire coming loose, pickups don't usually just go bad all of a sudden. The volume and tone controls can, though; especially ones that are half a century old. The cable jack can also poop out, too. Any decent luthier/guitar tech can fix whatever is wrong with your Hoyer, and probably pretty inexpensively, too. Have someone check it over for you, and see what they say. It could be just as simple as giving the controls a good cleaning. Good luck with it.

 

[Jnagol]

He is another photo.

Here is a photo of my 60's Hoyer. Smaller scale than say a Fender. But Wow what tone ! (2 pickups model. Bought brand new from my Guitar teacher in the mid 1960's)View attachment 592462

 

[BigBluez]

That is a seriously cool bass.