NBD - 1965 Höfner 500/1

[Shawn Luckman]

Congrats on your 500/1 it will serve you well I have no doubts on that . I have owned my 1964 Hofner 500/1 for the last 32 years, best bass I ever bought.

 

[pbass2]

Wow. Beautiful Hofner---congrats! Nothing else sounds like these. Iconic. And, they record and sit in a mix so well. I recently saw Sir Paul at his big show in LA at Dodger Stadium-when he was playing his Hofner, the bass sound was so clear and distinct, even in that huge outdoor venue. When his guitarist would play bass on some songs with a pbass, it sounded fine of course, but man, the Hofner was so much more defined sounding in this setting. Good investment you made there!

 

[Oddly]

As someone of 1965 vintage myself I am most impressed with how much better shape its in than I am!
Congratulations!

 

[Pdaddy1978]

Let's face it.....
For any of us that can trace our bass ground zero moment to the 64 Ed Sullivan appearance, that Hof is a holy grail thing. Neck dive, toy like, thumpy thing be damned!...
If your thing started then, then like me, you want one....period.
I have a cheap, old, Japanese knock off.... wish I had the disposable income to have a real deal......like yours
Not only real, yours seems to be a ridiculously well preserved specimen.
Congrats....I officially envy you!!

 

[Doctor Intrepid]

I cant understand the 'toy-like' comments from various folks. Is a violin a toy?

 

[terlewine]

That's a beautiful bass! Yours is a dead ringer for the first bass I ever owned -- a Christmas present in about 1967. Those Hofners have a great and unique tone. I do wish I still had mine.

 

[bobyoung53]

I owned a 67 for a brief period of time when it was a couple of years old, I couldn't get used to it, I man handled the poor thing, wish I had kept it though. I was used to a cheap Japanese long scale something or other with big flat wounds on it and it felt like a toy to me also. I played it so hard all the little triangular pieces flew out of the bridge onto the floor.

 

[Oren Hudson]

Splendid!

 

[terlewine]

Yeah, at that age I wanted a harder-rocking bass than the Hofner, too.

if I remember correctly, those metal saddles in the bridge we're short pieces of fret wire.

 

[-Shaun-]

Thanks for all your input, guys. I took the Höfner out for her first gig (in a long time, at least) last Saturday, and had a wonderful time. I gotta say, the lack of side dot position markers on the neck can be a bit of a challenge, especially combined with the short scale. I put some small stickers on the back of the neck to indicate where the frets that would usually have dots are. I'm sure I'll get used to it eventually, and the stickers will be able to come off. No photos have surfaced from the gig just yet, but there is a video in case anyone is interested. The music in the background is not us, but a guy who played later in the night. It was an event showcasing local original music, so we were one of a few bands on stage.


Cheers, guys.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

No knock on younger guys playing a Hofner, but I'm thinking this may well be my ideal Old Age Couch Noodler. I can't think of anything lighter that you can actually hear unplugged, short of a Ubass (meh). The thin short scale neck is easy on my hands, and I love that woody tone. I think the genuine Hofners are insanely overpriced, but that's another discussion. Plenty of excellent Hofner clones out there for short money. My son has a Jay Turser I regularly "borrow" to mess around on, great little bass, and it was cheap! In my case, I'll probably build a kit version for the fun of it.

 

[Irastas]

Congrats!! Hoping to get a Hofner, likely the inexpensive Ignition variety, at some point.

The Ignition is a great choice. For £270 you are getting an instrument which is technically and in terms of output quality just as good as German made 500/1s dating from the early 1960s. They also had a tendency to go out of tune at the top end, octave and above, of the fretboard.
Enjoy, that's what I'm playing!