NBD: Hofner B-bass Hi-Series

[Batced]

First new bass day in many a day, I had actually popped into GuitarCenter today to get the volume knob on my Rickenbacker copy replaced and fixed (if the techie who fixed it visits these forums, thank you again!) and she did it so fast that I decided to just mess around and look around. Moseying into the bass section, I was looking around and to my right were two Hofners, both being from the Chinese factory. Both were surprisingly set on the “McCartney tone” in that they were on the neck pickup with the bridge turned off. One had red Roundwound strings on it and it was okay, this one was brand new at $499, but it was the other one that was used at $399 that had the flats and seemed like the bridge was set up properly. It felt right in my hands, which is strange because I haven’t messed with a short-scale bass in many years (I guess my Rickenbacker copy counts as it’s roughly about 32-33” but that’s barely) but noodling a bit and doing some Beatles lines, well…it felt like destiny.

Granted I was originally thinking of getting the Cavern bass, just as an excuse to mod the surround plate ala Revolution like Paul had done, just to be cool. But I don’t mind getting this Mersey model, as it definitely was calling to me and just felt like it was meant to be.

I also didn’t realize Hofner was making the teacup knobs standard on the Chinese basses, as I was expecting the more Fender looking ones to be on there like I’d seen on most of the Icon/Ignition series basses. If someone better in the know has a bit of knowledge on this, feel free to chime in!

 

[MAJOR METAL]

Congrats Dude! Rock it hard!

 

[P. Aaron]

New bass means your playing will change, which leads to new ideas. Cool.

Congrats. Ever since I was a kid, the "Beatle Bass" has been such a unique thing to me. Even tho' I don't have one, it still takes me waaaaaaaayyyyy back to the first Beatles pics I saw as a kid in the early 60's and that Hofner bass always stood out as being so unique.

 

[Batced]

New bass means your playing will change, which leads to new ideas. Cool.

Congrats. Ever since I was a kid, the "Beatle Bass" has been such a unique thing to me. Even tho' I don't have one, it still takes me waaaaaaaayyyyy back to the first Beatles pics I saw as a kid in the early 60's and that Hofner bass always stood out as being so unique.

The funny part is I’d spent most of this year learning many early Beatles lines on my Rickenbacker copy, that when I transposed that playing to the Hofner I realized that those extra two or three inches makes a difference in that I didn’t have to make too many wide stretches on the fretboard.

What I love most too is that if I’m reading the serial number on the back correctly, it was made in China in September 2020, first one for that month, and my birthday is in September…so in a strange cosmic way it’s like we were destined for one another

 

[jmattbassplaya]

Very cool! I’m considering picking one of these up so I dig the positive review

 

[Batced]

Very cool! I’m considering picking one of these up so I dig the positive review

I dug around and discovered that Höfner has indeed changed up the Ignition series since 2020 so this is part of their PRO line, which I think has replaced the original Ignition thanks to swapping the black knobs with the correct teacup ones. The pickups are still the cheaper lower output as previous but, because I didn’t have any other Hofner to compare it to, it didn’t matter much to me as long as it got that woody THUMP which it definitely did, so I’m more than happy.

I’m still messing around with it, and along the way trying to find as many high quality sources of Paul’s during the touring years to get an idea of if he really was playing through the neck or had both pickups engaged and the second one was just rolled off.