New Hofner violin basses, thoughts

[markjazzbassist]

I love mine but I have a club. I’m a big guy so the violin bass looked funny on me, club bass sounds the same, same neck pickups etc just bigger body.

It’s my main player, I’ll do comfortable 4 hour+ gigs on it with no shoulder pain. Short scale is fast to play as well.

I love my hofner, go for it!

 

[Paul New]

I think Chris Wood of Medeski Martin and Wood or the Wood Brothers when I think Hofner violin body. It’s got a upright vibe but also a sound of its own.

 

[tothemax]

I think Chris Wood of Medeski Martin and Wood or the Wood Brothers when I think Hofner violin body. It’s got a upright vibe but also a sound of its own.

Great sound... it's definitely got me more interested now...

 

[Gilmourisgod]

FYI, any of the Hofners or their clones (except maybe the Epiphone Viola) are terminal neck-divers, but they are so light that you can sort of "clamp it" in place using your forearm and barely notice it, or just use a grippy strap. The Club would be a better choice for seated practice. My son used his Jay Turser and a Rumble 30 in Jazz Band with horns and drums all through high school with no problem. The only mod I did to it was replace the crappy Chinesium output jack with a switchcraft. If you put genuine Hofner electronics and pickups in it, I don't know how anyone could tell the difference sonically. The scale length is a little odd, not all short scale strings will fit, but the Labella Deep Talking Flats for Hofners are perfect. The Jay Turser shipped with rounds, as do most of the clones.

 

[Ricky Rioli]

The Contemporary Cavern makes plenty of sounds that I'd be very pleased to be making

 

[DJmtd]

I have an Ignition Violin bass and it's cool! If you can get it for next to nothing and swap a couple components, you'll have an absolutely gig-worthy and very lightweight bass. The pickups are a lot more versatile and fun than I would've thought - I could play a rock gig with it with zero issues. I plan on using it a bunch on an upcoming session.

I chose to ream the tuning peg holes to accept 1/2" Hipshots and got in touch with the guys there and they made me a semi-custom set. You could absolutely do the same, it was very reasonable price-wise. I threw on a set of LaBella White Beatle Bass Tapes (gonna try the black ones soon). Strings are probably as important to the Beatles sound as anything else you could do to the bass. It sounded cool with the cheap rounds on it, too!

It definitely needed fretwork when I got it and you would be wise to play with the position of the bridge and saddles while you are restringing/working on the frets. It's actually pretty shocking how well-intonated you can get em!

I also tore out the controls in favor of VVT. I did not see any utility in keeping the stock setup.

 

[Averell]

And if you want a violin to look a bit different, there’s the Green Line. Look at that beauty.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

The floating bridges are about the only weak point on these basses. Given the huge number of them floating around, I'm surprised nobody has come up with a fully adjustable drop-in aftermarket version. The original one can be accurately intonated for E and G, but A and D will be approximations. Once you get it intonated, change strings one at a time so you don;t move it, or put a couple tape markers around it temporarily while you change strings. Some people double-stick tape the whole bridge down under the little "legs" of the bridge.

 

[Aloe]

The original one can be accurately intonated for E and G, but A and D will be approximations

not my experience. the bridge can be intonated fine on all strings, this requires moving the saddles (they are not required to sit in a specific slot) and sometimes also taking care of their height.

 

[markjazzbassist]

not my experience. the bridge can be intonated fine on all strings, this requires moving the saddles (they are not required to sit in a specific slot) and sometimes also taking care of their height.

same here, mine intonates fine. if you can't do it personally, get a luthier. mine got it perfect.

 

[Averell]

Intonation is fine for me. But the E string sounded weak, with no sustain, and I had to bring it to a luthier to sand the bridge in its precise location, to make it perfectly fit to the curve of the bass. Now it blooms. But I’m pretty sure if I change string gauges I will need a luthier to get it right if the bridge has to move. Fortunately, Pyramid Gold are the string just perfect for this bass, no need to change them.
So set up may be hard to achieve, but once it’s done, it’s perfect.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

not my experience. the bridge can be intonated fine on all strings, this requires moving the saddles (they are not required to sit in a specific slot) and sometimes also taking care of their height.

Yes, you can move the "saddles", but they are just short pieces of fret wire, and you are limited to the pre-cut slots in the bridge to locate them, so the best you can achieve on the A & D is "close enough". Probably better not to try to intonate one of these on a Peterson Strobe, you'll drive yourself crazy! I have seen a couple home-brew mods where people installed a tune-o-matic style bridge on a custom wood base, but AFAIK, nobody makes a mass-produced version.

This video is getting pretty dated, so maybe they cut the fret slots differently now, but check out the guy cutting them by hand around 8:50. He appears to be "eyeballing" the fret slot locations, probably from pencil marks on the board. This might explain why genuine Hofners get a little wonky above the 12th. I would assume the Ignition and Contemporary are CNC cut these days though. Love the Old School machinery and techniques here, these guys have some SKILLS.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

Recent YT review of a Contemporary Hofner. Honestly, I don't see much difference in fit and finish between this and my Son's Jay Turser, or the Rogue version. At this price point, you should expect to have to do a little setup. I would expect the full-blown Hofner to BE immaculate, damn well better be at that price!