Double Bass Opinions on new Hofners?

[RobbG]

Mr. Mow,

You made the right call on passing on the Hofner. I'm a not-so-proud owner of one of these...and had I known of this site (or done even a little bit of research for that matter!) I would've saved up a bit longer and held out for a better bass.

I will say, however, that my particular bass had a good set up when I bought it, and actually plays and sounds decent -- not great by any stretch of the imagination -- but decent. It projects fairly well too (probably just an anomaly), so its sort of getting me by as I save up for a new bass.

Make no mistake though, I still fully regret buying this thing, as getting an okay sound is pretty much the best case scenario. And I do have some of the very same concerns that others have brought up regarding build quality, and won't be surprised when this thing begins to fall apart. The fingerboard and the neck joint on my bass make me very, very nervous...I'll just have to cross my fingers and wait to see how this turns out!

From what I can tell, the Hofner is a lateral move from the usual array of CCB's that are cluttering the market.

 

[AMJBASS]

This is unfortunate as the Hofner laminates from the 1950's-70's were very well made basses. I have one that I just picked up and it is a great bass.

 

[swingingoodtime]

Hi Mr Mow,

Just a thought; have you checked out the basses at Jouelline Strings in VIC? I once researched into the Sandners and the little I unearthed seemed to suggest that they were ok; can't say if they were great, but apparently ok. (Do a TB keyword search on 'Sandner' to find out more)

There's a better pic of the Sandners on eBay than on the seller's main website:
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/A-Fine-Solid...l_Instruments_Instruments?hash=item439a41f74c

The reason I never got to pursue them is that they're not represented in NSW. They also have other basses on their site:

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They seem to sell a blonde bass too (another cheap all-solid like Hayes, although Gamba shaped instead):
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Hope that helps!

 

[Rastus_01]

Seems a bit too good to be true at that price, the Concert bass looks good though.

 

[swingingoodtime]

Señor Mow,

How's the bass-safari going? There's an 'Arts Music'/Atelier 3/4 bass on eBay at the moment, located in Geelong. Not sure whether it's full-ply or not (if it is, I think they're being a bit optimistic with the opening bid price of $1900), but I've tried one of these and they seem to be not bad (stated from my limited experience, although I did meet a more experienced player who was considering one as a gigger. And sorry, I forgot about these in our earlier posts). I've chatted with AM's luthier, Paul Davies, and he said he had these made in China but to specification, even including how the laminates are laid down. He has a distribution deal with Allan's, so maybe check them out & see if they'll do a deal if you like them?