Paul McCartney's modified Hofner control panel?

[40Hz]

(But I guess that's an American thing, if you compare it with cars, Europeans tend to keep them stock while Americans often start to change all kinds of things on them. it's a way to spend money, but you can wonder if there's serious improvement, or that that only happens between your ears, to justify the spending.)

Sure seems like. And I don’t get that at all. Anybody who’s super serious about changing the sound of their Hofner (although why even get something as iconic sounding as a Hofner if you’re going to do that?) can just plug it into a parametric EQ or install a preamp with a sweepable midrange control. Because there’s only so much you can do with a passive circuit. And the post mod differences are usually pretty subtle unless they’re correcting some bad design decision made by the manufacturer.

There’s also another factor in Sir Paul’s “secret sauce” that often is neglected. It’s called signal processing. Paul’s most famous sounds were studio recordings. So there’s always some tasteful compression and (I’d be willing to bet) a HPF rolling off some of the very low frequencies in the signal chain. Can’t speak for everyone, but I found using a HPF set to roll off below 35 or so hertz to clean up some of the inherent muddiness; and just enough compression to even out the signal a bit and add some emphasis to the attack (if you’re playing with a pick) works wonders with a Hofner or similar sounding bass. YMMV.

 

[Nedster1969]

I always had a problem with the way HÖFNER violin bass was wired. I just couldn't see the logic in it. So I decided to rewire my 500/1 Contemporary Sunburst. I prefer the 0.047μF paper in oil tone capacitor but other values or other capacitors may work as well. I put in the fresh pair of 250kOhm pots so now the left volume (volume 2 knob) is the master volume and the right volume (volume 1 knob) is the master tone. TREBLE ON switch turns the bridge pickup on/off and BASS ON switch turns the neck pickup on/off. The RHYTHM/SOLO switch changes the phase of the neck pickup (RHYTHM or up is in phase and SOLO or down is out of phase). This way I have full control of what is happening with the sound and I have all the possible combinations I will ever need. I am posting my wiring diagram here hoping that you may find it useful.

 

[mikecd1]

I always had a problem with the way HÖFNER violin bass was wired. I just couldn't see the logic in it. So I decided to rewire my 500/1 Contemporary Sunburst. I prefer the 0.047μF paper in oil tone capacitor but other values or other capacitors may work as well. I put in the fresh pair of 250kOhm pots so now the left volume (volume 2 knob) is the master volume and the right volume (volume 1 knob) is the master tone. TREBLE ON switch turns the bridge pickup on/off and BASS ON switch turns the neck pickup on/off. The RHYTHM/SOLO switch changes the phase of the neck pickup (RHYTHM or up is in phase and SOLO or down is out of phase). This way I have full control of what is happening with the sound and I have all the possible combinations I will ever need. I am posting my wiring diagram here hoping that you may find it useful.

Thanks for sharing your wiring diagram with us! Having switched my own CT Club to 250k pots my bass has tighter lows thanks to that and the sustain block, but didn't feel any need to add a tone control and the bass works great with the amp and my HPF so not sure what a phase switch would do for the sound of these basses. The HPF works great with the Hoffy and is kind of a must. Any sound files would help make it easier to see if the mod works for other users before reinventing the panel and likely not something the average user can accomplish without some help. I've been super happy with the 250k pots in my CT which of course makes the sound much closer to the German panel and would love to hear what you're now hearing if you could share that with us.

 

[Forp]

Hi guys, i'm new here.I decided to make an account to point out two anomalies that you guys didn't mention. The treble on switch cap is 15n instead of 10n and the rythm switch inline resistor is 310k or 210k (not sure) but its not 100k as seen usually.

 

[Forp]

I would like to add that the the 0,1uf (100nf cap) is grounded and the resistor following it seams broken at the leg from where it was soldered to where normally the capacitor goes first. Still, giving all those circuit analysis, i can't keep my self from wondering if those are really pics from the controls of paul mccartney's bass.

 

[Forp]

So, I talked to Albert Kasleder.He confirmed having work on the bass of paul mccartney when he was an electric tech a hofner a few yesrs ago.the resistor is 330k he said. THE Bass on tone network is disconected in purpose. So, the only question remaining is when did Paul had this mod done , or if it just broke and stayed like that.The capacitor being solder in reverse seam to tell me it was soldered there to make sure no part is lost or loose.I have tried the reverse capacitor resistor conection and i seam to loose the resonant peek, i din't like that, it sounded dull. The 330k makes the solo sound abit thicker but the rythm sound way more quiet. The 15nf treble on cap cause no problem.

 

[ferrante9]

So, I talked to Albert Kasleder.He confirmed having work on the bass of paul mccartney when he was an electric tech a hofner a few yesrs ago.the resistor is 330k he said. THE Bass on tone network is disconected in purpose. So, the only question remaining is when did Paul had this mod done , or if it just broke and stayed like that.The capacitor being solder in reverse seam to tell me it was soldered there to make sure no part is lost or loose.I have tried the reverse capacitor resistor conection and i seam to loose the resonant peek, i din't like that, it sounded dull. The 330k makes the solo sound abit thicker but the rythm sound way more quiet. The 15nf treble on cap cause no problem.

I have noticed that sometimes he uses both bridge and neck pickup knobs , even though supposedly only the neck pickup is on …. That leads me to believe that even though we see neck pickup only based on the control panel , in reality both pickups are on … and he may rolls off the bridge pickups depending on songs ?