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May your days be merry and bright.

Except it was made by HOHNER, not Höfner.

All this talk about Danny Sapko. Perhaps we need to rename this forum to BESHCHAT.

There’s a bit of a story about that one if anyone is interested, it was one of Aston Barrett’s early basses originally ,and when he started touring with the wailers he gave it to Robbie, Robbie thinks he might have played the Hofner on the Wailers Concrete Jungle recording

Personally I’d just pay the return postage, mark it down to experience and get looking for another bass

I worked in instrument retail for years, so I have a bit more sympathy for the retailer, in the same way I have total sympathy for you. From the manufacturer’s POV there is nothing wrong with the bass. The retailer buys the bass and has no recourse on it, it is not faulty (per the manufacturer). It is very common on cheaper basses with visible grain finishes to have badly matched wood. I agree it looks crap, it would annoy me as a retailer, and as a potential buyer, but fundamentally no one has behaved badly in this situation, the call from others to slag them off all over the internet seems a bit off to me. Personally if I was buying anything with visible grain I’d want to see it before buying to avoid this exact situation.

But if you look at the images on line being used to sell this bass, some are most definitely book matched and, even when they are not, none are close to being as mis-matched as the example in the OP. If I had bought the bass in the OP on the basis of the photos being published on-line, I'd be sending it back expecting a full refund including my postage costs too.

So - caveats and bias first - I have not played the Anagram so can't comment on it or compare to the BassRigs. I have had a BassRig SuperVintage at the end of my board for the past 18 months or so running to front of house / interface from the DI, to the back line from the jack out. Generally it's an "always on" I have also been running it "off" with the cab sim engaged on the DI. I wouldn't worry about an adverse impact on octavers or synths. There will be an impact which may mean that you want to tweak things but in my experience (OC2 / line 6 purple filter modeler / Mastotron / Envelope noises) the impact is generally positive (a bit more focused and consistent a sound - less alarming for the FOH / mix when you kick in a new sound). If you turned up to a gig with your effects and had to use the in-house SVT / 810 - would you be upset? Bootsy and Tim Lefebvre don't seem to be scared about running squelches or "doooh" noises through an SVT. I don't think of the BassRig as a pre-amp or effect - I think of it as an SVT + fridge that fit in a biscuit tin.

Can’t think it’s good for business behaving like this. Based on the 30 people who expressed an opinion on this thread. 27 wouldn’t have been happy and would have sent it back. (90%) That means on average they will need to ship this bass (and have it returned) 10 times before they find somebody who is happy with it🤷‍♂️

As a tribute, we needed a Showreel, so we did a mash of DIY and pro. Recorded audio ourselves at a rehearsal space (individually not as a live take), guitarist's brother is a bit of a whizz at recording. Went to a theatre to mime to the track on a stage, where a guy did mate's rates for multiple shots of video. The guitarist has the know how to then edit the audio and video to this end product. Probably cost us £300 to rent spaces and pay for video recording but would have cost x3 that if our band didn't have the knowledge and contacts to bring it together.

That is exactly what I do. Play last encore (assuming we're asked for one 😉 ), mute amp, unplug and switch off wireless transmitter, put bass into gig bag, pedal board into case, coil cables, change shades for normal specs and get off the stage sharpish. Takes about three minutes to get everything where it should be and I do final tidying up backstage or in the green room. That just seems to me to be the professional thing to do.

This came up in the Sky Arts thread (where I also mentioned Robbie Shakespeare to general blanks). For some reason they've got to be punk/new wave/prog to get the basschat radar pinging!

The latest pictures some more shaping done on my bass.

I've been very quiet on here recently, for various reasons, but the main one is that I've been building, and learning to run a music venue! I run a recording studio, and my mate runs rehearsal rooms, all from one building in Stoke. We've built up a decent reputation over the years. There was one bit of the building we didn't have, and that was a garage, but last year the mechanic upped and left, and the landlord offered it to us. We spent countless hours turning a dirty old garage into a spanking new venue and I'm super proud of it. Please check it out if you're looking for live music in Stoke or The Midlands, and obviously get in touch if you'd like to play! www.rifffactory.co.uk https://www.instagram.com/rifffactoryuk/ The bar: Opening week: The garage:

Yup. The agreed 25 quid seems the easiest - the path of least resistance (as I suggested earlier). Re the OP, the questions was 'would it bother me?' My answer, a resounding yes.

To my ears, That sounds like a P-bass (or neck pickup at least?) Roundwound strings A healthy dose of Compression And I think I detect a pinch of Pitch modulation i.e Flanging or Chorus just to give it all a bit of ‘3D’ shimmer? That should get you in the ballpark…

I’ve tried to be sympathetic too. They did say they’d check the bass before sending which they obviously didn’t so they only have themselves to blame. According to Google, guitarguitar has turnover of £45M/year and must spend a good couple of million with Cort, that has itself revenues of £6.6billion/yr These sort of faults/issues are the cost of doing business that they should easily be able to aborb into their costs based on their revenue not stitch up unlucky customers. I’m sure guitarguitar has enough clout based on its spend with Cort to push back on crappy quality control like this and get refunded on sub standard instruments. If customers don’t push back and retailers don’t push back on manufacturers then they’ll keep on pumping out crappy quality which isn’t good for anyone.

Worth remembering that there's another side to Hofner's business making classical stringed instruments that I imagine most of us here know very little about. Who knows which part or parts ofthe business are actually failing?

Everyone else I've seen on SBL does it by ear, as would I, I never write charts. Not saying either way is better/worse just that not everyone does it the same way. Sharon's no slouch either, she's another ex-Berklee bassist. Back on to Danny though, this is a few months old but it popped up on my YouTube the other night. His comic delivery in the first half of the video is brilliant, and then properly shows off his playing chops in the second half.

Have you missed out on any gigs because you didn't have a show reel? That's probably the most important question to ask. If you do think you need one, then do it properly. A badly produced showreel will probably put more venues off than no showreel at all. Unless you have lots a spare time and are interested in learning all about filming and video editing, pay for a professional. IMO you need good sound - the ambient live mix picked up by the camera is not going to cut it. The band need to look like a band and not a bunch of middle aged blokes who happen to have picked some instruments and the venue where you film should be as undistracting as possible. Good luck if you decide to go for it.

The sad fact is that without the McCartney connection Höfner would have probably folded decades ago. Even so there's a limit to how many "Beatle Basses" they can sell, and they have obviously reached now.

Well, 2025 has been tumbleweed for me and to be brutally honest, I haven't missed the band-centric activity. Had another hand operation last week (success already); this has been hindering things. Pencilled in for a studio session in January. On the up.

I wonder if the McCartney association is as much of a curse as a blessing for the violin bass. In the same way that some people are put off by signature models because they don't want people to think that they are trying to emulate that player. And the association between McCartney and violin basses is very strong indeed, to the point where it's one of the few models where non playing audience members might actually recognise it and think of it as the 'Beatles Bass'. Obviously McCartney is a great player, but not everyone wants their playing to be associated with or compared to someone else.

Oh look, successful musicians playing Hofners and none of them pretending to be in the Beatles... Curt Smith of Tears For Fears Kevin Parker of Tame Impala Tina Weymouth of Talking Heads Nicolas Godin of Air Johanna Soderbergh of First Aid Kit Robbie Shakespeare of Sly & Robbie Paul Weller of... you know

Making current models Pre-Hohner Hofners 👍

Looking forward to 2 sold out gigs this weekend. 1st at Cambusnethan Club in Wishaw area with 200+ tickets sold. This was actually where i had my wedding reception back in 95. Wife's Aunt was Bar Manageress so we got a great deal. 2nd at our Fav venue the famous Rock Club, The Dreadnought in Bathgate that have been booking us every year for past 4 yrs and already booked for next years. Always a great night and always a total party night. Both within 45mins from me so that's a bonus. Got our PA guy doing the hard work at Camby Club and PA is supplied at Dreadnought so no heavy lifting this weekend. Life doesn't get much better than this. I tell a lie - i pick up my new car on Sat morning 11am. A lovely Subaru Outback that has more loading space than my Volvo V90. The dealer suggested i take the demonstrator home and load my gear in to make sure 100% that they fit rather than relying on measuring it at the dealers. This is one seriously exciting weekend. Dave

Sasha from Rostoc basses has just bought ught one and posted the photo . Looks absolutely fine to me so in my opinion you should complain

IMO, this is exactly what you want from a showreel. lots of energy, interesting camera angles, quick cuts and zooms. Crowd dancing and singing along. Also, important to have a vertical version too, as so much social media is consumed vertically these days. This is my bands version for an upcoming gig, in the similiar vein, a bit less punk. https://www.instagram.com/p/DRZ7sdzlK7V/

OP buys a bass, ..then one of these... ...sends the crap half back... Problem solved 🙂 !

I truly think you didn't read the entire thread, and certainly not my crystal clear posts, or maybe you didn't understand what I was talking about regarding the OP's rant. So here it is even more clearly exposed: 1. OP buys a bass. 2. OP doesn't like it. 3. OP sends it back and asks for replacement. 4. OP gets it and find it's badly bookmatched. 5. OP asks for another replacement arguing that the top is badly mismatched, not correctly bookmatched. 6. Seller says OP has to pay the return fee, because there's no fault. 7. OP starts a rant here. 8. Everybody, but me starts ranting. 9. I explained why this is inadmissible to get a free return in this case. 10. Nobody reads the thread and the arguments, but push the rant further away. 11. My blood pressure is fine, but I really can't stand bad faith.

Bass arrived safely. Pros Great build quality Perfect set up Looks great Plays great Cons On the slightly heavier side but not too bad. At £399 this was a bargain. However, not sure I would pay the £599 RRP.

At your own cost though. They’ve not refused a return unless I’ve misread?

But all of their marketing videos and pictures show matching tops, so it’s implied they at least be some sort of matching. if you bought a blue car and each panel was a different shade of blue, it wouldn’t be an argument to say, we gave you a blue car and never stated the panels had to be the same shade.

He is very funny.

People shouting, rolling their eyes, making big eyes, fast edits, waving their arms, faux indignation etc on YT. The joy is that there is much better content on there so no one has to watch shouty people.

Tuner (in bypass mode), Preamp and compressor always on (NB mute and a HPF on the preamp). Extra EQ pedal for fretless to give a mid boost if needed (but not always). Fuzz one out of every ten songs again if needed (not always). Chorus/Envelope Filter/Octave pedals go on my board every now and again but then come off after a few months of never getting used (this cycle has been going on for a few years as I keep aspiring to use them, but never do!). They sound great on their own but I don't think add anything in a band situation.

Don’t Hofner still make high quality hand built acoustic instruments? Strongly suspect that their financial situation is more to do with a sluggish economy and high energy costs. I doubt Macca can help, unless he can broker a peace agreement with Russia.

As above. ^ This is exactly how I treat the Bassrig 15, as an always on replacement for a stage amplifier. I always Di and use iem as my backline / monitor system.

if i'd seen that bass in a shop i'd have not given it a second look and assumed it was a B-grade instrument. I'm not surprised with the reaction from GuitarGuitar in Newcastle, I've given up even going in (and it's now the only music shop in the city centre) on the few occasions i've popped in, every time with the intention of buying something the attitude of the staff has been awful, on one occasion i went in looking for an acoustic amp, with a 2k guitar in my hand and a budget up to 1k and they just seemed to have no interest in helping me at all. the Newcastle shop seems to be an exception for guitarguitar, the reports i've heard about their other shops have usually been pretty favourable, at some point i'm going to go and try the Edinburgh and Glasgow stores. Matt

It should be a private link on YouTube that you can share with anyone who asks for it.

I think I'd write off the 25 quid and get rid of the bass tbh. Not an ideal solution but it's one they've suggested, so the path of least resistance.

I started the year just in my one long-term band, but got asked by our lead guitarist to help his other band with a couple of private birthday party appearances while their bassist was on holiday. Over the course of the year, that turned into a couple of 'real' gigs while their bassist was tied up with work, and finally one where they and their bassist had parted ways. I'm now their new bassist. But before that happened, their drummer had also asked me to go and play some covers with another of his bands, meaning I'm finishing the year off in three. The old main band needs a bit of motivation this coming year, though. It suffers from us all having work and lives and other interests, and nobody really leading the charge so literal months can go by and nothing meaningfully progresses. Because the lead guitarist and I are now both in the aforementioned other band, and that band has a definite leader driving it, songs in progress, next album planned and recordings underway, it'd be easy for us to sit back and get a bit 'oh well' about our old faithful and that'd be a real shame. I'll give it a bit of a push in the new year and see if anyone gets enthused.

This year has been really busy for me with bands. I started the year in a 3-piece rock band that we'd been doing for a few years. Originals, obscure covers, mainly desert rock style. Only a few gigs a year at small venues. I'd recently early semi-retired and was looking for something else in addition. I was contacted through FB and ended up joining a busy established (15 years) classic rock covers band and learned the 30 songs and went out gigging regularly. It was good to get back into that regular routine however there were issues that I've covered in detail on other threads and I wasn't 100% happy. Then in September, the band announced it was going to split in December, so I started looking around. I auditioned for a busy, long-established Bristol-based cover band and got it. I'm currently learning a 40 song list. The new-to-me band has a great vibe, a very interesting crowd-pleasing set and is a real team effort. I got to see the last show with the outgoing bassist and chatted to him at length, which was really useful. I think I've learned around 80 songs this year in total, I've also managed to focus on improving my technique, my reading, my ears and my theory all in parallel with learning the sets and working on my sound and getting back into doing backing vocals. I'm up to around 30 hours a week of focus and am enjoying it more than ever. Not having to be part of the corporate machine anymore helps a lot. The band I started the year with split, the band I joined to expand my activity split and now I'm getting ready to rehearse and gig in '26 with a band that so far has been very positive. The overall effect on health and wellbeing has been tangible. Oh and I got to gig my Hamer 12 singing and playing Cheap Trick covers with a little thrown together band for a one-off.

I have to stop playing too much. The Bluegrasss band has two booking agents and we’ve got 60 dates in the book, including 4 European trips. As a result, I’ve canned all other projects (aside from a Blue Note jazz band) as it’s not fair on the family.

Don't take this as a dampener, but rather a way of avoiding disappointment due to unrealistic expectations - the ABRSM grades are not designed as a linear progression as far as hours put in per grade. The estimated Total Qualification Time for preparing for grade 5 is 3x that for grade 1, with 2x the Guided Learning Time (ie lessons). See page 6 of the piano syllabus if you want more details, or not, because the estimated are optimistic IMO and especially so for an adult learner once you hit the higher grades!

It would be impossible to trigger the synth with MIDI and audio simultaneously. It’s a monophonic synth so that would be confusing. Switching between modes was faster on pre-v4 units as it would simply switch to whichever input type was detected. Now MIDI- and audio-triggered parts are in separate parts of the memory. We do have relatively fast switching of the apps so perhaps this functionality could be re-introduced, or at least via a MIDI command.

Back facings Now selected which one of the planks i got from the skip to use and have made a rough lay out from the template to get a good match up of the grain and avoid the worst of the scuffs and blemishes. The pieces are well overthickness (18mm vs the target of 10mm) and there is a slight amount of cupping to deal with, so fun to be had with the planer over the festive break. Pics below are the boards as recovered from the skip and a rough lay out on the best of the boards.

Hohner should buy it... save me typing in the wrong name all of the time!