RichT

Many thanks to everyone who offered advice re my Hofner strings query. Re suggestions of the Hofner HCT not being suited to the sound I'm looking for, a couple of things to clarify - I'm definitely in the market for a well built, more premium solid body short scale right now, but I'm going to ask about that in a separate post! I actually get a lot of versatility out of the Hofner Contemporary's tone with rounds, and being specific with playing style (fingers/thumb/palm muting) and position over pickups, I can get it to do fairly good imitations of both a standard electric bass sound and a more hollow vintage sound. My main issue is, as has been mentioned, string choice is highly restricted due to the tiny tuners, and with the Hofner Contemporary Rounds I've found that almost as soon as I've broken them in, they start to tarnish, turn a coppery colour and look pretty horrendous, so I was hoping for something with more life expectancy to get out of that cycle being stuck between overly bright strings or tarnished eyesore! When I said I wasn't going for vintage I realise that wasn't being specific enough to be useful. At that moment I was thinking 'vintage' in the sense that 90% of people with Hofners on bass forums seem to believe that there is only one correct way for them to sound - McCartneyesque, flats, picked, thumpy - that does nothing for me whatsoever. But I suppose there's also the sense of 'vintage' as in the opposite of what most of us would perceive as a modern bass sound - i.e. that bright, active, zingy, slappy tone. That modern sound is also the antithesis of what I like! My Platonic ideal of a bass tone (like many other people my age I imagine) are things like Flea's sound on Blood Sugar Sex Magic, or Stuart Zender on the first Jamiroquai album. Actually quite warm dark tones but with that roundwound funky growl and bite. Anyway I ordered the Labella White Tapes specifically for Hofners. Despite the increased gauge they fit they HCT Club perfectly fine at the nut and felt great to play, much preferred them to the flats I tried. Ultimately after trying them out for a full 10 hours or so playing time I switched back to the rounds. Although I liked the sound I was getting and it was certainly more expressive, growly and brighter than flats, it was less so than the broken-in rounds. Also with rounds the HCT Club just has this absolutely beautiful unique full-bodied tone in the upper registers, and it lost that completely with the tapes. Above the 7th fret of the G sounded like the nylon strings on an acoustic - not what I wanted at all. So, I moved the tapes to my Hofner Ignition Club (which has been unmentioned until now...) Previously I'd put the flats on there to give it a raison d'etre after getting the HCT, which had ultimately had the effect of making me want to play it even less (doh!) I did have to slightly file a nut slot on the Ignition to get the D string to fit, mostly because that slot happened to be wonkily cut to start with, but once on the tapes sounded absolutely made for that instrument. Full, warm, expressive, responsive and articulate, and oddly didn't have the same 'nylon acoustic string' effect in the upper register at all. It's one of those long term goals of mine to one day own a German Hofner Club bass, and if/when that happens, I will be putting a set of Labella white tapes on it. In the meantime, I may just have to learn to love the lived-in look of rounds on the HCT.

Apologies if this isn't quite the right place to ask this, but I figured if anyone knows then the shortie fans are most likely to. I have a Hofner HCT Contemporary Club bass, generally loving it but looking for strings that are better suited for me. I'm very interested in getting a set of the Labella white tapewounds specifically made for Hofners (760THBB) but I note the gauge is higher than the stock strings - 50/65/80/100 vs 40/60/75/95. All I really need to know is whether they will fit the Contemporary Hofner line with no modifications to the nut. Anyone used them at all, or know for sure? Secondary to this, any opinions on the sound you get from white tapes would be welcome. Despite owning a Hofner I'm certainly not going for a vintage or 'thumpy' tone, I want a fairly standard electric bass sound. I've been using Hofner's own Contemporary roundwounds up until now. The sound of worn in rounds is the general vibe I'm after, I hate new string zing, and I'd also like something that lasts longer than the rounds. I did try the Hofner contemporary flatwound set and hated them, sounded totally dead and lifeless to me. I also wasn't impressed by a set of D'Addario flats on another bass, don't think flats are my thing. Hoping the white tapewounds will be the answer and have more life and bite to them.