Cat Burrito

I stumbled across this on another forum & wanted to share it. I've been staggered by just how good the Chinese Hofners are & this goes some way towards explaining the Hofner ethos. [font="Arial Black"]It is worth bearing in mind that the Chinese production plant is wholly owned by Hofner, a most unusual situation, that few other manufacturers have bothered to achieve. They have done a huge amount of work developing the plant and training the staff, often in Germany, to ensure that China has become an extension of Hagenau. Many other manufacturers just put the work out in China to whoever offers the lowest tender, something that Hofner has completely avoided. The Chinese plant is one of only a handful to have received both a grade A production certificate and a grade A export certificate from the government. The fact that Hofner is building bodies and necks in China and then taking the components to Hagenau demonstrates their faith in their own manufacturing processes while allowing them to offer you a first class instrument at a reasonable price. True there are still a lot of cheap poor quality instruments coming out of China, generally aimed as beginners guitars and sold in packs around Christmas time, but these have nothing to do with Hofner and what they have achieved over there.Hofner has definitely entered a new era in manufacturing and brought the company alive with a good range of interesting guitars at prices to suit everyone. We need to get used to this and worry less about exactly where parts were made and concentrate more on the models they make, encouraging them to explore further with both retro and new models. They have the capability to do this now but will be hampered if we all keep on about where the body was made or who screwed the pickups on etc. Personally I applaud them for taking the difficult route and setting up a wholly owned and tightly controlled Plant of their own when they could have taken the easy option and just subbed the work out to any old factory. This really is a new era for Hofner and I think it is going to be at least as exciting as it was back the early 1960s.[/font] Well, I'm loving mine!

I'd heard about this listing. Even with his very generous 95% charity donation he'll still be doing ok out of this

I own one too. I bought it to go with my Orange rig (poser that I am) but I rarely take out effects. If I do start using effects again it'll be right in there

Absolutely to all of that I had flats on my Ricky which was a bit different. Sounded great!

I didn't use a plectrum with my Rickenbacker & now I wish I had. I think some basses lend themselves to that style - my Hofner Verithin springs to mind. I used to just rest my thumb on the pickup surround and got used to that after a short time. Ultimately though it wasn't the bass for me so I sold it on but more because it was a lot of money to have lying around on something that wasn't getting picked for gigs.

Best of luck

I think my influences put me in the right ball park without me wanting a direct copy of what they play. Fenders are pretty common but I've never wanted the same paint job and always wanted my own stamp on things. Equally my Hofner Verithin is based on a lot of 60s players who had semi acoustic basses but they tended to play Epiphone. It's subtle but it's enough for me

I owned both a few years ago & the Custom Shop one did feel nicer to play. There wasn't that much in it from what I could tell though

I saw Mary Wilson from the Supremes live this week (got a cheeky little kiss from her too afterwards but that is another story). She was amazing. My expectations were very low but I was blown away. Mary is 67yrs old now. I've seen a lot of older acts in the last few years and I don't think age comes into it. Keith Richards is still cool as fish even though I'm sure if he took that bandana off he'd look like Albert Steptoe

I've got nothing against people owning expensive basses and I've bought a couple of basses myself which were over £1500. The problem I find is that most basses in the £500 - £800 bracket are great workhorses and I find I'm reluctant to take the expensive stuff out. With a recent change in circumstances I'm finding it harder to justify what I thought were keepers as they don't get played live

I think the sub title of this thread *may* cause offensive which I'm sure isn't the intention. I don't use effects but just because I'm happy with my tone. I would use them if I felt I needed them & have nothing against them

Gotta love the Allman Brothers

The prices did get silly about 18 months ago. If I bought an MIA Fender now it'd be second hand and to be honest the MIM & the MIJ are great too. I guess basses are always worth whatever people are willing to pay. I personally found the price hike at a time of Global Recession a little offensive & I say that as a massive Fender fan

A few people here knock Rotosound but I've been using them for a while now & this is all very pleasing to hear

It has been a bad year. I have a friend in New York State who is very active in his local Shadows club so I've forwarded this. RIP

[quote name='Bass_Guardian' post='1166715' date='Mar 18 2011, 09:26 AM']Ive noticed a few different basses have Made in Japan but also Crafted in japan ( not on the same bass )[/quote] Just to confuse you further, Fender had a crossover period where you can buy basses that were both made [b]and[/b] crafted

Has anyone mentioned the neck? I was going to say colour

Welcome from someone who drove through Leeds about 17yrs ago!

Welcome

I too think Basschat is King but I do subscribe to the Bass Guitar Magazine. It's the best of a bad lot. I used to love Bassist in the 90s - if I had a pound for everytime I've posted that I'd have at least £8 by now!

I've always been lead to believe you should be cautious stripping Squiers but nobody has ever posted a pic I've seen. You could always take a chance

I'm with Roland Rock on this one