luckman67

Last year my friend brought over is newly acquired '78 Jazz Bass which, he paid around £1300 which was a very good bargain indeed. He did some work on the back of the neck and the result was amazing I still, can't get over how good that neck felt in my hand it felt amazing.

Your right about the weight though it was very heavy it reminded me of my old,Peavey T40. It really was a great feeling & playing bass through my Rumble 200 combo.I didn't want to give him it back. H gave me the thumbrest that was on it which now is on my 2014 Am.Std Precision.

Both the Hofner & Pyramid Gold sets were both 40-55-70-100, I wouldn't go any higher on my '64 than that. And again there isn't a lot of difference between the two with regards, to string tension & feel knowing that now I would have stayed with the Pyramid Gold set. The LaBella set is 35-95 and always seems to get good reviews even McCartney used them for a while, so there is a good endorsement.

Pyramid Gold do a Vintage 63 set of strings with Black silk ends I've toyed with the idea, of buying a set for the HCT,as it's a black bass but I don't play it that much though. 😀

6 hours ago, police squad said:

/Cool, I shall try a set of the hofner strings then.

The C/T is slightly bigger isnt it

Yes i have a nice thin neck on mine and as you say, edges nicely rolled too. I have no side dots, which I think is normal for 64, might use a sharpy

Yes the headstock is slightly longer on the HCT & also has a much sharper look than the '64. I bought my strings from Bass direct they arrived quickly & I wanted the same brand of strings that could have been on it when it was new.

I gigged with mine for 10 years from 1988 - 98 no matter what, songs we were playing it had to be that bass. I'm busier at work these days so I just play for my own enjoyment these days.

String wise I'm using Hofner's own flatwounds but I bought a set of Pyramid Gold flatwounds, and both are exactly the same even the silk windings are the same colour. So perhaps Hofner have Pyramid make their strings as well see the pics. I to own a HCT 500/1 but can't really bond with it, the '64 beats it on everything.

Yours should have the pencil thin neck roughly 38mm at the nutwhere as the HCT is 42mm, plus yours must have the sides of the finger board nicely rolled after 60 years mine certainly has.

I thought your choice of name for your bass was a lovely tribute to your brother. I hope you get many happy years of owning it & playing it all my other basses are, put away now it's just the '64 again it just feels right after almost 36 years.

No the rectangular style the had in '64 I've owned this bass since November 1988.

Great looking bass I absolutely love my '64 500/1, which is 60 years old  on the 24th of May. I have a set of ferrules if you want them.

Can't go wrong with either decal.

That looks really nice enjoy it. 😎

Good looking bass 😎

Glad this iconic bass has finally been found.

I don't know why but I've started to like the looks of the Thunderbird bass, but I don't want to spend £350 + just in case it's a short term fixation. I did a search for T bird style basses and saw Gear 4 music's Harlem Z for the low price of £149. Has anyone here tried or owned one and is the body shape the, same as the, Epiphone or Gibson version?

Thanks in Advance.

I've gone back to using my '64 Hofner 500/1 bass as my main player again.

16 hours ago, Robert Manning said:

 

thats a stunningly low price! 

 

I sold mine on eBay many years back, but there must of been a reason I think I 16 year old me must have wanted a flashy active bass! 

 

I remember a while back seeing a post on here on the 'eBay weird and Wonderfull' section getting blasted saying it was fake (ouch). So was pretty cool stumbling across another one online. 

Yeah I was really happy with the price I paid for it back then but I'm still can't remember why & when I let it go.

I had exactly like the one in the advert, I bought mine from the NW Guitar show about 10 years ago for around £150. It was a really nice bass but sitting here now thinking, I don't remember why I sold it or what I sold it for.

Looks really good enjoy it.

1 hour ago, scrumpymike said:

 

McCartney was one of my main men (along with Jamerson, Fraser and Bruce) in my formative years and I've been itching to get a H violin bass ever since. Still not managed it but came close with a HCT Club, which I didn't like much and sold on.  Your post is timely as I've recently been considering the HCT Beatle bass, mainly from the price/quality point of view. Not sure what the neck was on my Club but, if it was the chunky 42mm version, that could be the reason I didn't get on with it. Is that neck common across the HCT models?

Yes it is from the ones I've seen in the guitar shops.

I have been having  pain in my left hand third finger for a while now on & off, so I have gone back to using my 1964 Hofner 500/1 bass as my main player. I've owned this bass for the past 35 years and the neck is pencil thin & feels so nice to play in comparison to my, Hofner HCT 500/1 which has a 42mm nut width & thicker neck and feels totally different to the '64 500/1.

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Very nice indeed 😎

That is a lovely looking Precision, hope it brings you many happy years of playing & owning it. 😎

Stunning looking bass hope it brings, you many happy years of playing it 😎.

This is the video that has me thinking about, upgrading the parts over time. Hence why I took the pickguard off mine.

This Monday the 20th I bought a secondhand Hofner HCT 500/1 in black from PMT for £399. There was nothing written on the back of the headstock but there, was a label inside the control cavity, that began with an F indicating it was made around 2005 to 2008. The neck is unbound like the '63 500/1 bass & it's not a bad bass but honestly for me personally, I prefer the German made model but as it' a backup to my '64 then it's not so bad. There is a Hofner Gold Label 62 Artist Bass in Black so maybe over time, I may buy the parts to turn my HCT into a poor man's Artist Bass.

It's horrible when that happens I had a bad set of Roto's once, & it really put me in a bad mood thinking why me.

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2 hours ago, shoulderpet said:

I tried these and they were probably the worst strings I have ever brought, Labella and TI's are leagues better imo

The LaBella's & TI's are without question a better brand of flatwound strings. I must have found a decent pack of the Hofner HCT flatwounds as they don't sound to bad, on my 500/1 so I'm greatfull for that. Next May my bass is 60 years old so as a birthday present maybe a set of LaBella's would be in order 😃 

On 18/02/2023 at 10:36, Wonky2 said:

 

tha ks Jack, more expensive is a given…. But better finish, I assume you mean refind to a much higher standard in terms of attention to detail and set up, ie the neck and frets? 
 

im not concerned much with laquer.paint finish , just actuall quality of the workmanship/build…..(which I’m sure is exactly what you mean)….

 

the difference in price is whopping, are they THAT much better ? 
or would putting German electrics in a well set up ct achieve any near similar at a fraction of the cost?

If you don't want to change the panel over you could just change, the pots over to 250k from the 500k pots that are in it at the moment. This Gentleman has done loads of video's on all the, violin basses from the IGN to the German 500/1.