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Hi Si, did you have any luck finding a gig bag for your Mustang? I need one for my old Hofner 185 which is the same length as a Mustang and can't find anything. The Fender Urban Short Scale Gig Bag was my fall back but I just went to order one only to discover that it's been discontinued! Grrr

I've had an ACG fretless 5 string for 8 years and the flat board felt quite natural from day one. I regularly chop and change between basses with different radius boards with no problem. Don't really notice it to be honest. My playing doesn't involve much in the way of double stops or chord work (way above my pay grade) but I can see that might be a bit trickier on a flat board. If I was speccing a custom ACG again the only change I'd make is to have a slightly less pronounced asymmetric profile on the neck which is a bit chunky on the bass side.

Yes, it's a player not a collectors item so I think you're right! I'd still like to know what the thinking was behind the original wiring though. Hofner have always been a bit 'individual' on the wiring front but this is a curious one.

Yes, big drop in volume, which is due to the wiring of the tone pot. Very wierd. Mine is exactly the same. I'm debating whether to leave the wiring in its original state and just not use the tone pots, or rewire it in a more conventional way.

H Grangur, re item #3, regular passive tone wiring leaves the third lug of the pot disconnected (see the schematics in posts 3 or 5 above). The resistance of the pot is only used to control how much signal is passed through the tone cap to earth, it doesn't impede the signal path. The Hofner circuit is different - when the tone is fully rolled off, the full resistance of the pot is directly in the signal path which significantly attenuates the output level (in addition to losing the high frequencies). The caps BTW aren't electrolytic, just regular ceramic disc tone caps. You can clearly hear the drop in output level when the tone is rolled off in this demo (from about 3.55 to 4.25)

Hi Grangur, thanks for that. Can you please clarify a few things: 1. Are the 100n and 47n caps before the two vol controls the coupling caps? It just seems a bit odd that they're different values and that the values are the same as regular tone caps. 2. The two 10n caps are positioned where you'd expect to find the tone caps (ie. bleeding high freq to ground), but why are they such tiny values? I'd expect the cap values to be the other way round, with the tone caps being 100n and 47n and the coupling caps being 10n. 3. The way the tone pot is wired, when the tone is fully rolled off, the full 250k resistance of the pot is in series with the signal path which significantly attenuates the output signal. Why would they do this?! Thanks, Ian

Yes, I'm a bit dubious about the lack of a bridge earth! The bass is in bits at the moment so I don't know if this is a problem but none of the old Hofner solid bodies seem to have a bridge earth so I'm hoping not...

Hi MoonBassAlpha. Interesting thought about the 10nF cap, but if it was there to reduce radio interference I'd expect it to be permanently in-circuit, not after a variable resistor. Not that I really know what I'm talking about lol! Interesting also about the resonant circuit. I believe this acts like a band-pass filter and the bass does actually sound a bit like this. Pic showing wiring of the later 1970s model 185 below which is a much more traditional arrangement. Maybe they eventually realised that the standard wiring was better! I'm tempted to just rewire it along these lines.

Hi Geek99, thanks for replying. The stack knob jazz circuit (below) is actually quite a bit different to the Hofner. Only two lugs of each tone pot are connected - the signal goes to the middle wiper lug, then through the cap to ground via the variable resistor. The third lug (the other end of the variable resistor) is left floating. With this configuration, even with the tone fully rolled off, the pot resistance doesn't impede the main signal path. With the Hofner circuit, when the tone is fully rolled off the full pot resistance is added to the signal path. The Hofner circuit also has 2 additional caps compared to the stack knob circuit and the main tone caps (in this case 100n and 47n) aren't where you'd expect them to be. I've checked the wiring of the bass itself (which is original) against the Hofner circuit diagram and it matches, so that's how they intended it to be. It just doesn't function as you'd expect a regular tone circuit to function. It's all a bit odd!

I'm doing some restoration work on a 1965 Hofner 185 and am a bit baffled by the tone circuit (see pic of schematic below). Each tone pot has a tiny 10n capacitor going to ground. This would bleed off some very high frequencies (much higher frequencies than a standard tone pot). There is also a 'regular' size capacitor (100n or 47n) fixed in the signal path to the vol control and the output jack. As far as I can see this would let through most of the high frequencies but attenuate some of the lower frequencies. In practice, when either tone is turned down the output signal is considerably attenuated. I guess because the 250k resistance of the tone pot has then been put in line with the signal path. Wierd. It's quite different to a standard passive tone circuit and doesn't work as I'd expect it to. Can someone explain to me what's going on here?

I tracked down some of the longer 6/32 x 1.75" intonation screws for my '72 Jazz some time ago and bought a pack of them. PM me your details and I'll drop one in the post to you.

Ah yes, I see what you mean about the poor fit at the headstock end...

According to some chap on TB a Mono electric guitar gig bag will fit a Mustang (I'm not sure what model of bag this is). Unfortunately Mono don't give dimensions in their product details which isn't very helpful.

Can anyone recommend someone who specializes in vintage pickup rewinds? (I have an old Hofner staple pickup with weak output that needs attention) Most of the ones I've found by Googling (Creamery, MOJO and others) aren't taking in rewind work at the moment due to having big backlogs of repair work. Looking at the cost of rewinds (seems to be around £80-90 for two humbucker coils - ouch) it would be cheaper to buy a replacement but I'd prefer to retain the original mojo if possible. Any suggestion appreciated. Cheers

Here's a wiring schematic for the two pickup version (just ignore the neck pickup).

DiMarzio Area-J pickups (not Ultra J) are humcancelling and sound very close to regular J single coils. They have a different construction to most humcancelling Js with Alnico 3 magnets and less windings to retain the characteristics of a vintage single coil (rather than beefing it up). As a result they have lower output but they do sound excellent. http://www.dimarzio.com/node/2198

Here are some pics of another '74 Mustang for ref - http://www.andybaxterbass.com/details.php?id=1163 It has a serial number quite close to yours so should have similar build details. Are there any marks on the underside of the neck heel on yours?

https://gluboost.com/products/

Fabulous indeed, a great band!

If white is hot then red should go to ground along with the unshielded wire. The bare wire is probably being used to earth the polepieces or could just be a shield. The red and white wires will be from opposite ends of the coil so one will be hot and the other cold (ground). If you leave either of these unconnnected the pickup will effectively be open-circuit and you won't get a signal.

Or two core with a bare shield wire like this?

Main advantage is the low B makes an excellent thumb rest lol!

Have you tried giving the trussrod a small tweak (say 1/8 turn clockwise) to make sure it's under tension?

Front view shows neck alignment a bit better and looks fine to me.