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My Hofner 185 Artist Bass - Original 1962 solid body Hofner bass


Michaelg
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I've recently acquired this interesting instrument. The story behind it is marvellous: A gentleman bought this bass back when it was made in 1962/1963, played it for a year or so then put it back in its case for 40 years. He then decided to offer it to the bass tutor at one of my local guitar shops 10 or so years ago, after having a clear out. The tutor took it, didn't like playing it but thought it was pretty so hung it on his wall. He then decided to trade it in earlier this year. I gladly took it off his hands and have loved it ever since!

As I understand (and correct me if i'm wrong), the bass was designed to be an affordable version of the Fender P-bass, the instrument which was of course dominating the market at the time. It came with its [i]original [/i]strings - big, heavy black nylon strings. They of course broke as soon as I tried to do anything with them but luckily found a replacement pair quickly.

Anyway if you've read this far you deserve to see some pictures:











I also took a few pictures after taking it apart. The pickups are currently in for repair:

[url="http://s1183.photobucket.com/albums/x463/blahblah144/"]http://s1183.photobu...63/blahblah144/[/url]


I haven't been able to identify/understand the two golden J symbols on the scratchplate - does anyone out there have any ideas?

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[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1325036485' post='1479396']
That's in lovely condition.

My very first bass was exactly that model and colour. I bought it used (in 1973, I think) for £30.

The gold symbols are not original.
[/quote]

excellent!

do you have any information about the gold symbols?

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[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1325090110' post='1479730']
Only that mine didn't have them and I've never seen them before on other pics.

Are they painted on or what?
[/quote]

They're metal, possibly brass. they must be fixed on by adhesive, its a very tidy job at that. What baffles me a bit is that it is a bass thats hardly been played/used - why would someone go to the effort of customising an instrument they didn't use? who knows eh!

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Lovely bass - I've had a few of these, the closest to yours being this:

[IMG]http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m496/h4ppyjack/Hofner%20185%20E2%201962%20SOLD/CIMG0567.jpg[/IMG]

A couple of minor corrections. If it was intended as a Fender substitute, the 185 (Artist) was more for the Jazz than the Precision - the body shape and especially the controls are intended to suggest a shortscale Jazz.

The Precision equivalent was the 182 (Professional):

[IMG]http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m496/h4ppyjack/Hofner%20182%20E2%201964%20SOLD/DSCF1354.jpg[/IMG]

Although in truth there was never that much difference between them. :rolleyes:

The original strings would not have been black nylon jobbies but flatwound steels, exactly as fitted to all other Hofner basses of the period.

The two metal ornaments are a mystery. I briefly wondered if someone had replaced the original 1962-ish scratchplate with a later example which had the holes for the two pickup selectors (introduced with the Staple pickups, where yours has Diamond pickups), and used the ornaments to 'blank' the holes, but those slots are in an entirely different place:

[IMG]http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m496/h4ppyjack/Hofner%20185%20E2%201965%20SOLD/DSCF1392.jpg[/IMG]

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