NBD Hofner Contemporary Club

[Wylie]

[b]An update[/b] [b]on this review from summer 2015: I've since gotten rid of the "Beatle" strap; the horse-tack aspect finally got to me. I drilled the heel for a new strap pin so that the new (regular) strap grips the neck at the proper angle. Much better. [/b]

[b]I also have been playing with a pick for some of my trio's tunes; the bass is quite friendly to a pick and has a guitar's responsiveness to it. [/b]

[b]Finally, just playing it more, I got used to the higher action which, although reduced, is still not quite optimal. But I believe it's as good as it can be given that a short-scale, lower-tension string moves more than a long-scale, tighter string and requires a higher action. [/b]

[b]Still sounds great, and still weighs very little![/b]


The Contemporary Club is Hofner's less expensive (or 'middle') model at about $875, made in China, I believe. I purchased it from North Coast Music, one of only a few Hofner dealers over here; I should say, NCM specializes in Hofner basses, Rickenbackers, and Vox guitars and equipment. They ship internationally as well. North Coast is well worth a look.

I have a Fender Geddy Lee jazz, and as my shoulders seem to age now by the hour, I feel I am definitely losing the battle against gravity. I wanted lighter weight, and this bass did the trick; but I also wanted to try a short-scale acoustic/electric.

The bass is nicely made; all the work seems exceptional--frets, tuners, etc. Finish is beautiful. It comes with a 'pearloid' pickguard, which I removed.

I also bought a Hofner 'Beatle bass' strap; a regular guitar strap doesn't work well with these. The strap pin is located on the heel of the neck, and attaching a strap there makes the bass lean out when you put it on. This is okay if you want to hold the body against your chest with your lower arm as you play. I didn't. The Hofner strap resembles a piece of horse tack. Love it.

I thought the action was too high when I received the bass; and I was disappointed to discover that it could not be lowered very much by the usual means (truss rod). However, as the intonation was off equally across the strings, I moved the bridge back about half an inch, which nicely corrected the intonation problem and lowered the strings a bit (given the slope of the top at that point). I have been told since that these kinds of basses traditionally have higher action, as the floating bridge requires more string movement. Whatever the case, it is playable; not so high as to be a problem.

The Hofner control panel: I am still figuring this thing out. I've tried several settings, and combinations thereof, and settled on the neck pickup in the 'solo, bass on' mode, which delivers a wonderful, fat, round, lively tone that works well with the jazz trio I play with. The pickups are extremely responsive.

Finally, the strings that came with the bass were bargain-basement roundwounds. I immediately ordered a set of La Bella flats ('designed' for Beatle bass) and what a mammoth difference.

So far, I love it! It is a very different bass for me, not comparable at all to the jazz, and I look forward to learning whatever it can teach me.

Wylie

Since posting this review, I had a luthier lower the action. He took the two-part floating bridge apart and sanded down the bottom of the upper part. This lowered the action significantly and now the bass plays quite easily. A great difference.

Edited September 11, 2016 by Wylie

[The Funk]

Looks great! Congratulations!

[alyctes]

I've never been a fan of that control plate. But it does look good apart from that

I think I'd like the noise it makes, from your description.

Edited July 25, 2015 by alyctes

[4-string-thing]

I'm gassing for something like this myself at the minute....