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NBD Hofner Club Ignition


Trueno
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I actually got this a couple of weeks ago but wanted to sort out a couple of bits before I posted pics:

1. New strings... the stock strings were surprisingly good (although roundwound) but nothing prepared me for the tone I got once I fitted La Bella flatwounds... waaahhhh!!!

2. New knobs... just had to get the genuine German ones

3. New scratchplate... it was a little bit nasty. In the end I got a whizzy new one from Jack's Instruments... it's shinier, pearloid-ier and the black ply stands out more around the border... well worth getting.

For a budget Chinese made instrument I am very impressed. I thought about getting the more expensive (and still Chinese made HCT version, I think it has the German pickups in it, but I didn't want it heavier and sounding more "comtemporary"). Set up, out of the box was very good. The action was a tiny bit low by my "high" standards, but it's not exactly a dig-in bass. No sharp frets, no buzzes or farts.

I'm rather pleased.

 

hofner1.jpg.c804db8c9a432ab73f24e145723aaed1.jpghofner2.jpg.19087d20b2d4f6a9a88b75eddbfc1b4e.jpghofner3.jpg.d695c0f1e91c985e22382aa9eaf2c93e.jpg

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Looks good. I had the violin ignition model and was similarly impressed with the quality. Also changed to flats and was further impressed.

When the opportunity arose to buy a HCT, I sold the ignition and was further impressed with the quality of Hofner MIC models. I find the PU's very powerful.

And just to annoy some BCers, what a lovely SUNBURST!

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Thanks for the comments. Never liked the look of the violin shape, despite the Macca association. I would be interested to try the HCT, but I wouldn't want to like it now I have this. My first bass playing gig was with a 60s style band, this would have really been the business, both for looks and sound. But it's just so comfortable and light for extended bedroom noodling now and I love the tone.

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Looks really nice, Thats definitely one of the nicest looking Ignition basses I have seen, in fact that sunburst is done better than a lot of the contemporary series Hofner's I have seen, I love my Hofner CT club bass but the ignitions being fully hollow (CT series is semi hollow) are tempting (will be a few years before I can splash out on the German made Hofners)

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi mark... just seen your comments. I did think about the HCT... they have the German pickups, I think, but it was the fully hollow body that swung it for the Ignition. I love this bass as it's a great counterpoint to my Fender and Squier. The German made Club would be the icing on the cake... I'm sort of hoping I never get to try one, might be tempted to buy one.

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36 minutes ago, Trueno said:

Hi mark... just seen your comments. I did think about the HCT... they have the German pickups, I think, but it was the fully hollow body that swung it for the Ignition. I love this bass as it's a great counterpoint to my Fender and Squier. The German made Club would be the icing on the cake... I'm sort of hoping I never get to try one, might be tempted to buy one.

I sold my Ignition violin bass before I got the HCT and realised straight away that I should have kept both. They look the same but do not sound the same. The fully hollow has that plunk sound, the HCT a more contemporary sound as the label rightly implies. Both lovely basses that look alike but do not sound alike. I'm not sure about the origin of the pickups but on both they were/are very powerful, more so than any of my other basses. In my limited experience Hofner = good quality instruments.

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Keeping both is a good idea. I haven't ruled out getting a HCT, but I'd have to hear one first. 

As far as I can tell, I think the Ignition have "ignition" pickups, which are Chinese made versions, while the HCTs are a bit better appointed with the German pickups. The Chinese pickups sound good enough for me, though.

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  • 1 year later...
On 05/05/2018 at 09:00, Trueno said:

As far as I can tell, I think the Ignition have "ignition" pickups, which are Chinese made versions, while the HCTs are a bit better appointed with the German pickups. The Chinese pickups sound good enough for me, though.

Resurrection of an old thread because I'm not convinced the HCT pickups are German. The transit/storage stickers on HCT pickups merely state they are "Designed in Germany" which as we all know means they are made in China with local materials. I doubt there is any significant difference if any at all between HCT and Ignition pickups.

20200126_000748.jpg.f9a91b5f1270af3d4b0bb6755a0850dc.jpg

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1 hour ago, Sparky Mark said:

Resurrection of an old thread because I'm not convinced the HCT pickups are German. The transit/storage stickers on HCT pickups merely state they are "Designed in Germany" which as we all know means they are made in China with local materials. I doubt there is any significant difference if any at all between HCT and Ignition pickups.

20200126_000748.jpg.f9a91b5f1270af3d4b0bb6755a0850dc.jpg

They may both be made in china, but doesn't mean they are made using the same materials. The quality of materials probably are different.

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2 hours ago, hooky_lowdown said:

They may both be made in china, but doesn't mean they are made using the same materials. The quality of materials probably are different.

I know Hofner need to differentiate between the Ignition and HCT range, and the woods and finish of the HCT are distinctly superior to the Ignition; that's where the additional cost is.  But how different a bit of machine wound copper wire and a magnet can be is doubtful. The Ignition pickups are a German design too. It's not as if they are  hi fi pickups; most use flats with them which makes way more difference than a tiny variation in construction elsewhere.

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1 hour ago, hooky_lowdown said:

By that logic, why do people buy expensive pickups over cheap ones?

Because there are designs that use different magnet types, wire insulation materials, hand scatter winding, wire gauges and number of windings to give very different characters. I doubt very much that Hofner would bother to vary the basic design of the staple pickup between its Chinese models. It makes more economic sense to benefit from the higher production quantities of combining both the Ignition and HCT staple pickups. Chinese production is all about volume; German is all about master craftmanship; whether German pickups are handwound I don't know but I bet the basic materials and design are the same. These are not technically advanced pickups.

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You've contradicted yourself, Mr Sparky. You asked how different can it be... then proceeded to list the ways in which they can be different. Then you go on to make a lot of assumptions... the Chinese obviously wouldn't make them differently... but the Germans might.

I agree with your statement... "I don't know, but..."

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20 minutes ago, Trueno said:

You've contradicted yourself, Mr Sparky. You asked how different can it be... then proceeded to list the ways in which they can be different. Then you go on to make a lot of assumptions... the Chinese obviously wouldn't make them differently... but the Germans might.

I agree with your statement... "I don't know, but..."

Not at all. The Hofner staple pickup whether Chinese or German will be of almost identical design, construction and materials. It's an extremely low tech pickup. 

I was just giving examples of how some pickups (not the Hofner staple) might be more expensive than others. The material content of almost any pickup is pretty low; the big driver of cost is production quantity and whether it's hand wound in an expensive labour location. 

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On 26/01/2020 at 09:56, Sparky Mark said:

Resurrection of an old thread because I'm not convinced the HCT pickups are German. The transit/storage stickers on HCT pickups merely state they are "Designed in Germany" which as we all know means they are made in China with local materials. I doubt there is any significant difference if any at all between HCT and Ignition pickups.

20200126_000748.jpg.f9a91b5f1270af3d4b0bb6755a0850dc.jpg

I think the "Designed  in Germany is referring to the bass itself although admittedly it is confusing when they put that on the sticker on the pickups, it is also on the back of the headstock, I guess they are trying to ensure that people do not try and pass off the HCT basses as German made, the control panel that houses the electrics however is chinese made

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1 hour ago, markdavid said:

I think the "Designed  in Germany is referring to the bass itself although admittedly it is confusing when they put that on the sticker on the pickups, it is also on the back of the headstock, I guess they are trying to ensure that people do not try and pass off the HCT basses as German made, the control panel that houses the electrics however is chinese made

Agreed. If there were any German made parts you can be sure they'd be highlighted a lot more than on just a throw away finger print barrier sticker.

Edited by Sparky Mark
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4 hours ago, Sparky Mark said:

Agreed. If there were any German made parts you can be sure they'd be highlighted a lot more than on just a throw away finger print barrier sticker.

Sorry I didn't explain what I meant very well,my fault, I will explain a bit better.

As a Hofner owner I follow Hofner on their Facebook page and a couple of other pages, my understanding is as follows:

Designed in Germany is what they have on their Contemporary series basses meaning the basses were designed in Germany and manufactured in China were they are produced on a factory line rather than being hand built like the German basses are.

Tuners, nut and control panel are all chinese made parts, however the pickups are actually the same as the German made pickups but the contemporary basses sound a little different due to the Chinese control panel using different value pots and also the centre block in the body of the contemporary basses

 

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15 hours ago, markdavid said:

... the contemporary basses sound a little different due to the Chinese control panel using different value pots ...

Do you know what pot values are in the HCT vs the German made models?

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