Hofner Beatle basses - so bloody many in the range!

[Happy Jack]

2 hours ago, MacDaddy said:

... buy a cheaper copy by Hofner from a shop that will allow you to pay on hp...

IIRC one of the factors that steered him towards the 500/1 was that (while he was in Germany) the Hofner was WAY cheaper than the very expensive imported and highly-taxed Rickenbackers that John and George bought. He liked the Hofner because he didn't want to have to use HP and get into debt.

[Silvia Bluejay]

I bet there were also additional problems and costs related to it being a lefty model - the Germans seem to have always had far less trouble than the Americans (and UK manufacturers) producing LH guitar models, and far fewer misgivings of the "am I going to be able to actually sell them?" type. See also Framus/Warwick.

My Hofner is an Ignition, made in Indonesia. Looks great, especially after I got rid of the horrible plasticky pickguard and @Happy Jack gifted me the proper teacup knobs. Having said that, I don't like the sound - despite installing TI flats; I don't like the tiny scale - despite having tiny hands; and I don't like not having a pickup in the "proper" middle position on which to rest my thumb. I wouldn't get rid of the bass (like the Steinberger Spirit, I want one of each in my collection) but it's certainly not the bass I tend to pick up when I want to have a play.

 

[Sparky Mark]

 

16 minutes ago, Silvia Bluejay said:

I bet there were also additional problems and costs related to it being a lefty model - the Germans seem to have always had far less trouble than the Americans (and UK manufacturers) producing LH guitar models, and far fewer misgivings of the "am I going to be able to actually sell them?" type. See also Framus/Warwick.

My Hofner is an Ignition, made in Indonesia. Looks great, especially after I got rid of the horrible plasticky pickguard and @Happy Jack gifted me the proper teacup knobs. Having said that, I don't like the sound - despite installing TI flats; I don't like the tiny scale - despite having tiny hands; and I don't like not having a pickup in the "proper" middle position on which to rest my thumb. I wouldn't get rid of the bass (like the Steinberger Spirit, I want one of each in my collection) but it's certainly not the bass I tend to pick up when I want to have a play.

 

I bought both versions of the Ignition to help narrow down which pickup configuration I might prefer if I ever go for a German model. I much preferred the 61 both ergonomically and tonally. Both pups are usable on their own and together whilst the 62 bridge pup lacks too much bottom end for me.

[Happy Jack]

Do you actually find much difference between the pickups with the '61 configuration?

 

[shoulderpet]

4 hours ago, MacDaddy said:

 

Or for the full McCartney experience, you should first hanker after a Gibson EB-1 , then buy a cheaper copy by Hofner from a shop that will allow you to pay on hp...

The shape is similar but that's it, the Gibson is solid body whereas the Hofner is hollow in an attempt to get closer to the tone of a double bass, the pickups are very different also and the Hofner has a wooden bridge also to try and get closer to an upright tone, the EB1 on the other hand sounds nothing like en upright so I think inspired by is possibly more true than copied

[shoulderpet]

19 minutes ago, Sparky Mark said:

 

I bought both versions of the Ignition to help narrow down which pickup configuration I might prefer if I ever go for a German model. I much preferred the 61 both ergonomically and tonally. Both pups are usable on their own and together whilst the 62 bridge pup lacks too much bottom end for me.

I do wish my Hofner had the bridge pickup in the middle position, the bridge pickup is useable and useful but a middle position pickup would be good as it is as you say useable on its own

[Sparky Mark]

13 minutes ago, Happy Jack said:

Do you actually find much difference between the pickups with the '61 configuration?

 

Yes, the middle pickup has more definition than the plummy neck pickup.

Edited May 26, 2023 by Sparky Mark

[Cairobill]

Just saw this pop up and thought I should mention that I bought a German Club, regretfully sold it...and I've just gone and bought another one (this time a 2005 in LTD Ed black).

FANTASTIC basses


 

[Ralf1e]

On 26/05/2023 at 11:33, MacDaddy said:

 

Or for the full McCartney experience, you should first hanker after a Gibson EB-1 , then buy a cheaper copy by Hofner from a shop that will allow you to pay on hp...

If a hofner violin bass was the last bass in the world and I had the funds to buy it I would.

To burn it!

[Mateybass]

On 28/11/2022 at 20:14, luckman67 said:

Back in the mid 80's you could pick up a 60's 500/1 for, less than a new Squier or Tokai bass. I picked up 2 during this time a 1964 Violin bass which cost £175 which, I sill have to this day, & a 1964 Senator bass which cost me £150. I let the Senator go for a new MIM Fender Jazz in the 90's not one of my best ideas.

My friend had the CT Cavern bass and it looked really good but I'm, amazed how much the German made basses cost these days it's like Fender CS money.

The best £175 I ever spent on a bass guitar.

 

 

I picked up a 63 500/1 in 1978 when, at the height of punk, they were deeply unfashionable as a link to the past and no-one wanted them. I paid £25 for a good condition with original tweed case and leather strap, used it for about 4 years in a wmc band and sold it in 83 for £100... and regretted it about 10 years later.

[Mateybass]

Late to the thread but interesting reading here. I previously owned a 63 500/1 many many years ago and recently bought a Harley Benton Beatbass VS to experiment with. I can tell you that it's Chinese, it has a hollow body with a block underneath the bridge, though it doesn't span the whole width so the bridge feet are still in open air, floating on the facing so to speak, and a small block right at the end which the string anchor and strap button is screwed to. The string spacing is 15mm, the nut width is 42mm. Once the upper strap button is repositioned to the neck heel like a later Hofner, it balances pretty well considering the string tuners are normal size.

 

I have been looking for a short/medium scale true hollow archtop body 5 string bass with a floating bridge in a price range I could afford but to no avail.

 

So anyway, this used HB turned up for sale locally for about half the new price last year. The experiment was to see if I could convert it to 5 string. I went a bit further than originally planned...

 

It's now a 5 string fretless with three 4-wire humbucking pickups and a piezo bridge. The pickups are wired like a Strat i.e 5 way switch and two tone controls, the piezo has a tone control and it has a master vol and pup/piezo blend control. Because of the string anchor arrangement, it uses standard long scale strings (can't find short scale 5 string flatwound sets for sale) String spacing is now just a tad over 11mm (slightly more between B and E strings) and sounds and plays superbly. I still have a couple of things to do to it, like the Gilmour mod so I can add the bridge pup to the neck pup. It sounds like my old Hofner with the addition of a more double bassy sound from the piezo.

Edited 5 hours ago by Mateybass