Hofner 500/1 CT Bridge fitting and intonation

[Wonky2]

Having owned mostly Fender bassses my entire playing life, I now TRULY understand why Leo Femder named the P bass the “precision” bass, and from where I’m sat it’s got

little to do with frets, markers or lined fret boards …..

nope, it’s the fact those things can actually be agjusted with At least SOME degree of “precision”.

 

Other manufacturers, Hofner being one, clearly didn’t think Intonation to be a “thing”🤣

 

anyhoo…….

I’ve wasted 3 days of my life trying to get this CT bass set up well, I’d say I’m at 98% but like always I chase that final 2% because to be frank , that’s the difference between a nice bass and a special bass……

 

the bridge on this thing is a dog, very poorly seated and in trying to correct its seating in not satisfied I’ve got any better a result, mostly because previous owner has sanded the heck out of the lower bridge so I’ve ordered a new one, I’ll start again. 
 

BUT….. my issue is with the intonation on this bass. 
i appreciate that with a floating bridge it’s near impossible to get perfection but I’m almost close enough now ti be happy.

BUT here my thing…….

EVERY other hofner I see has the string saddles on the bridge sat in this order:

e string bridge slot 1 nearest tail piece.

a string bridge slot 2

d string bridge slot 3

g string bridge slot 4 nearest neck

 

BUT on my bass, when intonation properly , it’s the other way around:

 

e string bridge slot 4 nearest neck

a string bridge slot 3

d string bridge slot 2

g string bridge slit 1 nearest tail peice

 

every bass I’ve ever owned has the d and g string shorter with the saddles pushed forward closer to the neck, ibvuously to account for the thinner Dianeter if the strings than e and a…..

 

but how can it be on this bass it’s inverted.  Not least since every picture Ive ever seen of a hofner shows bridge saddles as per the stock image below. 
move shown mine as well to show how I have it.

the bridge is a mess now after having saddles in and out a million times, new bridge is in its way.

i also had to make some saddle myself from some brass fret wire. 
(it actually looks better than stock too) 

[Wonky2]

Ok…,, so if anyone is reading this , here’s what I found. 
 

the tail piece was on the wonk.

 

the centre rail in the metal tail piece SHOULD line up with :

1) the centre line in the deck/top where the two halfs of top wood are bonded. My centre line was about 4-5mm obef to the right from the centre line in the wood on the top/deck.

2) the centre of the neck, using fret markers  ,it didnt

3) the steel block on the tail piece, which the string ball ends locate into, the left (e) side was 4mm closer to the bridge pup the the right (g) side, confirming the tail piece was on the wonk. 
 

 

When I take into account , this bass played 95 % ok. But to a good player, that last 4% is crucial, and that final 1% is the difference between a nice bass and a special bass. 
 

i specifically  paid more for a ct series than an ignition. 
im glad I did because when I’ve put it right it should be terrific. 
whereas their a a few things on the ign which simply have limitations. 
 

that said, I did expect the ct to be much better. 
it has required:

fret levelling

fret crowning

fret polishing

nut slot refinement

zero fret refinement

pick up surround emplacement (split)

bridge seating

bridge saddle adjtstment

bridge contouring

tail piece repositioningTrue alignment

teplacment machine heads

Teacup nob replacement 

string replacement (labella)

 

i mighty still dull the laquer finish, I just hate the finger prints….

 

i appreciate it’s this level of luthery is what makes German models cost what they do….. well that and much better quality parts. 
 

Ah well,it should be good in the end….

 

 

 

[Wonky2]

Did the work tonight ti out this bass right….. here is a pic of the tailpiece showing where it was fitted in the factory when made , you can see the centre line is of centre with the centre grain line in the top /deck

[Wonky2]

To move it over, it was off by about 4mm. I glued and dowel plugged the original screw hole to put strength back in and then moved the tail

piece over . 
the steel string retaining block (the bit that sits horizontal to the bridge pup, now measures equal distance on both sides (e&g) to the bridge pup.

 

I’ve strung it up and normal intonation is now restored rather than the backwards inverted saddle positions I had to have to counter the wonky tail piece! 

tomorrw I’ll be fitting a new ebony bridge. 
 

illnake this bass right and I’m sure it will be lively when finished but it just goes to show, it’s still a Chinese made thing and you get what you pay for ! 

Edited February 23, 2023 by Wonky2

[Wonky2]

I’ve done a proper fret levelling, recrown and polish, and I also purchased a new bridge.  The original bridge was poorly seated and the bass lost tone  because of poor contact through the top/deck.

bybthe time I had corrected it by sanding there wasn’t much meat left and it kind of lost some mass. So a new bridge to fit tomorrow….. will take

a

while but this bass will be very right when finished.

will

pribably put some upgrade tuners on too because these are crap Wilkinson….

 

as I say,  paid extra for the Contemporary over the base ignition model, and honestly, it’s still Chinese , requires a lot of attention to get that last 5% of quality into the bass

[gary mac]

Well done on persevering with it

[Wonky2]

4 hours ago, gary mac said:

Well done on persevering with it

It’s such a nice bass, plays and sounds great but that pursuit of that last few % has just shown up all the aspect that a Chinese attempt on a proven classic fails on.

im sure this is where the German models differ but honestly, the build  quality is questionable. 
it’s right now, and probably had the same amount of “luthery” that a German made one would see …

 

maybe that’s to be expected at half the cost of a German one , but at double the cost of the ignition bass it certainly isn’t twice as good 👍 

Edited February 23, 2023 by Wonky2