Hofner Bass: Please help to identify

[Stromgitarrenspieler]

Hi,

could one please help to identify this Hofner 500/5 (President?) Bass?
Some years ago an older musician, who played in the 60s and 70s, gave it to me with the advice to "keep it and dont abuse it".
If someone is able to tell what it's worth, would be very nice, too :-)
On the back of the head is a "2" stamped in and it comes with the original case.


Thank you,
Stromgitarrenspieler

Edited August 19, 2010 by Stromgitarrenspieler

[EssentialTension]

I'm sure Happy Jack will be along soon with the necessary information.

[hillbilly deluxe]

IIRC the 2 stands for it being a second quality wise.

[Happy Jack]

Looks like you already know ... that's a mid-60's Hofner 500/5 [color="#4169E1"](not a President, which had a thinner body and 3-dot neck markers)[/color] in pretty good condition, and looking all-original.

I'm really not convinced by the '2' meaning a "second", and I suspect that's wrong. I haven't come across that theory anywhere else, and it could only make sense in an instrument intended for sale in a country where a "second" is a way of calling it flawed or imperfect. Since this bass is NOT a President and was therefore not intended for sale in the UK or the Commonwealth, this seems even more unlikely.

This one is mine: [url="http://tinypic.com/a/qvy1/3"]http://tinypic.com/a/qvy1/3[/url]

Values are tricky, given what has happened in the world economy and the vintage instrument market over the last two years - not to mention the fact that I doubt you'd be trading in UK£.

At peak (summer of 2008) your bass would have been worth over £1000, but probably not much over unless you got lucky on eBay. One year later, you would have been happy to get £600 for it.

If you want to sell your bass, wait until September before you list it. You should get £750, assuming that the neck is straight and has been properly re-glued.

To get the best price for it, you would need to sell into the U.S. market and to be sure to describe it (wrongly) as a "Sutcliffe bass".

[Stromgitarrenspieler]

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='925719' date='Aug 15 2010, 06:52 PM']Looks like you already know ... that's a mid-60's Hofner 500/5 [color="#4169E1"](not a President, which had a thinner body and 3-dot neck markers)[/color] in pretty good condition, and looking all-original.

I'm really not convinced by the '2' meaning a "second", and I suspect that's wrong. I haven't come across that theory anywhere else, and it could only make sense in an instrument intended for sale in a country where a "second" is a way of calling it flawed or imperfect. Since this bass is NOT a President and was therefore not intended for sale in the UK or the Commonwealth, this seems even more unlikely.


If you want to sell your bass, ...[/quote]


Thanks for all your help! :-)
My first guess has been, it could be from 1971. But obviously thats not true. Someone in another forum second what you said: "This is a 1965/66 500/5 bass made for the European or USA market, not for the UK."

Nice! I'm happy with it and, like said before, the guy who gave it to me said "Keep it!". And that's what I'll do :-)

Thank you all very much

Stromgitarrenspieler

[hillbilly deluxe]

Many Gibsons left the factory with a 2 stamped on the headstock to indicate a minor flaw in the finish,why not Hohner ?With the passage of time/use the flaw may not still be visible.

Edited August 16, 2010 by hillbilly deluxe

[Happy Jack]

[quote name='hillbilly deluxe' post='926378' date='Aug 16 2010, 12:54 PM']Many Gibsons left the factory with a 2 stamped on the headstock to indicate a minor flaw in the finish,why not Hohner ?With the passage of time/use the flaw may not still be visible.[/quote]

Gibsons are US-made and it wouldn't surprise me that much to find that flawed instruments in the US instrument trade are known as "Seconds".

It wouldn't be THAT big a surprise to find that they were already known as "Seconds" 50 years ago ... though frankly I doubt it. In those days, a flawed instrument at Gibson would probably have been scrapped, not sold at a discount.

Hofners are German-made and I am not aware that flawed instruments have ever been known as "Sekunde" in Germany. Without that, there is no logic at all to stamping a '2' on the headstock.

I'm not even sure how Hofner would have defined a "flawed" instrument. They were a very odd and very UN-Germanic company. There was remarkably little consistency in their manufacturing process and they routinely used whatever components they had to hand when making their instruments.

As an example, take another look at my own Hofner 500/5 and concentrate on the tuners. Those are the original tuners, but they are NOT Hofner items. They are clearly Framus tuners from the rival factory down the road. One afternoon in 1967/68, with a transistor radio playing [i]Dream A Little Dream Of Me [/i]in the background, the Hofner factory ran out of tuners. So Hans said to Fritz: [b][color="#000080"]"Go down to Framus and borrow a box of tuners. And don't be such a stereotype."[/color][/b]

[Stromgitarrenspieler]

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='926629' date='Aug 16 2010, 05:19 PM']... So Hans said to Fritz: [b][color="#000080"]"Go down to Framus and borrow a box of tuners. And don't be such a stereotype."[/color][/b][/quote]

LOL - yes almost! Probably that way ... Karl said to Alois "He, Lois - geh' auffi zu dem Framusverbrecher und frag' den Stift nach Stimmwirbeln! Abba los di' nett erwischa!" ;-)

Stromgitarrenspieler

[evilLordJuju]

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='925719' date='Aug 15 2010, 05:52 PM']that's a mid-60's Hofner 500/5
This one is mine: [url="http://tinypic.com/a/qvy1/3"]http://tinypic.com/a/qvy1/3[/url][/quote]

That's in such nice condition. Really beautiful bass too. Have you got a battered one too for gigging?