BigRedX

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1456753680' post='2991900'] Steve Russell's original site was one of the first home-grown enthusiasts' sites and, although it grew out of his love of vintage Hofners, it rapidly expanded to also become one of the best on-line resources for vintage British valve amps and a whole bunch of other stuff. 2000? Yup, sounds about right. Books? Surely you jest? There's loads of stuff about Hofners out there, both books dedicated to the brand (I have half a dozen) and books dedicated to the music of the era (I have at least a dozen) which in turn have to include loads of information about Hofners because almost every rock star of the 60s and 70s started by playing Hofners. If what you're after is a reference book / bible for all vintage Hofners, then the book you want is a rare hardback called [i][b]Hofner: Made In Germany[/b][/i] by Michael Naglav. Next time you're down in London set aside half a day and come round to my studio ... [/quote] Thanks HJ! Is that book in English? My German is a bit too primitive to understand a whole book on guitars. And I may just take you up on that offer some time. Thanks again!

The copied bit doesn't work because it relies on having Flash installed and if you have a new Mac it won't be. The link you want is the IMG one. The format should look like this: [code][IMG]http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n249/BigRedX/Forum-Banner-2_zpszyj7v3et.gif[/IMG][/code] I can't help you with exactly where this is because I have customised my Photobucket preference to only show this and the HTML links.

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1456502165' post='2989741'] If this stuff interests you, my own personal archive of (almost) all the Hofners I have owned is here: [url="http://s1128.photobucket.com/user/h4ppyjack/library/Hofner%20vintage%20instruments"]http://s1128.photobu...e%20instruments[/url] By far the best resource I've ever found is Steve Russell's excellent and now much expanded website: [url="http://www.vintagehofner.co.uk/"]http://www.vintagehofner.co.uk/[/url] You can also spend a hugely rewarding hour looking at this: [url="http://s1128.photobucket.com/user/h4ppyjack/library/Other%20music%20related/Selmer%20Catalogue%201963"]http://s1128.photobu...atalogue%201963[/url] [/quote] Thanks for those links HJ. The Vintage Hofner site has a wealth of information even if it looks like it was built before 2000! Has no-one bothered with a book for Hofner guitars and basses yet? As a Burns fan I have access to 2 excellent publications which between them cover pretty much everything I would want to know about the instruments of Jim Burns. Also can anyone recommend a good on-line or printed resource for Danelectro information? Thanks!

[quote name='Bassjon' timestamp='1456605684' post='2990753'] 2 great venues have shut down in Nottingham this week. [/quote] What's the other one? I only know of one, and IMO it could hardly be called great...

[quote name='matski' timestamp='1456493899' post='2989604'] Baldwin Vibraslim? [url="http://guitar-auctions.co.uk/portfolio-post/lot-188-baldwin-vibraslim-bass-guitar-made-in-england-circa-mid-to-late-1960/"]http://guitar-auctio...d-to-late-1960/[/url] [/quote] AFAICS from "The Burns Book" by Paul Day and "Pearls And Crazy Diamonds" by Per Gjörde the only Burns Basses made in 1960 were the Artist and the Sonic. Baldwin didn't take over Burns until 1965.

Two things I can see from reading your ad: 1. It's not a permanent position in the band 2. "zany singing drummer" that would make me think twice.

[quote name='JJW' timestamp='1456440537' post='2989178'] I love it! [url="http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/710-53481-19255-0/1?icep_ff3=2&pub=5575090229&toolid=10001&campid=5337531593&customid=&icep_item=121900750441&ipn=psmain&icep_vectorid=229508&kwid=902099&mtid=824&kw=lg"]http://rover.ebay.co...&mtid=824&kw=lg[/url] [/quote] Beauty is obviously in the eye of the beholder. I think it looks cheap and tacky. And I've seen Rory Gallagher's actual guitar in person - it's fairly nasty looking especially the metalwork. I see that Fender haven't bothered to accurately re-create that, as you'd probably need a Tetanus jab in order to play it!

Thanks for those links. Looking around it appears that I can get a Danelectro or Hofner from 1960 for less than half the price of an equivalent age and condition Fender, so win all round! Now to get out there and try some to see if they are actually worth having...

[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1456440789' post='2989180'] In the EU everyone pays VAT (or that country's equivalent). What you don't pay is customs duty and additional VAT ... because it's a single market. Let's hope it stays that way or we'll be adding about 20% onto Thomann prices [/quote] It doesn't quite work like that. If I buy a bass from Ishibashi in Japan, I don't pay the Japanese sales tax, but I do pay VAT at the UK rate. So theoretically the price would only increase by the cost of the import duty - around 3% ( and which IIRC doesn't apply to items under £135) and whatever clearance fee gets added on by the company delivering the items in the UK.

You can't really calculate the total amount accurately, because firstly HMRC don't always classify basses properly which means that the import duty they calculate might not be the the same as the one you have excepted. Secondly the clearance fee that you will be charged varies depending on the overall value of the item and the company who is doing the delivery in the UK. Adding 25% on to the overall cost and shipping generally gives you a slightly higher figure than the the actual final cost but at least you won't have any nasty surprises. Except... the VAT and import duty will be calculated on the declared (insurance) value of the item and shipping so that if the seller over-insures the bass, you will be charged the full insured amount and then have to try and claim back the excess.

In the interests of keeping the original loom intact, I'd leave the earth wire attached and check how it is attached at the bridge end before doing anything. With a bit of luck there won't be a solder connection there and you'll just be able to pull the earth wire through into the control cavity, and then replace it with a new one to go with your new pickup and controls.

[quote name='Kevsy71' timestamp='1456352609' post='2988296'] I'm about to do something similar on my 79 P. I'm replacing pickups, pots, cap and jack; and keeping the originals joined together with their original solder and wire for provenance. All that is lost is the original connection to the bridge ground wire. [/quote] If I was doing that I'd put in a new bridge earthing wire. Is the original even soldered to the bridge plate or just trapped between it and the body?

Thanks HJ. I was hoping you'd appear with some info on the Hofners. In which case the 500/10 sounds like just my thing. Not only will it satisfy my current interest in semi-acoustic/hollowbody basses, but it's also rarer than a rare thing! Although IME it doesn't matter how rare an instrument is supposed to be at some point it will show up for sale on line. On several occasions in the past 15 or so years that I've been seriously buying basses several instruments that I never thought I'd ever see have turned up for sale and in a few instances the price was right to allow me to buy them. And just in case I can't find one and decide to go for a 500/5 did you own one of those, and if so what did you think?

Fretless? ACG is going to be hard to beat.

Do Basschat threads get better as they get older?

[quote name='Maude' timestamp='1456347541' post='2988200'] A Danelectro Longhorn, either six string baritone or four string bass, would be my choice for a 1960 bass. [/quote] That's what I'm leaning towards ATM - a 6-string if possible. Not stupidly expensive either from what I can see.

[quote name='miles'tone' timestamp='1456330709' post='2987959'] Instead of a YOB, go for a BFL. (bass for life) [/quote] I already have at least 2 BFLs in my black and red Gus G3s. TBH it's as much an exercise to see what was being made in 1960 that I would actually want to be playing in 2016 as anything.

[quote name='Fozza' timestamp='1456324792' post='2987863'] I can't seem to post a link but if you google "six great extinct Gretsch basses" it will take you a post on the Gretsch blog which has pictures of their first bass model. It was called the Bikini(!) and started production in 1961. Back to the drawing board! [/quote] That Gretch bass is suitably weird enough for my liking. Pity it wasn't around in 1960.

[quote name='6feet7' timestamp='1456320737' post='2987781'] Actually, just forget the YOB bass and look at Simon Farmer's new GUS G5 basses. Far more your style. [/quote] If I just wanted a fantastic new bass, as I said in HKH's thread I'd just get Simon to make me another G3 5-string the same as my black one but with a couple of extra pickup switching options and a more flamboyant finish. I just like the idea of being able to have a bass that I find usable that is as old as me. Particularly since my very first ever bass - the Burns Sonic - is very close to that.

[quote name='neepheid' timestamp='1456322042' post='2987805'] How annoying - all the companies I thought of which haven't been mentioned started making basses in 1961! [/quote] That's pretty much it. All the interesting stuff starts from 1961 onwards. Still trying to see if Gretch were making basses in 1960 and if so which models.

[quote name='Shambo' timestamp='1456318094' post='2987725'] Fuuturama/Resonet? Never seen one but just throwing it out there. [/quote] I used to own a 60s Futurama Bass as a back up to my Burns Sonic. It was all plastic and red vinyl over plywood and looked pretty impressive. Unfortunately it was probably the worst playing and sounding bass I've ever owned. I won't be going there again.

[quote name='cybertect' timestamp='1456316383' post='2987690'] If you like more than four strings, you might consider the Hofner 500/10 six string bass - production began in 1960, so you might find one of the correct vintage [url="http://www.vintagehofner.co.uk/hofnerfs/mground/6stb.html"]http://www.vintageho...round/6stb.html[/url] [/quote] That definitely looks like an option. My quick skim through the vintage Hofner pages hadn't turned this one up.

[quote name='keefbaker' timestamp='1456312491' post='2987617'] Get an upright maybe? Bound to have been a lot of those made then and playing uprights is a ton of fun. [/quote] I've dabbled with upright basses both acoustic and electric over the years enough to know that they are not for me.

Following HkH's thread on getting a bass for his birthday, many of the people saying that they's like a YoB bass and my initial response, it got me thinking: was there actually a bass made in 1960 that I'd like to own? These days I'm pretty much a 5-string player (and have been since 1989) so whatever I got would never be my main bass; and since I had a big clear out of my unused musical equipment over the last few years, if I was going to buy a YoB bass it would need to be something that would actually play for more than a bit of fun at home. If I was looking at getting a guitar there wouldn't be any problem. Aside from the Telecaster (IMO the world's most boring guitar) pretty much anything from 1960 that was playable and sounded good would be fantastic. However the bass guitar being a much younger instrument, the options are far more limited. Unfortunately the obvious choices from Fender - the Precision and Jazz don't do anything for me. Aside from the fact that I find them dull to look at, years of playing basses that have owed almost nothing to Leo's "classic" designs means that for me, they are unwieldy and uncomfortable to play. And while a decent 1960 P or J will undoubtably increase in value, as I said, for a YoB bass I want something that I'm actually going to do something with other having it sit under the bed in its case as an investment. So what about the choices from the other big manufacturers of the time? Gibson? The Thunderbird didn't come out until 1963, the violin-shaped EB1's original production run stopped in 1959. AFAICS that leaves the EB0 and the EB2. Both could be possibilities, especially the EB0 since the 1960 model still had the Les Paul TV style body rather than the more usual SG shape. Rickenbacker? The 4001 was introduced in 1961 so that's out, There was the 4000, but TBH while it is definitely unusual, it looks too much like something made at home by someone who saw a photo of a 4001 once. Too may of what I consider the classic features of the Rikenbacker bass are absent, and the overall design doesn't have the elegant looks of the later model. I supposed the other well-known brand of the time would be Hofner. The guitars are gorgeous, but the closest I've ever got to one of their basses was in the 80s playing a house-mates very horrible Grant violin bass copy. The 500/1 violin bass is a bit too obvious for me. However the 500/3 and particularly the 500/5 two pickup bass look rather tasty. Were there any other Hofner basses being made in 1960? What else? It looks as though Mosrite didn't start making basses until 1963. There appear to be some Kay Basses that might have been made in 1960 - the 162 and the Jazz Special Bass, both of which look cool but how good are they as playable bass guitars? Of course there is always Burns. I already own a Burns bass from the early 60s - a Sonic, but despite the fact that they were being made in 1960, mine almost certainly dates from later in the production run since it has features (rosewood fingerboard and it originally sported a Burns adjustable bridge) that weren't present on the earliest versions. Besides it has been so heavily modified in the intervening years that IMO it would no longer really count even had it been made in 1960. My Sonic Bass needed a quite a bit of work to make it a playable instrument, so I'm not sure if I could get on with the more primitive 1960 model. The other Burns bass from 1960, however, does look rather good as it was more up-market in it's design and construction and it is a long scale unlike most non-Fender basses of the time. Which brings me to a big problem. Researching the age of my Burns Sonic Bass, made me realise how lucky Fender owners are with their neck and body stamps. Burns instruments didn't sport serial numbers until late 1961, and instruments with set-neck construction had the serial number/date on a sticker. The best I can say about mine was that it was made sometime between 1960 and 1964, most likely in the latter years of the production run. Added to that that, the fact that record keeping was a low priority of many of the smaller companies and most of them went out of business at some point with a subsequent loss of whatever record had been kept, and you can see that accurately dating an instrument from that period becomes very nearly impossible. One of the instruments I have been keen to try for some time now is the re-issue of the Fender Bass VI. Which got me thinking - when was the original first made? It turns out that it's much older than I originally thought, the first models appearing in 1961 and more importantly that it was inspired by a much earlier Danelectro 6-string bass. So a Danelectro Longhorn 6-stringbass is a strong possibility. Especially since it appears to be able to accurately date them from the serial number. Are there any other basses that I should be looking at? 1960 appears to be just too early for all the weird designs that were popular a few years later. I'm looking for something a bit unusual design-wise but it needs to be playable and verifiable to 1960. Ideas?

[quote name='colgraff' timestamp='1456272750' post='2987382'] In some undefined way, a (subjectively) cool bass plays better than an uncool one. I don't know why, but it does. [/quote] Of course it does. A bass you like will inspire you to pick it up and play it.