W1_Pro

If anyone is interested in aquiring an Orignal, theres a newly refurbed early eighties one on sale on FB marketplace. He wants reasonable money for it but Its a nice looking thing and of course it has just been refurbed (by Overwater iirc). https://www.facebook.com/groups/4888919827/permalink/10162410126259828/ ..and I should say this bass is absolutely nothing to do with me, don't know the guy, caveat emptor, etc etc.

And to answer your question about age. The burst one is the oldest, thats from the late seventies according to Chris (May). The blue one is around 1981 and the fretless is about 1983 iirc. I'm not really sure about the Artisan but I think its around 88 or 89.

As JPJ said, they will still make custom orders in this shape. The thing is about the early ones (thats the two originals on the left of my pic), are the Bill Lawrence humbuckers. The best passive circuit/ pickups I've heard on any bass anywhere (and yes I know thats hugely subjective but I can only speak for myself 😆). So if you fancy one of these, maybe watch out for one secondhand. They come up quite regularly and the prices are usually pretty reasonable for a UK luthier made instrument.

I've got four. Two Orignals with Bill Lawrence pickups. A fretless Original with a Kent Armstrong and an Artisan. Best necks I've ever played. Sound fantastic. Heavier than a small star.....

It might be a good way to try a multi scale singlecut if you don't want to spend a lot of money. £297 for the cheapest one. I've never really been taken with the idea of multi scale or single cut, but at this price, I'd be tempted to give it a go. I don't know how they do it..

So it's done! Strung up and working perfectly. That I believe is what the young people call 'a hack'. Thanks to everyone for the comments, help and ideas and a particular thank you to Shawn (luckman67) who offered his spare Hofner machine heads FoC for me to experiment on. Top quality basschatting there.

OK, so its done..kind of. I have reamed out the hole on the e string tuner using a 3.5mm HSS bit and my trusty Makita on a slow setting. It seems to be OK. I'll string it up just now and report back but the Thomastik low E (.96) now definitely fits through the hole.

They were long enough, but the E string wouldnt fit through the hole in the tuning peg. Infuriating.

So thats interesting. I've tried a set of harley Benton shortscale flats, and they didnt fit. With the cobalts....did you get the silk onto the tuning head?

That is very kind of you. I would be happy to take you up on the offer. I shall PM you.

Thats lovely, I've been on the lookout for an Enfield, can I ask how much you paid for it?

That, in theory is not a bad idea. Its only the one machine head (the E) and it doesn't even need to be that much bigger. The worst thing that can happen is I ruin a single (chinese) Hofner machine head....I'll have a look at the shaft of the thing and see how viable it is to do.

I should have mentioned at the top of the thread that I have the Chinese built modern series bass with the centre block, and very nice it is too.

I might price up a set of German machine heads. I shudder to think how much they'll be, but it seems to me that having a bass that will accept only one specific (and frequently unavailable) type of string-even if they are flats which don't need replacing often- is a real pain.

Apparently they are Hofner specific, but not if you have the wrong sort of Hofner. I just got this mail from a very nice gentleman called Adrian at Barnes & Mullins, Thomastiks UK distibutor: "Hi Stuart You are indeed correct – the Thomastik Hofner strings are specific to the German produced Hofner basses and will only fit the German instruments. The modern series/ignition etc – are made in China and have smaller diameter machine head (holes) and will require Hofner branded CT strings for this reason. I hope this helps" To be fair, Thomastik do point this out on their website on the 324H page, but like most people I suspect, I never got beyond the 'Hofner specific'' strapline at the top of the page...

Morning all, I have recently procured (at eyewatering expense) a set of these flats to go on my Hofner. As we all know the Hofner has very specific machine heads with tiny little string holes in them, rather than slits. I was happily stringing up the bass until I got to the .96 low E. It does not fit through the hole in the machine head shaft. I'm struggling here. These strings I thought, were meant to be for Hofner basses. Can anyone shed any light on this? Am I doing something stupid? have I missed something? Help!

I've not used an Adamson rig for about twenty five years- well before cardiod sub became a thing- but I think I'm correct in saying that to get subs like these to run cardiod you'd have to flip every third sub and point it backwards. This they do not appear to have done.....

I might be wrong of course, but that skate on the corner of the stage looks like its holding three Adamson E218 subs. Thats a bloody funny place to stack subs. Also, I can't see a tower, which would be the obvious place to put top boxes. Odd....

Damn, thats pretty. Well, if you ever want to move it on, do drop me a line.