Tripehound Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 I've acquired a lovely Hofner violin bass and am trying to establish exactly what it is.... Can't see a serial number - do they have one somewhere? It's a sunburst and the finish on it I can best describe as flat which I'm guessing rules out the Contemporary series. Can anyone offer me any clues as to how to identify which model/year etc? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fender73 Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 i've gotta ask, how did you 'acquire' it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tripehound Posted January 26, 2012 Author Share Posted January 26, 2012 It was a swap involving a fretless Vintage which was gathering dust ever since I finally admitted that I might sound good on it on my own but was stretching the patience of others when trying to use it in a band context. The Hofner has lately become my bass of choice, usurping my Jazz and the Variax. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad3353 Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 Good evening, Tripehound (charming moniker..!)... If you'd care to post a few decent pics here... [url="http://www.hofner.co.uk/index.php"]http://www.hofner.co.uk/index.php[/url] ...you're sure to get a few ID indications. If you could look at the back of the pots, there's very often a 3-number date code (at least, on earlier models...), which might help. Hofners have a wonderful system of mixing and matching features over time, so there is often some 'fuzziness' over specific dates, but there are nevertheless several tell-tale indications (type and length of tailpiece, size of control plate, type of tuners and knobs etc; the list is long...). They'll sort you out, I'm pretty sure. Hope this helps... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Jack Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 Not a great photo to work from, but that's either a Contemporary or an Icon with the pickguard removed. Not sure if the bridge is original - hard to tell from that photo. Either way, it's not a vintage Hofner, but a modern copy made by CNC machines in China (probably) under licence from Hofner. From a playing point of view, the biggest single difference will be the "sustain block", i.e. the big lump of wood running down the middle of the body. Hofner claim that this improves sustain. What it actually does is allow a violin-shaped body to be made much more cheaply by gluing little bits of wood onto a big one. The sustain block completely alters the sound and (physical) balance of the bass, leaving you with a perfectly playable bass which bears very little resemblance to playing a genuine, handmade, German Hofner. The audience will never know the difference. You will. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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