Rarest bass ever ?

[Prosebass]

In 1983 I bough a Hofner S7B professional in preference to a Wal, it was £20.00 cheaper than the Wal at £229.00 sounded and played better.
I can only find reference to 1 other in existence [url="http://www.vintagehofner.co.uk/hofner/basses/bas26.html"]Hofner S7B[/url]
Does this make it the rarest production bass ever ? or are there more out there ?

[BigRedX]

I tried the guitar version of that in the late 70s in a German music shop.

Would have bought it if I'd had the cash...

[Prosebass]

[quote name='BigRedX' post='214350' date='Jun 7 2008, 02:02 PM']I tried the guitar version of that in the late 70s in a German music shop.

Would have bought it if I'd had the cash...[/quote]

They were expensive at the time I seem to remember having to take a loan on the bass ,it cost about 4 weeks wages...
Mind you I ripped the frets out after about 2 months and have never adjusted the neck in 25 years, quality wood.
The electronics have packed in on it and even though I am an electrical engineer by trade I cannot repair it.
Still works fine passively and the coil tap and phase switches still work fine, sounds more Jaco than Jaco....

[budget bassist]

I wouldn't say it makes it the rarest ever, i've tried searching for some things on google and come up with absolutely nothing.

[Prosebass]

[quote name='budget bassist' post='214519' date='Jun 7 2008, 06:04 PM']I wouldn't say it makes it the rarest ever, i've tried searching for some things on google and come up with absolutely nothing.[/quote]

I,m only encouraging debate and trying to find out if there are still some out there. What have you searched for and been unable to find ? I know of more 51 Precisions than my Hofner !

[budget bassist]

I honestly can't remember, though i do remember only coming up with probably one or two pages for my tobias toby pro 5b custom, i've just googled it again and most of the pages that do come up are mentions on talkbass, basschat and harmony central forums. There's only one photo of it comes up in google images too. I'm just saying, it's a pretty hard thing to judge, 'rarest production bass in the world' because obviously there's a lot of other fairly obscure stuff out there too.

Edited June 7, 2008 by budget bassist

[Delberthot]

i believe that my old Riverhead bass may be the most rare as I have seen more rocking horse number 2s than these bases.

I am still looking for my old one that I sold in 1989. bit of a warwick/spector clone in dull metallic grey/

Edited June 8, 2008 by Delberthot

[tauzero]

I could only find reference to one other Aria Pro II Rhino when I sold mine, and that was a fretless in France, though I had managed to find someone else with one on some earlier date.

[KennysFord]

[quote name='Delberthot' post='214711' date='Jun 8 2008, 02:54 AM']i believe that my old Riverhead bass may be the most rare as I have seen more rocking horse number 2s than these bases.

I am still looking for my old one that I sold in 1989. bit of a warwick/spector clone in dull metallic grey/[/quote]

somebody else with a Riverhead--woohoo
i'm not alone after all
mines a G&L cross Music man type 5 string,mmmmm nice.

[BigRedX]

For anyone that's interested there's the guitar version of the Hofner bass that started this thread for sale in Music Ground in Denmark street. It still has the original German price tag on for DM975 (somewhere around the £250 mark back in the mid to late 70s IIRC) although I guess the asking price will be a bit more than that now!

[AussieBassman]

[quote name='Prosebass' timestamp='1212843331' post='214344']
In 1983 I bough a Hofner S7B professional in preference to a Wal, it was £20.00 cheaper than the Wal at £229.00 sounded and played better.
I can only find reference to 1 other in existence [url="http://www.vintagehofner.co.uk/hofner/basses/bas26.html"]Hofner S7B[/url]
Does this make it the rarest production bass ever ? or are there more out there ?
[/quote]
I have one of these, bought in 1981 from Barratt's in Manchester and still going strong.

[Prosebass]

[quote name='AussieBassman' timestamp='1445925400' post='2895383']
I have one of these, bought in 1981 from Barratt's in Manchester and still going strong.
[/quote]

I bought mine in 1982 at Barrett's in Manchester (Oxford Road) also. Best neck I have ever played.

Had to sell it a few years ago to make ends meet, which kept me fed for a few weeks but was regrettable. Looking for another one to purchase

Edited January 8, 2016 by Prosebass

[kodiakblair]

There was a Riverhead Jupiter on Gumtree last summer. It was in Granton or West Pilton,Edinburgh. £250 I believe the asking price.

[itsmedunc]

A friend of mine has one of these, Hofner S7B. It's absolutely mint. Very rarely been out of it's case. He had the foresight to buy the case at the time. Hardly any other case will fit it! Lovely bass...

[chris_b]

A Hofner sounding better than a Wal? Now that is rare.

[essexbasscat]

I bought a CS six string and a CS eight string from this very forum, both very good basses They were two instruments from a one- off selection of eight imports into this country. No more ever came (as far as I know). That's got to bit a little rare ?

[alyctes]

Not as rare as the Hofner, and not complete, but...
I bought (from this very forum) the battered remnant of an Ormston-Burns EUB. It does play, and the neck, pup, tailpiece and bridge are original. I knew it was a bit unusual at the time, but I thought that it would be one of maybe 100 originally made. Nope. Apparently, they made maybe six or seven - nobody is quite sure.

Edited August 19, 2016 by alyctes

[kodiakblair]

Got one of the Peavey semi hollow basses, The Resolite.

Only 4 were ever built. 2 stayed in America and 2 came to Europe. A friend in the States knows where those two are but we've
drawn a blank on the other one. So just 3 accounted for.

[alyctes]

I'd forgotten I saw this - posted about it in the [i]eBay Weird + Wonderful[/i] subforum.

Hofner S7B, Berlin, earlier this year. Not clear whether it sold. Not identical to Barry Gillum's bass either - possibly a different model?

[url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hofner-Bass-S-7-B-Razorwood-Model-/142026206269?hash=item21116bec3d%3Ag%3An0MAAOSw2GlXGPDn&nma=true&si=XYFpA5daW3UHPyoMrEPsxt8%252FqwM%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557"]http://www.ebay.co.u...=p2047675.l2557[/url]

Edited August 19, 2016 by alyctes

[lefrash]

Not in the same league as you guys.. but my proper first bass was a white with gold hardware (late 90s) yamaha . I can find pics of the same bass in natural finish.. buthave never seen another one... and can't find a pic of one online in white. It was a bbn4 I'm sure

I ended up ripping the frets out, putting a trem on it, sanding it down to natural and flogging it on ebay for like 60 quid! I would love it back!

[TrevorR]

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1471561747' post='3114100']
A Hofner sounding better than a Wal? Now that is rare.
[/quote]

I think there may be significant levels of "IMHO" operating there (on all sides)... Not that I'm biased or anything, ;-)

[Guinness21]

The original Fender Starcaster bass?

[stingrayPete1977]

Some things are rare for a reason imo, I go to car shows and one will have a plaque proudly claiming it's rarity and I often think "yes I can see why!".

When car designer Bertone saw the triumph TR7 that Harris Mann designed for the first time he apparently walked around to the opposite side of the car and said "oh my god they've done it to both sides!"

[leschirons]

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1471561747' post='3114100']
A Hofner sounding better than a Wal? Now that is rare.
[/quote]

Not if you think Wals sound horrible.

[AussieBassman]

[quote name='alyctes' timestamp='1471646520' post='3114827']
I'd forgotten I saw this - posted about it in the [i]eBay Weird + Wonderful[/i] subforum.

Hofner S7B, Berlin, earlier this year. Not clear whether it sold. Not identical to Barry Gillum's bass either - possibly a different model?

[url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hofner-Bass-S-7-B-Razorwood-Model-/142026206269?hash=item21116bec3d%3Ag%3An0MAAOSw2GlXGPDn&nma=true&si=XYFpA5daW3UHPyoMrEPsxt8%252FqwM%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557"]http://www.ebay.co.u...=p2047675.l2557[/url]
[/quote]
This one looks just like mine, except for the black shading on the back of the headstock-mine is a uniform natural colour.
The other difference is Barry's headstock is parallel, not angled like this (and mine).
This also has a replacement pickup.