Vintage Hofner Beatle Bass - help !!

[martin8708]

I aquired this bass some 20 plus years ago when I did a stint of work in South Africa , I saw it in the corner of the stock room of the  local Yamaha Musikland shop and rescued it from possibly  being thrown out because it was old and dusty .

I have to say I don't really play it , so with this in mind I am looking for help from the Basschat collective . ( Happy Jack ? ) 

From the little bit of investigation I have done - it may be a 1966 model , but I am open to correction .

It all seems to work , the bridge pick-up does seem stronger than the neck pick-up , and I cannot make head or tail of the control panel .

Are they desirable ?,      Condition as per the photo's , but I do not have the original case .

The only thing that's visibly missing is a small steel saddle on the G string that sits in the Bridge .

Many thanks for all help .

Martin 

Edited December 19, 2017 by Silvia Bluejay
One sentence deleted, rest of post fine to stay.

[Funkfingers]

Very Marmite. Some love 'em. Some despise 'em. Nothing else makes THAT sound.

The wiring harness looks infinitely more robust than the last Hofner that I looked inside. (A Fifties guitar, as it happens.) 

[Happy Jack]

This is a very tricky one, Martin.

There are no photos of the back or of the neck heel joint, both of which are crucial, I can't see the pot codes, and obviously I can't feel the weight and balance to establish whether or not there's a 'sustain block' under the pickups.

From the photos on offer, it would work as a 66 model except that those control knobs are all wrong and that doesn't look like 60s German wiring.

Trouble is, there were so many subsequent revivals and reissues, all trying to recapture that 60s vibe, that it would also work as one of those. Reissues were made at different times in Germany, Spain and Japan, and for each of Hofner, Sorkin and Boosey & Hawkes.

It's odd that you found this in South Africa since it's not a UK & Commonwealth import. That's a German and Continental bass.

[martin8708]

Hi Happy Jack .

Glad you found the post , i suppose this was primarily aimed at yourself .

i am happy to supply pictures of the back of the bass and the neck heel , this is all new to me .

I grew up in South Africa as a kid , my Dad was one of the many British engineers working in the huge industrial belt just south of Johhannesburg . South Africa and the then Rhodesia was quite a big market for American instruments and Fender and Gibson shipped tons of instruments to RSA before the sanctions hit . It was quite common to see the guitarist of a Boeremusik band ( Farmers music ) with a very ornate and very expensive Gibson Les Paul .  

I'll post some more pictures tomorrow and have a closer look at the pots .

 

cheers

Martin 

[martin8708]

More photos of back and neck heel added .

 

Thanks for your time HJ.

[stingrayPete1977]

It's a shame that you've only just missed bonfire night, lol 

[Happy Jack]

This isn't getting any easier, Martin! Those photos don't provide any conclusive evidence either way.

Your bass has a number of distinguishing features, none of which give a clear answer either way ... it could still be a genuine '66 with some after-market changes, or a more modern re-issue, or even a bitsa.

Even the beautiful condition of your bass is no indicator of 'newness'. My '64 is hanging next to me as I type, and it is in a similarly impeccable state.

If I were a gambling man (which thank the Lord I'm not sir), I'd say original '66. Hard to say why, but I've owned a lot of vintage Hofners and looked very closely at many more, and I'd be inclined to go with the little things.

In that last photo, for example, take a look at the 4" slip of wood which forms the end of the fretboard and is glued in place as a dovetail. In any re-issue bass from the 90s onward that would be a nice, smooth piece of wood which matched the rest of the neck. On your bass it is clearly a slightly battered offcut from another piece of work ... which is exactly the sort of thing the guys at Hofner did in the 60s when they were trying to turn out hundreds of these basses in a hurry.

I suppose it is possible that it is (i) a rare Spanish or Japanese re-issue from before the 90s, and that (ii) perhaps some of those re-issues were also built to less exacting standards, but I suspect that William of Occam would have a few things to say about that line of reasoning.

[Pea Turgh]

Looks nice, what ever it is. I’ve only ever tried one (that was a recent reissue or whatever). I found the string spacing at the bridge far too claustrophobic.

I’d love one for the scale length though - those Paul McCartney bass lines would be a lot easier if my fingers didn’t have as far to go!