bootros Posted January 9, 2018 Share Posted January 9, 2018 I've got an old Hohner B2A - can anyone identify the build year from the serial number (8615052)? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
italiancross Posted January 12, 2019 Share Posted January 12, 2019 It's from 1986, the first two digits show the year. It is one of the earliest basses of its kind, the B2A was introduced in 1986. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassassin Posted January 12, 2019 Share Posted January 12, 2019 Might be 1986. Mine has an 85 prefix - I bought it new in 1985. I'm not 100% certain but they might have first appeared in' 84. These were made in Korea by Cort/Cor-Tek. Not sure there's a recognised serial scheme for these but the year prefix would make sense. The Hohner-branded B2 range was licensed by Steinberger to use the design & hardware - Cort used the same components on their own (unlicensed) designs too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
italiancross Posted January 12, 2019 Share Posted January 12, 2019 The Hohner site used to contain, quite a few years ago, a chronology of the models produced, that showed the B2 bass as introduced in 1985 and the active fretless version B2AFL a year later, in 1986. There was no mention here of the B2A, which may well have appeared in 1985 along with the passive version. They were produced until 1993 in their first batch, then reintroduced probably near the end of the 90's, and all of these were manufactured in Korea by Cort. The Jack bass, also licensed by Steinberger, appeared in 1988, again according to this document. I don't know how that chronology is reliable, but it makes sense to think that the first two digits refer to the year of production, even considering the evolution of the B2 series. I collected the information of around 15 basses of this early production (I personally had four of them) and all had serial numbers starting with 86 to 90. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassassin Posted January 12, 2019 Share Posted January 12, 2019 I think I've seen the document you're referring to, someone (can't remember if it was here or one of the FB guitar groups) linked to it quite recently. I've had several Hohner-branded instruments and was interested in researching them - but found two of them (an HVX-45 guitar, MIJ and from around 1982, and a slightly later Korean-made HTB-3B bass) did not appear in the list. I'd imagine it was collated from whatever existing records they still had, so various models were not included. As I say, I bought my B2A new in '85 - both the active & passive versions launched simultaneously. I remember drooling over them in my local guitar shop for a while before I could afford to get one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anzoid Posted January 12, 2019 Share Posted January 12, 2019 1 hour ago, Bassassin said: I think I've seen the document you're referring to, someone (can't remember if it was here or one of the FB guitar groups) linked to it quite recently. This the one? https://www.hohner.de/fileadmin/documents/service/guitars/Gitarren_Hohner-HistoricalModels.pdf Can't remember which thread I posted it in, but I seem to remember there was some surprise at how bad Hohner had been at recording their own history 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
italiancross Posted January 12, 2019 Share Posted January 12, 2019 Yes, this is the document I remember. I agree, the Hohner production is very badly documented. I remember noticing these basses when they appeared in the 80's, a cheap alternative to the unattainable Steinberger, but I only decided to buy one a couple of years ago and appreciated the good quality despite the low price. I had three more after that first one, all easy to find at low prices but often missing some of the original parts. By the way, while searching for more detailed information on the net, I noticed that Cort claim, in their site, to have started producing headless guitars and basses licensed by Steinberger on their own brand as well as for Hohner and Kramer in 1984. Who knows if their documentation is more accurate than Hohner's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpondonBassed Posted August 4, 2019 Share Posted August 4, 2019 (edited) Mine has a serial number starting with 86 too. It has an XLR out (bypassing the preamp) as well as a jack socket. Edited August 4, 2019 by SpondonBassed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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