1987 Hofner 500/1 Beatle Bass - *SOLD* £995 Margate

[jay-syncro]

 

1987 German Hofner 500/1 up for grabs. It has a glorious nitro finish which has various signs of use, cracks and grazing (especially on the back of the neck) but feels and looks awesome. It had a very high action when I received it due to the Hofner "feature" of the ebony bridge being too high, and only effectively allowing you to raise the action even further! With it being a vintage bass I didn't want to modify the original bridge, so I sourced a brand new original Hofner bridge assembly and had it professionally milled down to allow a much lower action. The result is the easiest playing Hofner I've ever encountered! Note the original bridge is included in the sale, along with the correct truss rod tool and the original Hofner flight case. It's strung with a lovely set of Pyramid Gold flats, as is right and proper. It sounds wonderful. 

 

Edited March 20 by jay-syncro

[petecarlton]

Gaw-jus!

[jay-syncro]

14 hours ago, petecarlton said:

Gaw-jus!

 

Thanks, my photos don't do it justice. 

[petecarlton]

Well, it looks amazing in the pix, so it must be incredible in the... er... wood!  

[Cairobill]

That's a great price for a German 500/1 and....as I always say... 'every bassist needs a Hofner'

 

Edited January 14 by Cairobill

[lldj]

Hi, would you be interested in trading?

[jay-syncro]

1 hour ago, lldj said:

Hi, would you be interested in trading?

 

PM'd

[jay-syncro]

Bump for this beauty. 

Edited February 17 by jay-syncro

[Agent 00Soul]

Amy Winehouse's bassist used one of these on her last tours.

[Beedster]

I still know where you live Jay 😆

[Beedster]

On 14/01/2024 at 15:05, Cairobill said:

That's a great price for a German 500/1 and....as I always say... 'every bassist needs a Hofner'

 

 

Given that two of my all time fave bassists play this very bass, I'm hoping someone will sell me on why I also need one?

[jay-syncro]

2 hours ago, Agent 00Soul said:

Amy Winehouse's bassist used one of these on her last tours.

 

He did, and that's a great reference for these being used in a non-beatles situation 👍

[jay-syncro]

18 minutes ago, Beedster said:

 

Given that two of my all time fave bassists play this very bass, I'm hoping someone will sell me on why I also need one?

 

Maybe because two of your fave bassists play one? 😁

 

Or because you need solid old school bass tone wrapped up in an iconic design that weighs as much as a bag of Wotsits? 

[Agent 00Soul]

On 29/01/2024 at 15:04, jay-syncro said:

 

He did, and that's a great reference for these being used in a non-beatles situation 👍

 

Another non-Beatles/non-retro appearance: all the bass parts on Air's 1988 electro-lounge classic Moon Safari, as well as many of their other albums, were played on a Hofner. 

[jay-syncro]

16 hours ago, Agent 00Soul said:

 

Another non-Beatles/non-retro appearance: all the bass parts on Air's 1988 electro-lounge classic Moon Safari, as well as many of their other albums, were played on a Hofner. 

 

Excellent, I love the bass sound on that album! I had to go and check the release date and I was relieved to find out it was actually released in 1998 👍

[Beedster]

To my mind there's something rather iconic about this photo that wouldn't be the case if it was any other electric bass....

 

 

 

 

[Agent 00Soul]

 

1 hour ago, jay-syncro said:

 

Excellent, I love the bass sound on that album! I had to go and check the release date and I was relieved to find out it was actually released in 1998 👍

 

The opening track La Femme D'Argent has one of my favourite bass sounds ever.

[jay-syncro]

3 hours ago, Beedster said:

To my mind there's something rather iconic about this photo that wouldn't be the case if it was any other electric bass....

 

 

 

 

 

At the risk of being berated, who is that? 

 

I'm pretty sure he wasn't in Earth, Wind and Fire or Funkadelic 🤔

[Beedster]

Chris Wood, bassist in Medeski, Martin, & Wood, and The Wood Brothers. If you like a bit of jazz fusion, the former is worth a listen, a bit of contemporary bluegrass, the latter. Luckily I love both so his playing ticks a lot of boxes for me, not only a great technician, but very inventive and creative in the way he approaches a song. Tone he squeezes out of his upright is pretty special, but his electric playing on occasion sounds beautiful. The Hofner always struck me as an odd choice, not one that's usually associated with a virtuoso player, which CW most certainly is. But given he could probably choose whichever instrument he feels best translates his imagination into musical form, he must see something pretty special in his Hofner 👍

 

And despite having pretty much got rid of all my electric basses, I'm very keen to own one - even for a while - just to see whether there's some mojo there 🤔

[Agent 00Soul]

18 minutes ago, Beedster said:

And despite having pretty much got rid of all my electric basses, I'm very keen to own one - even for a while - just to see whether there's some mojo there 🤔

 

As someone who owned both a Hofner (which I wish I never got rid of) and eventually replaced it with an Epiphone Viola, I have to admit that the Epiphone sounds very close, almost a clone.  In a live band or even a recording I wouldn't be able to tell them apart in the vast majority of cases.  The Hofner has better pickups and the Epiphone has better tuners and body size, but that's it really.

Edited January 31 by Agent 00Soul

[Burns-bass]

1 hour ago, Beedster said:

Chris Wood, bassist in Medeski, Martin, & Wood, and The Wood Brothers. If you like a bit of jazz fusion, the former is worth a listen, a bit of contemporary bluegrass, the latter. Luckily I love both so his playing ticks a lot of boxes for me, not only a great technician, but very inventive and creative in the way he approaches a song. Tone he squeezes out of his upright is pretty special, but his electric playing on occasion sounds beautiful. The Hofner always struck me as an odd choice, not one that's usually associated with a virtuoso player, which CW most certainly is. But given he could probably choose whichever instrument he feels best translates his imagination into musical form, he must see something pretty special in his Hofner 👍

 

And despite having pretty much got rid of all my electric basses, I'm very keen to own one - even for a while - just to see whether there's some mojo there 🤔

 

Without wishing to derail the thread, I love both these bands. I heard the Wood Brothers on the radio once and it was one of those moments where I had to stop the car and write down the name of the band. The tone that guy gets out of a double bass is incredible.

 

Like Chris, I love this bass.

[Beedster]

34 minutes ago, Burns-bass said:

 

Without wishing to derail the thread, I love both these bands. I heard the Wood Brothers on the radio once and it was one of those moments where I had to stop the car and write down the name of the band. The tone that guy gets out of a double bass is incredible.

 

Like Chris, I love this bass.

 

More Chris Wood content here, we should perhaps leave this thread to Jay's Hofner 👍

 

 

[jay-syncro]

18 minutes ago, Beedster said:

 

More Chris Wood content here, we should perhaps leave this thread to Jay's Hofner 👍

 

 

 

Sounds great, I'll definitely have to dive in this evening. 

[tayste_2000]

Other examples of Hofner Violin basses with Blade pickups

 

Michael League absolutely destroying one

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CZmr7R0oDGM/?hl=en

 

And Sean Hurley

 

 

If I didn’t already have a 00’s German Hofner I’d be all over this bass.

[Clarky]

Like @Beedster its an itch I would like to scratch at some point. Violin basses seem pretty versatile as evidenced by their use by reggae greats (Robbie Shakespeare etc) as well as industrial punksters Cabaret Voltaire (below).