Hofner or Höfner?

[SICbass]

I'm a bit confused about the origins of an instrument.

 

I bought a Harley Benton Beatbass for an Amy Winehouse band we're doing. The drummer mentioned having given an old Hofner bass to his mate as payment back in about 1971, saying that the bass was from the 60s. His mate still has the bass, so he brought it to the gig last night. It needs a little TLC, but sounds fine .

The thing is, that on the headstock, it say Hofner and not Höfner. Is this some sort of a copy, or one of those once-in-a-lifetime finds?

 

Thanks in advance for any insight from the BC hive-mind.

 

Edited January 26 by SICbass

[Happy Jack]

There never was an umlaut on the logo. I've owned many vintage Hofners and I have a 1964 Violin Bass 500/1 hanging next to me as I write.

 

If you want to really get stuck into these things, the Bible for many, many years has been https://www.vintagehofner.co.uk/

[SICbass]

15 minutes ago, Happy Jack said:

There never was an umlaut on the logo. I've owned many vintage Hofners and I have a 1964 Violin Bass 500/1 hanging next to me as I write.

 

If you want to really get stuck into these things, the Bible for many, many years has been https://www.vintagehofner.co.uk/

 

Nice one, I'll check that out.

[James Nada]

My understanding is that the umlaut was not included on the UK (as possibly other countries) bound instruments when distributed was originally set up in the late-50s, as a way to play down the German origins of the instrument, it being not so long after the war and all.

Seem plausible, but could be internet myth.

[SICbass]

According to YT wisdom, it would seem to be from week 45 of 1964.

[police squad]

there will be a date stamp inside the body, I'm guessing that's a late 1964 bass, maybe early '65.

Because of Macca, those basses were flying off the production line by now

My '64 has '63 pots codes and a January date stamp inside the body (it also doesn't have a raised logo, making it quite rare)

[SICbass]

I don’t intend to open this up to find out. I’m way too cautious for that, but I do need to have someone take a look at the electronics. The bass works, but there’s dropout when I move the switches. I guess you’d have to open up the body to see inside. My knees go to jelly just at the thought.

[luckman67]

Lovely looking bass though but, the wooden bridge ha been replaced.

[W1_Pro]

Thats a handsome thing. I've got one of the chinese ones with German pickups, which is nice, but not in this league. It might be just a trick of perspective in the pic, but were the old bodies bigger? This looks bigger...I've only had one small lager this evening...

[luckman67]

2 hours ago, W1_Pro said:

Thats a handsome thing. I've got one of the chinese ones with German pickups, which is nice, but not in this league. It might be just a trick of perspective in the pic, but were the old bodies bigger? This looks bigger...I've only had one small lager this evening...

Bodies are the same the main difference between the German '64, & the HCT was the headstock on the HCT was a little longer and the edges coming up from the nut were sharper.

My 64 500/1 headstock

My 2007 HCT (Recently given a new home)

[police squad]

On 28/01/2025 at 09:41, SICbass said:

I don’t intend to open this up to find out. I’m way too cautious for that, but I do need to have someone take a look at the electronics. The bass works, but there’s dropout when I move the switches. I guess you’d have to open up the body to see inside. My knees go to jelly just at the thought.

if you get a cheap endoscope from Amazon, you put it inside where the control plate is and have a look. It sends the image to your phone and you can read it

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0BWF7QLGP/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1

£20.00

 

[SICbass]

45 minutes ago, police squad said:

if you get a cheap endoscope from Amazon, you put it inside where the control plate is and have a look. It sends the image to your phone and you can read it

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0BWF7QLGP/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1

£20.00

 

Thanks for the tip 👍

[SICbass]

On 29/01/2025 at 22:35, luckman67 said:

Lovely looking bass though but, the wooden bridge ha been replaced.

I must confess, I hadn’t noticed. I‘ll take a closer look when I get the chance.

[SICbass]

20 hours ago, W1_Pro said:

Thats a handsome thing. I've got one of the chinese ones with German pickups, which is nice, but not in this league. It might be just a trick of perspective in the pic, but were the old bodies bigger? This looks bigger...I've only had one small lager this evening...

Thank you for the kind comment. I did just quickly photograph it from the end of the bed, so it’s probably just the perspective.

[SICbass]

On 29/01/2025 at 22:35, luckman67 said:

Lovely looking bass though but, the wooden bridge ha been replaced.

 

20 hours ago, SICbass said:

I must confess, I hadn’t noticed. I‘ll take a closer look when I get the chance.

 

It looks like you're right. The bridge is made of wood, but doesn't have the white stripes on it. The change must have happened ages ago though, because the bass has just been standing in the corner of my mate's living-room since about 1971. Also, there is a support wire connecting it to the scratchplate which is aged and rusted and appears to be original.

@hofner experts, were there occasional basses built with stripeless bridges??

[luckman67]

6 hours ago, SICbass said:

 

 

It looks like you're right. The bridge is made of wood, but doesn't have the white stripes on it. The change must have happened ages ago though, because the bass has just been standing in the corner of my mate's living-room since about 1971. Also, there is a support wire connecting it to the scratchplate which is aged and rusted and appears to be original.

@hofner experts, were there occasional basses built with stripeless bridges??

 

The main floating bridge on Hofner guitars & basses during the 1950's to the present day, has been the ebony 2 piece bridge with fretwire in the slots for each string & metal wheels for string height.

[BigRedX]

On 01/02/2025 at 12:34, SICbass said:

It looks like you're right. The bridge is made of wood, but doesn't have the white stripes on it. The change must have happened ages ago though, because the bass has just been standing in the corner of my mate's living-room since about 1971. Also, there is a support wire connecting it to the scratchplate which is aged and rusted and appears to be original.

@hofner experts, were there occasional basses built with stripeless bridges??

 

Looks as though just to top section of the bridge has either been replaced or modified.