H185 Hofner

[munkonthehill]

has anyone seen or tried one of these basses H185 Hofner

link here [url="http://www.voxshowroom.com/northcoast/hofner/hofner_guitar/artistbass.html"]http://www.voxshowroom.com/northcoast/hofn...artistbass.html[/url]

going for 200 on ebay.....whats your thoughts?

[Happy Jack]

[i]The H185 "Artist" Bass is a faithful reissue of a long (34") scale Hofner bass model produced in the 1960s. It features two pickups, and black scratchplate, and individual volume and tone controls for both of the humbucker pickups.
[/i]
What a load of bollocks.

This is anything but a "faithful reissue" ... it's a cobbled-together Chinese-made bass which bears little resemblance to the original Hofner 185 (known in the UK & Commonwealth as the Artist).

For all I know, it's a great player and fabulous value for money. But as a description, that link is so wrong that it's almost funny.

If you want to know what a real 185 looked like, check the link in my signature or visit [url="http://www.vintagehofner.co.uk/"]http://www.vintagehofner.co.uk/[/url]

By far the biggest and most important difference is the scale. There is no way that bass will ever feel, play or sound like a real Hofner. For that, you have to have the original 30.5" scale, preferably strung with flats.

[MoonBassAlpha]

The original medium scale ones sound a lot "planky"!
If they were produced new today they'd probably get slated as being rubbish, but hey, they're vintage now so they must be good.
I'd imagine these new ones at 34" scale would probably knock an old one into a cocked hat, sound wise (the old Hofner necks are quite comfortable and I love the Striped inlays though) but not having tried one I can't say for sure, but it is something a tiny bit different from all the other Jazz clones out there. £200 aint a lot for any bass really.

[munkonthehill]

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='725913' date='Jan 26 2010, 11:48 PM'][i]The H185 "Artist" Bass is a faithful reissue of a long (34") scale Hofner bass model produced in the 1960s. It features two pickups, and black scratchplate, and individual volume and tone controls for both of the humbucker pickups.
[/i]
What a load of bollocks.

This is anything but a "faithful reissue" ... it's a cobbled-together Chinese-made bass which bears little resemblance to the original Hofner 185 (known in the UK & Commonwealth as the Artist).

For all I know, it's a great player and fabulous value for money. But as a description, that link is so wrong that it's almost funny.

If you want to know what a real 185 looked like, check the link in my signature or visit [url="http://www.vintagehofner.co.uk/"]http://www.vintagehofner.co.uk/[/url]

By far the biggest and most important difference is the scale. There is no way that bass will ever feel, play or sound like a real Hofner. For that, you have to have the original 30.5" scale, preferably strung with flats.[/quote]

nice one jack, thanks for the info

[richardrickenbacker]

Just saw these on ebay, they look really cool. I can see HappyJacks point, the bridge and selector switches are hardly authentic, but most probably much better for intonation and getting a few more modern sounds.
Still think I'd save up a bit extra dosh for a contemporary series Club bass, they are great.
Must try to find one to try out though!