Cherry finish Hofner bass

bugman · Post by **bugman** » Sun Jul 09, 2006 1:55 pm

Any thoughts on the cherry finish Hofner bass at Pick of the Ricks? I know its not the traditional finish but it looks cool in the pics. Hofner keeps coming out with these "limited " run Violin or Club bass versions with some variation or another. Chris said there were 14 of the Cherry finish ones with 7 going to the U.S. I wish I had grabbed one of the violin finish Club basses with the cavern bass pickup spacing. Oh well--he who hesitates.. The fretless HofnerV63,now the cherry finish. What can I sell???? The downside is the price on these Hofners is heading towards the price of 2 Ricks

bassman · Post by **bassman** » Sun Jul 09, 2006 2:42 pm

Geoffrey, back in 2000 Hofner made a run of a few hundred 500/1v63 basses finished in transparent red and a large batch in transparent blue. They were intended to be marketing pieces to catch the attention of the vintage market.

Unfortunately quite a few of them developed flaws in their transparent finishes turning them into cloudy reddy-brown basses in the case of the red ones and the blue ones turned a cloudy bluey-green. All were bound with white binding.

Looks like Hofner have gone with a solid red finish this time and added black binding, pickguard and control panel. I guess they learned their lesson back in 2000.

You'll be able to buy the new Chinese/German Contemporary Series Violin bass in Black when it's released in August. Price should be approx $600.00 or less.

leesh · Post by **leesh** » Sun Jul 09, 2006 3:21 pm

Jon - Tell me more abou that black violin series bass....I hadn't heard anything about it. Is it on Hofner's site? Are they being made in China now?

bassduke49 · Post by **bassduke49** » Sun Jul 09, 2006 5:43 pm

I've posted this before, but when it comes to red Hofners, I like this one the best. It was a prototype for the colored ones offered in 2000. Hofner decided to scale back the fancy trim on the production models. There were probably several prototypes made, but this is the only one I've seen pictures of that has all the eye candy. You can't see it in the photo, but the front, back, and sides are fine birdseye maple:

bassman · Post by **bassman** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 2:42 am

Yes Alisha they are being made now in China. You'll be able to buy a Hofner Contemporary Series (CS) Violin bass next month. Hofner has listed them on their website showing that they will be available in the standard Sunburst finish or Black.

These are the basses that use Hofner electronics including pickups and Hofner neck, but the rest of the instrument and hardware is made in China.
The word is that they will sell for approx $600.00

You'll also be able to buy the Icon Series bass at the same time. It's a 100% Chinese made bass including hardware, electronics, etc. They're targeted toward the beginner bass player who wants a Hofner branded instrument but can't afford a CS or German made 500/1. Price tag is $299.00 on the Music 123 dot com website.

leesh · Post by **leesh** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 12:35 pm

Jon, I asked Gary @ NCM if he's going to be stocking the CS series bassess and if he had heard good/bad/ugly. He said that all of the chinese basses were going to be 100% chinese parts...I want a Hofner bass but have always been wary of the price and the delicate nature....it'll be interesting to see how the market reacts to these basses.

If anything it'll let them get a piece of the Rogue & Epiphone violin style bass market.