Paul and the Höfner Beatle Bass

[jps]

so in Hofner-land, ON means OFF ?

Think of it as "Treble On" - no bass, "Bass On" - no treble.

[wolfgang]

well,
intetionally there are no "OFF" markers on the Hofners

Wolfgang

[Zurdo]

so in Hofner-land, ON means OFF ?

Think of it as "Treble On" - no bass, "Bass On" - no treble.

at my age, it's very hard to comprehend someone else's logic

the way it should be:

one pot should be the Master Volume controls, (a double pull-push pot, one for the Neck pickup, one for the Bridge pickup);
one pot should be the Master Tone control (a double pull-push pot, one adds or removes Bass frequencies, the other adds or removes Treble frequencies, like in a car radio);

one switch should be a Bass pickup ON-OFF switch, (a white switch)
one switch should be a Treble pickup ON-OFF switch, (a red switch)
one switch should be a ALL SYSTEMS ON-OFF (after all, you don't play "Rythm" guitar in a Bass guitar). (a black switch),

Also, I would rewind the Treble/Bridge pickup to be very "hot" and to produce a very Rickenbacker-type of sound.

The above would make me a very happy vintage Hofner owner.

[wolfgang]

the panel works as follows:
solo//rhthm -switch: lowers output in rhytm position (depends heavily on your amp's input impedance), with high input impedance amps almost no effect.

both pu-switches in "neutral" position: both pus on, no special filter engaged,
you can mix the pickups with the volume pots

switch to bass-on position: only the neck pu on with a special high-cut filter engaged
(McCartney's choice: solo and bass on, this is IT)
or
switch to treble-on position: only the bridge pu engaged with special bass-cut filter

as a side effect, but useful:
both pu-switches in ON-position: both pus now switched off, the guitar is muted.

this is probably the only way to achieve what they wanted having their (Hofner's)
two special filters switched in the desired way with only two 2-pole toggle switches.

Wolfgang

[Zurdo]

thank you Wolfgang,

does the electronics (the wiring and caps) under the controls look right to you ??

[jps]

Interesting, you have the R/S switch closest to the bridge pickup volume control, my former '07 500/1V63 was the other way around.

[jps]

Obviously, one of our panels is in the wrong orientation (and I know mine is as factory original), has yours always been that way or was it, perhaps, put in the opposite way at some point.

[teb]

Mine are both this way.

[Zurdo]

gee I don't know which orientation is factory-correct, as far as I remember it has always been that way, with the lettering upside down to the player, not like yours. If my controls are in the wrong orientation, they must have been reversed at some point. The only time I've pulled the controls was when the Bass pickup wire had become disconnected and I made sure it went back like it was.

The way it is right now, Volume 1 controls the Bass/Neck pickup, and Volume 2 controls the Treble/Bridge pickup.

[wolfgang]

hello Zurdo,
the wiring looks good to me. The panel is build in upside down. You should change the orientation, it is not a lefty-bass.
Make shure the pickups are wired correctly to the panel, neck-pu to the bass- side,
bridge-pu to the treble-side. Just in case the panel was disconnected.
But it looks good to me.

Wolfgang

[wolfgang]

Zurdo,
you're too fast for me. Funny, I did not see your soldering job

b.t.w.: there probably is a solution to wire the tone control switches in the way we would prefer.
Wolfgang

[Zurdo]

Zurdo, you're too fast for me. Funny, I did not see your soldering job
b.t.w.: there probably is a solution to wire the tone control switches in the way we would prefer. Wolfgang

ok, I inverted the control panel but there's no difference in the sound In any case there's more confusion now 'cause I was used to the way it was. At one time the positive pickup wire had come undone, I just re-soldered it, it would be the one without the green stuff over the solder. I must have done a decent job because it has not come undone again.

what would the re-wiring do exactly ? I'm good with a solder gun.

[Peter Lack]

Hi, new to the forum! Have recently got myself a 62 Reissueand I love it! Anyone else have one or a similar? How does it compare to the Ric? (I know they're very different beasts!)

[Zurdo]

Hi, new to the forum! Have recently got myself a 62 Reissueand I love it! Anyone else have one or a similar? How does it compare to the Ric? (I know they're very different beasts!)

hi,
no comparison. two completely different instruments. Can't even compare your reissue to an original Hofner, the pickups are different, I wonder why they did that.