Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Does anyone know if his current stage Hofner is a custom built job with more modern pickups? Thats what it looks like to me. I cannot imagine him taking one of his 60's originals out on tour. They are worth so much money and have so much history surely it would not be worth it. He plays and sounds great with a Hofner, although I would love to see him play his Ric again. The Wal didnt suit him or his music in my opinion. Brian - I never knew that he played the Ric on EC's Spike. Fantastic album. I met EC's Dad when Spike had just come out and he was saying what a great record it was. I hadnt heard it at the time and he wasn't wrong.

I believe the Hofner is one of his originals, probably the '63. He has the best roadies and technical people with him. They are trained to catch a vintage Hofner 500/1 in the air from fifty feet away.

I forgot he throws it. Crazy *******! What if the roadie drops it and it explodes? Guy gets fired, Paul looses his signature bass, a piece of history is in pieces... wow.

Maybe he's hoping someone will drop it, that way he'll have a good excuse to start using his Rick again.

LOL @ Scott

He's playing his old Hofner. Others know better than me, but I think that by now that Hofner has been refinished at least three times, and Paul recently had Mandolin Bros do extensive repair and maintenance work on it.

That must be the single most expensive guitar or bass in the world, that he's throwing around! If the roadie misses it, Mandolin Bros will have more work restoring it. Even if he smashes it to smithereens, I'm sure someone can glue it back together, good as new.

What do you say, if it'll ever be for for sale - three million? four? And how about the Ric?

I had a couple of those basses back in the 60's ... I smashed this one in a Pete Townsend like show about '71 ...



this one was a copy ... my real Hofner got traded for a Gibson ...

Yes, Macca's Höfner is the second one he got. The first had the two pickups close together near the neck (lately a reissue of that design has been sold as the "Cavern" bass). He got the second one in 1963, but it has several 1962 features. Hofner sells the reissue as a '62, and also has a reissue '63.

I don't doubt that this original has been refurbished, but you can still see some wear spots and the grain of the spruce top has checked the finish. Paul has never been a nut about equipment (like me and perhaps a few others here), and if it works and he likes it, he just keeps using it. A couple of years ago, one of his concerts aired on TV on Thanksgiving. There, they briefly interviewed the equipment guy who catches the Höfner when Paulie tosses it to go to the piano or whatever. He says: "I can't not catch it. It's the most iconic instrument in the world, so I have to catch it." Indeed, the beginning of the show has the silhouette of the Höfner on a big screen at the back of the stage, then when the show starts, Paulie is behind the screen and backlit, throwing his shadow on the screen as he holds the bass aloft. Pretty cool.

I know a lot of you might poo poo the Höfner bass. I've got three of them, and they are well made and sound like, well, Höfners. They weigh less than 5 pounds (!) and the short scale, skinny neck and smooth Pyramid (Höfner) strings make them nearly effortless to play.

Jeff, I had a Japanese copy of a Höfner just like the one you showed back in the late '60s - early '70s. It was neck heavy. Eventually, it fell over when I leaned it against a dresser and broke the neck behind the nut. That's when I got my '72 Rick.

Thought I read somewhere that Hofner made an exact repro of his 2nd Hofner, down to wear marks, etc, a couple years ago and that that is the one he tours with now. Could be wrong tho'.

Here's the scoop on Paul's stage line up.
His main bass is the 63 Hofner that had intonation work done on it from Mandolin Bros. He is using LaBella Beatle Bass flats, gauge .039, .056, .077, and .096. Paul also prefers Fender oversize heavey-gauge picks.

His backup bass are (surprise) his 65 4001S (dubbed Rickey), and his new Hofner. He also has his Les Paul, and Martin D28.

No effects on bass at all, and runs it through his Mesa Boogie 400+ head (500 watts, 12 tubes) cabs are Mesa Boogie Super 15 (1x15) and a 1516 (1x15, 1x10, 2x6, and a tweeter. All goes to the house via a mic on the 1x15 and custom DI.

Paul likes to to feel the bass so he stands in front of the rig with a mix of the whole band in his monitors.

Great article!!!

When Paul is playing guitar or keyboard, bass duty is done by either Wix, or Brian Ray who will have a new Yamaha bass this tour.

I guess the tour opens up tonight in Miami?

Wow! Wix is playing bass on this tour! Ive never seen him on anything but the keys and an occasional acoustic,

Macca's roadie is his personal assistant for over 30 years now...

Although he used his Rick on the Spike album, it was at that time that EC told him he should go back to the Hof - said he loved the sound he got from it...

I read a couple of years ago, that Rickenbacker gave Macca one of the first 4004c's as a present, so Im guessing it must have been a lefty, one of a kind. I'll have to dig out the article.

"Although he used his Rick on the Spike album, it was at that time that EC told him he should go back to the Hof - said he loved the sound he got from it..."

And maybe Eric should keep his mouth shut, and go back to playing Gibsons!

Um, I think EC is Elvis Costello.