Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Randy you should be able to get a Rogue or Turser case for it. They are all the same size. You can get em on sale sometimes for as little as 39.99 sometimes.
I have seen a few of the Eastwood Club clones on line before too and the people who have bought them seem to be pretty satified with them. They already have a few more Hofner style parts on them too.
If you get the tailpiece for your Brice you will have to move your bridge for intonation.
My solution was just to cut the squigglie thing off the Turser and Rogue basses that I have with my trusty dremel tool. It opens up the tailpiece area giving it a much more Hofner like appearance from a distance.
I stained the bridge black. Thats the same thing thats done on the new Icon. I painted the switches on all of mine white with the Krylon plastic coat almond colored white.
I added the .68 cent tuner buttons from stewmac to all of them as well. The only thing that I really spend any money on was those *&%# Hofner teacups from Gary.
If any of us on here ever go to Germany on Vacation we need to get them to pick us a supply of those things. They are dirt cheap over there. I was going for Hofner looks from twelve feet in a dark venue. It worked out real well. Lots of folks thought they were the real thing.
Bob a real Club would probably be the only real German Hofner I would ever own. They are half what the Beatle bass is new. Thanks to you know who LOL..
The Icons and Contemporarys may come down some after Christmas and the first of the year. Such as the thousand dollar video games now will go cheap like the tickle me elmo's in the past years. I'm sure that their release was timed for this season too.
I got my Rogue when it went on sale for really cheap. I just waited and held out LOL.. It is hard to keep from rushing into new things that come out for us musicians though.

Do you put medium scale strings or short scale strings on your basses? It's been so long since I've owned one like this that I've forgotten what scale strings I used on that Hofner. FYI, there's a picture of an Icon on Elderly Instruments web site. That's one of the best photos I've seen yet of that bass. It dosen't look too bad there, like in others I've seen.
Reasonable prices to me would be: German Hofners $1200-$1500. That would make them more attractive to the full-time, non-famous working pros. The Contemporary bass, and the Icon: $600 tops for the CT and $275 for the Icon. This would get more weekend warriors, like myself, interested, and beginners might find the Icon appealing to learn on. Disclaimer: This is only my opinion, based on having owned one before. As well as my belief that the German models and the Contemporary basses are way over priced. Your opinions may vary.

I agree Randy. Now on to the strings. This is gonna sound like a weird answer at first but bear with me.
It all depends on what tailpiece you use. If you put the Hofner tailpiece on the Icon or the others such as the Rogue and Turser you need the short scale strings. In case you haven't noticied the Icon tailpiece is not just like the standard Hofner tailpiece. Its shorter.
If you use the stock tailpieces on those mentioned above then you need the medium scale strings. You can use long scale on any of them of them if your willing to trim them down.
I said that just in case you happen to get a good deal on some longer scale strings. I used some long scale strings on my old sixties Violin bass by doing that.
All my other basses have the stock strings. The things last forever and if they go dead so much the better. Then they just get and even deeper thump.
Unless you plan on getting some flatwounds the stock round wound strings are fine. I heard and played the Icon thru a SWR amp. Its the 450 watt combo model. Even when my buddy used a pick it still sounded deep. So you can imagine how deep it was with me using my fingers when I played the thing.
I've gotten so used to using my fingers when playing bass that I never pick up a pick any more (pun intended) when picking bass.
Some times I even forget to pick them up when playing guitar LOL.. But it might be nice to have one bass with flatwounds.
My wife is nuts for all things red. She likes my Rogue because it has that red silk wrap on the strings LOL.. Thomas infeld (hope I spelled that some where near right) has the red silk wraps on their flatwounds.
If I wind up eventually getting and Icon or a Contemporary I might try a set of those on there to make her happier and see how they sound.
Right now I think that these things are selling fast due to the Christmas rush and because they just came out.
I'm not gonna be doing any hard looking around for one right now while its this crazy. My bass buddy was a lucky dog and picked his up as a blem or 267. Probably more near its real worth.
He says he can't find a blem on it.
Neither could I nor my rymthm buddy that was with me too could find one either. It even still had the plastic covers on the pickups and pick guard.
I think my bass pal just got a good deal. He has a habit of that. Both of us got the in my case 874 Tenny from MF. He got his for 799 with another + advertized off due to a frequent buyer thingie that he had. But I was ahead still of the guys who gave 1400 to 2000 for those things when they came out.
Like you not buying a real German made Hofner for that price I would have never have payed the full price for the Tenny either. I have a Duo Jet that I did give the big numbers for. But its and EE Duo Jet and full of tricks.
We both missed out on the 325 Ric's for 700 though. That was a good one. I wish he had found two Icon's for 267 though I would have bought one myself for that price even with out seeing his.

I'll probably get long scale Chromes and cut them down then. So I don't have to eat a set of strings that don't fit. For the kind of money they charge for the German Hofners, I'd rather buy a C64S to go with my V63 and C64FG IMHO. If they would make the Icon's sunburst closer to RIC's Monty Brown and less like Fender's 3 color SB I would like it better.

Got your new bass yet Randy?
The burst on the Icon is more like my old sixties Violin bass almost a single color sunburst with the center a kind of orange yellow and the outside dark black. I'm sure that it would grow on you after a while.
When its in small venues and their slim to no light its not too bad in fact. I have a Monty 360 and that is a lot easier on the eyes for sure though.
Medium scale strings will fit any of these basses. You might wanna cut them just a bit if they are using the correct Hofner tailpiece. So unless you are getting the German Hofner or a Contemporary get the medium scale stings. All other basses use the shorter tailpiece even the Icon.
I would have to say that the Icon is not so Iconish and the Contemporary is not quite so Contemporary in many departments. Except for the center piece the Contemporary is really the Icon.
If it had the center block then the Icon would be more of a Contemporary as its finish is not Iconic and neither is its tailpiece.
Some body at Hofner goofed on the advertizing of these basses for sure.

Try saying all that three times fast!

No Dan, I haven't got the bass yet. The money order I sent is having a hard time getting to the seller because of the Christmas rush, so it will be after the first of the year before it arrives. I sent the payment Priority Mail, but I found out that the 2-3 day delivery claim dosen't apply during Christmas. It's more like 1 to 2 weeks I was told. I'm not really happy about it, but I have to live with it.

The MO arrived today and I should be getting the Brice, I'm hoping toward the end of the week.

Great I hope you the Brice soon. On strings is it Rotosounds that are the tapedwounds? How does the tape affect the sound? Are the taped ones also flat wounds?

Rotosound makes a fine set of black nylon tapewounds. I am using them on my own Chinese Hofner. Nice feel and tone.

I've never seen roundwound tapewound strings. Is there such a thing? Seems like an oxymoron to me...

No, there is no tapewound roundwound string to my knowledge. The Rotosound tapewounds are flats, the guages are a little on the heavy side for me, but I've heard they are fairly low tension. I plan on putting either Chromes or GHS Precision Flats on the Brice. I haven't made up my mind yet.

Pyramids

Has anybody tried the new DR High Beam flats that just recently came out?

Thanks Paul. Does Thomas Infeld sell the taped flatwounds too? Also do the taped flat wounds still have silk wraps?
Paul did you buy short scale strings for your Icon? I was wondering about the scale due to the tailpiece as to weather it was the long or short tailpiece on the Icon.

Dan it's not about the tailpiece. It's about the bridge location.

I bought .115s (so-called "medium scale"). Intonaton sounds fine to me, but I have not checked the octaves with my chromatic tuner...

Taipiece has been swapped for a gennie German Hofner NOS.

Short scale strings definitely won't cut it on the Icon. A trial and error. I ended up getting the Rotosound medium scale flatwounds .040-.090.