Lennon's Hofner Club 40

[admin]

This Hofner Club 40 model on Steve Russell's Hofner Site is just like the one once used by John Lennon.

[Tim_Fletcher]

I wonder what happened to John's Club 40 ? He's on record saying that he sold it at the time he got his Rickenbacker, yet Astrid's fairground pics show Paul with the Club 40 and John with the 325 so he must have had both for a while. As Paul was supposedly guitar-less at that time, his Solid 7 having fallen apart, I'm surprised that John didn't lend or sell him the Club 40, yet there are no other pics of Paul using the Club 40 on stage. Anyone know more ?

[larrywassgren]

Wouldn't we all love to know where that Club 40 went? I have only seen that one photo of Paul
at the fairground with the Club 40 too, and of course John has the '58 325 so he didn't sell one
to get the other. The Club 40 is strung left-handed, so Paul was actually using it for a short time and not just posing with it. The Rosetti
Solid 7 must have been retired for a while, but the Club 40 must have been sold to someone and
Paul had to go back to using the Solid 7. We know that because this photo was taken in the fall of '60, and McCartney returned to Liverpool
with the Solid 7 and back to Germany again with the Solid 7. Then it fell apart and Paul went on
to get the Hofner violin bass. More than likely
Lennon returned to Liverpool with the Club 40 and sold it there as it would have been easier to sell in England than Germany, but will we ever know for sure?

[Tim_Fletcher]

Larry, that's interesting about the Solid 7. In a couple of interviews including Anthology Paul indicates that it only lasted a few weeks and hence presumably died on the first Hamburg trip, but other accounts have him returning to Liverpool with a guitar and amp (his Elpico ?), and he must have used something on the gigs between the first and second Hamburg trip. I think that was probably the Rosetti, and it may even have been put to bass duties (perhaps by Chas Newby as well as Paul) before Paul got his Hofner bass.

[larrywassgren]

Yes Tim, in Mike McCartney's excellent book titled, Remember, there is a great photo of Paul
at The Casbah playing the Solid 7(minus original
pickgaurd and electronics) with a Hofner pick-up
on it and 3 strings! So he is playing bass on it.
Then on their return to Hamburg and The Top Ten Club in the spring of 1961, Paul is still using the Rosetti with Hofner pick-up and Stu is still playing bass for a short time. Paul is back to
6 strings on the Solid 7. Proof of this is the
excellent photos Jurgen Vollmer took of The Beatles at The Top Ten Club. It was during this
time that I think Stu made the decision to leave the band, but agreed to stay on until Paul could
get a bass guitar. And I think that bass guitar
was ordered as a lefty, because he was 'lumbered'
with the bass job and was tired of playing right-handed guitars upside down. So he ordered the left-handed Cavern bass. There are a couple excellent photos of what I believe was the last night Stu played with the band. One shot shows
McCartney at the piano with Stu on bass, and in the background a new Hofner violin case is leaning against the wall. The next photo shows
Stu and Paul both playing bass in the band. I believe they took the camera out to record Stu's last night with the band, of course we are lucky to have these photos. No one knew for sure how big this band was to become back in the spring of
'61. There are no photos of Paul playing Stu's
big Hofner bass upside down, but if he did indeed
play that for a while that would be even more incentive to order a lefty as that guitar wouldn't
look too cool being played the wrong way around!

[Tim_Fletcher]

Larry, on the Solid 7 you've convinced me - now we just need to convince John Crowley for Fab Guitars!

I think it's an interesting theory about Paul ordering the Hofner lefty bass, but I think
he would have remembered doing so. The following (copied over from John C's Fab Guitars) is what he said about buying it in "Many Years From Now", which seems to indicate that he came across it in the shop.

"So McCartney re-strung Sutcliffe's Hofner President bass upside-down and used it
until stopping in Hamburg's Steinway Musichaus one day. "I remember going alongthere, and there was this bass which was quite cheap. I couldn't afford a Fender. Fenders even then seemed to be about £100. All I could really afford was about £30 .
. . so for about £30 I found this Hofner violin bass.
And to me it seemed like, because I was left-handed, it looked less daft because it
was symmetrical. Didn't look as bad as a cutaway which was the wrong way. So I got into that. That became my main bass."

I think he's said the same in other interviews too - OK, his memory has been shown to be faulty on other instrumental issues, but he seems quite consistent that he found it rather than ordered it.

[Tim_Fletcher]

For a continuation of this discussion see

Paul's Cavern Hofner

so Larry and I don't have to post everything twice!

[larrywassgren]

Tim, don't worry about Crowley, he can do his own homework. If he was up on this stuff he would have known that a long time ago! )

[Tim_Fletcher]

Today I was at the Beatles Story Exhibition in Liverpool, and since I was last there they've added a new section devoted to the life and art of Stuart Sutcliffe, very good indeed. On display were many original letters to and from Stuart, presumably donated or loaned by the Sutcliffe family. Here's an interesting one.

The letter and envelope are on display. The envelope is postmarked 15 December 1960 and addressed to Stu at Astrid's Hamburg address. Only part is visible, but judging by the handwriting it is from John Lennon. After saying that they have some bookings over Xmas, it goes on :-

"Can't you, won't you come home sooner, as if we get a new bass-player for the time being it will be crumby as he will have to learn everything and it's no good with Paul playing bass, we've decided, that is if he had some kind of bass and Amp (sic) to play on !" (Reminder obscured by other exhibits).

I think this is new info, I haven't seen it published before and the letters have only just gone on display. Looks as though they were definitely bass-less at that point anyway.

[larrywassgren]

Thanks for posting that Tim, that's great detective work. I have never heard of that letter before or seen it printed anywhere. It always amazes me that new 'old' stuff keeps showing up. Really appreciate you posting that.
Sounds like John missed his mate Stu. They must
have been close as they were the same age, went to college together, shared a flat together and
both were artists. Sounds also like John needed a bass player. The way he mentions Paul playing bass with no bass or amp to play on(which is the
Solid 7 + Elpico does not = bass player) gives you the idea that Paul is getting drawn toward the
bass position. If John hadn't written this letter, maybe Stu wouldn't have been inclined to return to Liverpool and Paul might have been forced to go to Hessy's looking for a bass guitar.
Or maybe he went to Hessy's and didn't want the Framus bass they had in stock and was saved from buying it when Stu returned. I'm glad he ended up with the Cavern lefty when he returned to Hamburg. I envy you Tim for being so close to The
Beatles Story! Hopefully I will make it there
again next year.

[Tim_Fletcher]

It may be that at that stage some or all of their gear was still in Hamburg - Pete Best gives an account in his book of having it shipped back to Liverpool in December by Peter Eickhorn, although various other conflicting stories have them carrying back guitars and/or amps themselves. It looks as though they may have been desperate enough for a bass (and penniless) to convert the broken Solid 7 into a bass for a brief period as Larry suggests. I'm not familiar enough with the Beatles handwriting to say for sure that the letter was from Lennon, the signature was obscured, so it might have been from George or Pete but more likely John I think. I was tempted to snap a digital pic of that letter but it's against the rules : however I will go back there in the near future to spend more time reading the many other letters which are now on display.

[larrywassgren]

Thanks Tim, I hope you can read more of those letters as you never know when there might be one
discussing Lennon's purchase of his '58 325 or McCartney buying his first Hofner. I've read about that crate that Peter Eckhorn sent back to Liverpool and Pete Best and his mother picked it up at the Pierhead. I alway thought it would contain Pete's drumkit, Paul's Solid 7 and Elpico
and possibly the Club 40 which John would have
left behind? I've read that John returned with his Fender amp on his back and I'm sure his new love affair with that Rickenbacker would necessitate him hand carrying that. Maybe George's Graziozo and the Selmer Truvoice stadium
would be in the crate too, as George was deported
and had to leave in a hurry(by airplane). It's fun to imagine what was in that crate. Anyway, I
always thought that the Solid 7 fell apart during The Beatles second stint in Hamburg. It looks to be in one piece at the Casbah and at The Top Ten
Club in Hamburg in early '61. But after using it as a bass for a short time I would imagine the stress was too much for the neck(although he did go back to using it as a 6 string at The Top Ten).
I guess the beer and sweat and long hours would be
too much for a cheaper instrument. When you think of it, it's amazing the Cavern bass neck never fell off during all those long hours from
'61-3.

[Tim_Fletcher]

Larry, I'll "Get Back" there next time I'm in the area and spend more time reading the letters. I did scan them all briefly for instrument-related content and it was only the excerpt I posted which jumped out at me, but I may well have missed something.

I should think that crate also contained the Watkins Westminster. It looks as though all their stuff got back in one piece, obviously they didn't use UPS !!

The Hofner is a much better constructed guitar than the Rosetti - as the Rosetti now seems to have lasted from Aug '60 to May '61, I'm quite surprised it survived so long. Hofners could and did take a lot of abuse, many have survived years of hard usage in relatively good condition.

[admin]

Tim wrote:

"Hofners could and did take a lot of abuse, many have survived years of hard usage in relatively good condition."

I must say that I was amazed that Paul's Hofner bass lasted so long. When I played one for the first time it was a light as a feather and I was almost worried that it would break it before the song ended.

[Tim_Fletcher]

Hofners were and are very well made, and because they're light they tend to bounce rather than break when you drop them ! The usual problem is that the animal-hide glue on the neck joint deteriorates over time, so it's common to find them with re-set necks.