Bought the Hofner Prez/Stu whatshisname bass

[drbassman]

I went by the HOG today and saw the Hofner President bass was still there, so I snagged it.  Short scale, incredible build, every bit as nice as my old Gretsch 6072, but lighter, 30" scale and just as good sound through my amp. The bass sounds really nice with those retro pups.  I'll be removing the rounds for some flats.   Even got a Hofner case for it.  Pics soon.

[ilan]

Congrats! Wait till you string it with flats... huge improvement. You need long scale strings, btw, or medium, but not short.

[Thornton Davis]

That would be the HCT500/5-SB which are made in China. I'd be interested in hearing your thought on it once you've put a set of flatwounds on it.

TD

[drbassman]

Congrats! Wait till you string it with flats... huge improvement. You need long scale strings, btw, or medium, but not short.

Thanks Ilan.  You have to use long strings with short scale Gretsch basses too because of the long run to the tailpiece.  Haven't decided which brand to use yet.  I have some TIs and GHS.  Maybe some Chromes too.  I have to look around.

[ilan]

because of the long run to the tailpiece

Here is an interesting point regarding that long run of string. The reissues have a shorter tailpiece compared to the ones on 60's full-body Höfner basses. At first I thought that they just wanted to use the same part as the 500/1 "Beatle" basses, or to enable the owners to use long scale strings, or both. But then a luthier that specializes in upright basses told me that the length of string between the bridge and tailpiece affects the sound and eliminates "wolf tones", and in general longer is better. In bowed instruments that distance should be at least 1/6 of the scale length. That's 5" in a Höfner, So maybe they use the short tailpiece for that purpose.

[drbassman]

Here is an interesting point regarding that long run of string. The reissues have a shorter tailpiece compared to the ones on 60's full-body Höfner basses. At first I thought that they just wanted to use the same part as the 500/1 "Beatle" basses, or to enable the owners to use long scale strings, or both. But then a luthier that specializes in upright basses told me that the length of string between the bridge and tailpiece affects the sound and eliminates "wolf tones", and in general longer is better. In bowed instruments that distance should be at least 1/6 of the scale length. That's 5" in a Höfner, So maybe they use the short tailpiece for that purpose.

Very interesting!  I'd never heard that before.  Sort of makes sense.

[godofthunder]

  Told ya it was nice Bill! Congrats and thanks for saving me from myself. 

[Dave W]

Very interesting, Ilan. I've seen a number of different archtop tailpiece designs, figured there was some reasoning behind the designs.

[ilan]

This is from Wikipedia: "A well-set-up instrument from the violin family will have attention paid to the tuning of the afterlength, or string length on the tailpiece side of the bridge. On many instruments it is set to 1/6 the playing length, or length between nut and bridge, sounding two octaves and a fifth above the open note of the playing length. This tuning may be varied to give certain desired effects."

[Dave W]

So it's deliberately set up to sound specific notes. I wonder if you'd notice a difference on solidbody instruments, if you had the room for that long a distance from bridge to tailpiece. Except for the Gibson EB-1 and maybe a few others, most basses wouldn't have the room, since the bridge is too near the end.

On a related subject, once in a while I lurk at an acoustic guitar builders forum. One well-respected regular has said that the further the bridge is from the end of the body, the more bass will be produced. Of course there are many other considerations that make up a design, but he has wondered why bass guitar designers don't take this into account. It might make a difference, although maybe not with solidbodies.

[ilan]

One well-respected regular has said that the further the bridge is from the end of the body, the more bass will be produced. Of course there are many other considerations that make up a design, but he has wondered why bass guitar designers don't take this into account.

In two words, neck dive.

[Basvarken]

Not necessarily so. Les Paul Basses do not suffer neck dive...

[drbassman]

 Told ya it was nice Bill! Congrats and thanks for saving me from myself. 

My pleasure!  I wanted something to replace my Gretsch 6072 and this one is a nice substitute.  At least I can reach the f-fret on the Hofner!  Gonna take it to practice tonight just for grins!

[drbassman]

I'll have to take this into account when I start building my hollow bodies!

[Dave W]

If you just moved the bridge farther from the end and compensated for it with a longer neck -- say, with a P or J body -- you would likely have neck dive. But if you have a longer body in the first place, like an EB-1 and Hofner, it wouldn't necessarily be a problem. Just depends on the particular body design, strap button placement, body weight vs neck weight etc.