Sir Paul teaching us how to play bass. ...Well at least he tries.

[Blazer]

I noticed that in the photo at http://www.geocities.com/joelcrowservo/HofnerBass.html, the bridge on that Hofner is definitely angled to help with intonation...and a bit more than I've had to angle a floating bridge.  That probably is some indication of the need for the later corrections to its intonation.

From what I read in that "Bass Player" interview I mentioned earlier, Macca stated that the Mandolin brothers found out that the stock placing of the frets was incorrect making it impossible to properly intonate the bass. the solution was to replace the fingerboard and re-fret the whole thing using the proper fret distances.

Ilan, did he mention any of that to you?

In addition, in my ten years of working as a repairman, I have worked on Hofners before and many of the sixties ones have necks that like to come off after a while. So I figure the neck re-set that the Mandolin Brothers performed was not so much a case of changing the neck angle towards the body, thus laying strings lower on the fretboard, but more out of necessity, since I know from working with old Hofners that they have the tendency to disassemble themselves over time, probably to the quality of the glues used.

[ilan]

From what I read in that "Bass Player" interview I mentioned earlier, Macca stated that the Mandolin brothers found out that the stock placing of the frets was incorrect making it impossible to properly intonate the bass. the solution was to replace the fingerboard and re-fret the whole thing using the proper fret distances.

Ilan, did he mention any of that to you?

No, but I didn't specifically ask him or his tech about that.

His tech mentioned that he has a couple vintage Hofners (besides current reissues) and none of them comes close to his '63. I'm assuming that the old Hofners were purchased as backups.

The backup bass that he had in his guitar stand both in London and in Tel Aviv was a Cavern reissue (close diamond pickups). I haven't seen him play it. He said it was "very nice" but no competition for his old bass.

[Chris P.]

I believe there was a Dutch luthier living in NY who also repaired or overhauled the Höfner. I believe an assistant of Macca flew to NY, with the bass in a seat besides him. He brought the bass to the luthier every morning, he stayed while they were busy and he took it back to the hotel every night. I believe this was on Dutch TV.

[copacetic]

I have seen THE '63 up quite quite close (never got my hands on it) but never got the impression that it was refinished/restained. Polished and definitly cleaned up a bit. Indeed it was the Mandolin Brothers who tweaked the intonation, neck reset etc. From a conversation years ago with a gentleman at Hofner he informed me that Hofner had certain 'extra select' woods (including the spruce tops) intended for their higher end guitars (differentiating here from even the select spruce). Occasionaly sometimes these extra select woods ended up in their 500/1, 500/3 & 500/5 basses in the early '60's as production increased. I suspect Paul's '63 might be one of those because the tonal characteristics are pronouncly different. Of course a lot of 'mojo' is there as well and age does have it's effect. I can verify this because I have a collection of Hofners from this period and 3 of them are definitly on another level. With regards to the strings I believe he uses the LaBella 39-96 flats. I mention this because I had Labella make me some custom sets for my Guild Starfire basses and while I was at their factory going over string specs etc. it was brought to my attention about the lighter guage flats they were making being ordered by Mccartney's tech. 

[Rhythm N. Bliss]

to this great forum, copacetic!
I see you've been here a month or so but I am just now reading your posts.
Verrry Cooool that you have 3 high end Hofners. I'd LOVE a lefty one like Sir Paul's!
Funny that people often think my '53 Gibson is a Beatle Bass. hahaaa haaaaa
I tell 'em No...It's a MOUNTAIN CREAM BASS!!

[copacetic]

Thank you kindly, great to be here. Yes the '53 Gibson to me is the great grandaddy and it was brought to my attention some years ago that actually the Hofner violins were knockoffs! I admit I could not argue with that and quite amusing when you think about it. I got my first Hofner in '62 while on a summer holiday in Germany(I was living in Japan at the time). It was small light weight and very cheap.Fenders were considered the state of the art. In Japan each Fender (bass) were placed in their own glass case enclosure! We would drool looking at them and would always be figuring out how to even talk the store clerks into letting us touch them no less sit down and play them. When the Beatle thing surfaced a little time later I thought why is he not playing a Fender??
In any case the'53 Gibson for me is the holy grail especially because that original pickup is incredible. Gibson really got it right the very first time.Thats the one bass on my list to get. I have a '64 Hofner 500/5 (President as it was distributed by Selmer)with one of those 'extra select' spruce tops and it just sings forever.

[ilan]

Welcome aboard, copacetic!

never got the impression that it was refinished/restained. Polished and definitly cleaned up a bit.

I saw it in a well-lit London rehearsal space and in Tel Aviv in natural daylight (3 pm), in both times I thought it was obvious the bass was refinished. I could be wrong but that is how it looked to me. The lacquer looks very deep, almost like glass, with cracks in it, and the burst was much darker and "deeper" than any other Hofner I had seen. It looked like a refin.

I believe he uses the LaBella 39-96 flats. I mention this because I had Labella make me some custom sets for my Guild Starfire basses and while I was at their factory going over string specs etc. it was brought to my attention about the lighter guage flats they were making being ordered by Mccartney's tech. 

Thanks for that inside info!

[godofthunder]

 Ok I grew up on the Beatles, Paul made me want to play BASS. I still have my Klira (which my dad got for my 11th bday and was as close as my dad would allow me to get to a Hofner) and my '65 Hofner. I have always loved Paul's playing and have marveled at his good use of the Hofner. I think it is just so cool in this age of computers that I can sit at my desk and have Paul THE MAN himself give me a lesson ! Truly amazing. For those of you to young to remember trying to pull bass lines off 45 rpm records and staying up till the wee hours of the morning to catch a clip of your favorite band or artist you can't know just how cool this is for us old cats. I can go on youtube and see more live Slade, Mott or even the Beatles in 10 min than I have ever seen in my life up till this point. So cool 

[lowend1]

If you McCartney fans have never seen/heard this stuff, it's a great piece of history...

http://www.ricksuchow.com/music-group-204.html

[copacetic]

I damaged many a headstock ( Hofner, EB-O's, Teisco, Guild Starfire and yes Fender jazz)'going over the lines on 45's and 33's. But boy did I learn and in retrospect it was fun trying to get in the exact groove!

[Pilgrim]

I damaged many a headstock ( Hofner, EB-O's, Teisco, Guild Starfire and yes Fender jazz)'going over the lines on 45's and 33's. But boy did I learn and in retrospect it was fun trying to get in the exact groove!

Huh?  How did that damage the bass's headstock?

Do you mean the cartridge or stylus?

[EvilLordJuju]

Some great links in this thread - i've had a very enjoyable half hour watching it all... thanks for posting everyone

I can go on youtube and see more live Slade, Mott or even the Beatles in 10 min than I have ever seen in my life up till this point. So cool 

This is so true Scott - I just hope youtube don't pull down everything they are threatening to pull down at the moment

[copacetic]

re Headstock damage: leaning over record palyers while madly chasing a bassline, or even trying to hear bass over old systems and setting the needle exactly where you wanted it to be while the bass was flailing on the strap hitting the wall, floor sometimes would tend to leave a nick or two on the headstock.

[Pilgrim]

AH!!!!!!!!

It's all clear to me now!!!!

The heartbreak of unintended bass flail - who among us has not fallen victim to it at one time or another??