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.
Congrats! Wait till you string it with flats... huge improvement. You need long scale strings, btw, or medium, but not short.
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
Quote from: ilan on August 11, 2012, 01:54:47 PM
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.
Quote from: drbassman on August 11, 2012, 03:30:19 PM
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.
Quote from: ilan on August 12, 2012, 12:28:40 AM
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.
Told ya it was nice Bill! Congrats and thanks for saving me from myself. ;)
Very interesting, Ilan. I've seen a number of different archtop tailpiece designs, figured there was some reasoning behind the designs.
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."
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.
Quote from: Dave W on August 12, 2012, 10:54:24 PM
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.
Not necessarily so. Les Paul Basses do not suffer neck dive...
Quote from: godofthunder on August 12, 2012, 07:59:20 AM
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!
I'll have to take this into account when I start building my hollow bodies!
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.
I think that the afterlength issue applies only when playing arco.
Here she is. I only had time to put on the Chromes, didn't have tie to clean up all of the dust and finger prints from the store. Wow, does she sound good with flats. I thought I might have a mud issue with the flats and the box body and neck oriented pups, but not so. The pups are great, strong, bassy but still possessing clarity in the mid and high ranges. Sounds nothing like my old Gretsch 6072, a totally different animal. I like the sound through my Fender TV amp. We'll see how she does with the Mesa rig tonight and competing noise from the band.
(http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y16/drbassman/Basses/DSCN0060.jpg)
(http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y16/drbassman/Basses/DSCN0058.jpg)
(http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y16/drbassman/Basses/DSCN0059.jpg)
As Scott said, really nice build quality, excellent finish. Good electronics too right out of the box. A definite competitor with the new lower end Gretsch basses. Very different and in a class by itself, but a good alternative if you're looking for more of the big box sound and tone from your hollow acoustic bass.
She's a nice looker, Bill... hopefully she'll work out...
very nice, but i can tell the finger spacings would be too tight for me. :sad:
Quote from: ilan on August 12, 2012, 12:28:40 AM
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.
Hofner are using the short tailpiece on their Verythin CT Bass as well. I had one of the Verythin prototypes in my hands last week and noticed it then. I didn't plug the bass in so I could tell exactly what effect it had on the basses (semi-acoustic) tone.
TD
That's beautiful!
Very nice.
Thanks guys, she is purity. I played her for 2.5 hours last night with the band and she sounds great. Unlike my Gretsch 5123, she didn't feedback and her resonate frequency is around a C, so she didn't vibrate a bunch while playing. The bass drum would send my Gretsch into vibrating feedback fits if I were playing an open E or fretted B. The Hofner would only resonate a bit when playing a sustained C, so she did much better than the Gretsch in this regard. The Gretsch would be fine if our club wasn't so small and our layout so tight. A bigger venue would help in that regard.
She doesn't sound like the Club. The big box really lends itself to a more retro upright sound. With the Chromes, she still had a well defined tone and clarity I really didn't expect, cut through the mix just fine with the right settings on the Mesa rig. Everyone liked the sound out of her. So, I might be playing Hofners almost exclusively with the band in the future. I will continue to work the Thunder Jet in, I just need to exchange out that crappy bridge for a more adjustable one that I have in a drawer in the shop. The intonation with the original bridge sucks. It's the one with the 4 wheels in a straight line. I'm blanking on the name for it at the moment. I hate it!
I love the short scales and they just really work best for me in extended playing situations. 34" scale basses have been giving me hand cramps (left) after 45 minutes or so and practicing more with them doesn't seem to help. Life is tough when you're 62! But with these basses, I can adjust.