Hofner 500/4

[Pilgrim]

Daan...I have the Gretsch Jr. Jet 2202 (single pickup) version of that bass, and it's fantastic!  A great pickup and mounted in the right place.  In fact, I have a spare pickup I plan to mount in a different 70's hollowbody.

How did those pickups work out for you?  I'm really interested in how they work in your hollowbody.

[daan]

I think it sounds great, better than they did in the Gretsch. I do have CTS pots and a Switchcraft switch/jack in the Hofner now, the G had pretty cheap looking electronics  (mini-pots and a loose, cheap switch) originally so that helps. The one thing I did have trouble with is the bridge PU isn't angled the same as the strings, so before I had it screwed down it was louder because it's kind of like... /[ if that makes any sense (angled strings, horizontal PU seen from the side) I wasn't skilled enough/ambitious enough to make an angled PU surround for the bridge one. THe neck PU doesn't seem to have the same problem though, that one is on a much similar plane to the strings. I thought I'd use the neck one more than the bridge one anyway, but I seem to use both. The guy who put the active PU's in my bass cut the original surrounds and the metal covers to hold the "Jazz" style PUs in place, which of course didn't work, and the wiring was screwed up enough that when I did plug it in all I got was an air-raid siren shriek that blew out the speaker on my amp. (Cheap solid-state practice thing, so no big loss). I always wondered what the Hofner sounded like originally but since the original parts were long gone when I got it, and I've never seen another one who knows.

[Pilgrim]

Hmmm.

The Hofner Icon pickups on Ebay will close this weekend - price is real good right now, will watch.  Reviews on the sound of those pickups are pretty good.

Pickups in my Univox hollowbody are 3" wide, 1 3/8" tall.

The Icon pickups are reported to be 2 5/8" wide, 1 1/8" tall.  (smaller in both dimensions)

Seems like a smaller pickup ought to drop right in the hole - perhaps with a custom trim ring required.  The question would then be whether the poles matched up at all with the string placements.  I can make a guesstimate of that before the auction ends.

If that doesn't look good, I can watch for another Gretsch pickup to match those chrome soap bars you used and which I have one of...I know they sound good!

[Chris P.]

Maybe nice to know: The Verythin bass is reissued in a cheap version!