The Beatles' first US concert

[ilan]

That's why the intonation was off, and he finally had it corrected a few years ago, right?

The Hofner had its entire fretboard replaced, by Mandolin Bros if I'm not mistaken. The original fret slots did not make it possible to intonate the bass regardless of what you did with the bridge... not the pinnacle of German engineering.

[uwe]

I thought it was just one lower fret he always tried to play around? I doubt it was a measurement or general fret position mistake - a lot more old Höfners would have it then. But they are prone to the worst kind of neck warpage - let's face it, no one expected these instruments to be played for decades and they were not built to last through the ages - so that might have thrown intonation off.

[ilan]

From what I understand his Hofner had intonation problems in the upper half of the neck from the start, and that was the primary reason for switching to the Ric (which had its own unique problems). The Hofner was not that old at the time (although it had significant mileage). Anyway it's all good now and the bass is in perfect working condition and requires very little maintenance - mainly re-positioning the floating bridge if Paul knocks it off the correct spot while playing.