Höfner 182 wood question

amptech · December 29, 2019, 02:26:44 AM

Quote from: Dave W on December 28, 2019, 09:36:34 PM
I've seen a lot worse than that. You should be able to make something nice out of it.

The easiest would be to 20/20 it

Dave W · December 29, 2019, 09:04:43 PM

Quote from: amptech on December 29, 2019, 02:26:44 AM
The easiest would be to 20/20 it

You would still have to add to it. Better to make something more Höfner-like.

amptech · December 30, 2019, 02:07:04 AM

Actually, I'm leaning towards the first edition of the 182 bass. It was available with one or two pickups, and even though it was made only for a short time and is very rare - I've seen it with singlecoils, 'cavern' style humbuckers and humbuckers with adjustable polepieces. Geddy Lee has a couple of them, featured in his book..

Like this:

or this:

The Italian made Höfners are quite cool as well:

EDIT: The instrument above was made in Spain, it turns out. Enrique Keller, a German immigrant, made guitars and basses under Höfner licence in northern Spain in the 60's. The first Spanish Höfner's was made from imported German parts, but in the late 60's he started making necks and other parts too - including pickups and control plates. The Keller factory opened in 1944, and actually still exists and is connected to the Höfner factory, according to Steve Russel's site.

Chris P. · December 30, 2019, 09:34:54 AM

The one pickup on the pic has a 'toaster'. That is a single coil.

ilan · December 30, 2019, 01:43:21 PM

Wow. An Italian Höfner, that's what I would do. With that glittery top and cream back and rim.

amptech · December 30, 2019, 11:05:40 PM

Quote from: Chris P. on December 30, 2019, 09:34:54 AM
The one pickup on the pic has a 'toaster'. That is a single coil.

Yep, those are pretty cool. New ones are dirt cheap, but from what I hear nothing like the originals so I'll stick with staples.
I'm making a template for my bass pickup testbed now, to compare new and original staple pickups. I guess it's about time I made something out of the last old Höfner pickup bobbins I have as well, now that I can compare with originals.

Quote from: ilan on December 30, 2019, 01:43:21 PM
Wow. An Italian Höfner, that's what I would do. With that glittery top and cream back and rim.

It does look great, hard to decide. But I lean towards a cavern pickup placement, just because I don't have that kind of setup on another bass.

Does the Italian shape justify the name Höfnerbird?

Dave W · December 30, 2019, 11:41:31 PM

I looked up abachi wood, turns out it's the same as obeche, which Gibson was using on many guitar fretboards after the rosewood raid. It was called black obeche but it was stained black. There was a lot of talk about it on a few guitar forums b/c it's supposedly on the softer end of hardwoods, but there didn't seem to be any complaints about them being too soft.

Chris P. · December 31, 2019, 04:04:15 AM

I saw some no brand Chinese toasters. Those were cheap. Don't know how they sound.

I have a couple of modern German Höfners, with three types of pickups: staples, cavern and toaster:

Staples and Caverns are the same with a different housing. The are a bit overwound, compared to older ones so a bit too oomphy to my taste. If I'm correct the ones in the relic Höfners are less hot and they will use or are using them in the normal Germans now too. More vintage correct.

My favourite of my three staple/cavern Höfners is the Club with the close pickup spacing. The 'middle' pickup can be used as a thumb rest and it ads a bit more mid to the bass. Both pickups is very very wide warm and open and the middle one soloed gives a push in the sound and it's usabe for more rocky songs. I play fingerstyle mostly and sometimes those humbuckers can be 'too much'. They do sound great played with a pick.

But then i got a 500/1 with the single coil toasters. I bought it for the looks, haha. I plugged it in, in my little home amp and.. nothing. I thought the bass was broken, but the output is a lot lower than the other Höfners so I just had to turn up the volume. I did it and wow! It is my favourite sounding Höfner, especially for fingerstyle playing. It's not big and oomphy, but warm and woody. So nice! And the middle pickup is even more aggressive so really usable. By far my best sounding bass. A guy borrowed some basses and wanted this one for recordings, I recorded with it, the other half of my duo only wants me to use this bass.

But it became even better: I got a set of Pyramid black nylon tapewounds. I didn't want to put them on my bass, because I dislike black strings. And I don't like the sticky feelings of the Rotosounds. But in the end I tried and those pyramids sound and feel so good! It made the bass even warmer, better, a bit more sustain. Still very warm and clean and nothing of the edge roundwounds always have. So it was like plugging in a better amp.

This year Höfner made me a one of Club Bass, officially called 500/2 Chris Dekker haha. Of course with close places staples. I asked for the tapewounds and they forgot. No problem. I got the bass with normal Pyramid flats and I loved it. I played it for a while, but for a recording I decided to put on some nylons... .. and wow again! That tone! The studio engineer was a Höfner hater and he told me this was the best bass sound he recorded. Not the best bass player though

amptech · December 31, 2019, 04:33:51 AM

Thanks for the review, Chris! I'm starting to get in Höfner mood, this will be a fun project.

Oh, and happy new year everybody!

Dave W · December 31, 2019, 10:15:00 AM

I didn't know Pyramid made tapewounds.

westen44 · December 31, 2019, 03:36:03 PM

I'm just wondering what happened to the Contemporary basses. It doesn't matter to me personally since I bought two a few years ago--one of them a Cavern model. Still, I didn't expect the Contemporary basses to start vanishing so soon like that. You can still find one here and there, but places like Sweetwater and MF no longer offer them at all. Usually, when something like this happens, it's when I try to buy something and then find out it has been suddenly discontinued. This time I was able to draw first.

Chris P. · January 02, 2020, 09:40:30 AM

Comntemporary's are still available. The newest one have a burst very close to the German ones. I see them here a lot. I know it is sometimes hard to find 'm cos they get produced in batches, they sell out, it takes a while, new ones get produced and so on.

While Rotosound nylons are a bit glossy and sticky, the Pyramids are rougher feeling and have a matte colour. I like that more.
Höfner strings are made by Pyramid too. Almost neighbours.

westen44 · January 02, 2020, 10:53:46 AM

Quote from: Chris P. on January 02, 2020, 09:40:30 AM
Comntemporary's are still available. The newest one have a burst very close to the German ones. I see them here a lot. I know it is sometimes hard to find 'm cos they get produced in batches, they sell out, it takes a while, new ones get produced and so on.

While Rotosound nylons are a bit glossy and sticky, the Pyramids are rougher feeling and have a matte colour. I like that more.
Höfner strings are made by Pyramid too. Almost neighbours.

The only reason I even bought those Contemporary basses is because I read your reviews of them here. But there haven't been many here for a long time. It would be nice to have one closer to the German ones. I didn't know they had made a change. Oh the other hand, it's very doubtful I would ever find such a deal as I found on the Cavern one. The other one was at the regular price, though. But that's okay. It was a good time for me to be buying some basses.

amptech · January 05, 2020, 04:06:02 AM

Quote from: ilan on December 30, 2019, 01:43:21 PM
Wow. An Italian Höfner, that's what I would do. With that glittery top and cream back and rim.

EDIT: I just found the page I got that pic from, turns out it´s made in Spain! It must be the glitter and plastic trim that made me jump to a conclusion.