Now at 6 Höfners

[Dave W]

In general, I can't ever remember Hofner being considered low status in the U.S.  But brands like Silvertone and, of course, Teisco were definitely considered low status when I was growing up.  But I never heard anyone say, that's just a Hofner, that's what Paul McCartney plays.

Same here. They weren't viewed as versatile, that's for sure, but not looked down upon.

[ilan]

You'd expect the Beatles' choice of guitars to be a huge influence but most of the world still stuck with Fenders and Gibsons. Next to a Precision bass, Höfners feel like fragile toys.

In Israel in the early 60s Fenders were hard to find and very expensive, and Hofner imports were an affordable option, much like in the UK at the time. 182's and 185's were more popular than 500/1's. Once you could afford a Fender or Gibson, the Hofner usually got sold.

[Chris P.]

I remember some stories from friends here in the eighties in The Netherlands. One guy sold his '60s Höfner bass to buy an active 5 string. I guess we all thought carbon fibre and headless was the future. I guess it wasn't only Höfner but also certain guitars getting just not fiting ij with the neon coloured eighties.

I read an interview once with a guy with a big Rickenbacker bass collection in the UK. In the eighties he spend all his student grants on Rickenbacker basses. People almost gave them away and bought modern stuff.

[westen44]

I've heard several versions, but here is a short version of how Paul ended up with his first cavern bass.

[uwe]

"I'm not sure I would know a Merkava if it fell on my head."

 

My guess is: You wouldn't remember much of the incident either.

[uwe]

I've heard several versions, but here is a short version of how Paul ended up with his first cavern bass.

That's the only story I know! His first Höffie (an American bass would have been unaffordable for him, the tariffs were prohibitive to protect the resurgence of post-war Germany's industry) was a righty - as it should be, I don't think that left hand Höfners even existed in the late 50ies/early 60ies, certainly no one would waste money and stock them in a shop without a pre-order. Let's face it, in the late 50ies/early 60ies, lefties were expected to adapt to righty. When I went to school 1st grade in 1966, it was the first year where lefties were no longer "retrained" righty. It was a big thing, labelled as "a field experiment" of the education board, the principal would visit classes and assess how the poor lefties were doing with their "predicament". 

The music store in question is very much your typical musical store you would have in larger cities (starting with a population of say 100.000, Hamburg was 1.8 million people in 1960, making it huge by German standards) in the 50ie/60ies.

I've also read that the lightness of the Höfner appealed to Paul as The Beatles would play up to 6-8 hours every night (up to the early morning hours, the Hamburg red light district had no curfew) six days a week during their Reeperbahn stint. You wouldn't want a P-Bass weighing down your neck and shoulders for that amount of time even if you are on a Captagon diet.



The part they missed was that Höfner had - admittedly so - ripped the violin shape off the Gibson EB(-1), albeit hollowing it out and using readily available German woods rather than hard to get and expensive overseas mahogany. Of course, the huge EB sales -  - did not spawn immediate action by Gibson.

[westen44]

That's the only story I know! His first Höffie (an American bass would have been unaffordable for him, the tariffs were prohibitive to protect the resurgence of post-war Germany's industry) was a righty - as it should be, I don't think that left hand Höfners even existed in the late 50ies/early 60ies, certainly no one would waste money and stock them in a shop without a pre-order. Let's face it, in the late 50ies/early 60ies, lefties were expected to adapt to righty. When I went to school 1st grade in 1966, it was the first year where lefties were no longer "retrained" righty. It was a big thing, labelled as "a field experiment" of the education board, the principal would visit classes and assess how the poor lefties were doing with their "predicament". 

The music store in question is very much your typical musical store you would have in larger cities (starting with a population of say 100.000, Hamburg was 1.8 million people in 1960, making it huge by German standards) in the 50ie/60ies.

I've also read that the lightness of the Höfner appealed to Paul as The Beatles would play up to 6-8 hours every night (up to the early morning hours, the Hamburg red light district had no curfew) six days a week during their Reeperbahn stint. You wouldn't want a P-Bass weighing down your neck and shoulders for that amount of time even if you are on a Captagon diet.



The part they missed was that Höfner had - admittedly so - ripped the violin shape off the Gibson EB(-1), albeit hollowing it out and using readily available German woods rather than hard to get and expensive overseas mahogany. Of course, the huge EB sales -  - did not spawn immediate action by Gibson.

One story I've heard many times over is the one emphasizing that Paul had to settle for a Hofner only because he couldn't afford a Fender.  But it's usually told by someone awestruck with Fenders.  But Paul McCartney seemed to do fine with whatever brand he played.  I liked the way he sounded playing a Rickenbacker.  But maybe that's because so many tracks have him playing one. 

I have also seen a quote somewhere where Paul said the main reason he liked playing a violin bass was because they're so light.  I'm paraphrasing, but he said something about people finding this hard to believe, but it really was nice to have something so light on the shoulders.  I think another reason was Elvis Costello insisting that the Hofner to Paul McCartney was like the cane to Charlie Chaplin.  Playing a Hofner was a debt he owed to pop culture. 

It really would have been interesting if Paul could have played an EB-1.  It would have changed a lot of things, no doubt. But that's not something particularly very light.. 

[westen44]

Same here. They weren't viewed as versatile, that's for sure, but not looked down upon.

I really wasn't sure if my reaction was a regional one or a nationwide American one. 

[Dave W]

The part they missed was that Höfner had - admittedly so - ripped the violin shape off the Gibson EB(-1), albeit hollowing it out and using readily available German woods rather than hard to get and expensive overseas mahogany. Of course, the huge EB sales -  - did not spawn immediate action by Gibson.

I hardly think that Gibson would ever have claimed to have originated the shape. Certainly not Ted McCarty. Even Henry wouldn't have made that claim. Mark Agnesi? Maybe.

[ilan]

I have also seen a quote somewhere where Paul said the main reason he liked playing a violin bass was because they're so light.  I'm paraphrasing, but he said something about people finding this hard to believe, but it really was nice to have something so light on the shoulders.

I can attest to that - when I asked him, that was his answer, and then he handed over the bass to me and added that it's actually lighter than I think, because it had a transmitter (and a battery pack, I think, not sure) attached to the strap.

[westen44]

I can attest to that - when I asked him, that was his answer, and then he handed over the bass to me and added that it's actually lighter than I think, because it had a transmitter (and a battery pack, I think, not sure) attached to the strap.

That's nice getting the answer straight from the source!

[ilan]

OWhat's with that noteworthy obsession with German instruments, did one of your ancestors come from that historic German instrument building area that now covers parts of Saxony, Northern Bavaria und the Czech Republic?

So I just won this red vinyl Klira Triumphator - my offer for EUR 340 was accepted:

[Dave W]

I didn't know they made solidbodies. Looks to be in good shape. Congrats!

[ilan]

I didn't know they made solidbodies

Oh yes they did, and they were even worse than the other Bubenreuth-based guitar factory's solids in the 60's. My second bass at age 14 (the first was a '67 500/1) was a solid Klira with a turquoise vinyl covered chipboard body and sticky black-painted pencil neck. It was a total mess, I sold it two weeks later for half of what my dad paid and got a new (in 1976) Japanese-made J copy that had an upright-like action (I didn't know it was fixable) after I installed Guild-branded heavy gauge flats on it. Still it was way better than that Klira. In Hebrew, by the way, Kli Ra means "a bad instrument". So why, you may ask. Because now I can make it playable, and I need a corrective experience. And I already have all the Fenders and Rics I need for real life bass playing situations, so now I can collect some cool toys.

[Dave W]

I looked on Reverb, people are asking outrageous prices for the vinyl covered solidbody basses and guitars. EUR 340 seems like a bargain.