Hofner GAS

[Pilgrim]

I haven't had to wish for my first bass back - by more good fortune than anything, I still have it.

My dad taught Ag Engineering at WSU for more than 30 years - my mom just finished high school, but was a very active learner throughout her life. They were incredibly supportive of all four kids' interests, although dad found it was easier to identify with his three sons than with his daughter. Mom hung tight with my sister, who is now the most independent sibling and is a relief veterinarian based south of Seattle and who works in Washington, Oregon and Idaho.

When I was 17 (1967) I had been playing upright bass in orchestra for 5 years, starting in Jr. High.  I wanted to try this electric bass thing, and my parents found someone in Spokane who had a Precision bass, Bassman head and 2x15 cabinet for sale.  They bought them for me, and my best guess at the price (based only on very dim memory) is $300.

The P-bass is a '63 version, originally white, and my best guess is that it was Olympia White.  But the paint was all chipped up, which I have always disliked. I took it to a local auto body ship and had it repainted Ford gold metallic, which is its current color.  I remember that in 1972 the band was playing for the Jr. Miss Pagent, which was held in Pullman. I got up on Saturday AM and grabbed the P to practice, only to discover that the truss rod had snapped and the neck was badly bowed. In my '66 GTO I made a screaming fast run to Hoffman music in Spokane, and got there just in time to have their repair guy replace the neck before he left at noon.  The pageant was on Monday night, so this was "just in time."

For a few years in college I played that with a local big band made up of the band and orchestra teachers in town; it was a white dinner jacket group, and it was fun to play with the guys who had taught me.  Carrying that 2x15 cab up the back stage stairs at the Moscow (ID) Elks club was a real chore.

In 1973 I finished my bachelor's degree and moved out into the world, leaving the bass gear behind - not to retrieve it until 1996, when my parents moved from the big country house into the smaller house in town. (I would be back from 1974-1979 living in one of the outbuildings on the property after a couple of jobs went south on me; I entered grad school but didn't get back into music at that time.  At least it wasn't the basement.....)

One speaker in that 2x15 had obviously been worked too hard and had a weak cone that started fuzzing every time I pushed the volume. For the big band it wasn't a problem, as I didn't need much volume.  I later found the cab had one Fender JBl D130F and one mystery speaker.  A couple of years ago I pulled the JBL out of the cab and sold the with the other speaker for $100.  I sold the D130F separately for about $130.  I kept the blackface Bassman, had it re-capped and a grounded power cord added.

Here's the P in its current incarnation:



Here's the inside of the 2x15 cab as I got it:



The Bassman and cab are seen in the background of this shot:

[Stjofön Big]

Yeah, that generation who heard radio for the first time. Saw cars. Aeroplanes. War. Electricity. Television. Not to mention movies! Modern bathrooms! Modern kitchens! Getting rid of the fear for TBC!!! Moonlanding! They went through that, without goin insane. And that's really miracoulous, I think. How the world changed, in front of their eyes, and they were the first ones to watch it happening. And I guess you've noticed that I haven't mentioned the birth of the electric guitar. Or the miracle of the electric bass!!!

[Pilgrim]

My dad was born in Helltown, PA in 1919 (now an area near Irwin, PA).  He told me that when he was a kid, he saw horse drawn carriages moving up and down the streets in town.  My mom was born in Doe Run, MO (near Farmington MO) in 1921 to a family that was quite poor.

During their lifetimes, we went from horse drawn carriages to interstate highways, microwave ovens, computers, and a man walking on the moon.

No other generation in the history of humankind witnessed such a radical change in technology, environment and living conditions.  Dad passed away in 1997 of pancreatic cancer - mom's body wore out in 2008.  They were a remarkable pair of people whose lives completely changed in ways they couldn't have guessed when they were kids.

[Thornton Davis]

My mom bought me my first guitar for Christmas 1965. After that, I decided I wanted to play bass and the rest as they say is history. I've owned many Hofner 500/1 basses over the past four decades and loved each one of them. A few years ago while I was in Germany on business I had the rare opportunity to visit and tour Hofner's factory in Hagenau.

Here's a photo of me in 1968 with my first Hofner 500/1 (a 65 or 66).


Here's my current 500/1



These are in my blood.

TD

[hieronymous]

Very cool pics and stories in this thread, and perfect timing for me - a friend just scanned a photo from our high school yearbook - my parents always supported my musical interests, especially my dad. I'm playing my first Fender, a Fender Japan P reissue, probably bought around 1984, one of the JV serial numbers. It was black with tort pickguard, I later had another P pup put in.

[drbassman]

Great stories guys!  You and I have some things in common Al.  My Dad grew up in the coal mining region of Scranton, PA.  Went into the Army at 17 and ended up at Pearl Harbor when it was attacked by the Japanese. 

[Stjofön Big]

That way the controls of the violin bass is the same as the ones I used to use. Is there really any other way to do it, if you wanna have a bullet and a bit rumble in the sound? Anyone who's used to setting the controls any other way? For what purpose?

[ilan]

I can tell you first-hand that McCartney has the controls on his '63 exactly like that, with little pieces of gaffer tape rolled up and stuck in the spaces of the switches to secure them permanently in that position.

[jumbodbassman]

this has turned into a great thread.  one of my favorites ever.  I remember my dad having to drive me to gigs before i could get a drivers license or afford a car.  Used to squeeze my svt cab into the back seat of his car (monte carlo and then duster)  for block party gigs..  Started gigging at 16 and you had to be 17 to get a license in NYC and then you had to afford a car....  that was 2 plus years laterbefore i could buy my first car   - 1972 Ford Capri - $1200  thenmagain i paid 172 for my first new Fender p bass and the case was    40 extra...

[drbassman]

OK, this thread is going well, so let's keep it up!  I loved the pictures.  So, here I am with my 63 jazz playing Beach Boys, surf, Orbison, Chuck Berry.  Pre-Beatles invasion.  Here she is.......

[drbassman]

Ooops, found another one.  Man I miss that bass!!!

[godofthunder]

 Kenny I did let her go but got her back ! I'll post the story tomorrow I'm tired.

My start was a piano... a freebie from a friend of my mum; all we had to pay was delivery which was about £5 ($15?) back in the late sixties... had a couple of dead keys but that was the primary start for me... Started double bass at school about '68 and took an interest in drums too but didn't get my first electric (an EB2 copy with a single pup by the neck, floating bridge and a bolt-on neck) until I started work... I had no financial "free" help with any of my own musical purchases... dad had a strict policy of "if you want something, you have to work for it..." He did act as a guarantor for my RD when I bought that on hp over 9 months though but the PC and the Hiwatt purchases were almost all hard-work cash or short term loans...

Like Dave mentioned about about applying yourself, I gave it 18 months once I had a trade behind me but went back to the "real world" in '83...

The only part I have of the EB copy is the name-plate off the neck... Like Stjofön, I wish I had kept this bass, but I remember Scott talking about that first Hofner and regretting letting her go, and replacing years later... I have had a watch on e8ay for a few years and only seen one come up, but I would never dream of parting with what the beast went for, considering it was soo bad, in reality, that it would only have been a wall-hanger...

[godofthunder]

 Pre Beatle ! Wow that's cool, I remember a qoute from (I think)Mike Love that went something like  "when The Beatles hit we were uncool over night" man that must have been a tough pill to swallow

OK, this thread is going well, so let's keep it up!  I loved the pictures.  So, here I am with my 63 jazz playing Beach Boys, surf, Orbison, Chuck Berry.  Pre-Beatles invasion.  Here she is.......

[Pilgrim]

I remember reading an interview with Paul Revere in which he commented about how the Beatles changed popular music with the Sgt. Peppers album.  If you recall, Paul Revere and the Raiders were a pretty popular band in the mid-60's.

He was talking about how his group was still rocking along pretty well, until "...then the Beatles brought out Sgt Peppers, and the rest of us looked at each other and said 'What the hell do we do now'??"

I think it was right about that time that I talked my folks into buying that old P and amp for me.

[Stjofön Big]

Dear Dr! Is that pic really pre Beatles invasion? You guys got quite long hair, that's what I'm thinking of.
And Dr, do you happen to have a set list from those days? Would love to see one, just to compare with a set list of my own band from the days. Including familiar stuff like The Rivieras fine version of Let's have a party
Or this one, though I bet it's completely new to your ears: Pistoleros by our own North Sweden group, The Shanes. Four miners kids able to do music I really loved, and love. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9fP2i9KVQc&feature=related
Or Gunfight saloon The Shanes first singles all had namnes connected to the wildest of west: The West! The ripper, Gunrider, Tin star. Such song titles. All instrumental!