Höfner treasure trove

[Dave W]

Slideshow with commentary in German: http://vimeo.com/79316608#t=0s

From Uwe:

There was a big article in Gitarre and Bass about it. Background: in the fifties and sixties Höfner had a lot of its work outsourced to families doing outwork home, parts would be brought to the families from the factory and picked up again. Carpentry skills were prevalent as the region had a history of them (and very little else at the time), Höfner was also extremely particular about seconds (high quality control), yet did not really destroy them, employees could pick them up and take them home. A lot of the stuff now found is seconds, albeit with miniscule defects or wood aberrations which would today be deemed as value increasing. Among the whole stock is however only one bass, I believe, a 500/1.

The guy who hoarded this stuff (a former Höfner employee) got in contact with a modern day German luthier who bought the whole stock off him and is now putting the parts together and selling off custom Höfners. Seemingly, Höfner, the company is relaxed about it though I'm sure they could be difficult if they wanted to be.

[Denis]

Neat!
A friend in NYC knows a guy who has a big stash of NOS Danelectro, Silvertone and Coral parts he bought at the factory in Neptune when it closed. Apparently he drove over there with a pickup truck and got a ton of bodies, necks, pickguards, controls, etc.
Everyone now and then he will build a few guitars and basses of NOS parts and sell them.

[ilan]

Among the whole stock is however only one bass, I believe, a 500/1.

I see more than one. Several Senator/Verithin/President bodies, and probably enough necks to attach to them.

0:27, for example, is a bass. The bodies at 1:52 are Verithins. 2:03 bottom right (red burst) is a bass.  2:32-2:55 is of course a bass.  3:34 is a deep-body acoustic bass - never seen one by Höfner before. At 4:14 you can see 3 Beatle basses.

[Dave W]

I see more than one. Several Senator/Verithin/President bodies, and probably enough necks to attach to them.

0:27, for example, is a bass. The bodies at 1:52 are Verithins. 2:03 bottom right (red burst) is a bass.  2:32-2:55 is of course a bass.  3:34 is a deep-body acoustic bass - never seen one by Höfner before. At 4:14 you can see 3 Beatle basses.

You may be right. I was just quoting Uwe, who was going by the published article.

[daan]

I wonder if the Hofner I had was from somewhere like this (very cool video, thanks for sharing it) I had it for 15 years and nobody around here (Well, Minneapolis anyway) ever had a clue what it was. Even after years of sifting thru the internet all I came up with was it was a "500/4" but the one pic I saw was an illustration and not a photo, and their bass had a different control layout.
I ended up selling it a couple years ago when I got laid off, so it's kind of a moot point anyway.

[Dave W]

No way of knowing, especially at this point. But Höfner did sell kits back in the 60s, it's always possible that someone put it together from a kit and made some changes.

[Thornton Davis]

No way of knowing, especially at this point. But Höfner did sell kits back in the 60s, it's always possible that someone put it together from a kit and made some changes.

They offered the 500/1 kits for sale right up through to the mid 80's Dave. I have Hofner literature and a pricing sheet showing them.

TD

[Chris P.]

I know some experts at Höfner's. I can ask things.

[daan]

I know some experts at Höfner's. I can ask things.

Could you please? THat would be awesome. I LOVED that bass, and was pretty sad when I had to sell it. And of course I've never seen another one to replace it.

[chromium]

Could you please? THat would be awesome. I LOVED that bass, and was pretty sad when I had to sell it. And of course I've never seen another one to replace it.

The later Ovation Typhoon basses (and the other "storm series" guitars) used Hofner-made bodies almost identical to yours:

[Dave W]

If it was good enough for Danny Bonaduce, it ought to be good enough for fake bass players everywhere!

[Psycho Bass Guy]

Never saw one of those before... How do they sound?

[chromium]

Never saw one of those before... How do they sound?

The Ovation?  I honestly don't know how the Typhoons sounded.

Bonaduce, on the other hand...   

[Dave W]

The Ovation?  I honestly don't know how the Typhoons sounded.

Bonaduce, on the other hand...   

Give him time, he'll get himself arrested for something again. Transvestite hookers, drugs, or both. After all these years he's still a disaster waiting to happen and for some reason, some people still care.

[Rob]

They think he was in a band that was better than the Beatles