Hofner arrived yesterday. Appropriate enough. After a few minutes messing around with it, I was coming to your conclusions on my own. Suspicions confirmed. Thank you.
I have a gold line V64 also, sunburst, best sounding hofners ever made IMO. The pyramid gold (hofner) flats help. They are great for jazz, I like to use the "solo" switch when I solo ;-)
If you want to get Macca's sound, he plays with Bass on, Treble Off, Solo. Which on a right handed Hoffner looks like a SMILE, on a left handed Hoffner, looks like a frown. My guitar teacher told me to just set it to look like a smile and leave it alone.
This is actually a very clever setup and to understand more intuitively it helps to have a basic understanding of the way the electronics work. Volume controls on an electric instrument send the signal generated from the pickups to ground, the more signal sent to ground the less signal reaches the output of the instrument and thus the amp, lowering your output volume. The switches work like volume controls except they immediately send the whole signal to ground. So "Bass/ON" will send the bridge pickup signal to ground, and vice versa for the "Treble/ON" switch. This setup allows for fast changes between different tones, and the individual volume knobs allow the user to blend the pickup volumes to taste when both are active. Great video!
Someone commented on Hofner’s video saying that when they first got their bass, they put both of the slider switches in the “ON” position but as you mentioned, it actually killed both pickups. The guy thought his electronics were screwed.
Mine works this way (I think is the same crazy-ness): If you want both pickups ON ------>both in OFF If you want Bass ON---------> Bass OFF and Treble ON (in this moment you serve yourself a double whisky with two rocks) If you want Treble ON-------> Treble OFF and Bass ON (another whisky and now you don't matter what's going on with pickups) Both in ON--------------> Killswitch 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Thanks for the video: It helped me to think I'm not crazy and stop drinking.
If Hofner made stoves…turn only front burner on, cook on front burner. Turn only back burner on, cook on back burner. Turn both front burner on and back burner on, can’t cook on stove…no heat. 😅
Hi Mark, thanks for the video, I myself could not understand how the control panel worked.. I let my ears do the listening and the settings I use for many years which gave me that Beatles sound or close to it was Treble off, Bass on and Rythm on.. From my readings Sir Paul McCartney always used the neck pickup.. Thanks on a better understand on their functions.
Have you noticed the bass and treble switches have a different tone than soloing the pickups by using the volume knobs, like if there was a capacitor in the switch circuit but not in the volume knob circuit ?
The treble and bass controls make perfect sense if you think of them as filters. With the treble in the on position, it filters out bass frequencies. With the bass in the on position, it filters out the treble frequencies. With both on, bass and treble are filtered out, resulting in no sound.
I have a 500, great playing and sounding bass, but certainly makes me want to order a custom control plate cover and rewire it into Vol, Vol, Tone and 3-way switch every freaking day.
Looks like you got the short scale version of the Rotosound tapewounds. If anyone’s curious. There are some UA-cam videos and forum posts that will show/explain why (most) short scale don’t fit a Hofner.
Aha! So the wiring on mine isn't screwed up after all! I still might tear out the cables and bypass it, because the switching will never come naturally to me
Good explanation, thanks. Cheapskate Hofner using the same control plate for left handed version 😢 Ps I find tapping on pickups with a screwdriver is a good way to figure out which one is doing what and in which configuration
Shame on me. I couldn't get used to the Hofner control scheme. I replaced the original control panel with one I constructed using 2 volume pots and 1 tone pot pretty much like what you find on a Fender Jazz Bass. Now I know what I am doing as far as finding the tone I am looking for.
I always felt like this bass sounds good only if you're playing stuff from before the 60's. Even Paul moved on to a Rickenbaker bass on Sgt. Pepper and a fender jazz bass on the White Album.
When it's not your main bass guitar that you play, sure. I have other basses I play quite regularly with pickup toggle selector switches that make a lot more sense. Imagine pulling out your Hofner bass after not playing it for months or years, you have the pickup selector switches in the "ON" position yet no sound is coming out. Your first instinct is that either your bass amp, guitar cord or bass electronics have a problem, until you remember "oh yeah, this bass was designed in oppositeland."
Thank you for this! I just exchanged the switchpanel on my Ignition Bass with a German one and wasn't sure whether everything was working. Seems I did a good job 🙂
That's one of the reasons I got an Epiphone Rumblekat instead. It's similar to a Club Bass and comes close to the Höfner sound, but it has much more familiar neck dimensions, string spacing, and controls (volume, volume, tone) when coming from e. g. a Jazz Bass. By the way, your Höfner looks really awesome in this golden finish, and it sounds really nice!
I had a Hofner B-bass hi series and an Epiphone Viola bass. I tried so hard to get used to them and love them but I can't. The Hofner felt like a cheap toy, but the Epiphone felt more sturdy. It's the tone of the pickups that I can't get myself to like. That's just me though. I traded them both in for a 1987 Peavey Fury bass with a hardshell case, and I love it.😮I've always been a Fender Precision and Jazz Bass guy, so I'm used to a hefty, more robust instrument. Cheers 👍
The Hofner 500/1 control plate is limited to what it can do and not really useful. This is precisely why Paul only uses the “Bass On” switch. He did the same with his ‘61 bass. You can look at every photo imaginable and never see that setting changed. A useable option for tone shaping is the turn off the Bass On switch and slightly back off the neck pickup volume control. It is a nice midrange tone.
Never understood the fascination with hofner violin basses..to my ears they sound tubby and flubby and intonation always seems a bit off..if not for the association with the beetles, Hofner w 5:53 ould have faded away long ago..just imho..
I will admit to the intonation issues. I’m usually pretty good at setting up intonation on guitars and basses but this hofner in the video still goes sharp 3/4 of the way up the neck, especially the E string. A modern twist for these Hofner basses is to throw fuzz on them ala Tame Impala.
Thanks for your response, even if you say tone preset instead of pickup switch, it still doesn’t make common sense that if both switches are turned on, the guitar makes no sound. Turn just bass on, sound is bass (uses neck pickup), turn just treble on (uses bridge pickup) sound is treble, turn bass on and treble on (both switches in ON position) bass guitar makes no sound at all.
@@NowYouKnow007 I understand you but it does make sence that you only should use one at the time. Not noth together. It’s not good desing. But they used the same presset panel for single pickup guitars. Only with one volume pot. The working was the same. When both were on there was no sound.
I think that for some models the Eastwood brand has been inspired by Hofner ; i have the left handed version of the tenorbaritone, and the pick-up selector are like the Hofner bass . I have added a third pick up in the middle ( Seymour Duncan Minibucker) , with an added switch . Best regards, Patrick from Italy
OMG. I’ve had my Hofner 500/1 for 21 years and have never understood the switches until now. Thank you!❤
Thanks for watching!
Hofner arrived yesterday. Appropriate enough. After a few minutes messing around with it, I was coming to your conclusions on my own. Suspicions confirmed. Thank you.
Höfner arrived Yesterday...sounds so McCartney
I have a gold line V64 also, sunburst, best sounding hofners ever made IMO. The pyramid gold (hofner) flats help. They are great for jazz, I like to use the "solo" switch when I solo ;-)
If you want to get Macca's sound, he plays with Bass on, Treble Off, Solo. Which on a right handed Hoffner looks like a SMILE, on a left handed Hoffner, looks like a frown. My guitar teacher told me to just set it to look like a smile and leave it alone.
Good tip
This is actually a very clever setup and to understand more intuitively it helps to have a basic understanding of the way the electronics work.
Volume controls on an electric instrument send the signal generated from the pickups to ground, the more signal sent to ground the less signal reaches the output of the instrument and thus the amp, lowering your output volume. The switches work like volume controls except they immediately send the whole signal to ground. So "Bass/ON" will send the bridge pickup signal to ground, and vice versa for the "Treble/ON" switch. This setup allows for fast changes between different tones, and the individual volume knobs allow the user to blend the pickup volumes to taste when both are active. Great video!
I love your input on this matter. Thanks for watching!
@@NowYouKnow007 Thanks for the cool video!
Yikes!
Someone commented on Hofner’s video saying that when they first got their bass, they put both of the slider switches in the “ON” position but as you mentioned, it actually killed both pickups. The guy thought his electronics were screwed.
Mine works this way (I think is the same crazy-ness):
If you want both pickups ON ------>both in OFF
If you want Bass ON---------> Bass OFF and Treble ON (in this moment you serve yourself a double whisky with two rocks)
If you want Treble ON-------> Treble OFF and Bass ON (another whisky and now you don't matter what's going on with pickups)
Both in ON--------------> Killswitch 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Thanks for the video: It helped me to think I'm not crazy and stop drinking.
Haha, thanks for sharing your similar experience with the zany electronics 😉
If Hofner made stoves…turn only front burner on, cook on front burner. Turn only back burner on, cook on back burner. Turn both front burner on and back burner on, can’t cook on stove…no heat. 😅
Trust Germans to make it over complicated!
Hi Mark, thanks for the video, I myself could not understand how the control panel worked.. I let my ears do the listening and the settings I use for many years which gave me that Beatles sound or close to it was Treble off, Bass on and Rythm on.. From my readings Sir Paul McCartney always used the neck pickup.. Thanks on a better understand on their functions.
Thanks for the comments
Have you noticed the bass and treble switches have a different tone than soloing the pickups by using the volume knobs, like if there was a capacitor in the switch circuit but not in the volume knob circuit ?
Holy crap I thought I was going crazy, YES MINE DOES TOO!
The treble and bass controls make perfect sense if you think of them as filters. With the treble in the on position, it filters out bass frequencies. With the bass in the on position, it filters out the treble frequencies. With both on, bass and treble are filtered out, resulting in no sound.
I have a 500, great playing and sounding bass, but certainly makes me want to order a custom control plate cover and rewire it into Vol, Vol, Tone and 3-way switch every freaking day.
Looks like you got the short scale version of the Rotosound tapewounds.
If anyone’s curious. There are some UA-cam videos and forum posts that will show/explain why (most) short scale don’t fit a Hofner.
Because it is a medium scale, not a short scale one. It works better with normal strings.
Good clarification.
Aha! So the wiring on mine isn't screwed up after all! I still might tear out the cables and bypass it, because the switching will never come naturally to me
The gold part fell off, do you know how I can put it back on the potentiometer? Does it need glue? It doesn't fit under pressure?
Yup, a little dab of glue and then push it back in 👍
Good explanation, thanks. Cheapskate Hofner using the same control plate for left handed version 😢
Ps I find tapping on pickups with a screwdriver is a good way to figure out which one is doing what and in which configuration
Shame on me. I couldn't get used to the Hofner control scheme. I replaced the original control panel with one I constructed using 2 volume pots and 1 tone pot pretty much like what you find on a Fender Jazz Bass. Now I know what I am doing as far as finding the tone I am looking for.
Any way to find the wiring diagram?
Have you tried reaching out to Hofner direct?
I always felt like this bass sounds good only if you're playing stuff from before the 60's. Even Paul moved on to a Rickenbaker bass on Sgt. Pepper and a fender jazz bass on the White Album.
Is it really so hard to remember the functions of this panel?
When it's not your main bass guitar that you play, sure. I have other basses I play quite regularly with pickup toggle selector switches that make a lot more sense. Imagine pulling out your Hofner bass after not playing it for months or years, you have the pickup selector switches in the "ON" position yet no sound is coming out. Your first instinct is that either your bass amp, guitar cord or bass electronics have a problem, until you remember "oh yeah, this bass was designed in oppositeland."
No, plus it’s labeled.
@@averyetvspecial1487the labels for treble and bass says “ON” and if you have both switches to “ON” then they’re both off. Ya, makes sense.
Thank you for this! I just exchanged the switchpanel on my Ignition Bass with a German one and wasn't sure whether everything was working. Seems I did a good job 🙂
Thanks for this video, what strings are you using, I am sure you have covered this before. Thanks in advance !
Labella Flat Tapewound
I have two lefthand instruments, and the pots are backward. Max volume is 1. Don't know how they managed that.
That's one of the reasons I got an Epiphone Rumblekat instead. It's similar to a Club Bass and comes close to the Höfner sound, but it has much more familiar neck dimensions, string spacing, and controls (volume, volume, tone) when coming from e. g. a Jazz Bass. By the way, your Höfner looks really awesome in this golden finish, and it sounds really nice!
Cheers, thanks for watching!
I always thought the solo switch just increased the volume.I wasnt aware that itbwas a bridge pick up boost.
I have one that I love. I converted it to a Jazz Bass control layout. Much better.
what beatles song did you play in the beginning
The song is Michelle
I had a Hofner B-bass hi series and an Epiphone Viola bass. I tried so hard to get used to them and love them but I can't. The Hofner felt like a cheap toy, but the Epiphone felt more sturdy. It's the tone of the pickups that I can't get myself to like. That's just me though. I traded them both in for a 1987 Peavey Fury bass with a hardshell case, and I love it.😮I've always been a Fender Precision and Jazz Bass guy, so I'm used to a hefty, more robust instrument. Cheers 👍
Thanks for watching!
That gold top looks nice.
This bass was an anniversary gift from my wife.
Not sure what you mean by treble and bass pickup...do you mean neck and bridge pickups?
Yeah treble = bridge, Bass = neck
@@bananarama-nw9md Cheers...just not used to hearing them referred to as that...would the same apply to guitars too?
He did say bridge and neck pickups too
@@jamesrumsey6839 That he did
Paul McCartney preferred neck pickup only for his deep sound
What strings are you using please?
What strings are they please?
The Hofner 500/1 control plate is limited to what it can do and not really useful. This is precisely why Paul only uses the “Bass On” switch. He did the same with his ‘61 bass. You can look at every photo imaginable and never see that setting changed. A useable option for tone shaping is the turn off the Bass On switch and slightly back off the neck pickup volume control. It is a nice midrange tone.
Thanks for sharing your experiences and observations.
Never understood the fascination with hofner violin basses..to my ears they sound tubby and flubby and intonation always seems a bit off..if not for the association with the beetles, Hofner w 5:53 ould have faded away long ago..just imho..
I will admit to the intonation issues. I’m usually pretty good at setting up intonation on guitars and basses but this hofner in the video still goes sharp 3/4 of the way up the neck, especially the E string. A modern twist for these Hofner basses is to throw fuzz on them ala Tame Impala.
If I dont leave both switches on I get a buzz. I just stick to the volume knobs
Hmmm interesting
The fact that the jack is out of line with the switches is true i havea 1967.
Those are not pickup switches but tone pressets. That’s why you should not think of them in normal on/off way.
Thanks for your response, even if you say tone preset instead of pickup switch, it still doesn’t make common sense that if both switches are turned on, the guitar makes no sound. Turn just bass on, sound is bass (uses neck pickup), turn just treble on (uses bridge pickup) sound is treble, turn bass on and treble on (both switches in ON position) bass guitar makes no sound at all.
@@NowYouKnow007 I understand you but it does make sence that you only should use one at the time. Not noth together. It’s not good desing. But they used the same presset panel for single pickup guitars. Only with one volume pot. The working was the same. When both were on there was no sound.
Soo what is confusing about that then?
Check a fender bass VI , with three switches for the pickup, and 1 “strangle switch” …
I don't really understand because I am not a bass player
I have a chinese knockoff called " De Rosa" and still I don't have a clue how the damn control panel works !
Really weird way to have a pickup selector...
I think that for some models the Eastwood brand has been inspired by Hofner ; i have the left handed version of the tenorbaritone, and the pick-up selector are like the Hofner bass . I have added a third pick up in the middle ( Seymour Duncan Minibucker) , with an added switch . Best regards, Patrick from Italy
How Confusing
sorry, you are confusing...😂