The Hofner Beatle Bass: A Short History

this video is brought to you in part by TruFire learn practice and play with TruFire [Music] hi this is Keith Williams welcome to five white World we're interested in helping you get the most music from the least gear I would argue that there are three dominant bass sounds in rock music Defender Precision Defender Jazz and the Hoffner violin or Beetle bass Paul McCartney's use of the Hoffner became such a big part of pop and rock history that I think a short scale base should be in every player's Arsenal in fact I think that with one flexible long scale base like a Precision or a jazz and a short scale base to cover those classic 60 tones you'll be all set very few instruments have the impact on music that make it worthy of its own Short history but the Hoffner base is certainly one of them McCartney's hands it was on more hit records in such a short period of time that it helped Define the sound of bass and modern music in our heads so if you've been waiting for a look at the source of that Beetle bass sound then stay tuned because this is the five what world Short history of the Hoffner 500 violin Bass if you enjoy our videos make sure to subscribe and if you've already subscribed grab a hoodie or a t-shirt or a stomp preset pack to support what we do and to become a bigger part of five wire World sign up for the friends of 5 Watt on patreon the links are in the description Carl Hoffner founded the Hoffner company in 1887. it quickly became the largest instrument builder in the country his son Joseph and Walter joined the company around 1920. after World War II they were forced to relocate to West Germany eventually settling in bubenroof the new Factory there opened in 1950 later being expanded three times between 1953 and 1960 due to demand for their instruments in more current times Hoffner was first sold to busian Hawks and then to the music group and then finally in 2004 Klaus scholler who had been the general manager Hoffner for many years bought the company he and his wife run the company to this day during the 50s 60s and 70s the Hoffner instruments were distributed by Selmer of London and it is of course these years that we are most interested in as its accounts for Hoffner guitars being in the hands of The Beatles George Harrison used a president's model and a club 40 very early in the group and Lennon's first electric guitar was a club 40 model that he bought at hessie's music store in Liverpool in 1959. the band's original bassist Stuart Sutcliffe played a Hoffner 500-5 base McCartney would also play the space before acquiring his own Hoffner Sutcliffe's base is now owned by the Hard Rock Cafe and the 58 Hoffner catalog in England the natural finish or 328 was referred to as blonde and the 333 that Sutcliffe had was referred to as the brunette but of course we're all here because of Paul McCartney's use of the Hoffner 500-1 Walter Hoffner designed the 500 1 in 1955 and began production after first showing it to the public at the Frankfurt Music Fair in 1956. Walter created a semi-acoustic electrically Amplified base the hollow body design made it very light and easy to play as well as giving it a rich tone similar to that of a traditional upright base the short scale of 30 inches also contributed to the tone that would be described as everything from Full to tubby over the years it's referred to as a semi-hollow because it's a hollow body instrument but lacks sound holes in the top it was built very much like an acoustic guitar of the time with a thin Maple body Spruce top and maple neck it featured a two-piece bridge design made of ebony along with a metal trapeze Style tailpiece McCartney actually used two different 501 bases during his career the first base was purchased new during the band's first visit to Hamburg in 61. Paul's often told the story of not having enough money for a fender which would have been about a hundred pounds at the time compared to approximately 30 pounds for the Hoffner it's very unlikely that he'd been able to walk into a shop and find a left-handed base and it's widely believed that it was ordered and specially built for him Tony Sheridan who was an Englishman who lived much of his life in Germany and was an early collaborator with the Beatles said that there was very little demand for rock instruments in Germany at the time he believes that the custom ordered base for McCartney might well have been the first left-handed base Hoffner ever built another source of supporting evidence for the custom order story is an article from a 1963 issue of beat monthly where they stated that the base had been quote altered end quote for him in Germany and that they were not available in left-handed versions in England they ended saying quote he didn't just go into a shop and buy it off the peg he got it custom made the 500 1 violin base became his signature instrument and soon became widely referred to as the Hoffner Beetle base as such it became both an important part of the sound and the look of the Beatles this 1961 model had both pickups mounted close together towards the neck and this is the immediate visual clue to know which base Paul is holding in photographs that 61 was a hollow body base with a solid Spruce carved top and a one-piece flat back body it had a three-piece Maple neck and an Unbound Rosewood fingerboard with DOT inlays 22 Frets and a short 30 inch scale length the headstock had a stacked Hoffner logo and two on a side tuners the base had two diamond logo Hoffner nickel plated pickups in the forward positions the control plate had two volume knobs and three switches the switches were for base on treble on and Rhythm solo tones McCartney usually played his Hoffner with the treble switch off and the base switch on it had an adjustable Wood Bridge a nickel plated trapeze tailpiece and a floating white pearled pick guard that matched the control plate the 61 would become nicknamed the cavern base for the time the band played the famous Cavern Club 500 series bases are very light and have a thin comfortable neck that can be set very low for easy playing all traits that would be welcome playing six hour gigs that the Beatles were playing in Germany at the time but as lightweight instruments they were correspondingly fragile and can fail at the neck joint over the Long Haul I reached out to TruFire to be my sponsor because I've used them for years with over 2 million users worldwide whether you're a beginner intermediate or advanced level player TruFire has lessons to enhance and Inspire your playing get 35 off courses using a promo code 5 watt 35 or like I do sign up for the all access pass to use the entire TruFire catalog I really like true fire and I think if you give them a shot you'll like them too sign up now to start your journey to being a better guitarist I'd like to thank TruFire for their support in making this video very busy years for the boys go past before McCartney would get his second Hoffner the base arrived on October 4th 1963 during the rehearsals for their appearance on the TV show Ready Set Go he was seen with a new base during the camera checks but in the end he went with his original base for the filming of the show Paul told the reporters that he'd ordered the second Hoffner because quote it was the only left-handed base available and I thought I should have a spare end quote the 63 is in many respects the same as the 61 except for the placement of the pickups and the style of the Hoffner logo the 63 having the script logo the new base had the Hoffner staple style pickups mounted apart one near the neck and the other closer to the bridge the 63 also had two on a side open back tuners with rectangular buttons and Unbound dot inlay Rosewood fingerboard with a zero fret and three-ply white black white nut the arch top was laminated Spruce and there was a two-piece Arch Maple laminated back all finished in hoffner's brunette Sunburst finish there was an ebony bridge and a nickel plated tailpiece and perloid pickguard and control plate were the same as on the 61. this new base would become Paul's main instrument arriving late in 63 just prior to the Beatles appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show in February of 64. and as such would also be the best known Beetle base the image of the Beatles on Ed Sullivan would be etched in the minds of music fans throughout the world in multiple Generations and the instruments used in that performance rango's Ludwig kit John's Rickenbacker 325 George with his Country Gentleman and Paul with his softener would be the defining image of their career the music played that night changed everything and the instruments played became the instruments of desire for every kid that watched it [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] Beatles manager Brian Epstein made a deal with hoffner's UK distributor Selmer of London to add a promotional swing tag to new Hoffner instruments and music stores someone would run an ad in 1964 that said quote when Paul McCartney says the Hoffner violin base is just great you bet it's worth it end quote the 61 would later be repaired and refinished in 64. the top was refinished in a Sunburst and the pickup surrounds were replaced as the one closest to the neck had cracked the original pickups were capped the 61 would then be carried as a backup by 65 he'd begun using the Rickenbacker base but he brought the 61 for the filming of the promo for revolution in 68 and for the filming of the documentary let it be in 69. as an interesting side note in the Revolution promo Paul has the strap attached to the headstock instead it's to the neck heel it's assumed that this is to counteract the neck dive caused by the lightweight body of the instrument something that might have been more of a concern after playing the Rickenbacker for a number of years and Paul would use that 63 Hoffner until 65 when he got his Rickenbacker 4001 s see my video on the history of Rickenbacker basses for more details on that but even after he began using his Rick he would still use the Hoffner on occasion during the U.S tour in 1966 Paul would remove the pickguard from his 63 Hoffner and use it in that form going forward so if you're trying to replicate the specific look of McCartney using the Hoffner you first have to choose between the cavern and the 63 bases and then early versus later Beatles tours with without the pickguard during the shooting of the Let It Be documentary the 61 base was stolen from a closet at Abbey Road Studios along with Harrison's Gretch Tennessean and a Rickenbacker 360 12 string this accounts for why we see Paul using the 61 early in the film but then only the 63 for the rest of the film and for the famous rooftop performance filmed on January 30th 1969. also during the filming to let it be we see a basement sticker appear on the base as a load of Fender gear had been delivered during the filming it's assumed that the sticker came from the fender basement amp delivered at the time McCartney would go back to using the Rickenbacker for the Abbey Road album and his Rick was his primary base in the 70s and 80s with wings but he went back to using the 63 again on the 1989 album flowers in the dirt the album was a collaboration with Elvis Costello and Costello asked McCartney to bring the 500 out of retirement to play it on the record as of 2022 McCartney still has his original 63 Hoffner 500 and has continued to play the bass and still uses it regularly in performances but the relationship with Hoffner extends into recent history as well in 2012 a concert was organized to celebrate Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee the concert was held on the mall in front of Buckingham Palace and Paul McCartney was to be the headlining Act without contacting McCartney Hoffner had two 500 1 bases painted with a Union Jack where the blue and red were sprayed in but the white was left out and the natural wood of the base showed through there were two sprayed this way and they were stock bases that had been pulled for the project one was sent to Paul and one was kept by Hoffner at the show McCartney played his original 63 but for the last song Obladi Oblada he switched to the Jubilee base after the concert he was photographed next to the queen holding that base and finally in August of 2016 Hillary Clinton held a fundraiser for her upcoming presidential bid at Jimmy Buffett's house the ticket only event would feature Jimmy Buffett Jon Bon Jovi and Paul McCartney the problem was that Paul didn't have his base with him his crew was able to locate a left-handed 1967 500-one for him to use at the event he liked the bass so much that he purchased it as a backup for his touring McCartney kept the 67 in his collection and recently had it refurbished including a neck reset it served in this role until 2018 when Hoffner built him a custom base for this purpose [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] my buddy Jeff mcelane told me a great story about McCartney 63. Jeff was good friends with well-known new york-based luthier and repairman flip Scipio for many years flip was the head repair and restoration guy at Mandolin Brothers in Staten Island sometime in the 90s McCartney's guitar tech wanted to have someone look over Paul's famous 63 for some repairs and not surprisingly flip got the call and so it was that flip found himself lifting out of its case one of the most famous bass guitars in history as he turned it over checking the condition he realized that a set list was still taped to the top of the base McCartney's Tech verified that it was the set list for The Beatles final concert on the roof at Abbey Road and what's cooler than that first I need to thank Andy babiak for his book Beatles gear which was the source of much of the detail in this video it's an extraordinary book and if you're a Beatles fan it should be on your shelf I also need to thank Nick Wass from bass player magazine for his excellent article the history of Paul McCartney and his iconic Hoffner 500-1 bass guitar for his coverage of the most recent hoffner's Paul is used I need to thank Francisco de boras for his permission to use clips of him playing his vintage 1967 Hoffner with the later blade pickups Francisco shows the versatility of these bases I need to thank Clemens Cathcart for his permission to use the clip of him playing an original 64 Hoffner 500 1. foreign [Music] I need to thank the Music Emporium for their permission to use the clip of La Etienne playing a vintage 66 Hoffner in the video as you might imagine I had a tough time finding any clips of someone playing a vintage Hoffner that didn't play a Beatles tune that would create a copyright strike for the video I need to thank everyone that stopped by the store and grabbed a hoodie a t-shirt or a stop preset pack in particular I need to thank the friends of 5 Watt on patreon Euro 5 watt world I just make the videos if I missed your favorite detail from the beetle Base history leave it in the comments for everyone to enjoy you enjoyed this video hit the like button and if you haven't subscribed yet go ahead and hit that too if you like the style of video you might also enjoy the history of the Rickenbacker base to get more of that McCartney based Journey info until next time I'm Keith Williams thanks for being a part of the five wide world [Music] [Laughter] [Music] foreign

Channel: five watt world

Views: 118,635

Keywords: five watt world, Keith williams, the beatles, hofner beatle bass, hofner 500 bass, hofner violin bass

Id: 4p_CSfhOaWs

Length: 17min 1sec (1021 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 06 2023