Beatle Bass

[TMGuitars]

Here's a question. When Paul McCartney walked into that music store in Hamburg in 1961 do you suppose he asked the guy at the counter what he had in the way of a Beatle Bass?

[jonnyfez]

Well...Paul wasn't the first Beatle to play a Hofner bass -
Stu Sutcliffe was!

[TMGuitars]

Ouch! And you're absolutely correct. But they still don't call it a "Stu Bass." The reason this whole thing came up is that I have a Rogue VB100 arriving tommorow, with flats, and my wise-ass wife came up with that question. I hope that poor man's Hofner comes somewhere close to the original I had back in '69. We'll see.

[jonnyfez]

I'd be curious to hear how you like it. Haven't seen one in person.

[TG]

Beatle bass tip......play everything up an octave, as in, treat A string 7th fret as your low E.
Feels weird but sounds good.

[TMGuitars]

Okay Jonny, you asked for it, you got it. VB100 impressions.

Out of the box, it's beautiful. Not the dark finish of a Hofner, more of a caramel color but nicely flamed everywhere and beautifully bound. No nicks, blems or boo-boos anywhere. So far so good. Now comes the setup.

First of all, they might as well have shipped this thing without strings, they're that bad. And the action was a mile high, virtually unplayable. But no prob, there's plenty of adjustment at the bridge so off we go getting it lowered and in tune with the stock strings to see what we had here. And up popped what could have been a major problem for some. The thing would intermitentaly cut out and finally no sound at all. Turns out the input jack was catty-wompus, falling apart actually. Took it out of the body, tightened things up and we're back in the game. And the tone was pretty darn good. Possibilities here.

On went the flats, D'Addario ECB81M's. Now we're getting there! Tweaking the action some more and adjusting the truss rod a tick or two and this thing fell right into place. Nice low action with no buzz anywhere and the intonation up and down the neck is, if not exactly spot on everywhere, more than close enough for rock'n'roll.

Now the sounds. Coming from the Fender world the controls here take some getting used to. No tone control knob, just a "solo" and "rhythm" switch which, far as I can tell, just cuts the volume down considerably when in the rhythm setting. The pickups are pretty powerful, the neck a deep bass like a P-bass, the bridge a sort of barking J-bass tone. Both really nice, but you have to do your fine tune dialing-in at the amp. I've been spending most of my time at the neck pickup and the slider switch in the "solo" position. With the right twists of the knobs on the Bassman 25 it's Beatlemania. The thing really sounds good. It isn't just a one trick pony, either. Switch to the bridge pickup, for instance, make some changes at the amp and it's the Spencer Davis Group "Keep On Running" or even the Alman Bros. "Whipping Post." Seems to be a lot of sounds in here.

Bottom line: I'm happy. Just be prepared to do more than a little setup work. But for $169, not bad at all. Nice little bass, and not just a nice little bass for the price.

Oh yeah, it tips the scales at a featherweight 5-pounds/10-ounces. And the neck is plenty comfy.

Hope this helps and answers some questions.

Later

[savofenno]

Originally Posted by TMGuitars

Ouch! And you're absolutely correct. But they still don't call it a "Stu Bass." The reason this whole thing came up is that I have a Rogue VB100 arriving tommorow, with flats, and my wise-ass wife came up with that question. I hope that poor man's Hofner comes somewhere close to the original I had back in '69. We'll see.

Stu`s bass was a big bodied 500/5, with single coil pups. Paul first got a `61 500/1 violin shaped one, with hb`s grouped at middle and neck position. It is said it was rightie model, which McCartney took to luthier to alter it for leftie use.
His next Höfner was and is a V63, made as left handed bass from factory, with hb`s at bridge and neck positions.

[FrankMc]

Paul's first Hofner was bought as a lefty, more than likely ordered that way. Check Andy Babuik's book, Beatle Gear, he has a good story on that bass. The Hofner basses, the 500/1 violin and the Club bass are fine instruments and a lot of fun to play. I've been enjoying mine for over twenty years, a great bass.

[Cadfael]

A friend of mine has a Höfner Violin Bass from 1965.
(as a German it is easyer to type the "ö" because it's on my keyboard )

You can't really compare a cheap Höfner or even the expensive new Höfners to the 1960s Violin basses. The 1960s sound more "open" / "airy" / "wooden" ...

The finish also looks different because the 60s had a nitro finish, so an original bass looks semi gloss / semi-mat.

It was surely called "Beatles Bass" because the Beatles were known all over the Western (and Eastern) world. The Beatlemania was in Germany too - and what better could happen to a German instrument builder than the Beatles, playing their instruments?!

The audience in Hamburg surely remembered Stu, but even the majority of "teen fans" from 1962/63 on only knew Paul as the bass player. But Stu isn't forgotten!
And also not Klaus Voormann, bass player himself and an old friend of the Beatles since the Hamburg times (and creator of the "Revolver" cover). As far as I know, he's still Paul's friend and sometimes plays with him ...

You call it "Beatle Bass"???
In Germany it is called "Beatles Bass" ...

[howlin]

Originally Posted by Cadfael

You call it "Beatle Bass"??? In Germany it is called "Beatles Bass" ...

Yeah, but you guys pluralize stuff all the time. For example: its information not informations. Its data not datas . . . ;-)

[chillman]

In fact "data" is the plural form of the singular word "datum."

[Cadfael]

Hi chillman,

do you know that "Datum" is the German word for "data" - and in Germany, "Datum" is a singular word ...

@ howlin: And in Switzerland it is called "Beatli Bass" or "Beatle Bassli"?

[howlin]

Originally Posted by Cadfael

Hi chillman,

@ howlin: And in Switzerland it is called "Beatli Bass" or "Beatle Bassli"?

Ha-ha! You're right. Everything is "li" this and "li" that here.

[MN Punk]

I have a Brice copy of the "Beatle bass" from Rondo Music (the same people that make Agile guitars)... And I slightly regret the purchase because I'm 99% sure that the Rogue (which costs about half of the Brice) is made in the exact same factory by the exact same people with the exact same parts. Had I known I would have gone that route.

But I'm not too cranky about it because it is (after a little setup work) a rather nice instrument, and a much better Hofner clone than many others I've seen cranked out by other companies.

[acalan]

We bought the Rogue,about two years ago .nice bass ,beautiful finish on it, front and back.Got it from MF about $189

[BobbyMac]

The Rogue Beatle Bass is a terrific value. I bought one a couple of years ago with case from Musician's Friend and was very impressed with the quality of the build. I could not get used to the standard tone switches and removed them entirely. I had Tony at Pickguardian make a replacement control plate to accommodate a three knob "volume, tone, and blend" configuration. It made the bass much easier to dial in tone variations, pretty much like your usual Jazz Bass tone control setup. Excellent bass for the money, though my Precision basses always get first call!

Edited to add: The original round wound strings are terrible. A set of LaBella flatwounds solved that problem completely!

[Bob Mc]

I nearly killed the owner of a vintage 60s Hofner Beatle bass when he brought it in the shop where I worked and asked me to test the electronics. I had never touched one prior to that moment and I assumed it would weigh a ton. Damn near threw it over my shoulder when I lifted it out of the case. I think I said 'wow that's featherweight!', he didn't hear me as he was busy having a heart attack.

[Deaf Eddie]

I've had my V100 for many years, I enjoy it very much. As well as the swap for flatwound strings, also rewired mine, retasking the solo/rhythm switch (which - using a resistor - simply lops off some volume) for a tone cap on/off attached to the neck pup's volume pot - now it can REALLY thump and rumble. I used a .022uF, you could go bigger (.047uF) for darker.

[psychetelec]

Mine:

[Old Cane]

Originally Posted by TMGuitars

Here's a question. When Paul McCartney walked into that music store in Hamburg in 1961 do you suppose he asked the guy at the counter what he had in the way of a Beatle Bass?

I would guess the question was "what kind of bass do you have for 20 marks?"