2023 Hofner Mersey ’62 Review

I used to love Hofner. I’ve owned both German and Chinese models. But as you’ll see from reading this 2023 Hofner Mersey ’62 Review… they’re not making it easy. I purchased, and almost immediately returned, the Mersey ’62 because, despite it being a handmade German model, it was an absolute disgrace that never should have left the factory. If you were to ask me now “Is a German Hofner worth the money?” I’d say “Absolutely not.” I’ll also talk about the German vs Chinese Hofner debate and cover what I’ve found to be a distinct lack of Hofner quality control in the various 2023 models I’ve tried so far this year. And now, on with the review…

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Why Choose a Hofner

I guess the first thing to cover is… Why do I like Hofners? Why is a Hofner 500/1 my preferred bass? This lemon of a Mersey ’62 model was the third Hofner I’ve owned.

Hofner is much like Rickenbacker. They’re in business today largely because of The Beatles. They’ve been trading on that connection for decades. Did you know McCartney bought his first Hofner for two reasons? It was symmetrical and it was cheap. Ha! German Hofners ain’t cheap anymore.

When I was a kid, my grandparents introduced me to The Beatles (along with Glenn Miller and Buddy Holly) so yes for me, yes, there’s the Beatles connection. Fun fact there though: McCartney is my least favourite of the Fab Four.

I don’t like most of McCartney’s song writing with The Beatles (I find his lyrics especially weak) and I don’t care for most of his solo work (except for a couple of tracks – Maybe I’m Amazed is brilliant). That said, I think his bass playing from ’66-’69 was pretty much untouchable. He redefined rock bass.

So “Macca” isn’t the reason I play Hofners. But I respect his choice of instrument. The tone of a hollowbody Hofner, that warm, woody “thunk” gets close to the sound of a double bass I loved on all those old records my grandparents played for me. String a Hofner with a set of La Bella 760FHB2 flat wounds (39-96 – I prefer the lighter gauge) and the tone is so smooth, so mellow, it’s perfect… to my ears at least. And a Hofner is much more than a “one-trick pony”. While I wouldn’t recommend one for punk or metal for rock, blues or jazz it does everything I need.

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The Comfort of a Short Scale Bass

I’m primarily a guitarist but love playing bass. Since my gigging days are done my focus is writing and recording in my home studio. Switching from a guitar to a short scale (30″) bass is an easy transition (especially when arthritis and carpel tunnel start creeping in). Also, Hofner’s specs are perfect for me.

There are 22 frets in that 30″ scale and the neck width at the 12th fret on a Hofner 500/1 is 48mm. For comparison, my Fender Mustang PJ bass has only 19 frets in the same 30″ scale and a neck width of 52mm at the 12th fret. Then there’s the string spacing at the bridge – Hofner measure 48mm, my PJ measures 60mm. A Hofner is far more comfortable for me to play.

So, that’s why I’ve spent the last two years trying to get another decent Hofner but their revolving door of North American distributors, and having very few dealers, didn’t make that goal easy.

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Hofner Quality Control

My 2002 German made V’63 was flawless. Not one issue, not one rattle, not one buzz anywhere. I live in SW Ontario and we have – or at least used to have – four distinct seasons. Sure, I ensure my music room is climate controlled but not once, not ever in the five years I had that bass did I have to adjust the truss rod. I foolishly sold it to cover going back to school for some upgraded credentials. (HR. Wasted my time and money.)

My 2015 Chinese made Hofner HCT Contemporary model was also flawless. It was easily on par with my old V’63 and I was happy with it until it was killed by an incompetent guitar tech at Long & McQuade in April, 2021.

This time I decided to treat myself to a German model again and ordered from Cosmo Music in Richmond Hill, Ontario.

The bass seemed ok in the store. At least, as much as you can tell when the bass department is a dimly light back corner of the store and you’re playing through an amp on low volume with other people testing gear all around you. You never see or hear the finer points of the instrument until you get it home.

When I got the bass home I discovered four major issues. Hofner NEVER should have signed off on the bass and shipped it to a dealer. The dealer should have caught this one before selling it to me. Especially since their senior technician supposedly fully inspected and play tested the bass before they sold it to me. But that’s another story…

For $4500.00 CDN that bass was worthless for anything other than pretty pictures or firewood.

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Hofner’s Thomas Stuhlein is a lousy luthier

Anyone who has ever worked with wood, whether they’re making cabinets or furniture or guitars, knows you never, ever use wood with a knot in it. As that piece of wood ages it twists. It’s a matter of when, not if. I went through that very issue with my first Rickenbacker. Bottom line, Hofner never should have used that piece of wood.

The second issue was a bizarre buzz on the 6th fret of the E string. It wasn’t buzzing off a fret between the 6th fret and the bridge. The buzz was coming from between the nut and the fretted note. Applying pressure to any fret between the nut and the 6th, while still fretting the 6th, eliminated the buzz. I’ve been playing almost 40 years and I’ve never experience that before.

The third issue was the incredibly sloppy work cutting and filing the nut. The following pictures should embarrass anyone with a sense of pride in their work…

Seriously, zoom in on these pictures. The closer you get, the worse it gets. It’s absolutely appalling that a company that charges the price Hofner does for their instruments allows shoddy work like this to pass through inspection.

The fourth issue was that the bridge couldn’t even be lowered enough to meet Hofner’s own factory specs of 3mm on the E and 2mm on the G. The lowest you could set the G side was 2.25mm.

Needless to say the bass was returned. When I brought it back to the store they had a Contemporary model that had just come in. I tried it. It was worse. Far, far worse.

It was set to spec, the action was right, the relief was right but every single fret on every single string buzzed all the way up the neck. In fact, laughably and ironically, the best Hofner the store had was a cheap Ignition model which only had a small buzz on one fret but I have zero interest in their entry level line.

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Is A German Hofner worth the money?

With a German Hofner’s “case candy” they include the Certificate of Authenticity and a picture of the “luthier” that built your particular instrument, some pictures of the factory employees, etc, etc. The lemon I bought and returned was made by Thomas Stuhlein. According to Google and Hofner’s Facebook page, he joined Hofner in 1999. Based on the extremely poor quality work he did on the bass I bought… he needs to find another job.

Whatever is happing with Hofner quality control in 2023 is a disgrace. And it’s 2023. They can’t blame the Covid pandemic anymore.

So, is a German Hofner worth the money? If you’d asked me 20 years ago when I had my Hofner V’63 I’d have said yes, absolutely. Based on this Mersey ’62 disgrace, I’d say no way in hell. German Hofners, not counting the “Artist” model, are roughly four times the price of the MIC Contemporary series but they’re not four times the bass. They’re pretty much on par.

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German vs Chinese Hofner

Country of origin is an oft discussed, debated and dead horse beating topic on a lot of music forums. To me, the country of origin doesn’t mean much. Personally, I’ve yet to play an American made Fender that was worth the increase in price over a Mexican made Fender. That’s just one example. Hofner themselves provide another.

My old German Hofner and my old Chinese made HCT model were both flawless. The 2023 German Hofner Mersey ’62 I just bought and returned and the 2023 Chinese HCT model I tried when returning it were both garbage. I’m not a fan of Chinese made guitars in general but the country of origin isn’t a guarantee of quality, or lack thereof, though it can be a good guide to what to generally expect.

I don’t know if it’s still true but, pre-pandemic my understanding of Hofner’s different models was this:

The German models are all individually handmade in Germany, supposedly using the best wood, hardware and electronics. The Contemporary models are made in China. According to pre-pandemic information Hofner has their own factory in China making nothing but Hofners as opposed to other guitar brands where one factory will make several models for several different brands. The MIC models use slightly inferior hardware and electronic components but use the exact same pickups as the German models. Further, Hofner made a point of stating on their old website site that the Chinese employees went to Germany for their training and the management/supervisors in the Chinese plant were German.

So, in theory, other than the electronic components being a little cheaper, a Chinese made Hofner could be almost on par with a German model. I’d say that’s true based on my experience. Both factories can make great instruments and both, as I’ve seen first hand in 2023, can make absolutely beautiful instruments that are worthless except for looking good sitting on a stand.

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2023 Hofner Mersey ’62 Review – The Final Verdict

I can’t stress this enough. This bass was a disgrace. If anyone at Hofner had any self-respect, especially Thomas Stuhlein and his supervisor who signed off on this disaster, they’d hang their heads in shame. Honestly though, I think it’s obvious they have none. Anyone who has an ounce of integrity or pride in their work wouldn’t have built and shipped the defective dud they did.

I wanted a German Hofner. A beautiful, well-made, sweet sounding bass like my old V’63. I wanted to be playing it now, recording and releasing music. This review should have been about how sweet a Hofner sounds with La Bella flats (seriously, the Pyramid Golds German Hofners ship with are rubbish to my ears… unless you’re playing in a Beatles tribute band). I should have talked about how useless the bridge pickup is on a Hofner and that the only good sound comes from the neck pickup with the control panel set to “solo”. A Hofner, with La Bella flats, soloed on the neck pickup… that’s the most beautiful bass tone there is to my ears.

Instead, all I can say is Hofner ain’t what it used to be. They used to make great, albeit over-priced, instruments. Again, they’ve been trading on The Beatles connection for decades. If McCartney hadn’t played one would they even be known outside of Germany? Would they still be in business? Based on what they’re building and shipping this year, I’d say probably not.

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Update 03/12/2024

I had an interesting conversation with Rob Olsen yesterday.

In short, Rob is the North American Sales Director for Adam Hall, the company that handles Hofner’s North American distribution. He’s worked with Hofner since 1998. The folks in Germany wanted him to respond to my concerns in this review of the Mersey and my review of the HCT models.

Now, if you’re going to respond to concerns from a player/customer you should be familiar with those concerns. Rob wasn’t. He hadn’t read either review. He hadn’t looked at any of the pictures included in the emails to Hofner. In short, he didn’t seem to care that much and came across as a tad dismissive.

But he did provide me with some very interesting information…

The Certificate of Authenticity that comes with a German Hofner isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on. It’s deceitful. One could even say fraudulent.

Rob told me Thomas Stuhlein didn’t do the nut work on the Mersey I had, that he only does the fret work. My response was that, according to my CoA he built the bass. Rob then told me the CoA is just a meaningless piece of paper any employee can sign.

I have a habit I picked up years ago. Any time I’ve dealt with someone, be it an employer or landlord or business, etc., that has conducted themselves poorly in a professional capacity re: labour laws, health and safety or that tries to “rip me off” and they need to be held accountable, I record the conversation.

I’m a funny person. I value honesty and integrity. I’m done with Hofner.