Hofner Contemporary Bass Review

My last review was of the Hofner Mersey ’62 so let’s move on to my Hofner Contemporary Bass review. And all I can say is Hofner quality control used to be impeccable. Now it’s atrocious. I’ve tried one German model and a few Chinese models in the last year. All had issues. The bass I finally kept is a Chinese HCT model. It needs a lot of work. But it was the best of the lot. Hofner used to be pretty much perfect “out of the box”. So if you’re looking for a Hofner Beatle Bass – a nickname I loathe by the way – you may have to try several and pick the one that needs the least work.

Like I said in my last review, I used to love Hofner. The 2002 German Hofner V’63 I had was a great instrument. As was my 2015 Chinese HCT model.

I play short scale basses and I prefer the neck dimensions of a Hofner. I also prefer going to an actual store as opposed to ordering online. But Hofner isn’t Fender or Gibson. They aren’t everywhere. There are very few dealers in Canada (there was only one two years ago). So it wasn’t easy getting one and it’s especially annoying when they keep producing and shipping… well, to be honest… crap.

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Trying to find a decent quality Hofner

In April of 2021, my old HCT Hofner was killed by an incompetent tech at Long & McQuade. With the Covid related lockdowns and a shortage of legitimate techs in my hometown I spent almost a year trying to get the bass fixed before giving up and shopping for a new one.

As mentioned in the Mersey ’62 review, I decided to go back to a German made model thinking it’d be a quality instrument. I was wrong. When I returned the bass to the dealer (Cosmo Music in Richmond Hill) they had a Contemporary model in black in stock. I tried it. It was horrible.

Set to factory specs almost every single note on every fret buzzed and it wasn’t just a case of the stock round wounds being “clanky”. It was also ugly. A black Hofner with aged white binding and a rosewood fretboard is sexy. The jatoba fretboards Hofner uses on the HCT line now made the fretboard look almost orange in contrast with the black body. (Of course Hofner use old pictures on their website. Pfft.)

Going back and forth from London to Richmond Hill is a pain and I wasn’t pleased with Cosmo’s customer service so I decided to deal with Long & McQuade again.

They have two stores here in London and I’ve known the manager of the one store for 30 years. He’s never done me wrong. He’s gone above and beyond for me many times so I rationalised it as “I’m not doing business with L&M. I’m doing business with my old friend, Mike… who just happens to work for L&M.”

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Hofner Quality Control is now non-existent

The first HCT 500/1 my local L&M received when I ordered it was trash. Bottom line. It was absolute trash. I don’t know who’s signing off on these as “inspected and passed QC” but they don’t deserve their jobs.

The first issue was a stupid mistake on Hofner’s part. The saddle for the G string was in the wrong slot. Since Hofner simply uses a piece of fret wire for their saddles it was easy to pop out and put in the right slot.

But this should have been caught at the factory before passing QC and being shipped to a dealer for sale.

The issue which lead to me taking that one back to the store for an exchange was brutal. Just absolutely f*%#ing brutal. An off-centre neck pocket.

They should have tossed that bass in the scrap heap but some Hofner employee said “Yep, good enough”, signed off on it and shipped it out for sale. You might want to check your CNC machines, folks. There’s no excuse for an off-centre neck pocket like that. No excuse at all.

Before moving on to the issues with the second Hofner HCT the dealer received, let’s look at one last thing…

The first HCT 500/1 came with a white pickguard and control panel. I still had the pickguard from my old Contemporary in junk drawer and compared them. I didn’t really care that the new one was bright white. The first thing I do with any Hofner is take the pickguard off. All they do is rattle and serve no practical purpose. If you need a pickguard on a 500/1 to protect your bass from scratches from playing… you might consider percussion instead.

When the replacement bass arrived it had an aged white pickguard and control panel, not bone white like the model I was returning. My wife opined that Hofner was simply “Frankensteining” their basses to catch up on pandemic related production delays and just grabbing anything and everything out of any boxes they have laying around.

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Hofner Contemporary Bass Review… it gets worse

The replacement bass the dealer received had (and still has) issues. I kept it because they’re fixable. I shouldn’t have to fix them though…

The first issue, just like the German Mersey ’62 I bought and returned, is a brutally sloppy job on cutting and filing the nut slots.

Now, before someone says “But it has a zero fret. The nut slots don’t matter.” – A zero fret is for the string height and only the string height. When a slot is too wide the string will buzz and rattle when you play with anything other than an unnaturally light touch. The nut slots on my bass are too wide and not even filed straight.

I just now noticed (02/15/24) when taking some of the pictures for this article, that the damned zero fret isn’t even straight in relation to the end of fretboard and the nut.

Seriously Hofner, what’s your f*%#ing damage?!?

When the replacement nut I ordered arrived the dealer and I just shook our heads and laughed. Hofner sent a warped, worthless piece of plastic.

The next is what I call “The Leaning Bridge of Pisa”. Since a picture paints a thousand words, here are 2000 words worth of pictures.

That’s a bad lean. Really bad and you can see the bridge isn’t even making full contact with the body. To better illustrate just how bad that lean is, well, here’s a picture with a level…

Yes, sanding down a bridge base is easy to do but that bridge is brutal. And I shouldn’t have to do extensive work on a brand new instrument. I think my wife’s “Frankensteining” theory is right.

The next issue are the frets and the upper frets on my bass aren’t level. Not even close. Checking with my fret rocker I get a “clickety clack” four times once you move past the 11th fret. So, on a 22 fret instrument 18% of the frets are off. Yay Hofner!

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Hofner Contemporary Bass Review – The Conclusion

As I’ve said, my old V’63 was essentially flawless and my old HCT 500/1 was too. Hell, the article I wrote just before the Mersey ’62 review was about the quality of Chinese made guitars and Hofner was the only one I really spoke favourably about.

But the Hofner Mersey ’62 I bought was junk. So were the Contemporary models.

I’ve been a Hofner player for 22 years. They used to make a good bass. Now, getting a good one is like winning the lottery. I have music projects that I put on hold since 2021 because I wanted a Hofner. That was “my bass”. I could have used my Mustang PJ but I wanted a Hofner. That’s the sound I hear for 90% of what I write.

I want to thank Hofner for something though.

They’ve pissed me off enough that I’ve decided to be more blunt and less diplomatic with my reviews from now on. I only review what I buy and everything I buy is with the intent of keeping it. No one sponsors me so I can call a spade a spade.

One German model and two Contemporary models (plus another HCT and an Ignition series I tried in-store) are enough of a sample size for me to say Hofner quality control is piss poor right now.

The HCT models are simply not worth $1200.00 CDN.

Actually, I’ll thank them for a second thing… This bass needs work. A lot of work. And some upgraded parts. I may as well write an article about that…

The only positive thing I have to say about the current HCT 500/1 line is that the sunburst finish they’re using now is a nicer golden brown, without the black edge my 2015 HCT 500/1 had.

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Does Hofner have much of a future?

Maybe Hofner’s QC in 2024 will be back up to snuff. Maybe not. Either way, I’m not buying the two other Hofners I was going to get.

I was going to get an HCT 500/1 “Cavern” model for the different pickup type and placement. Plus I really like the old headstock script. But I don’t believe those specs. As of this writing Hofner’s site says the neck is rosewood and the fretboard is ebony. On an HCT Cavern model? When even German Hofners have two piece maple necks they’re making rosewood necks on the Chinese models? Really? Nice… Hofner’s site is only marginally more useful than Rickenbackers.

And part of me still really wants a German “Artist” model in black. Again, a black Hofner 500/1 is damned sexy. But…

Instead I’m going to check out the new Danelectro Red Hot Longhorn and maybe the Guild Starfire I and II basses for a backup. In fact, I might even relegate this new Hofner to backup status even after I get it fixed.

Maybe my wife is right. Maybe 2023 was just a bad year and they were still catching up from the pandemic delays. Me though, I’m more cynical. I think their thinking is… “Well, McCartney won’t be around much longer. Neither will the aging Boomer and Gen X market so we’d better crank them out and sell them while we still can.”

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Hofner Customer Service

As of today’s date of publication for this review (03/06/24) it’s been over three weeks since the dealer reached out to Hofner on my behalf asking for a replacement bridge under warranty. The dealer even followed up with them after the two week mark.

I reached out to them myself (on 02/14/24) via their Facebook account and was given two email addresses. One for their North American rep, Rob Olsen, and one, the generic “info@”, for the folks in Germany (I assume). I emailed both accounts and I included several of the pictures I used in this review and linked them to the Mersey ’62 review I wrote.

At the very least they can apologise and approve the warranty bridge replacement. I shouldn’t have to sand it down (it’s a bad angle with a lot of wood to shave off). Nor should I have to buy one myself and hope it’s not as bad as this one.

Instead, they’re ignoring me, the customer, and they’re ignoring the dealer. Neither of us has received a response.

Hofner is building and selling junk and NOT standing behind their product or honouring warranty issues.

Hofner proudly states “Designed in Germany” on the back of the HCT headstocks, instead of “Made in China”. Well, Hofner, based on what I’ve bought and tried in the last year you’ve got nothing to be proud of no matter where it was designed or built.

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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 my review of the Mersey and this 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…

Apparently all Hofner nuts are bowed when laid flat but they straighten out once installed. Um. Ok. I’ve never come across that with any other brand before, whether it’s the guitar manufacturer or an aftermarket company like GraphTech. He’ll send me a new nut but he’s not even sure a German nut will fit an HCT.

Um. What? His resume says he’s been responsible for designing several current different Hofner models, that the Icon/Ignition series is his, and that he runs the Hofner US custom shop but… He doesn’t know if the nut he’s sending me will fit my 2023 HCT model.

And he’ll send me a new bridge but it probably won’t be any better than the junk one that came on the bass and will require a lot of sanding.

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.