Item Reviews for: Hofner HCT5001 Violin Electric Bass Guitar with Case  -  HOF HCT5001 LIST
Hofner HCT5001 Violin Electric Bass Guitar with Case
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Just as expected...Incredible!

By: Stinky      Submitted: 10/12/2016

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Product Rating Product Review I own 3 other Hofner basses...they are all sunburst. Decided to go with a Black bass this time and not disappointed. Tone, feel and German electronics are spot on.
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Incredible instrument!

By: Thomas      Submitted: 5/18/2016

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1 person found this review helpful.
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Product Review I was debating whether to get the Ignition Bass which is substantially less or this Contemporary and I decided to spend the money. I made a very wise choice...beautiful instrument and German electronics.
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Beautiful guitar but far from setup!

By: Uncle Dave Wagner      Submitted: 3/9/2016

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Product Review The bass is beautiful but far from being setup and ready to play. I had to take it to my local guitar guy to make it playable. Pickups were buried deep and stuck. They needed to be pulled up before adjusting. It's not quite what I expected for the money spent but I'll keep it now that I had the work done.
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well worth the money

By: Jones920      Submitted: 9/6/2015

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4 people found this review helpful.
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Product Review I am happy with this bass. sound is right on and can do more than Beatles. light, plays good and would not trade it for anything
review title:

Fantastic Guitar

By: Brandon      Submitted: 3/31/2015

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2 people found this review helpful.
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Product Review Very clean and played well right out of the box. Excellent tone and sustain. I could probably lower the action a little and still be okay but the intonation is pretty much right on already. The hardware is solid and the controls/knobs seem very durable.
review title:

better than i thought

By: RudyS      Submitted: 12/12/2014

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1 person found this review helpful.
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Product Review great bass, light, sounds like the real deal and is the real deal and a good price. Quality is perfect
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excellent starter bass from hofner

By: REX KING from 141 WEST MAIN ST. BRAIDWOOD, ILL.      Submitted: 10/20/2011

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dont know have only owned 6 mths. time will only tell the staple pickups.the 1st fret the strings that came on the bass were to tinny, after changeging to flat wounds the sound was much better neck was light, it was stright and med/fast. no problem with the controls yes to all the above it was good, i would have stained it closer to the McCartney hofner action was good what i would exspect for the price
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My dream bass!

By: Marie from Pinckney, MI, USA      Submitted: 3/23/2011

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Made very well and feels solid. I had tried the ICON and Epiphone replica but they both felt and looked cheap. Solid construction and quality materials. Maybe label the controls so they are visible to the player. The case appears a bit cheap but looks durable enough to protect the instrument. Love it! People in the church band I play in and the congregation noticed it right away and liked it. Fast and comfortable especially for arthritic hands. Controls are placed well. The tone controls give the player most of those tone options. 2 very minor flaws only visible to me. Otherwise it looks rich and appealing. Felt great - "natural" - my arthritic hands loved it!
review title:

Better Than the Real Thing!

By: Doctor Wholittle from Texas      Submitted: 9/13/2010

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This series of bass (made in China) is equal to - and in some instances, better than - the German-made Hofners. Having played many a Hofner for many a Beatles gig, I can tell you that the CT 500/1 will stomp the crap out of any of the vintage Hofners I've EVER played. It sounds identical, but it plays like a dream! There are none of the typical idiosynchracies to be found in the Hofners I've played. Granted, I haven't played a ~new~ German-made Hofner, but I daresay that they've still got the same issues as always. This bass IS a Hofner, only without the ridiculous price tag or the aforementioned idiosynchracies. Sonically, I'd be hard-pressed to tell the difference. You can play Beatles all night long, or, slap on a set of roundwounds and trip the TREBLE switch and play whatever music you want. It IS surprisingly versatile. The feel is identical to the German-made Hofner, and far superior to the ICON-B. The weight / balance are the same as the German-mades, and don't feel as fragile or cheap as the ICONs. The controls are the same, which means you have to get used to the layout and which slider does what function, but once you've got it down, it's simple to use. Dark, smooth and mellow, like a fine scotch! Compared to the inferior ICON=B (now called the HI-IGNITION series), this thing is a DaVinci! The finish / stain is identical to a German Hofner, with the fine, smooth, deep vintage brown-burst. no glops of glue anywhere, as w/ the ICON. I'll stack this up against the definite article any day. Straight outta the box, this bass was great. It did need some top-end adjustment on the first string because of some minor fret-out issues, but overall, fantastic!
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A genuine Hofner at this price "Extremely pleased"

By: John Sr. from Newport News,Va USA      Submitted: 7/20/2010

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Yes. I have no concerns about dependability I love the small body style, and fast neck Very happy with the tone straight out of the box, but I did order a set of Thomastik Infelds to go on it It's a little bit heavier than I thought it might be, but that's due to the sustain block on the model. I did put the teacup knobs on mine, although the function of the stock knobs were fine Several different tone are available although the neck pickup is where I usually keep it Very good
review title:

Gene P Mc BEATLE BASS

By: GENE PMc LOVE HOFNER from Charleston Wv      Submitted: 4/3/2010

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Yes.VERY NECK HUMMBUCKER STAPLE PICK-UPS NO CHANGES VERSITLE TONE BEEN ENJOYING THE SOUND OF THAT BASS FOR 46 YRS. LIGHT WEIGHT EASY NECK CONTROLS EASY TO ADJUST WHILE PLAYING WARM AND WOODY Fantastic Very smooth easy
review title:

as good as original

By: Michael William Smith from Crawfordville florida USA      Submitted: 3/3/2010

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the features of this bass are as they should be for a beattle bass I see why paul loved the tone for recording. you can get amazingly different tones from the switch settings just hut and you will find something you will like. smooth action and plays with ease. sweet tones and lots of different choices top quality smooth and sweet
review title:

Not a Reissue But Better in Some Ways

By: mjfinpa from Etters, PA      Submitted: 7/29/2009

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Whoever is producing these for Hofner is taking pride in thier work, plus I'm sure Hofner is keeping close tabs on the workmanship -- top notch. (The precurser or ealier cheep Hofner was crap -- this one is exceptional for the price) This bass does not do a whole lot electronically, meaning its an inactive passive system and plays like one -- no suprises -- however, the sustain block adds a few improvements even over the reissues -- adds just enough weight (2lbs i think i read somewhere) to actually improve the feel and I think improves the sound over the higher end reissues (I've played both). Just sweet. When I get more comments on its sound when I play straight through the mains vs playing through an amp. This is the PERFECT bass to accompany/accent an acoustic set!! Read above... I will addd that these basses are some of the most playable out there. They are obviously not intended for hard playing and slap but they play as loud and deep as you want them to go. The neck beckons runs throughout the length. I bet this inspired Sir Paul to explore the spaces and runs he gave us. Depends on the switch settings. I only like one combination but the tone can be changed quite dramatically from the switches and tone control. I was expecting standard overseas finsh quality but the finish and feel of this bass was way better than expected. No problems. Action and playability are great.
review title:

your "Ticket to Ride"

By: Nobody you know from Tucson, AZ      Submitted: 7/2/2008

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I bought it around Christmas in 2007. Looks great, feels great and most players think I paid $1800+ for it, until I tell them! The fit and finish is very good and I really had to go over it with the proverbial "fine toothed comb" to find even the smallest irregularities. Everything from the tuners and bridge to the controls have very good quality. The bindings on both body and neck are nicely done with only one minor finish flaw on the bottom side of the neck binding by the pickguard where some of the overcoat had a slight bubble, but you'd have to know it's there to even notice it and it in no way affects the playability. All you do is dump the round wounds for some Pyramids and you have just the sound this guitar was designed to create, any music from the 50's or 60's era and especially the tone of Paul's Hofner, but without the price. Your general opinion of this product. Overall on a scale of 1-10 in every category I would give it a cumulative score of atleast 9.85 out of 10 !! Sure, you could spend more money, if you chose to, but it's like those guys that wear Platinum which cost more than gold, but looks just like Silver and you have to tell someone "it's real Platinum" because unless you tell them, they will thinks it's Silver !!! So my only adjustment was to add the "teacup" knobs and most don't notice that the switches are black instead of white on the control panel. The other great thing about this bass is the weight which makes it a pure joy to play for hours at a time without giving you a shoulder ache. I've had several occasions to play "the real thing" and unless I just got lucky, or something, they feel and play the same. I even took mine to a local dealer that had the $2000 real deal on sale, even the tones were identical! Sure glad I saved the $1200 for my new Genz Benz 600 tube amp! The tones are exactly what you'd expect of a Hofner and fit our Retro Rocket style of the 60's, Beatle, Turtles, Beach Boys, Monkees and every band you saw and heard on Sunday night infront of you TV set in black & white! With the exception of a couplde of minor flaws, like the neck mentioned above and 1 solitary hair about 3mm long under the finish that I have to point out or no one even notices, the finish is really well done and should keep it's luster for a very long time. Action right out of the box was good, took it to the gig that night and never took it off! Played about 4 gigs with the string that come with, then changed to my flatwound Pyramids as soon as they came in. The action is just the way I like it and intonation on G string above 16th fret is a bit sharp, but you very seldom play the tunes we do in that register anyway so no problem here. Neck is straight and real comfortable to play all night long.
review title:

Well worth buying into!!

By: Paul from The Netherlands      Submitted: 5/11/2008

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This contemporary bass is well made and feels dependable Your general opinion of this product. Taking it out of the box it needed a bridge adjustment because the action was way to high but for that amount of money who cares After setting up the bass, replacing the crappy roundwounds with some decent flatwounds I replaced the controlpanel with a german piece, I replaced the pickguard, tuners and tail (all with original Hofner ones) it felt a bit like my original Cavern Bass 1961, the only big difference is that my old one has a baseball neck which I find easier to play Tone is great with the flatwound strings! The paintjob is really good. Action was terrible and needed a lot of work
review title:

Everything you could want at a great price

By: Michael J from Pa      Submitted: 4/22/2008

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The bass is very sound in it's construction and the hardware and electronics are very familiar to those that stil play the originals and the reissue models.  Out of the box it was pretty well set up but I did have to change to a great known brand of flatwounds and with that I had to re-adjust the neck based on the lighter "E" string. One has to look hard at the neck joint to see any real flaws (if there are any) and the binding work is very well set and has not seperated at all in the cutout areas as some of the cheap knock-offs have with humidity changes. Your general opinion of this product. This bass serves it's purpose very well and can really make you stand out in the "bass players world" not only will most people not know that you are not playing the $2400.00 reissue but it will compete with a modern bass sound as well lending itself to re-creating the fab four to deep resonating monster metal with a sustain the the originals lack. The neck to me is very comfortable and easy to fly around on.  I have not found any overhang on the fret wire that some cheaper (and expensive) basses tend to have.  The weight is about 3 lbs heavier than a 62/63 reissue and a little over 3 lbs of an original 63 model that I own but never the less is still comfortable enough to do 4 45 minute sets with without breaking your back. Well here is where the contemporary differs from not only the 62/63 reissues but even the Icon.  Although it is still semi-hollow you won't just get that classic Macca sound without an outboard eq.  You will however get a heck of a Umppp that sustains very well.  You will also get a nice ring to it that you cannot acheive with the originals and reissues which makes for a nice change while still retaining the look of the classic Hofner shape. Poly finish vs Nitro finish.  Who really cares. either way it will break down (just will take a longer time meaning a nicere looking bass for more years of enjoyment.)  THe sunburst finish on this bass is more like that of the 62 model (light tea coloured in the center) and is sprayed nicely over a beautiful flamed top and back.  ALthough not finish related buy the case for the bass. A bag can be nice but these are easy to damage as is with any semihollow or hollowbody that relies on a cantaliever neck joint. I have repaired more hofners necks due to bag damage that oculd have been prevented with a solid Hardcase. The action was pretty much where I like it so I had no complaints.  Although if you throw away the crappy round wounds they put on and put on a great flatwound type (same as pal used) and you will need to raise the action a bit and adjust the rod for the proper bow.