Vintage Hofner Verithin Bass - Germany 1961

This version of the Verithin Bass was introduced by Hofner in 1960 to the UK market.

The body timbers used are of the old tradition, with a laminated spruce top and bookmatched flamed maple veneers on the back. With the Verithin, Hofner broke with previous convention and finished the guitar in a glorious cherry red which was very popular on Gibson 335s at the time. The body edges are bound with multiple white/black plastic strips, and even the sound holes receive single white binding.

The neck joint really did break with Hofner tradition however, with a fully inset join into the heel and top of the body, rather than just into the heel with a cantilevered piece of the neck being suspended over the top as with all other Hofner archtops up to that time. 

The neck is three piece maple/beech/maple, with a rosewood fingerboard. The headstock is pure Hofner, with its standard mother of pearl inlayed flower motif and bold Hofner maker's logo. Machine heads are Hofner's good quality, open geared units.

Bold strip fingerboard markers of mock tortoiseshell and mother of pearl are fitted on the rosewood fingerboard. These were no doubt chosen in order to update the perceived old fashioned Hofner image at the time. After all, this was intended to be a radical bass guitar, well suited for the exciting new 60s decade.

All four rotary controls interact with each other to such an extent that to define whether a particular knob controls a particular pickup is somewhat challenging. But all the sounds are there – certainly lots of tone options from this lovely early hollow body bass. The pickups appear to be original and sound great. The pickups have been rewound by industry respected luthier, Piers Crocker. The bass is equipped with a newer ebony bridge and fitted with flatwound strings.

Overall condition is excellent. Frets have lots of life left, truss rod works fine, tuners are good, and there is only very limited evidence of player wear, no buckle rash, dings, and a super clean neck. There are no cosmetic or structural impediments to detract from the inherent vintage cool of this very appealing bass guitar from a bygone era.

Comes in period correct hardshell case.