The Rickenbacker 330 design dates back to the late 1950’s when Roger Rossmeisl created a number of forward-looking designs including the Cresting Wave, chambered body and slash soundholes.
The Supro / Valco Coronado was one of a large number of models built in the early 1960’s by Valco under the Supro and National names, along with many other brands not owned by Valco. Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois due to that city’s central location for manufacturing and distribution, Valco was the heir to the National and Dobro companies. They made musical instruments and amplifiers for many other companies including catalog giants and Gretsch, until the company’s demise around 1967.
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The Supro Westwood pickup looks like a humbucker, but it’s really a single coil in a large case. The tuners are original single line Kluson models with creme plastic tulip buttons. The nut, tailpiece and bridge are original. The creme plastic pickguard is intact with some of the painted-on striping worn, but is not cracked. The pickup surround has small cracks above the adjustment screw, but is otherwise intact. The original cases for these instruments was fibre (cardboard) with a light, brown cloth lining. That type of case does not usually age well and often disappears with time. A non-original hard shell case is included.
This new Hofner Club Bass offers a couple of special features. The top and back are nicely flamed, and the bass is finished in an amber shaded varnish. The pickups are placed in ‘Cavern Spacing’, meaning the neck and middle positions are used. While this seems counter intuitive, it’s done because in the bridge position, signal can be fairly weak, and those pickups are often not used. The middle position gets a much stronger signal from the strings.
The Hofner Violin Bass first appeared in public during 1956, and Hofner’s intent was to encourage double bass players in beat and jazz groups to shift to electric. In many ways, this intention was similar to Leo Fender’s in introducing the Precision Bass in 1951. The benefits were immediately apparent and these new electric basses started appearing on stages, especially in early rock groups.
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There are a few instruments that are immediately bring to mind particular artists, and the Hofner Beatle Bass is one of them.
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