FACTOIDS & TRIVIA

Höfner was founded in Schönbach, Germany in 1887 by master luthier Karl Höfner. The company mainly made instruments in the violin family, but made fretted instruments as well. In 1950, new production facilities were built in Bubenreuth and the 500/1 shown here was made in that production plant. The factory moved to very modern facilities in Hagenau where reissue 500/1 basses are remain in current production. Introduced in 1956, the 500/1 Bass, aka "Beatle Bass" is perhaps one of the most easily identifiable instruments thanks to Paul McCartney's liberal use of the model with Beatles. The earliest 500/1's used single coil pickups that were placed in  the neck and middle positions. Sometime in 1961-62, the pickups were changed to humbuckers and the mid-position unit was moved to the bridge position. In 1967, the pickups were changed again and the 500/1 eventually departed from the "Beatle Bass" design.

 Finish:  Sunburst, nitrocellulose lacquer

 Neck:  2-piece maple, set-in

 Fingerboard:  Rosewood; pearloid dot markers

 Number of Frets:  22

 Pickguard:  1-ply pearloid plastic

 Bridge:  Höfner, ebony

 Nut:  Plastic with zero fret

 Tuners:  Open, chrome

 Pickups:  Two, Höfner Nova-Sonic humbucking

 Controls:  Volume for each pickup, selector switch for each pickup, bass/treble switch

 Scale Length:  30 inches

 Neck Width at Nut:  1 9/16 inches

 Body Width at Lower Bout:  11 1/4 inches

 Body Depth:  2 1/4 inches

 Weight:  n/a