When Paul McCartney put the 500/1 violin bass on the map back in 1963, he also defined the tone we expect from a Höfner four-string.
The brand became famous for its woolly bottom-end, the result of a short scale and tape-wound strings. The new Verythin model breaks that mould with a 864mm (34-inch) full-scale neck.
The result is a much more focused tone than Macca would be used to, and something that expands the Verythin Bass's potential pool of users. Construction-wise, the Verythin'stop, back and sides are formed from laminated flame maple, and there's that solid centre-block to maintain mass, support sustain and help minimise feedback.
The neck is crafted from a sandwich of maple with a filling of beech to provide extra stability, and then there's a rosewood 'board with 22 medium frets. Hardware is represented by a chunky bridge with fully adjustable saddles and a fixed tailpiece. The robust vibe is maintained by the large machineheads up on the peghead.
Like the Mod, the bass features a pair of Höfner humbuckers, each assigned to dedicated volume and tone controls. There's no pickup selector switch.
Plugging in, you'll find a great variety of tones by blending the pickups using the volume controls. The bridge unit is punchy as hell, and works great for funk or any style where you want the bass to dominate a mix.
Vintage lovers will prefer to use the softer tones of the neck pickup: think 60s pop, Stax and Motown soul.
The increased scale length gives the Verythin a wider tonal palette than, for example, the short-scale 500/1 violin bass. If you're into the way it looks, tonally this bass will cover all the bases...
