Hofner Shorty Bass Guitar CT Black electric travel bass guitar

As always the usual exceptional service from Bax - the bass arrived beautifully package within 2 days and was instantly playable/perfectly set up straight from the box (it was actually gigged that night!) Going through my Hartke HD25 (also from Bax!) it was easy to find the gnarly/biting Bruce Foxton sound I was looking for. As a fan of short scale basses anyway (highly recommended for players with smaller hands, limited wrist and shoulder mobility (too many bike related fractures to mention!) etc the bass just feels 'right' straight away! Looks wise, it's much like myself - the photos simply just don't do it justice! The portability factor is obviously amazing and the build quality for the cost is simply exceptional. Highly, highly recommended!

Firstly 10/10 for BAX - the bass arrived within 3 days and was playable (once tuned) from the box. So I replaced the strings with D'addrio Short Scale Nylon Wound XLs in Medium (expensive!). Adjusted the truss bar, set the action to as low as I could get away with on this (always tricky with the lower strings on a shorty) and away we went.



Owned it for a week now and what can I say about it?



Firstly, like all Hofner guitars I have ever handled, from the cheapy to the top of the range, it is very well put together and a solid bit of kit. Finger board and frets on this one are faultless, body can't be faulted either - Hofners look a LOT better in the hand than they do on the web or in photos.



THe first thing that strikes you about this guitar is how small it is. Yes the Ibanez Mikro is even shorter but the diminutive body on it makes it look like a toy in your hands. First off it needs a strap and I would get one that grips your clothes - rouger leather or something to stop neck dive although I have not really experienced much of this.

Next question is where to put your thumb. The corner of the humbucker is fine for bridge end action but playing nearer the neck is a bit more of a challenge - I am considering fitting a thumb rest.



Pickup and tone etc. Like most cheaper short scale guitars it does suffer from a bit of woolieness of tone, you tend to find either turning the tone to max treble or max bass rather than fine tuning it. Having nylons on it possibly exacerbates this but I didn't buy it for gigging so no great problem for me. The height of the humbucker is interesting, it does effect your ability to set the strings to Flea level as they start to strike the plastic pickup cover. I am going to research changing the pickup - the ones in the Contemporary Violin Bass are lower - I'll have a play and report back.



Machine heads are not great - stiff out of the box but just a bit too measly to find on a bass - I'm looking to upgrade these soon. The tuners were always the weaker point of Hofner basses and it has taken longer than usual for the new strings to bed down into holding their tuning.

Neck and headstock are a single piece and have a lovely satin finish



Why buy it?



If space is an issue, if you are thinking of buying a more expensive short scale and you are not sure about the investment yet, or if you travel a lot and want to take your bass with you then it is just about perfect. It comes with a gig bag that is about the size of a rifle case. In fact, if you wanted a nicer case, I'm pretty sure that a decent quality leather shotgun case would fit it.

I bought it because I travel extensively for work and wanted a solid body bass I could plug a Vox headphone amp into allowing me to practice in hotel rooms without disturbing the neighbours. It's tiny size means that it takes up no space in the boot of the car and can be slung over the shoulder avoiding another trip back to the car to collect it.



But the big question is - does it make you want to pick it up and play it?



Yes, it certainly does.



It's a remarkable instrument and at this price, why the hell wouldn't you?

Very decent bass for the price. I would give it 5 stars but the finish on the back of the neck wasn't smooth (feels like the some dust got caught in the spray, nothing a little wire wool won't fix) and the overall design is good but it slides off your lap a little when seated. Otherwise for the price it's very good, light weight, great for a practice bass for in the house.

Bax are just excellent in every way. Great little bass right out of the box, superb price. Nice lightly padded gag-bag makes it look like a rifle! Excellent, very quick delivery. Gigged it only two days after delivery, sounded absolutely great through a friends gallien-kreuger amp. Although it's neck heavy, just getting it at the right height with the strap and resting your right arm on the body seems to be fine for me. Might treat it to better looking machine heads (and maybe a bridge and go all black!), although the originals work well and maybe try flatwounds as suggested by lots of folks on the 'net. Tempted to buy the guitar version shorty too!

Don't be fooled by the price tag, this is a lovely sounding bass however you want to play. It's light and easy to carry around.

It arrived on time and well packedged.

Thanks BAX I love it and thanks for the great service.