Karl Höfner GmbH is a German manufacturer of musical instruments, now part of The Music Group. The company was made famous by The Beatles' bassist Paul McCartney's use of their left-handed 1962 500/1 "violin" model. Today it is known as the "Beatle Bass" or "Cavern Bass" (after the Liverpool club where the Beatles played in their early days).

Contents

1 History 2 Acquisitions 3 The Famous Bass 4 External link

History

The Höfner company was founded by luthier Karl Höfner in the city of Schönbach in Germany in 1887, and soon became the largest manufacturer of string instruments in the country. His sons Josef and Walter joined the company around 1920, and began spreading the brand's reputation worldwide. The company suffered some upheavals during and after World War II, but survived and continued to thrive. The company built new factories in Bubenreuth in 1950.

Because of the relatively low prices of their instruments, they became popular among poor Liverpool musicians. When one poor Liverpool musican, sporting their 500/1 bass (see below) hit it big, they jumped on their bass's fame to get rich. They reissued the 500/1 model, briefly experimenting with other designs, every year or so. Today, they are very successful with their '62 500/1 reissue.

Acquisitions

In 1994, Höfner became part of the Boosey & Hawkes Group , and was able to expand and upgrade its facilities with the influx of cash. In 1997, the company moved from Bubenreuth to Hagenau.

After the musical divisions of Boosey & Hawkes were bought by UK investors (the Rutland Fund), a new parent company called The Music Group was formed. Höfner has been part of this conglomerate since 2003.

The Famous Bass

The 500/1, an electrically amplified semi-acoustic bass, was invented by Walter Höfner in 1955; the 500/1's were very light and easy to play, but had a very rich, warm, and gorgeous tone.

In 1961, the Beatles' original bass player, Stu Sutcliffe, left the band to pursue an art career. The Beatles were without a bass player, and none of them wanted to start playing it … except Paul McCartney. Paul had seen another bass player in Hamburg using a violin shaped bass, and when he saw one in the window of a Hamburg music store, he bought it and paid for it outright. Because of the bass's symmetricality, it would be easy for Paul to play it left-handed. Paul used it and made it famous. He liked to play it because it was very light and easy to play melodic bass lines on. Though he retired it around the Sgt. Pepper's time, the little bass remained famous.

It is quite ironic that Paul bought his because it was the cheapest (30 quid!), decent sounding, symmetricaly shaped bass he could find, whereas today, you cannot buy one for less than two thousand dollars.

In 1989, Elvis Costello convinced McCartney to unearth the Höfner for their collaboration "My Brave Face". Since that time McCartney has used the instrument in concerts as well, especially when playing old Beatles numbers.

External link

• Höfner GmbH page at The Music Group