Hofner Limited Edition Fab Gear Revolution Beatle Bass 500/1-61-REV Model (Lefty)

For years as a Hofner dealer, customers have asked me, “I want to get a Hofner ‘Cavern’ Beatles bass like Paul McCartney’s first but the way it looked when he had it redone and used in the Beatles’ ‘Revolution’ video.” When I researched and wrote the Beatles Gear book in the 1990’s, I detailed the whole story of Paul’s first Hofner and how he had it redone (excerpts from the book below). It was with all this knowledge, detailed information and now as a Hofner Premium Dealer that I teamed up with the good people at the Hofner Custom Shop to come up with The Hofner Fab Gear Revolution 500/1-61-REV Limited Edition Model built by the Hofner Custom Shop exclusively for Andy Babiuk’s Fab Gear.

Every detail was scrutinized to be as accurate as possible, including the custom made pickup surround and the special “Revolution Bust” finish with the correct 3 color sunburst and sunbursting on the sides and back of the neck to be most similar to Paul McCartney’s famous Hofner Revolution Beatle bass. Each Hofner Fab Gear Revolution 500/1 is hand numbered and comes with a Hofner deluxe tweed hardshell case, certificate of authenticity, Hofner warranty / paperwork and an autographed copy of my book “Beatles Gear: All The Fab Four’s Instruments From Stage to Studio – The Ultimate Edition”!

SPECS 

• Instrument: Fab Gear Revolution Beatle Bass

• Model: H500/1-61-REV

Body

• Shape Violin Bass

• Wood Top Spruce

• Soundhole None

• Wood Back Flame Maple

• Wood SidesFlame Maple

• Binding Top Black / White / Black

• Binding Back Black / White / Black

• Binding Sides White

• Centerblock None

Neck

• Wood: Flame Maple / Beech / Flame Maple

• Construction: Three Piece

• Headstock Shape: Hofner Violin Bass. 

• Logo and Artwork: Vertical 

• Neck Joint: Violin Bass Set Neck

• Joint At: 16th Fret

• Thickness Neck + FB At 1st Fret: 24mm

• Thickness Neck + FB At 12th Fret: 28mm

• Heel Cap: White Pearl

Fingerboard

• Wood: Rosewood

• Scale: 30"/76cm

• Nut Width: 42mm

• Width At 12th Fret: 48mm

• Inlays: Pearl Dots

• Binding: None

• Side Dots: None

• Number Of Frets: 22

Bridge

• Material: Ebony

• Type: Hofner Fretted

Hardware

• Tuners: Single Nickel "Rugby Ball"

• Tuner Buttons: Plastic

• Tailpiece: Hofner Trapeze Nickel

• Nut Material: Plastic

• Pickguard: White Pearl

• Pickup Neck: Hofner Diamond Nickel

• Pickup Middle: Hofner Diamond Nickel

• Potentiometer Knobs: Gold top

• Electrics: Hofner Pearl Panel

• Strings: Hofner Flat Wound

• Approximate Weight Kg: 2,1

Setup

• Action Bass String at 12th Fret: 3mm

• Action Treble String at 12th Fret: 2mm

Excerpts from: Beatles Gear All the Fab Four's Instruments from Stage to Studio authored by Andy Babiuk

….In the early part of 1964, McCartney had arranged for extensive work to be done to his original ’61 Hofner bass while he was away on tour. The guitar was refinished with a polyurethane sunburst finish, similar in appearance to Fender’s well known three-colour sunburst. His old Hofner was also fitted with a new mounting system for the two forward pickups, one of which had come loose and had been temporarily taped in place. Replacing the regular individual pickup surrounds, a new large black rectangular plate was made to hold the two Hofner pickups in place. The bass’s pickguard was cut to accommodate the new mounting plate, and a new set of volume knobs replaced the originals. “Sound City has some very distinctive guitars on its walls at the moment,” ran a contemporary news report, “including one of Paul McCartney’s very first violin basses.

Another is Harrison’s first Gretsch and the third is Lennon’s second Rickenbacker, but they are not for sale. ‘The boys wouldn’t part with any of them,’ says [store manager Bob Adams], ‘they’re just in for overhauls.’” Today, Adams recalls the work done to McCartney’s bass. “We worked on it at our shop in Shaftesbury Avenue and I had to send it out to have it re-sprayed. I had one of my staff do it. We needed to make a new mounting system for the pickups because they were falling out.” The bass was refinished in a Fender style tri-color sunburst, and a new custom black pickup surround was made most likely because the original Hofner pickup  mounting surrounds were unavailable and the job needed to be done. So the repair shop at Sound City fashioned what looked like a solid piece of black plastic that allowed both pickups to be mounted in their original forward positions.

The new pickup mount was held in place by four new screws that were screwed into the face of the guitar. The bass was also fitted with a new pair of tall style cream control knobs. McCartney first used his newly refinished and refitted ’61 Hofner bass on July 11th for a television performance on the British ABC programme Thank Your Lucky Stars. During this same day’s shooting, McCartney talked to a journalist about the work done to his bass. “Sound City did a great job re-varnishing and re-wiring it,” he said, “so that most people think it’s a brand new model.”

….The equipment used during the ’64 US tour was the same as the group had used in Blackpool. Starr played his third Ludwig drum set with the 22-inch bass drum, on the Remo head of which was painted the number-four Beatles drop-T logo. McCartney used his ’63 Hofner violin bass, with his refinished ‘61 Hofner along as a spare, which he played through the Vox AC-100 bass rig.

….The Beatles’ new single, ‘Hey Jude’ and ‘Revolution’, was released on August 30th in Britain, the group’s first on their own Apple record label. On September 4th, the day after Starr had rejoined, the all-important promotional clips for the new 45 were filmed at Twickenham studios. The promo for ‘Revolution’ features the group performing in a familiar live stage setting. McCartney plays his original ’61 Hofner bass (with something stuck under the strings by the bridge), Harrison has his new red Gibson Les Paul, and Lennon uses his natural-wood Epiphone Casino. 

…As for guitars, McCartney’s Rickenbacker 4001S bass, newly stripped to natural wood, was available at Twickenham but never used. Also present was his ’61 Hofner bass. Out-take footage from the sessions – later used in the promotional clip for ‘The Ballad Of John And Yoko’ – shows McCartney playing this original Hofner. But the Twickenham sessions would be one of the last occasions when McCartney used the ’61 bass, which was stolen shortly afterward. For the bulk of his bass playing during the filming, McCartney preferred to play his ‘63 Hofner, which was now fitted with a set of black nylon-tapewound strings.