Unusual Old Bass Pickup

[Sock Puppet]

Hi,

I took a couple of pictures of a pickup that a friend of mine is going to put on ebay. Thought I'd share them here.

As far as he remembers, it's from a late 60's / early 70's Hofner bass and is of Bill Lawrence manufacture.

S.

[Peter Naglitsch]

This
Hofner Guitar Pickups
quite extensive page on Hofner pickups doesn't have anything similar listed.

[jonson]

Not heard of Bills Pickups being used by Hofner but then what do I know. They were put on some German Framus guitars though.

[David King]

It does look a little like the 511 but obviously the slot is wider here.

Hagstrum?

[Sock Puppet]

I should have taken the photos with a ruler in the frame, it's 4"/100mm wide across the mounting ring.

Funnily enough, there's an early framus star bass tailpiece to be listed as well. From that hofner guitar pickups site it looks like a prototype of the 513.

I'll see if he knows anything more about it - he's like a music encyclopaedia, as bass players tend to be.

BTW If you want something done, ask the bass player.

S.

[Stealth]

Looks like a Vox/Eko bass pickup - something that might've fit into this:

[jonson]

Never seen anything like that on a Vox. Early stuff 59/60s era had Guyatone/ Fenton Weill style closed cans wound as an aircoil then stuck round a magnet. Then all after were pole pieces, sure Bill Lawrence never had any involvement there. Hopefully when the man's health improves then he is the best person to ask.

[Albert Kreuzer]

BTW If you want something done, ask the bass player.

+1

[chevalij]

+1

BTW If you want something done, ask the bass player.

S.

Might has well, he has spare time during the song

[Sock Puppet]

Just been on the phone to John Morgan and he's pretty sure that the pickups were used in in the Hofner Verithin, later Violin Bass and others.

I found somthing very similar on here:

1971 Hofner Verithin Bass Guitar

Silas' Hofner 500/7 Special Bass Guitar

Des Abbott's 1967 Hofner Senator Bass Guitar

The one in front of me doesn't have such a tight radius at the corners though and searching the site for Lawrence or Wajcman turned up nothing.

Found some interesting reading though, not that I've really got time.

Something happened in 1984 apparently.

9.57k D.C.R. Blade width 2.5mm.

It might not be going on ebay and get dismantled if I ever clear my list of things to do.

S.

[Stealth]

By the way, has the pickup already been sent to eBay in the end? If so, could you please PM me a link? I'm interested in seeing those puppies at work. If both pickups are the same, even getting one would help me make a rewind.

[Sock Puppet]

By the way, has the pickup already been sent to eBay in the end? If so, could you please PM me a link? I'm interested in seeing those puppies at work. If both pickups are the same, even getting one would help me make a rewind.

Hi Stealth,

There is only one pickup, the Hofner photo's are of a similar but not identical pickup and no it hasn't been listed yet because I wanted an accurate description of it first.

I'm just the computer monkey (not in the band) and the lads haven't gigged much recently for one reason (John Whitehill writing songs) or another (Ed Bowman the drummer with arthritis).

Damn shame as they're a first class band... but the van doesn't run on water yet. Guitars will be next to go.

Only goes to show just some of the problems facing gigging musicians, even those of such high quality (The lead guitarist (ex Paul Lamb and the Kingsnakes) was voted best british blues guitarist for 3 or 4 years running by the British Blues Connection awards lot and.. well have a look at the PDF.

There're a few other things on ebay belonging to John (The Captain) Morgan that I've just put up, the only other pickup is a S.D. Alnico Pro II APH1N L

Warning to pedants:Off Topic please ignore

Here's a youtube video of three of them with Bob Davidson as deputy singer:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZlcdlv2r-8"]YouTube- Johnny Whitehill Band - Live at The Cluny[/ame]

And here's a freebie Bootleg of The band with the original singer Billy Sharp That I recorded on one of those Zoom H2 malarkies a year or two ago.:

JWRD Bootleg mp3.zip Bootleg mp3.zip

It's blues at its best.

Johnny G&B.pdf

S.

"If you're selling those puppies, I'll have the one with the pink nose"

[Sock Puppet]

Might has well, he has spare time during the song

Well that made me laugh - You get them at times.

Billy the singer has a tendency to ramble between songs and blames the "Faaly doon Watta" (Falling down water - Guinness) and the bass player uses this time to play patience / hold up a "WAR AND PEACE" poster etc. behind him.

One funny I overheard (and he got some really funny looks) was the drummer asking what key the next song was in.

[David Schwab]

Might has well, he has spare time during the song

Hey, try playing bass and singing lead! Guitarist can do it easily because they can strum a chord and hold it! Or just stop playing.

If the bass player stopped playing during a song everyone would stop and look to see what happened! Same with the drummer.

[David King]

That Verithin (1971 Hofner Verithin Bass Guitar) might be the same pickup but I think I see a stamped logo on each side of the slot. The other two have screw poles under the strings, above the slot so definitely a different animal.