Höfner Verythin Range Round-Up

GEAR ROUNDUP
June 2016 83
Höfner HCTVTHUK
VERYTHIN MAHOGANY
£299
Thin? Yes. Aordable? Very
WHile
its dimensions are
the same as the
Mod, the more affordable Mahogany
model has a slightly chunkier neck.
Where it really slims down, though, is
in its price tag. For a quid shy of £300,
you get an all-mahogany laminate
construction, including the body top,
back and sides, and the neck, topped off
with a rosewood fingerboard that comes
well-dressed with 22 medium frets.
The control layout is simpler than the
Mod. Yes, you get a couple of the house
humbuckers, but you’ll have to make
do with a single volume and tone, and
the three-way pickup selector toggle
switch. The hardware is all black and
consists of a classic tune-o-matic bridge
and fixed tailpiece, and a set of chunky
die-cast machineheads.
The Verythin Mahogany feels like a
stripped-down rock machine. Played
acoustically, it has a loud, bright voice
and that response survives when you
plug the thing in. The bridge ’bucker has
a bright, punchy tone through a clean
channel and retains an impressive level
of clarity and note separation when
you begin adding the dirt. Although
metalheads are unlikely to go shopping
for a semi, there’s no reason they
couldn’t get what they need tone-wise
from this Verythin. The centre-block
provides plenty of sustain and a load
of bottom-end thump for heavy riffs
on the lower strings. The middle and
neck positions on the pickup switch
predictably warm proceedings up for
those who like to play the blues.
It may not be as sartorially elegant as
the Mod, but the Mahogany offers much
of its smarter brother’s tone and feel for
much less money. And tonally, it’s way
more versatile than you might imagine.
Höfner HCT5008DC
VERYTHIN BASS
£659
Size does matter...
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’s
top, 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…
TGR280.gear_round.indd 83 19/04/2016 18:23