duane v Posted December 1, 2020 Share Posted December 1, 2020 So one of my pals came over last night and I showed him the recent Hofner Bass I just purchased and he told me the pickguard was "off-gassing" and was corroding the pickup covers, and pickup bracket was turning green as well. He then told me to get the case and there was a patch of green lining where the pickguard was hitting was badly discolored. He told be to put the case outside and I should probably get rid of it. He then told me to get some jewelry cleaner and clean off the pickup covers and also get rid of the pick guard and throw it away and get new one. Now I'm a bit shocked by all of this, and the owner did tell me the guitar had been stored for a very long time, so what I'm asking is using jewelry cleaner the right course of action with the pickup covers? Or is it too late to fix. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dub-T-123 Posted December 1, 2020 Share Posted December 1, 2020 I think your friend is right. I first heard about off-gassing from KSDaddy. I think he is your expert here. If he doesn’t reply here I recommend sending him a PM as he has some experience with this. I would say that the control plate would also be suspect as it looks like the same material. Possibly even a jack plate, I’m not very familiar with those basses Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duane v Posted December 1, 2020 Author Share Posted December 1, 2020 Thanks for the response It appears the corrosion is only limited to the pick up covers, the two pickguard nails and pickguard bracket. I had my wife put the guitar case outside opened. I'm going to water it down and trash it then buy a new one. When I get home I'm going to clean the pickup covers with some WD40 and or tooth paste and hope for the best. The control plate seems to be spared thank god Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dub-T-123 Posted December 1, 2020 Share Posted December 1, 2020 I think the idea is that the plastic of the pickguard itself is undergoing a chemical breakdown of sorts and causing the oxidization of the nearby metal parts. That’s why I recommend replacing all of the parts made of the same material as the pickguard. The screws and bracket could be replaced easily enough, but you don’t want the off gassing to react with the lacquer finish on the instrument itself I’m not sure that the problem is caused by the case at all. I think the case just happened to be touching the pickup covers as the oxidization occurred. I could be completely wrong but this is my understanding of the problem based on the info you have posted. It sounds like the case might be trashed either way, but be sure to get info from someone more knowledgeable on this subject than myself because I want to warn you that there could be more problems from the celluloid (?) plastic parts than initially meets the eye 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duane v Posted December 1, 2020 Author Share Posted December 1, 2020 I just had a conversation with a guy named Fran that has many old Hofner's and he told be to trash the case if it's a contemporary Hofner case. And if I want, store the old pickguard in a brown paper bag in a well ventilated area. He said lighter fluid and or guitar polish should clean off the oxidation off the pup covers.... If that don't work toothpaste will do the trick. He said not to worry about the control panel as the tea cups don't show signs of oxidation, but what some people do is add a few coats of varnish as this seals the celluloid from off-gassing..... I could also do that with the pick guard, but he said a couple hits with a pick will remove the varnish and you'll eventually be back where you started. I found this case on Reverb for $125 and I swooped it up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karloff Posted December 1, 2020 Share Posted December 1, 2020 I've wanted one of them forever. sweet ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duane v Posted December 2, 2020 Author Share Posted December 2, 2020 Well I spent the better part of yesterday evening cleaning up the corrosion by soaking all the threaded screws in WD-40, and scrubbing the pickup covers with WD-40 and 1200 grit, and polishing the bass up with Gibson polish. It felt almost like I was cleaning car battery terminals. Fortunately there was no corrosion that made it to the wiring and I was able to find a new pickguard, (man they are asking a small fortune for those) .... Felt almost like I was dealing with Rickenbacker for a spare part. The gassed out case I'm not sure what I'm going to do with, it's in the patio with the case opened.... The dog wont even go near it, so I'm probably just going to toss it unless somebody has some recommendations. So basically the $1300 deal I got for the bass with the added $100 for the pickguard and $125 for the case plus $50 shipping I ended up paying for the $1575 which isn't bad, but I would like to know what year the darn thing is.... I'm guessing it's a 1990's or early 2000 build.... I sent images of the pots over to Hofner so hopefully they will get back to me soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Bill Posted December 3, 2020 Share Posted December 3, 2020 Duane, do you still have the other Hofner? If so how does this compare with the this one. This new one looks pretty sweet! 😍 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt. Pepper Posted December 3, 2020 Share Posted December 3, 2020 That is Macca-tastic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duane v Posted December 3, 2020 Author Share Posted December 3, 2020 Just now, Big Bill said: Duane, do you still have the other Hofner? If so how does this compare with the this one. This new one looks pretty sweet! 😍 I have two others: One is a 66, the other is a 67. Both of them have a little more punch than the cavern bass and that may be due to the blade pickups. The 66 plays nice, but the 67 is in desperate need of a neck reset and the neck is finished in black. To be honest the Cavern seems to be better made compared to the 66 and 67. But I'm sure age is contributing to some of the kirks in the older Hofners. Funny thing I have never had any issues with off-gassing of my older basses and they live in their respective cases. 66 Hofner 67 Black Back Hofner Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt. Pepper Posted December 3, 2020 Share Posted December 3, 2020 (edited) 3 minutes ago, duane v said: 67 Black Back Hofner I've heard that album a few 1000 times. I think I'll rock it this week. Edited December 3, 2020 by Sgt. Pepper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duane v Posted December 3, 2020 Author Share Posted December 3, 2020 1 minute ago, Sgt. Pepper said: I've heard that album a few 1000 times. I have that album in mono and it sounds so much better than the stereo version. Never could really figure out why..... The mono has much more of a rock feel to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt. Pepper Posted December 3, 2020 Share Posted December 3, 2020 (edited) 5 minutes ago, duane v said: I have that album in mono and it sounds so much better than the stereo version. Never could really figure out why..... The mono has much more of a rock feel to it. I have a mono version from the super mega Sgt Pepper box set. Its on CD, but I do have a vinyl copy of The White Album. And there are differences. Edited December 3, 2020 by Sgt. Pepper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Bill Posted December 3, 2020 Share Posted December 3, 2020 3 hours ago, duane v said: I have two others: One is a 66, the other is a 67. Both of them have a little more punch than the cavern bass and that may be due to the blade pickups. The 66 plays nice, but the 67 is in desperate need of a neck reset and the neck is finished in black. To be honest the Cavern seems to be better made compared to the 66 and 67. But I'm sure age is contributing to some of the kirks in the older Hofners. Funny thing I have never had any issues with off-gassing of my older basses and they live in their respective cases. That 66 with the blade pickups seems to be calling out to me. The gassing is probably due to the different materials they use in the plastics in those time frames? There is something to be said about those old mono recordings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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