Members Billy McEvoy Posted October 9, 2005 Members Share Posted October 9, 2005 Has anyone purchased a Rogue VB-100 bass? It's an authentic copy of McCartney's Hofner violin bass. Some of the parts on the Rogue are less than satisfactory, in particular the pickguard, which is white and looks cheap (which is no surprise in that the bass cost under $200. There is a Hofner web site that offers replacement parts, including a perloid pickguard, which is the real deal. However, they state that the perloid pickguard will not fit Hofner bass replicas or copies. It looks like it should fit, and this could be just a way of detering Rogue owners from just adding a few original Hofner parts and making their $200 bass look just as good as a $2,700 Hofner. Any insights into adding Hofner parts to a Rogue VB-100? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Gruven Posted October 9, 2005 Members Share Posted October 9, 2005 I would order a piece of pearloid pickguard material and make one. The reason they say that it won't fit the copies is, most likely, pickup spacing and size. It could also be that the body shapes aren't exactly the same. It wouldn't be too hard to make. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sunburstbasser Posted October 10, 2005 Members Share Posted October 10, 2005 If it doesn't fit, you can either make one out of pearloid or drill a hole in either the pickguard or the bass. A $200 bass doesn't quite cause the fear with a drill that a $2,000 bass does, after all. Then the old holes can be filled in and if the finish is dark enough it shouldn't be hard to cover them up. Alternatively, find a replacement for the Jay Turser version of that bass. Its actually the same bass (same factory, etc.) with a different sticker on the headstock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted October 14, 2005 Share Posted October 14, 2005 I just purchased one at the end of September as a little "birthday present" to myself. I had read a lot of generally positive reviews about them, and since the price is currently about $180, I thought, "why not?" I'm glad I did. I immediately yanked the stock roundwound strings and threw on some Rotosound flatwounds (100/80/60/40) and messed with the bridge placement a bit to get the intonation in, and now it just plays like a dream. Good action, great intonation all the way up and down the neck, although I did have to "angle" the bridge just a tad to get it perfect. It stays in tune remarkibly well too. The truss rod didn't require any adjustment whatsoever. There's a few cosmetic differences between it and a Hofner. As you mentioned, the color of the control cavity plate and pickguard are too "white". I may try the old "brown Kiwi shoe polish" treatment to yellow it up a bit. Just apply a thin coat and let it sit for a few hours then wipe it off. Repeat several times until you get the degree of "browning / yellowing" you're after. It's an old "relicing" trick that works with Fender plastic parts, although I don't know if it will work with the Rogue parts or not. Proceed at your own risk. Like you, I also saw the sites that said that the Hofner bridges, tailpieces, control cavity covers and so forth wouldn't fit the Rogue, but I honestly don't know if that's accurate or not. But yes, the bass does have some differences insofar as cosmetics... the body shape is pretty close, but still not identical on the side cutaway shapes. The finish is a bit different than any Hofner I've ever seen - a bit too "dramatic" on the sunburst, and I've never personally seen a Hofner with a flame maple top, although I've heard rumors that they did both things at one point or another. But even if they didn't, the overall look and finish of the Rogue is pretty darned good. Especially for a "under $200" product. I'm pretty happy with the bass "as is" now, but I did order a set of four Pearloid Banjo Tuner Knobs (part #0095) from www.stewmac.com. I read somewhere that those will fit it and give it a bit more of a "vintage" appearance. You keep the stock tuners but just replace the big chrome "butterfly" knobs with the smaller banjo pearloid buttons. I think that suggestion was something I saw in one of the HC user reviews, where one guy went pretty hog wild with "Hofner mods" to his Rogue - right down to refinishing the peghead and putting a Hofner logo on it. I also ordered a set of Hofner "teacup" knobs from Northcoast Music. From what I can tell by looking at the shafts on the stock Rogue knobs, those should fit on there just fine. I wasn't wild about the look or small size of the stock knobs. I imagine these parts will be here in a week or so, and I'll let you know how they work out once they arrive. The Hofner bridge supposedly requires a bit of work / modification (shave down the height about 1/4") to work properly with the Rogue, but I have not tried that, and I don't really plan on doing so unless I somehow manage to break the stock bridge. Headstock logo? Heck, I don't plan on ever selling this thing, so I might consider doing that at some point... but I really don't see the point in doing so. It's not a Hofner, it's a copy. And I really don't care what the headstock says on ANY instrument if it plays great and sounds great - and IMO, the Rogue, with flatwounds, definitely qualifies on both counts. Oh, just in case you need it, the other site I saw with replacement parts was this one. Good luck with your new bass Billy - I'm really digging mine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SB Posted October 14, 2005 Members Share Posted October 14, 2005 Originally posted by sunburstbasser Alternatively, find a replacement for the Jay Turser version of that bass. Its actually the same bass (same factory, etc.) with a different sticker on the headstock. they look pretty different to me... the finish, the pickups, the plastic... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted October 14, 2005 Share Posted October 14, 2005 I do see some considerable differences between the two. For starters, the waist cuts are just slightly different. In this picture, from the Hofner site ( www.hofner.com ) the waist cutaways look a little sharper on the extreme points than the Turser, The Rogue comes a bit closer on the bridge side, but doesn't look quite pefect to me on the top / neck side of the cuts. Still, the Turser looks a little too "round" at both points. The finish on the Turser takes the nod in that it lacks the flame on the top. I can't recall ever seeing a Hofner with a flamed top personally - they've all had wood that looked more like the Turser - but I've heard rumors that some did, and I have seen a few with flamed sides and backs. As far as finish "tones", I've seen quite a few variations in Hofner finishes over the years, but most of them looked more like these on this page than the "sharper color edges" of the Rogue, although the one on the far left side of that picture is somewhat similar to the Rogue, if the Rogue didn't have the flametop, although the center is a bit browner on the Hofners than the yellow center of the Rogue. But in most Hofners I've seen, the dark part of the burst edges inward more towards the center of the top than I can see on the Rogue and the Turser, and it changes color tones in a more gradual manner. More of a "violin burst" than a "tobacco sunburst" like the Rogue or the Hofner on the left in that multi-Hofner picture. To me, the Turser gets some of the shadings better, but they don't go far enough inwards with the dark edges, and the transitions are not wide and gradual enough. But they both look pretty good in their own way IMO. And I've seen photos of Tursers with finishes and pickup rings that looked closer to the Rogue, such as this one, where IMO, they got even closer to a Hofner "tobbacco Sunburst" look with the finiish, and helped with the look by using the white nut instead of the black one your see on the Rogues, althought the white trussrod cover throws things off a bit: Jay Turser even has maple black and white (check ebay item number 7357627794 for an example) finish options - I've seen maple Hofners before, but never a black or white one. And of course with the Rogue, you only get the sunburst with flame maple top. The Rondo / Brice violin basses look much more like the Rogue than the Turser insofar as finish and body shape, although you can get the Brice in black if you want. Source - Rondo Music. The pickguard and control plate on the Turser both look a bit "darker" than on the Rogue and Brices, and they very well may be - but it is "angle dependent" on the Rogue - at some angles, the Rogue does look too "stark white" while at other angles it looks much deeper and warmer... but never with enough golds and yellows to match a Hofner. That ebay white Turser seems to have the closest color match insofar as those parts of all the copies I've seen. The bridge, knobs, switches, tailpiece, tuners and pickups look identical on all the non-Hofner basses, with the exception of the pickup mounting rings and truss rod cover being different colors in that one Turser photo, but there are differences in all of them compared to the Hofner. The Hofners have the teacup knobs with the gold inlays on top, the Rouge, Brice and Turser use those ribbed little black silvertopped knobs, as well as black switches vs the Hofner's white switches. A earlier Hofner has "smooth" pickups that look a bit closer to the copies but with a "Hofner" logo stamped into them, but all the ones I've seen with those pickups were "Cavern models" with the neck / middle pickup layout instead of the neck / bridge layout of the '63 Hofners and the copies. Paul's second bass, a '63, had the "staple top" pickups with the neck / bridge layout, and in the later part of the 60's, Hofner switched to a "bar" design. The tailpice on the Hofner is noticably different, but identical on all of the Asian imports. The Hofner has open gear tuners, which you can't see in the pictures, while the Rogue, Brice and Tursers have sealed gears and obviously, a different tuner button style. The necks look virtually the same, but it's hard to tell shape and feel based on a picture, and I don't know if I've played a Turser or not... I very well may have at a NAMM show - I tried several violin basses out, at several booths, at the last winter NAMM show - including a Hofner and several at Korean importer's & manufacturer's booths, but I don't recall the names on all of the headstocks. I was busy covering the show for EQ magazine, and the basses were tried out as short little personal OT indulgences away my recording related beat - shhh! Don't tell my editor! I don't recall seeing any Chineese importers; everyone I spoke with told me they were of Korean manufacture, but I've heard SX's are made in China and there may be others being made elsewhere. I recently read that the Tursers might be made in China or Taiwan... sorry, I don't remember where I saw that. But based on all of that, especially the body shape differences, I'd say it's likely the Brices and Rogues are made in the same place, and the Tursers made elsewhere in a different factory, with different CNC programs or patterns used for cutting the bodies, and a common parts source being used for the electronics and some of the hardware... although I suppose that if it is a CNC build, the same factory wouldn't have too much trouble cutting slightly different shape variations to different importer's specs. I think that seems less likely than different factories, although that's pure conjecture on my part. I don't know that you could pass either one off as a "real Hofner" or fool a trained eye, even if you made significant modifications and used a ton of Hofner parts, but who cares? I know Hofners are cool, and I wouldn't mind having one, but the Turser, Brice and Rogue probably give you 85% of the vibe at 10% of the price. I know I'm having more fun with that little $180 bass than any new instrunment I've purchased in quite a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted October 17, 2005 Share Posted October 17, 2005 Well, the pearloid banjo tuner knobs (Stewmac part #0095) showed up this weekend and they went on the Rogue with no problems... just pull the screws from the existing tuner buttons, pull them off (make sure you don't drop the washers), put the new buttons on (make sure you use the washers ) and tighten down the screws. Look wise, it's an improvement IMO, but not quite "perfect" - they're still a bit too large, and the tuner button shafts are a little bit too long, so the buttons sit away from the headstock a bit too far... but it's close enough for me. The fake ivoroid knobs (Stewmac part #3305) look like they might be a bit smaller and may be a better looking option, but they cost about $4 each vs under a buck each for the pearloids. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted October 20, 2005 Share Posted October 20, 2005 Well, the Hofner "teacup" knobs arrived, and they fit the Rogue perfectly. I just thought I'd pass that along in case anyone was wondering if they'd work or not. They do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SB Posted October 21, 2005 Members Share Posted October 21, 2005 nice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted October 23, 2005 Share Posted October 23, 2005 Nice avatar SB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SB Posted October 23, 2005 Members Share Posted October 23, 2005 Originally posted by Phil O'Keefe Nice avatar SB. hmmmm nice avatar, you have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members JimDuckett Posted December 30, 2014 Members Share Posted December 30, 2014 I changed the tuning machines using Stew-Mac banjo tuners, they work. Also the teacup volume knobs fit as well. Just be careful pulling your stock volume knobs off the Rogue. Thanks for the tips. I really have loved this bass ever since I got it. It has been described as "elegant" in appearance, and it sounds great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 Very nice Jim - I'm glad you're digging your bass! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators ThudMaker Posted January 19, 2015 Moderators Share Posted January 19, 2015 This is great info, Phil. I can't believe I missed this thread way back when. I've always wanted one of these basses, but I have a Dano Longhorn that I plan on "upgrading" at some point and it's a short scale, so I can't see it. These basses seem like a good value. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 They really are a good value. Heck, even Hofner got on board and started offering one with their brand on it, although they're a bit more expensive... but they're still a lot less expensive than their other violin basses. http://www.musiciansfriend.com/bass/hofner-ignition-series-vintage-violin-bass Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.