I played one once and had to get my own. I can see why McCartney liked the real thing. It has a beautiful deep tone that can only come from a bass with resonance chambers. It is also good for guitar players like me because the short scale makes it feel more like a normal guitar. It is much easier to switch to a normal bass after playing this one. Excellent quality for an import but it has a decent amount of fret buzz which suggests that a setup would be a good idea. I would not buy a German Hofner 500/1 anyway because the violin design is very fragile. Whether you buy German or Icon the only real problem is Hofner's bridge which is floating and does not allow for adjustment of intonation.

As a Beatles fan my entire life, I had to own Beatle Bass. This Icon is much better than a Rogue(I owned that one too) but neither one compares to a Contemporary. I sold my Icon for a Contemporary and never looked backed. The difference is the sound. You can't get true Beatles Sgt.Pepper on the Icon because of the cheap pickups. The Staple pick ups are Paul's signature and I'll let you know that you would be spending only a little more for well-known german electronics. I also like the feel of the CT. There is virtually no fret buzz. Icon's are full of fret buzz so if you buy one, you better know a great luthier. Good luck!

I am very surprised with this bass. I actually ordered it from musicians friend and i got it today. I am a guitar player, but my love for the beatles was too great, and i decided to acquire this. First of all i didnt expect much of the beatle bass, the reviews were horrible, but i bought it nonetheless. When i plugged it i was blown away. You can clearly notice the hollow body, and the tone is EXACTLY the same as paul's. Dont miss out!

I played in some pretty good rock bands back in the 60's. When I went away to service my country during the Vietnam Era, my Hofner and Vox Super Beatles Amp was stolen. Now, after 40 years, I own a Hofner again! The craftsmanship is not bad. It's pretty sweet for a cheap Hofner bass.

I swopped out the strings for RotoSound 77 Short Scale Monel Flatwound strings. This added a bit more of that 60's vibe. I also sanded the neck a bit to allow for faster and more comfortable playability. This is a quality, light weight axe that you'll luv if you're a hugh Paul McCartney fan as I am. Excellent deep vibes!

Rock on!

Ditto

I bought this bass over the higher end contemporary series because of two things. 1. This bass has nice high frets and I prefer high frets over the smaller vintage sized frets offered on the contemporary. 2. I am not a fan of the intern block on the contemporary to give more sustain, it kills the kind of hollow upright bass sound you can get with this bass. It comes with a set of roundwound strings, I actually like the sound you can get with them, but it's worthwhile to pick up a set of flatwound strings to give that traditional thuddy sound.

Faults: The insert jack would come loose a lot and would give me unpredictable performance it would work and then not work cuz it was moving around inside. You need to unscrew it, and you may need to bend the pins inward that come into contact with the patch cord, then really tighten the everything so it is solid and it will be awesome after that. Also the bridge on mine was slightly angled off to the side, so I unscrewed it from the wooden base, and wrapped some electrical tape around the screws, then screwed it back in straight and now it's perfect.

The neck on this bass is straight as an arrow, but because it's short scale and the strings wobble around more, you will never be able to have ultra low action and not get string/fret noise. So you have to enjoy playing a bass that has high action, but because the strings are loose, it's very easy to play it. What will drive you crazy is that your bass will probably be full of all kinds of weird buzzes and noises that need to be checked out before you play or record. I had buzzing from the pickguard, loose screws and the bridge, most things are easy fixes, but you may have to take it into a tech depending on the problem. That is my only real gripe. Seriously this bass is excellent for such a low price. Buy it now.

The sound of this bass is incredible if you run it through a good preamp of course, it's also a looker,