This is my 4th IYV guitar and it exceeds my already high expectations. Good build quality. Very playable neck with level frets and no protruding fret ends. I was able to get the action quite low without any significant fret rattle. The Pickups are actually pretty good too and, on this body, deliver a convincingly vintage sound with the sort of pleasing woody thumpiness you would expect from a semi hollow bass. Somewhat heavier than I expected with what appears to be a large center block in the top third of the body, but it still resonates pretty well when played acoustically. Tuners are the weak link here but hold pitch firmly - low gear ratio and a bit of play in the mechanism when tightening. Serviceable but I’m considering replacements. The controls are a bit confusing at first and the “rhythm” switch, which has it’s own volume control (and only engages when the “bass” pickup switch is off) is thin-sounding and fairly useless to me (I may eventually look into some rewiring in order to squeeze a little more tone out of the rhythm circuit). The “solo” switch, on the other hand, provides good beefy tonal variation depending on how the bass and treble switches are set. After doing a little research, it seems that this confusing wiring configuration is standard on Hofner originals as well. The rhythm setting cuts volume by 30-40% and most people don’t use it much. Evidently, most experienced players stick to the “solo” setting and kick in the bass and treble switches to taste. The fit and finish are pretty good on this instrument and the flame maple top looks really cool. One small issue is that the flexible plastic pickup surrounds don’t stay fully flush against the arched body and tend to curve upward slightly under the strings, but this is not very noticeable. Overall, this is a fun and highly playable short scale bass at a mind- blowing price.I just put a set of D’Addario nylon tape flat wound strings on this bass and it sounds really good for the kind of material I do - 60s Motown, Stax, Beatles.. et al. (31” scale but takes long scale strings due to the extra-short tail piece). Cost about 20% of the price of the instrument! Go figure.UPDATE: I recently replaced the tuners with a set of GOTOH GB707s. Much improved. I also replaced the tailpiece with one that better matches the length and configuration of a Hofner original. It will now take short scale strings and sounds a bit cleaner and tighter to my ears.

If you ever wanted a violin bass to modify later then this is a good starting point I plan on upgrading the pickups and fixing the wiring soon but it is playable from the start it’s not a hoffner but it is a solid bass update I decided shortly after it arrived to have it professionally setup and restrung with d adario flatwounds it really does sound as to an upright bass as an electric bass guitar can it is easy to play and sound awesome i plan to replace the plastic nut with a new bone nut later and this bass uses medium scale strings I am very happy with my purchase and it’s awesome sounding through my rumble 100 gen one amp it doesn’t really have much power with my amp maxed out I can hear a friend playing his electric guitar through a ion game day party speaker I set the pickup volume to five because I live in a house with three people who don’t really appreciate bass or guitar

I always wanted a cheap Beatle bass to play around with and for that use case, this is an excellent instrument for the price. That said, if you don't know how to set up guitars, you may be better off avoiding this instrument because it's likely that it will take a few hours of work to get it performing the way it should.When mine arrived I was almost certain that I was going to send it back. The neck was practically back-bowed, the fretboard was so dry it was discolored, the frets had sharp edges, and the bridge was completely out of whack and had a dent from shipping damage. It's clear this was sitting in a hot warehouse for a long time before it made it to my door. I figured that if I was going to send it back, I may as well set it up and see if it was worth it to do an exchange.I did the following work:- Loosened the truss rod almost 2 full turns to get the neck to bow the right direction. I set the relief to my preference.- Adjusted the bridge height to eliminate buzz- Adjusted the bridge position to intonate the strings correctly- Oiled the fretboard, and boy did it soak it up. The wood completely changed color once it was properly oiled. It now looks beautiful and dark.- Replaced the tailpiece with a Hofner copy available on Amazon- Replaced the strings with LaBella Beatle Bass flatwounds- Smoothed the fret ends with a sanding block- Tapped down a couple high frets with a brass hammer- Adjusted pickup heights- Installed strap lock buttonsAfter all this, it plays and sounds excellent. It has some obvious craftsmanship issues, but they're all cosmetic only and don't affect the playability or the sound. I personally love how it sounds with the flatwounds and the settings I found in another review, which are the following:Solo: onBass: onTreble: onNeck volume: 10/10Bridge volume: 7/10It's woody, thumpy, and can sound like McCartney or a standup bass. Exactly what I wanted! The tuners are a weak point and have slop, but seem to hold tune. I'm going to replace them just for the peace of mind.All in all this is an excellent cheap instrument. Just prepare yourself for it to be completely unplayable out of the box. If you're okay with putting in the work, you will be rewarded.Update 9/17/23:I Installed some Guyker tuners which were a drop-in replacement and tuning stability is completely fixed. They're still a little sloppy, but I can hang it on the wall and pick it up days later and it will still be in tune just fine. I replaced the dented bridge with a cheap replacement available on Amazon for about $12. It took some sanding and fitting, which should be expected on a semi-hollow instrument, but I no longer have a low string due to the dent in the bridge. Action is excellent and intonation is perfect.I did find a weird quirk where the on/off switches for each pickup were wired wrong. The "bass" switch turned on and off the bridge pickup and the "treble" switch was connected to the neck pickup. I fixed this while leaving the rest of the wiring alone. Still sounds great and now the switches actually do what they say they do.This is now my go-to bass and I'm having a blast with it. It sounds and plays great and the short scale works really well for me.

Good buy if you get it from amazon for a 2 hundred. Resellers asking 400 are crazy

The bass is good, sounds good, but seemed used when i got it, the body has "spider web" like marks of frenetic rubbing to make it new, also, the pickup were dirty. Did not return it, as it was the last one a the time, and by playing it, i became happy with it, cause it sounds real good! And exchange could have brought me more problems. Chose to keep it, and happy with my decision

Guitar arrived today missing wrenches and a few things but got refunded a bit to buy them and went down to music store and got them come home and fixed the neck as it had a small bend but all fixed now plays and sounds awesome this is one great copy of the Hofner 500/1 bass neck is great everything on this is now mint top notch !!!

Thank you, this guitar has fulfilled a dream of mine at a price I could afford. Good things are going to come from my bass, which plays beautifully, and sounds and looks great. I can't see that for many years to come I would have a wonderful bass like this to play had it not been sold to me as it was, I really feel a great service to society is being done providing such excellent guitars people can afford. Thank you. I treasure it and enjoy it.

Looks great. Blemish free. It Plays well.IYV make great budget guitars. I have purchased 4 different models and each one has surpassed its price point for quality and playability.This Hofner 500/1 copy is no different.