Hi!
Came here to see if I could glean any additional information about an instrument I bought new over 32 years ago, my Hohner B2A FL.
Serial Number appears to be 8775552 (at least, that’s what is stamped into the rear battery compartment cover). From what I can tell, this number indicates a manufacturing date of 1987? Any additional details about this instrument that has followed me around approximately 2/3 of my life would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
For that style of serial number, the first two digits are the year so 1987 is correct.
This is the B2AFL entry in the 1988 catalogue.
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Phil’s information is most helpful. These guitars were still manufactured in Korea in 1987. Good instruments too, hope you continue to enjoy!
Wow, thanks guys, this is exactly the confirmation I was looking for! Despite unloading heaps of gear onto Reverb (a needed and late response to my gear collecting habits - to wit, I have 33 keyboards in my living room of my 2br apartment right now, including a 1957 Hammond S6, a Nord Electro 2, and over a dozen vintage Casios including 3(!) FZ-1’s) I hope to never have to part with this bass - my best friend Peter, who had muscular dystrophy and died when we were in our mid 20’s, came up with half of the purchase price in 1994 when we bought it (new in 1994!!) from a local independent shop (now i understand why he gave us such a deal that day, he had been sitting on the thing for at least 6 years by then!)
I’ve never been good at the barter, but I had been eyeing that bass, which Fast Eddie at Audio Arts had on display in the front of his store since he took over the establishment, which had been called Prune Music in a previous iteration with different ownership, back when Sal Trentino, amp tech for Neil Young and Carlos Santana worked out of the back) - Eddie had the thing priced at 300 dollars with a big sticker touting what a discount this was, and I was that kid who had been going in there and not buying anything but picks and the occasional string or cable for the past couple of years already. I had certainly annoyed Eddie by always playing the bass and never having enough money to buy it, so on my 16th birthday, there I was again. I looked at the bass longingly. I had 75 dollars of birthday cash in my pocket. Peter had recently begun getting SDI money for his condition that would cut his life short less than a decade later. He had been in a wheelchair since he was 6 or 7. Ever the brilliant guy and a great actor to boot, Peter screwed up his face and fixed Eddie with a stare. Eddie, from NY and ever the bargainer, cocked an eyebrow. Peter looks at me, and asks, “you’ve got 75 on you, right?” I nod, and wondered where he was going with this. He looks back at Eddie. “Will you take $150 for the bass? I’ll go halves with him, it is his birthday.”
Eddie made a big show about how he was losing money on the deal, but in the end I think he knew it was an old inventory item and it wasn’t doing him many favors, it was too unusual to attract a boutique buyer in that sleepy town, especially one willing to pay full price. So in the end, I got my bass, Eddie made his sale, and I was left with something so well built and long lasting that every day for the 24 years after Peter died, I have something in my house that reminds me of him every time I look at it, and to this day remains my first world-class instrument, something built by pros for pros.
Thanks again guys, this forum is a gem. Next I’ll want to know about my 12-string acoustic from the same year, which I just uncovered in my little storage closet upstairs last week after i had assumed it was lost to the ages years ago. I’ll query that , however, in another post. Cheers, and kudos for doing what you do!
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Thanks for sharing this Evan, what a lovely story. And what a nice way to remember your friend Peter. Don’t sell it!
Cheers, Steve