The Hofner has a really poor paint job as can be seen from the pictures. My wife describes it as a plum colour around the edges and it is very cloudy. I acquired this bass from a vintage L.A. music store in August of 2005. They stated that I was the first owner and that it came from a warehouse with a shipment of other new Hofners. I bought it because of the red colour (unusual) and perhaps also because it was discounted by a couple of hundred dollars because of the poor paint job.
I then went onto the web and found a bass players' website which told me the
rest of the story. Two red Hofners were made for the 2000 NAMM Show in L.A.: one
with gold hardware which was a presentation bass for the president of their
American distributor, and the second one was a placed in a warehouse with other
Hofners....... not to be heard about until I came across it in that music store.
(The second red Hofner had a very bad paint job and vintage style
hardware.) This information has also been confirmed by two individuals
who attended the 2000 NAMM show.