This was the most famous Höfner-inspired violin bass after the Eko 990. We can conjecture that, like the latter, the Twen Star was developed in 1964 and started in 1964/1965, that it enjoyed a peaking popularity in 1966 and was as soon as 1968 hopelessly old-fashioned.
The Twen Star looks and plays about just as good as a Höfner 500/1 or an Eko 990, and sounds rather better, with a really “woodish” voice and despite the short scale (30 “) an astonishing capacity to emulate when needed the tone of a double bass.
But remember, it’s a Klira, which entails that:
Construction is a little bit fragile and the thin lacquering is very wear sensitive There is a mindboggling diversity of versions. There were basically two generations
1. Model 162 (1965/1966): glued-in neck, one-piece back, no pickguard, generic Schaller ivory pickups. 2. Model 356 (1967/1968): bolt-on neck, two-piece back, optional pickguard, specific chrome pickups
First generation was also offered with surrealistic body shapes (162-2 and 162-3 variants). The first 356 are actually a transitional configuration
