currypowder Posted March 19, 2018 Share Posted March 19, 2018 Here's a bit of a rare bird, a 94 Special LE limited run for the Japanese market. Basically a Special FM with body binding. Found it in Japan and tried for a week to talk myself out of it. In the end, resistance was futile. Looks a lot like Camstone's "Mr. Quilty" except for the amber finish color. The pictures look a little like there's some arm wear on the bass side of the body, but it must just be a reflection or the wood's quilting, the finish is intact with no wear. Overall it's in very good shape, there are a few dings, but nothing major or out of the ordinary for a nearly 25 year old guitar. There is a tiny bit of Hameritis at the neck joint and some finish separation around the fingerboard, very common for Hamers of this time period. The OHSC is in great shape and includes the original case candy. It was just delivered, so a playability/tone report will have to wait. Desperately needs a little cleaning and fresh strings. Here are a couple pics from he seller. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bubs_42 Posted March 19, 2018 Share Posted March 19, 2018 Yes, I don't think I could have talked myself down off that ledge either. Congratulations! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmatthes Posted March 19, 2018 Share Posted March 19, 2018 I've got the Japanese flyer for that LE model around somewhere - the Special QM and FM (flat-top w/binding). Very cool score! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobB Posted March 19, 2018 Share Posted March 19, 2018 Nice one, Curry. Another winner from Japan. One’a these days I’m gonna score sickest Tokai/Navigator ‘burst clone there ever was. You’ll see...you’ll ALLLLLLLL see!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
currypowder Posted March 19, 2018 Author Share Posted March 19, 2018 Looks like this one is going to take a little work to get in playing condition. The guitar itself is solid and cleaned up nicely. Unplugged it played very well and has a nice ringing tone. However, plugged in, I noticed a huge volume difference that couldn't be explained by pickup height. The neck pickup sounded like only one coil was working. To me it had the unmistakable tone of a split humbucker. I can't even seem to get any resistance reading at all from it. The pickups look to be an early set of Duncans, a custom bridge and 59 neck. I went ahead and pulled them both. I think the bridge is fine, but it's super hot, resistance around 13.75. I'm going to send the neck to Josh and have him check it out for me. It's likely I'll install different pickups as the hot Custom is just not me. I have a set of old Rolphs that I might throw in there for the time being, see how they suit me. This is one of the risks buying from Japan, ending up with something with some issues. Thankfully, the guitar is great and exactly what I expected. The pickup issue is just no big deal to me, I like to tinker anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Posted March 20, 2018 Share Posted March 20, 2018 Nice! Was watching this one, tho was a bit concerned about the finish issue you mentioned. Would be love to see a pic of it in better light some time. From the '94 Japanese Catalog: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Camstone Posted March 20, 2018 Share Posted March 20, 2018 These are great guitars! Nice score. Here's mine, "Mr Quilty", but I have since replaced the pitted bridge and tailpiece and it now has Lollar Imperial Low Winds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
currypowder Posted March 20, 2018 Author Share Posted March 20, 2018 Thanks Cam. Honestly, looking through a few threads here and seeing your references to Mr. Quilty pushed me over the edge to picking it up. What pickups were in it originally? I did get the Rolphs installed last night. It made a world of difference, obviously. The set is in the PAF output range, probably Pretenders but I'm not 100% sure on that. The tone is nice and clear clean and overdrives into a rock machine. I was afraid the neck might be a little thin, but it's not. More of a medium carve, feels good in my hand. I'm pretty sure the tailpiece (Gotoh Japan) and Duncan pickups are not original to the guitar. Here are a few more pics. The book matched quilt kind of dissipates and clouds toward the edges, which is what caused the sellers pictures to look like there might be a finish issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bubs_42 Posted March 20, 2018 Share Posted March 20, 2018 Perfection! Seriously, love everything about this one. Great Snag! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Camstone Posted March 21, 2018 Share Posted March 21, 2018 23 hours ago, currypowder said: Thanks Cam. Honestly, looking through a few threads here and seeing your references to Mr. Quilty pushed me over the edge to picking it up. What pickups were in it originally? Mr. Q had a zebra Duncan 59 in the neck and a black Duncan JB in the bridge. I believe them to have been stock but the Lollars really took it to another level. It does have the same issue as yours with the lacquer separating and chipping along the edge of the fretboard, but you can't feel it when in-hand. I also brought the guitar to Mike Lull and had him Plek it right after I got it. Now it's the tits. This thread made me remember that it had been a while since I had played it (last summer?), so I took it to rehearsal last night. Killer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disturber Posted March 21, 2018 Share Posted March 21, 2018 23 hours ago, currypowder said: m pretty sure the tailpiece (Gotoh Japan) and Duncan pickups are not original to the guitar. The Gotoh tailpiece is probably original. It's what Hamer used anyways, back then. Gotoh tailpieces and Schaller bridges. The neck pickup could be original as well I guess. Might have had a JB in the bridge, as most Hamer's did back then. Love that top. So very cool and unique. And the finish just looks aged to perfection. Did you have any troubles getting it in to the US. Did you bring it over, or did you have it shipped? Thinking about the Cites thing...? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
currypowder Posted March 21, 2018 Author Share Posted March 21, 2018 1 hour ago, Disturber said: The Gotoh tailpiece is probably original. It's what Hamer used anyways, back then. Gotoh tailpieces and Schaller bridges. The neck pickup could be original as well I guess. Might have had a JB in the bridge, as most Hamer's did back then. Love that top. So very cool and unique. And the finish just looks aged to perfection. Did you have any troubles getting it in to the US. Did you bring it over, or did you have it shipped? Thinking about the Cites thing...? Original pickups or not, they're not going back in, the Rolphs seem to be a good match. I had it shipped from Japan using Rinkya, one of the many proxies over there. They're not may favorite, but they don't seem to care about rosewood. The others, like From Japan, won't ship guitars that have the word "rosewood" in the listing. For what is worth, I've had close to 20 rosewood containing guitars shipped from Japan since the new CITES restriction came on line without issue. I know there's risk involved, and I'm willing to accept it. On the other hand, I absolutely would not ship one to another country without the permit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
currypowder Posted March 30, 2018 Author Share Posted March 30, 2018 Got the neck pickupback from Josh. Sure enough, there was a short somewhere requiring a partial rewind of the screw pole coil. But as I mentioned, I'm going to keep the Rolphs that I installed in it. Not really sure what I'll do with the Duncans. Here's a little doublecut pron for your viewing pleasure. From left to right, '79 Sunburst, '94 Special LE, and '03 Studio Custom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BTMN Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 Man, that is a Cool one! Love some Amber Quilt. Enjoy it well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bubs_42 Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 Love the LE, sweet guitar! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordsoftheJungle Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 On 3/19/2018 at 10:56 AM, currypowder said: Here's a bit of a rare bird, a 94 Special LE limited run for the Japanese market. Basically a Special FM with body binding. Found it in Japan and tried for a week to talk myself out of it. In the end, resistance was futile. Looks a lot like Camstone's "Mr. Quilty" except for the amber finish color. The pictures look a little like there's some arm wear on the bass side of the body, but it must just be a reflection or the wood's quilting, the finish is intact with no wear. Overall it's in very good shape, there are a few dings, but nothing major or out of the ordinary for a nearly 25 year old guitar. There is a tiny bit of Hameritis at the neck joint and some finish separation around the fingerboard, very common for Hamers of this time period. The OHSC is in great shape and includes the original case candy. It was just delivered, so a playability/tone report will have to wait. Desperately needs a little cleaning and fresh strings. Here are a couple pics from he seller. That's so cool that you're getting access to the Japanese market. Have you come across a Cat's Eyes CE1000 or higher out there? I've been tracking the Cat's Eyes for a while now and never see anything above a CE800 on eBay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dewey finn Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 Great looking guitar! Congrats! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmatthes Posted March 31, 2018 Share Posted March 31, 2018 Found it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrjamiam Posted March 31, 2018 Share Posted March 31, 2018 Sweet guitar! Congrats and enjoy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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