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Need a Sunburst Refinish


Moxie

Question

Hi Folks,

I picked up an '82 cherry-finish Sunburst on Reverb a few months ago (photos attached). My first electric guitar was also an '82 Sunburst (sunburst finish), but this new one is absolutely amazing and blows away my first one in every way. But it's got some issues. 

First, you wouldn't know it from the photos, but the finish on the top is kind of a mess. Not in terms of wear, but it looks like someone sprayed it with the worst clear-coat ever. Looks like a respray, but the finish/polish is poor—as smooth and glasslike as Mount Everest. It also has a coil-splitter switch for the bridge pup which is in a bad position. So I figure I might as well have the whole thing refinished and ditch the mini-switch. 

The first non-advertisement or how-to article that comes up in Google when you search for "guitar refinishing" is a guy I'll never deal with again. I did once, sent him my guitar, he then went off the grid for many months (I tried contacting him maybe a dozen times different ways and got dead air), he posted a damn YouTube clip of him playing my axe, and eventually I had to threaten to sue him. Then I finally got my axe back.

So...Marty Bell? Pat Wilkins? Southbound? Or someone in the NYC vicinity? I'd just like it refinished to the original cherry spec. 

Thanks,

Matt

1982 Cherry Hamer Sunburst 1.jpg

1982 Cherry Hamer Sunburst 2.jpg

1982 Cherry Hamer Sunburst 3.jpg

1982 Cherry Hamer Sunburst 4.jpg

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14 answers to this question

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If there's anything worse than butchering a guitar for a useless coil cut switch, it's putting that switch right in the way of your controls.

Our own @Stike is a wizard. He has endured my nonsense several times and delivered stellar work.
His site is here.

 

 

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1 hour ago, kizanski said:

If there's anything worse than butchering a guitar for a useless coil cut switch, it's putting that switch right in the way of your controls.

Our own @Stike is a wizard. He has endured my nonsense several times and delivered stellar work.
His site is here.

 

 

Thanks Kiz. 

I’m currently slammed, not taking new work until July. 

Marty and Pat are great, both west coast though. I think Southbound is no longer doing refins. 

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Thanks gents. I’ll call Shane. 

Question—which given how many Hamers I’ve had over the past 36 years I should know the answer to—but other than sunburst, cherry, natural, and black, what were the period-correct colors? I have one each in sunburst and black, and I’m not really a fan of natural, but if there’s another cool finish from that period that I’m not aware of then maybe I’d consider changing the finish. I know...heresy. 

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2 minutes ago, crunchee said:

Not that I'd want one, but I believe that Hamer did some in Greenburst back in the early '80's...which had a tendency to fade, sometimes really faded all the way to a sickly 'natural' shade.

You’ve just completely destroyed my focus. Completely. My all-time, hands-down favorite musician is Ian Anderson, and your post reminded me that Paul made him a custom green Sunburst in '79 -   https://www.hamerfanclub.com/Jethro.html -

Shit. Now I’m all in a dither. Thanks a lot! 😀

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6 minutes ago, Moxie said:

You’ve just completely destroyed my focus. Completely. My all-time, hands-down favorite musician is Ian Anderson, and your post reminded me that Paul made him a custom green Sunburst in '79 -   https://www.hamerfanclub.com/Jethro.html -

Shit. Now I’m all in a dither. Thanks a lot! 😀

Sorry about that...actually, the type of Greenburst I'm thinking of looks a lot like the one in this archived post:

The picture of Ian Anderson's Sunburst looks practically solid black to me minus the body trim, with no hint of a 'burst that I can see.

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13 hours ago, kizanski said:

If there's anything worse than butchering a guitar for a useless coil cut switch, it's putting that switch right in the way of your controls.

Especially when you could have done it with a push pull switch and not added any holes!

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On 5/30/2018 at 3:32 PM, Steve Haynie said:

If murkat/Jay is taking in work he can possibly straighten out the finish.  It may only need a little sanding and buffing.  Jay has made some instruments with finish issues look like new. 

Jay did a great job fixing the top finish on my ‘79 red Sunburst. He also touched up the headstock and smoothed out a ding in the neck... without making the guitar look like it’s new. It has a lovely used look.

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42 minutes ago, atomicwash said:

Jay did a great job fixing the top finish on my ‘79 red Sunburst. He also touched up the headstock and smoothed out a ding in the neck... without making the guitar look like it’s new. It has a lovely used look.

Jay (murkat) did a complete refin on one of mine and some very nice things for existing finishes of several others I own.  You can reach him through his website: NTL Guitar.

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On 5/30/2018 at 10:12 AM, kizanski said:

If there's anything worse than butchering a guitar for a useless coil cut switch, it's putting that switch right in the way of your controls.

Our own @Stike is a wizard. He has endured my nonsense several times and delivered stellar work.
His site is here.

 

 

+ a billion

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Marty Bell does superb work.  Here's a refinish he did for me.  I think it was at least as good or better than factory. Can't say enough good things about him. I was really worried about how the refinish would effect the tone, but I thought this guitar sounded better after the refinish.

 

 

studio with flash 2.jpg

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