diablo175

As an additional perspective- and let me get this established straight away 'causes some folks won't take this too kindly- I have been spending a bit of time on both the LE and the HA Cali. Gotta say, by virtue of the Butala neck D profile, 12- 16" radius and the jumbo frets, the HA has a distinct advantage over the purebred Cali LE for my preferences. YMMV.

F*ck. RIP Jay.

Wayne’s passing came as something of a kidney punch. Charvel Guitars were peppered throughout my formative years as a guitar player, and what eventually drew me away from my beloved Hamer Californians!! A lot of that came down to the neck. Charvel has always had really comfy necks! From the lower end, Mexi-builds all the way up to the Custom shop, masterbuilt’s- they’ve excelled in their comfy and fast neck profiles, even when the fret work didn’t quite measure up.

Funny you should mention that. Was musing over why I jettisoned all of my previous LE's and Cali's (save for the C3). I love almost everything thing about them. I'm looking at you, Mr. blade switch. But after a nice, long wank on this one, I'm reasonably certain it's the board radius. I just get on better with flatter radii. Particularly, when I venture up into the weedily-weedily region of the 17th-24th frets. That said, I think it's fair to say that this LE and the HA won't be around for very long.

The return of Ha Cali was announced last week but as I got both it and the Cali Elite LE my wife gave me for the birthday, back from my repair guy today, I thought I'd share them here. The LE was pretty knackered; ridden hard and put away wet... or at least without a proper wipe down or anything resembling basic routine maintenance since 2010? 😬 The Hamer-stamped trem was DOA- pitted and pocked with corrosion. The frets had string indentations and almost needed a tetanus shot to be administered after playing. The finger board had a sizable, undisclosed crack that was repaired at some point but not properly with ebony dust. Lastly, the input jack was t*ts up. Luckily, my go-to guitar repair guy made it tip top again! I even had a good condition, Hamer-stamped Floyd to put on it!!! Woohoo!!! 🥳

Meh, if the band is doing it up right, they won't be paying attention to your amp/modeler (unless it’s some gear geeks, like we have on here ) More to the point, 99% of the audience doesn't give a fat rat's ass about what guitar you're playing, what amp/pedals you're using, or even if you hit every note of that solo. Especially if they've been drinking. If it sounds good and makes life easier for you, re- load in load out, then fuggem.

Steve gets it.

This presupposes I'd sell it to you.

Gee, is that so? 🙄 😜 Usually, it doesn't wind up back in my face via the HFC. (thank goodness)

Sorta New Former Guitar Day. I snagged the Ha Ha Cali body and the accompanying Butala neck a week or so back. I put this together about 10 years ago or so and was especially pleased with the graphic I designed for it. It bothered me that somebody had parted it out. So, I put her back just as she was. Not sure I'll hang on to her. She plays and sounds great but I sold her for a reason and not sure anything has changed. I guess I just wanted to have her whole again and put her in the hands of someone who will actually value and play it.

I guess this would appeal if you love the aesthetics of an LP but crave the sonic and, to a lesser degree, ergonomic characteristics of a long scale ax. Buckethead plays a baritone 27" scale LP.

It’s said that a defining characteristic of a successful guitarist is a recognizable style. After all these years, I feel as though I’ve finally leveled up! I mean, hackneyed and crap-tastic are styles, right? 😛

I was REALLY hoping to have this back in time to get it re-assembled and maybe even knock out an instrumental version of the national anthem that would surely get featured in the new thread in the outer circle. Alas, it is still in the painter's hands, cleared and likely curing before wet sanding, buffing and polishing. So, please accept this teaser. Full reveal when it lands.

Yes, an HFCer got them.

Yup.

FFS, don't pay that much for a neck that only cost $400 initially! 🤦‍♂️

Yes.

No, Warmoth does not make necks like that so far as I know. That was a Butala Custom Guitars build. Goddamn it, I put all that work and $$ into building a perfectly good instrument, complete with a badass graphic I designed (inspired by Batman "The Killing Joke" to be fair) and this is how it gets treated? Seller stripped all the goodies off of it and is hocking the body and neck? Oh the humanity! 🤨

Oops. Sorry for the additional post on this topic. Didn’t check to see if anybody else had posted about his passing. 🤦🏻

This one kinda hit me in the feels. I had been exposed to blood sweat and tears as a boy via their eponymous album that was given to my older sister, who then quickly handed it down to me. Apparently she did not find the dynamic mixture of rock, blues, and jazz all that appealing. Even back then as a sheltered, white suburban kid, I recognized the incredible energy and soul in his singing. RIP David Clayton-Thomas!

I sold off all but one of my numerous Cali LE's and bastard Calis years ago, but couldn't pass up a chance to have one last fling on another Elite Limited Edition. One of the HFC's own was selling his in the UK and my wife bought it as a b-day gift for me. It's a bit knackered, likely ridden hard and put away wet but with a decent set up, a little cleaning, some new strings, and Schaller bridge, she'll be good to go.

There was likely a time I played 10's but it would've been back when I didn't know shit and was playing basic power chords and single string passages. Since the late 80's, I've played nothing but 9-42's. The exception would be on my Hamer Standard where I have a .48 and the rest are the usual .09- .32. I've wrestled with neck size and profile as well and have run the gamut of Wizard-thin to baseball bats on a BC Rich Warbeast and a few earlier Hamers. I now find that I hover in the middle with the Charvel and Jackson D shapes as my fave but have actually learned to get on with every neck carve in my collection- CS Axcess Les Paul, 50th Anniv. SG, Hamer Standard and Cali C-shapes, etc. I think @Steve Haynie might be right: it seems more an issue of having grown comfortable with the necks I have in the collection. I played Jackson D shapes back in the early 90's before discovering Hamers, and now I'm back to them. Luckily, I haven't encountered any serious, long-term hand issues... ...yet.

It's not uncommon for threads to spin off on semi relevant tangents. SuperD's and JB's were mentioned by others and I was continuing that subset topic. I don't really need a video to remind me why I play Gravelins.

Any argument on which pickup is superior needs to be couched in the disclaimer that it's all subjective. I have tried both, time and time again. While I've found a few JB's that were more palatable to my ear, the vast majority were not. SuperD's just never grabbed me. Full stop. It's kinda funny because I don't think of myself as being particularly discerning in my audio preferences; I'm not a tone chaser to the extent that I have seen on here and elsewhere. But I know what I like when I hear it.