Andrew

There's scans and the PDF from Hamer here: http://www.buddlejagarden.co.uk/hamer/cat2.htm

One day I will update my website -- but for now, you find most of them here: http://www.buddlejagarden.co.uk/hamer/cat2.htm

First-generation, 3+3 h/s, mahogany necks: the Sustain-block trem. fitted ones have a chunky neck, the hardtail ones have a much smaller neck. True for the Blitz as well. Side by side, the difference is obvious. 1984 on, they are usually Kahlered, and the necks are no longer as chunky, and are switched to maple at some point in 84/85.

I think they're just active 9V pickups, like EMGs. I would guess the originals were Hamer Slammers made by Dimarzio, although a few EMG equipped first-generation Blitz basses must exist. The soldering does not look original Hamer, by the way.

My opinion is that ALL rosewood species (or wood that looks like it might be a rosewood) needs import and export certification proving that the item was manufactured before the CITES ban. The UK one costs about £70. 99% certain all Sunburst fingerboards are Indian rosewood… and definitely requires certification to cross borders. Without it, the guitar could be legally destroyed.

The claim was mahogany from British Honduras (since renamed Belize). In any case, they are made with a high quality timber from central America.

I should amend what I said above: they weren't made specifically for Prosound (Koblenz, Germany), but Peter Wolf agreed to take most of them -- I think he said he sold somewhere between 12 and 20. Most I have seen have a German history, but co-incidentally, the two original bound ones both seem to have been first sold in the US. You were more likely to find one in Germany than elsewhere. The HFC posse has re-distributed them, so now I couldn't say. The singles are very hot (early Dimarzio FS1, I think ), so not very strat-like at all. And not much like a Prototype in single coil mode as their pickups use much fewer windings. The neck pickup is quite fat sounding, but with an edge. The bridge is a little thinner and much sharper. I tried a lower output pickup in one, and the sound didn't change as much as I thought it would. Still quite "Sunbursty", like a coil-tapped Sunburst maybe.

Wow! 1981 Two Coil, numbers in the 1 32XX region. Made for Prosound (Peter Wolf) in Koblenz, Germany. As said above 20-25 in total: most are unbound, at least one body bound only, and a couple bound and crowned.

The serial number clearly indicates 1979. The bridge is very wrong for 1979. The logo is in the wrong place and the "USA" looks wrong for 79 or 82. The neck binding is unlike a 79 or 82 Standard -- no nibs. Binding usually yellows after 40 years… I will stick my neck out: I'm with Kiz on this one.

Serial will have the details, but I'm not sure it's that simple. What blanks were shipped from Holmes to be assembled at Hamer is ambiguous. Add into the mix unfinished guitars that would have been numbered later than their woodworking… For dots necks, you can assume wide-spaced dots = Holmes, narrow spaced-dots = Hamer. I have seen an early 1980 Sunburst that has a narrow-spaced dot neck and a bound-body that probably came from Holmes. The rumour is that Hamer couldn't manage the binding at first, so switched production to the Special until the skill could be built up. The only guide I can give you is up to the first production Special, very roughly about 0 1600.

Looks like a sustain-block to me. Worth noting the earliest ones (lower than about 9 0650) are slightly larger than usual.

I met the Hamer rep. at the time. NOT a factory refin -- they only provided him with an authentic logo to get the job done in the UK.

A maple neck and a different neck angle on the Floyd-Rose Sunbursts. They are very much their own model and not just a Floyded Sunburst. Same is true for the arch-top version. Sometimes they fitted the metal knobs, but that was on the earliest ones in 1989.

Nice looker -- but clearly a neck repair. So the price is waaaaaaaaay too high.

1991 is probably still a nitro-cellulose finish. The discolouration on the body binding can usually be polished away with a mildly abrasive polish as it is surface-only oxidation. Seems a common issue of those late nitro-finishes. The binding shrinkage will crack the lacquer -- again, this is a normal consequence of aging of the traditional materials.