velorush

Is that an honest to goodness fiesta red Farter?

Kinda depends on the application. IMHO, hard to beat the TOM/stop for most applications. That said, I REALLY like the sustain block.

Is that an Affinity Tele? Bought my daughter one for her first guitar a couple of years ago - think it was $179 new. I was blown away with the bang for $. Nice solid (three-piece) plank of ash. Only issue on the whole thing was the fret edges were a bit sharp. She doesn't play it - I've been considering getting it out and tweaking it a bit - pickups, through-body stringing, maybe a Warmoth neck...

Two words: Bela Fleck

Spectacular! I've had to keep my checkerboard tendencies in check (so to speak) since my checkerboard Spicoli's back in the eighties. I'd suit me to have checkerboard everything (no tattoos, however). That looks fantastic.

To make this more interesting, Mitch will send them to me for a month after he has finished. I, having a completely different background from Mitch, will offer the counterpoint to his review. Mitch has called out the first two, I call out Serial's green custom Studio (my favorite guitar ever, three coil bridge, P-90 neck) and PirateFlynn's Newport. Edited to add: Mitch will even pay a portion of the return shipping.

Seconded!! And a third! Great idea!

'97 Roadhouse Strat (Am Std with Texas Special pups) - they all came stock with either tort or white mother of toilet seat guards. Very cool! Here's mine: Sorry for the derail Mitch, but TORT ROCKS!!!! Also very cool! If I were anywhere near Canada it'd be great to try them out side by side (I know, I know, the Hamer MUST be superior - but I DO like my Fender ) and also sorry, Mitch, for the derail, but repetition is key to learning basic life principles: multiplication tables, abbreviations in the periodic table, the fact that TORT ROCKS! etc.

'97 Roadhouse Strat (Am Std with Texas Special pups) - they all came stock with either tort or white mother of toilet seat guards.

Tort just rocks, of course: But must confess, when I get kind of tired of the tort I have a three-ply mint green guard I stick on there for a while. I usually go back to the tort after a few months.

Yes, mine arrived I think on Thursday. Beautiful guitars. I've got to get out of Egypt some time and get to the big city to try some of these out!

I caught BB King in 1985 at the Dyersburg Community College. He was still standing during performance back then and the concert was great, however, the concert AFTER the concert was the best concert I've ever been to. What I mean by that is that, after everything was done and people were shuffling out, he came back out on stage with Lucille and began to talk to all us young guitar players. Here we stood, not ten feet from him and he began to talk and play and talk some more. He must have spent 45 minutes with us. We were in shock. Best one I ever missed was Mel Torme in an outdoor concert in Chicago. I happened to be up for the blues festival and the Velvet Fog was performing in a separate, unrelated venue. I still kick myself.

Now he says he can make out the serial number: "With a magnifying glass the serial number looks like 8 0468." In response to my question, he says: "Yes, there were strings on the guitar and everything looks and feels straight. Guitar feels solid. It appears someone did some modification then got bored." Could be okay. I am tempted. If the neck really is okay, this could be a killer guitar... I'm just put off by the valid "beware" points made earlier and by the seller's 97.6% approval rating. Some neutral ratings in there about "item not as described" and "poorly packaged." Questionable merchandise + questionable seller seems... questionable.

VEry good point. If this is indeed a '78 that would mean a one-piece neck, right? Could there be issues? My real estate appraisers used to use the term 'latent defects' as a catch all. Of course, this is all conjecture. Could be a great guitar.ETA: Okay, I couldn't help myself. I just emailed him asking about the neck and whether or not he'd had strings on it.

I've got a better monitor at home. I'll check it out there later, maybe I'll be able to tell better. On another note, are those GOLD tuners? Add that to the repair list... oh yeah, I forgot in the earlier post, + new sustain block bridge...

You know, he says, "There is no s/n that I can find," but isn't the serial number visible in the headstock photo: 8 0458? Edited to add: Mathman beat me to it! But what is up with that bridge? Back looks like it was originally a sustain block. I suppose the holes for that are underneath. Repair list: 1. remove middle pickup, fill route, fill bridge stud holes, fill four toggle holes, new veneer for top, refinish top. Greg or Roy, any estimates? After some of the stuff I've seen you guys do, this should be a cinch!

No affiliation: eBay Sunburst Anyone know this seller? He seems to have had quite a bit of Hamer stuff (relatively speaking) of late.

1983 Phantom A5 1. Bought it last year because I'd always wanted (but hadn't played) one 2. Didn't like the neck very much, so 3. Tried to sell it to buy another Hamer but couldn't get a deal worked out 4. Actually started playing it now and then 5. Really like it now and play it quite often - glad it didn't sell!

You just missed this Phantom. Not just a celeb guitar, but a really cool guitar in its own right AND a really great piece of Hamer history (all my opinion, of course). You might watch for it to pop back up...

Glad this thread got resurrected. I had no toy to post last run through. My much-posted player-condition '80, the day I got the BCR case: Since the photo I have put the pickups back in the way I received it (zebra to bridge) as it seems to sound better that way. It remains one of the best sounding solid body guitars I have ever played. If it had a bigger neck and a rounder 10" or 12" fretboard radius I'd probably sell every other guitar I own. If anyone has another pair of these Hamer/DiMarzios at a reasonable price, PM me - they might fix a Gibson problem I have... Edited to correct the photo link.

I will remember this. Oh yes, I will remember this. Some day a Sunburst will be mine and I too will type: Thanks for resurrecting this thread. I hadn't seen it before. Great photos and great addition, Mitch!

Didn't mean to hijack your thread, but thought it interesting that I was doing the same thing, what, 300 or 400 miles away? Really GASSING for a 'burst, but it is going to have to wait until probably next year. Yours are gorgeous. My ('80) Special is definitely a player-grade guitar. I love every wart.-Jeff

Odd, I was on the same tangent yesterday morning (good sun through the window). No 'burst, and not quite as old. I have this photo in my mind and I've tried to stage it a couple of times but haven't gotten there yet. This is where I am so far: This was the first time I've really gotten very deep into the manual settings on our digital camera. I used to do pretty good with a 35mm slr. This camera has some pretty versatile capabilities, it is just going to take me a while to figure out where its capabilities end and those of my software begin (I usually have a gap between the two, which is where this photo ended up). The cool thing about digital is that 1. I can manipulate the image further with software and 2. I don't have to develop the picture to see what I need to change. I'll keep trying - there is a picture to be had here somewhere.

That was my thought. I'm certainly no authority on all the different models, but when I saw ash I figured either Daytona or T-51.

I had a Norlin SG back in the mid-80's, a '73 - the ones where the fretboard came to the neck pickup instead of having that little extension (like this Standard, only with a Bigsby). It was NOT a great or really even good sounding guitar, so much so that I have never once GASSED for an SG since. A friend at the same time had a late 60's SG with T-Tops and it absolutely killed. I love those all-business plain tops.